Chapter Thirty-One
Yvette handed me a check, her resolve firm. She wore a dress printed with pale flowers, a contrast to her horsehair-sprigged breeches and Ashgrove Farms T-shirt.
“What’s this for?” I asked, taking in the amount she’d printed.
We were standing outside the agency where I’d run into Yvette paying an impromptu visit, lingering until I returned from a stroll to the coffee shop to pick up an iced coffee.
The cup was already dribbling cold liquid down the outside of the plastic cup, coating my fingers.
I wanted to dab them clean but I was out of tissue and licking my fingers would be unprofessional.
Probably not as unprofessional as my horseback riding skills while undercover but I’d had little choice about that.
“It’s your fee. Jessica paid the deposit but I think this should cover the rest.”
I tried to hand the check back. “You don’t have to do that.”
Yvette clasped her hands behind her back.
“I do,” she said. “I let my sister down badly and I’ll never forgive myself for that.
Jessica knew I was a terrible sister to her and I have no way to apologize or undo what I did.
This makes me feel like I did something to help her. It’s the very least I can do.”
I considered that as I held the gaze of the woman in front of me. “Okay,” I agreed. “How do you feel about me donating it?”
“You can do whatever you want with it once you cash it.”
“There’s a charity that helps women deal with trauma through horses. It’s not what Jessica went through but…”
“I think Jessica would like that,” cut in Yvette. “She liked people but she liked horses the most. I think she’d like to know that something positive came out of—” she waved a hand “—well, everything.”
“What will you do now?” I asked, suddenly curious.
“For now, nothing. Jessica’s cousin asked me if I’d stay on and oversee the farm’s management until she can make the necessary steps to move here. I told her everything, of course, but she still asked me.”
“So, she’s going to take on the farm? Not sell it?”
“Yes. There will be changes, of course, but I think she’ll do a good job. She has a background in management and she’s ridden since she was a kid. She was ready for a change and thinks this could be what she’s looking for.”
“And you?”
“I’ve been offered a job in Rhode Island.
It’s a small equestrian farm, but they produce great horses and riders.
I can take both my horses and they’ll sponsor me in competitions.
I think the change will be good for me.” She paused, pulling in a deep breath.
“They offered me the job a few months ago but I turned it down because of Joel, which was stupid of me. I don’t know why I put him before my career.
I’ll miss the farm but let’s face it, I haven’t been the best person I can be there.
I appreciate the transition time, then it’ll be time for me to move on.
” She hesitated, then asked, “Do you really think he’ll go to jail? ”
“Harvey or Joel?”
“Both, I guess. We had a forensic accountant go over the farm’s accounts after Sebastian told us what he discovered. Joel stole so much money and none of us knew! Where did it all go?”
“You really don’t know?”
Yvette shook her head. “He didn’t spend much money on me.
Definitely not the amount he stole. We didn’t do vacations, or weekends away, or even go to fancy restaurants.
Truthfully, I don’t think he wanted to be seen with me at all.
He wasn’t buying me expensive gifts either.
He did make a lot of promises. I was jealous of Jessica, I think, and lonely, and he paid me some attention…
I don’t think I’ll ever live down the shame. ”
“I’m sure everything about the money will come out when it goes to trial.
I suspect we’ll find out he was gambling and losing.
” I’d spent an hour that morning on the phone to the state attorney while she asked questions and contemplated whether she would charge Joel as an accessory to murder.
It was hard to know whether he’d been complicit in Jessica’s death, but I was leaning towards his participation as a thief and a cheat, not a murderer.
His grief had seemed genuine to me and Yvette confirmed he’d cut off the affair as soon as he learned Jessica had died.
He’d been driven by greed, but not to a lethal extent.
A jail cell seemed like a good place for him to process what he’d done.
Garrett had filled me in on the police side of the investigation.
Lucas had gotten into the phone and copied the data, including a diary app where Jessica had recorded all her suspicions about both men, and her sister, although even she hadn’t figured out what Harvey was up to.
Lucas had passed the phone to my brother, along with the tracker.
Garrett easily traced the latter to a purchase made by Harvey, and the evidence was mounting up.
Even Maddox had gotten in on the action, identifying Harvey’s accomplice as a potential person of interest in his gambling case. Plus, he’d identified the gunman as another man in the ring. The FBI and MPD had decided to share the credit for the arrests.
“And Harvey?”
“Apparently, he’s pleading not guilty. However, the FBI, MPD, and our agency will all testify against him. Plus, Lily recorded his whole schtick where he tried to get Joel to do his dirty work for him. There’s no way he can wriggle out of a murder charge and three attempted murder charges.”
“I bet he tries,” said Yvette, with a derisory snort. “He was really trying to kill me?”
“I think so, yes. You’d figured out what was happening in the rehab yard and there were huge amounts of money at stake.
Harvey realized you either suspected or knew so he took advantage of the landscaping to load bags of laurel leaves into your car.
With the fumes and the airbag disabled, the chances of the driver’s survival were decreased.
It looked like an accident unless you delved further, and why would anyone do that?
Garrett thinks forensics will be able to confirm everything and one of the stable hands saw Harvey loading the bagged leaves into your car.
The police are tracking down when and where he disposed of them. ”
“That rat! It should have been me.”
“It was Jessica’s bad luck she borrowed your car but Harvey was still determined to get rid of you.
If not in a riding accident, then some other way like a murder-suicide pact between you and Joel.
He’ll be behind bars for a long time,” I assured her.
“How are the horses? I watched Vengeance Star’s recovery on the news. ”
“Is it wrong that I’m relieved they filmed that dilapidated barn and not our farm?
I keep waiting for the reputational damage to set in but everyone’s been so kind.
The whole community has rallied around us.
The horses, anyway. We sent the last stolen one home yesterday.
All their IDs checked out and Lieutenant Graves helped put us in touch with the owners to get them returned.
I told him he should bring his kids out to spend some time with our horses and he said he would. You have a nice family.”
“I do,” I agreed.
“Thankfully, the horses were all in good condition and Special Agent Maddox persuaded the owners not to press any charges against the farm since we had no idea what was going on under our noses. I feel so stupid. I couldn’t work it out for ages and then something seemed to click when I realized you couldn’t ride.
If you weren’t what you seemed, then maybe the horses weren’t either. ”
“Harvey was an accomplished liar and he had a plausible story to keep you all out of the yard,” I said. “I, on the other hand, simply can’t ride horses.”
“One of the stable hands had a suspicion but didn’t tell us. Harvey might have paid him off to keep quiet. I think I should probably terminate his employment. What do you think?”
“I think you should trust your own judgment.”
A corner of Yvette’s mouth lifted into a wry smile. “I have no idea how to do that. My judgment has been questionable and selfish for a long time. I got another employee fired. Jessica… Joel… Harvey. I haven’t done anything right in a long time.” She gulped.
“I think the move will be good for you.”
“I hope so, and thank you. For everything. If it hadn’t been for you, Jessica would never have gotten justice, I’d probably be dead too, and Joel and Harvey would have run the farm straight into the ground. Now it has the chance to flourish, just like Jessica wanted.”
I waited as Yvette got into her car and headed east, home for now. As she sailed through the traffic lights, I turned and headed back to where Solomon waited at the doorway to the agency’s building.
“She gave us a check,” I said, flapping it in the air. “I’d like to donate it.”
“We’ll write this case up as pro bono,” said Solomon. He checked his watch. “Ready to go to your parents’?”
I’d spent the past week writing up the report before sending it to all the relevant parties, which hadn’t left me a lot of personal time. My parents’ insistence on hosting a finger-food buffet this evening came with a plea to attend that I couldn’t refuse.
I took a deep breath. “I bet they have a lot of questions.”
“Always do.”
We took a shortcut through the agency’s building and headed down to the parking lot where we climbed into Solomon’s car. As we exited the lot, he asked, “Do you miss the horses?”
“Miss them? I suppose so. It was nice being around animals even if they were huge and terrifying to ride.”
“What if we got you riding lessons?”
“I’d enjoy that and I’d like to know how to handle myself properly. Lily will want to come too.”
“If you enjoy it, we could look into getting you a horse one day.”