The Black Sheep and the Hidden Beauty. Donna Kauffman

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СКАЧАТЬ horse. I mean, it’s not like a dog who gets accidentally knocked up by the local mongrel. So, she breeds her horse, even though she’s contemplating leaving. A horse who had problems with the last pregnancy. Does that make sense? Why make such a huge career transition and do something like that with your horse at the same time?”

      “I don’t know. Maybe she had a chance to breed her for a good deal and so she went for it. Hard to say. Maybe her mare is hard to breed and she couldn’t afford to pass up the opportunity. I really don’t know.”

      “There just seems to be a lot of that with her. Stuff we don’t know.”

      Kate sighed, and Mac rubbed her shoulder as he tucked her closer to his side. “Don’t worry. He’ll figure this out without screwing anything up.” He kissed the top of her head. “I promise.” He looked at Rafe. “Don’t screw it up.”

      “I still don’t understand why you’re so concerned about her,” Kate grumbled at both of them. “I want to go on record as saying I really hate this.”

      “I know,” Rafe said, not exactly loving it, either. “Did she mention how she heard about the job here?”

      “Horse community grapevine. You’d be surprised how effective it is.”

      “I can see racing circles keeping up with racing circles, and the same with show horses, but you’re not really involved in either.”

      “But we’re sitting smack-dab in the middle of show-horse country, which her dad was linked to quite heavily, back in his day. She probably has all kinds of contacts because of her family background, and her vet friend is in the area, too. I didn’t question her specifically. I mean, clearly she heard about it somehow, as she showed up and applied—why does it matter how she heard?” Kate tilted her head up and eyed Mac, who still looked as skeptical as Rafe felt. “I swear, you guys. You know, not everything or everyone is a ‘case file.’ Elena told me this was just the right thing for her and Springer at the right time. She was also the right thing at the right time for me. She has every intention of resuming her career goals at some point. And, frankly, I have every intention of trying to get her to change her mind and stay. So unless you can give me a real concrete reason why I shouldn’t, then I want this over and done with.” She eyed them both. “It’s my business to run.”

      “Understood,” Rafe said, looking at Mac, knowing he was probably thinking the same thing he was. That Kate was sharp, and great at her job, but she was human, and sometimes she let her soft heart get in the way. And, much as he’d like to let this whole thing go and never take a single riding lesson, he couldn’t ignore the fact that his gut instincts were still clamoring.

      “So what aren’t you telling me?” Kate asked. “There has to be something more going on. How much am I going to hate it?”

      “Ever heard of a racehorse named Geronimo?”

      Kate looked nonplussed. “Geronimo?”

      Mac nodded, still skimming the report. “Sure, he won two legs of the triple crown, then broke everyone’s heart by missing out on taking the third by half a length. Definitely a crowd-pleaser. A damn shame what happened to him, just doesn’t seem right that—” He broke off and looked up. “Oh, shit. Really?”

      “Really.”

      Kate looked up from her report. “Really what? Why oh shit?” She looked between the two of them. “What happened to Geronimo?”

      “He’s the famous racehorse that died in that fire,” Mac said, then went back to skimming the report again.

      “He was retired, put to stud, and bought by a new owner,” Rafe filled in while they scanned the info. “Not much there yet on that part, but I was focused on Elena and just started digging on the farm itself. Should have gotten this the first day.”

      “Gene Vondervan,” Kate read aloud, then gasped and looked up. “Owner of Charlotte Oaks racing stables. Elena worked for the stables where Geronimo died?”

      “Where and when,” Rafe confirmed.

      “But, wait a minute,” Kate cut in, “a whole lot of people work for Charlotte Oaks. Surely if there were any concerns, or if she was involved in any way, negligent in any way, there would have been consequences. At the very least, she wouldn’t have gotten the reference she did.”

      Rafe shrugged. “From what I overheard, it seemed like her vet thought her leaving might be connected. She didn’t mention it when you hired her?”

      “No,” Kate said. “She didn’t.”

      “The fire was when?” Mac said, still skimming the report. “Last summer, right? But she didn’t leave until fall. Doesn’t sound like a direct connection there.”

      “Maybe.” Rafe honestly didn’t know. Yet. “It just seems odd that she wouldn’t mention it. Like she didn’t mention her horse having potential medical issues. Geronimo’s death has been out of the current news loop for some time, but in the big scope of things, it’s still recent news.”

      “In the race world, maybe,” Kate said.

      “No,” Mac said, “it was a big story everywhere. He was a pretty special horse who had captured the hearts of a lot of people.”

      “Then how did I miss it?”

      Mac smiled and tugged her in for a fast, hard kiss. “Because you don’t follow the news unless it’s published in a medical journal.”

      She pushed at him and started to argue, then stopped, looking a bit sheepish. “Okay, so you might have a point there. But she couldn’t know that.” She looked to Rafe. “She probably just assumed I knew, that it was old news and not worth mentioning?” But even her tone conveyed her skepticism. “Even so, what does it matter?”

      Rafe and Mac looked at each other and Kate made an impatient sound. “Would you two cut that out already? It’s like you’re sending silent smoke signals or something.” She looked pointedly at Rafe. “Was there anything else about this that I should be worried about? I mean…except as gossip or prurient interest?” She looked down at the report. “Did they ever decide how the fire started? I don’t see anything here except that an investigation was launched by both local authorities and insurance investigators for both the farm and the horse. Sounds normal enough, in a situation like that.” She looked up. “Is it all wrapped up now?”

      “I’m still digging. But no, not from what I can tell. Not entirely.”

      “Anything odd in that?” she asked.

      “Not specifically, no. Insurance cases can take a long time when the cause hasn’t been nailed down beyond doubt.”

      She looked like she wanted to argue further, but in the end, she just let out a deep sigh. “You’re not going to stop digging, so I might as well not hold my breath. But I want to know everything you find out so I know when to call you two off.”

      Mac lifted his hands. “I’m off. This is Rafe’s baby. I have the Peterson case you were so hot for me to take.”

      Kate glanced at Rafe, as if waiting for him to comment on her interference, but he said nothing. “Right,” she said at length. “Well, I need to get back to my job. I’ll leave СКАЧАТЬ