Moonlighting in Vermont (19 page)

So now, although technically she belongs to Max, and I don’t need to mess with her, I was in her stall brushing the sawdust and dirt out of her coat. A touch to her shoulder, and she stepped lightly away from me, giving me the space I needed to reach down and brush her belly. A touch on her rump, and she stepped forward and let me brush out her tail.

I had just finished rubbing her face with a soft cloth when I heard a noise in the barn. I straightened up, stretched the kinks out of my back, and glanced into the aisle to see which of the dogs had wandered into the barn. I gave a start; there was a man in the barn. My doubletake made Rosie jump a little and give me a dirty look. She’d been relaxing, enjoying the rubdown with her eyes half closed. She knew there was a man in the barn. What was wrong with me that he’d taken me by surprise? One day I’d have to explain to Rosie about the inferiority of human senses.

This guy was not dressed for a barn. He was wearing nice slacks and fancy leather boots with a stacked heel. He had compulsively short hair that would never need brushing to look neat and was wearing a pristine white turtleneck, a big mistake in the country. He had a leather sport coat unbuttoned over the turtleneck.
Fancy pants, and no mistake.
I wondered if he’d lost his way and how he’d figured out to look in the barn. He looked like he’d never been on a farm in his life.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked. I banged the brush against the side of the stall; I’d forgotten to bring in a currycomb to clean the brush with.

“I’m looking for Bree MacGowan,” he said. He looked annoyed.
“I’m Bree MacGowan,” I said. A month ago, I would have cracked a joke or made some off-the-wall remark. Now, I got nervous when strangers appeared. “Can I help you with something?” I asked.
God, I hope not.
“No,” he said. “I just wanted to see your face.”
“My face?”
“I wanted to see the face that ruined Gunnar’s life,” he said.
Gunnar Ericson? This guy was connected with Gunnar? And then the light went on in my head, and I knew I had heard this voice before. This must be Joseph. A little more butch and a little less whining than when I’d been trapped in Gunnar’s room, but Joseph all the same.
“Gunnar ruined his own life,” I said. “If he didn’t want to go to jail, he should have left me alone.”
“Women are all the same. Always hanging around, groping him. It’s disgusting. I wish he had thrown you into that canyon.”
“I think you should leave.” My stomach was churning. I brushed Rosie, trying to hide the shaking in my hands.
“Leave? Not until Gunnar’s out of jail.”
“I can’t get Gunnar out of jail.” I slid my hand into my back pocket and slipped out my cell phone, using Rosie to cover me. I kept my eyes focused on Joseph but felt the keys and hit what I hoped was 911.
“You will get Gunnar out of jail. It’s easy. Just drop the charges. Drop the charges, and you’ll never see me again.” A smarmy smile played around the edges of his mouth.
I could hear a voice coming from my cell now. I dropped my brush on the floor. “Oh, help.” I set the phone carefully on the floor away from Rosie’s feet as I picked up the brush. “Call Captain Maverick,” I said as I straightened. I looked into Joseph’s eyes, knowing that I could lie with the best of them and praying that the 911 dispatcher caught on. “Call Tom Maverick. He might be able to help you get Gunnar released.”
“Why would I call Maverick, when I’ve got you? Everyone knows he’ll do whatever you ask. One of the perks of sleeping with his brother.” A smile lit his face. “I’ll bet you’re doing him, too. That would explain the favoritism. “
My phone chose that moment to beep.
Shit.
My battery was low. Joseph was at the door to the stall immediately. His eyes scanned the floor.
“What was that noise?”
“I didn’t hear anything.” I pushed Rosie over, hoping she would mask the sound of the phone.
Joseph was scanning the floor. The phone beeped again, and he slid the stall door open. He saw the phone and stepped through the door, sliding it closed behind him. I kept Rosie between us, and as Joseph went to the phone and picked it up, I slid open the door, stepped through it, and slammed it shut. I took a spare snap hook and clipped it through the latch so Joseph couldn’t open the door.
I ran for the house with everything I had, slipping in the snow and mud. I splashed through slush and spattered myself. The dogs ran out of the house as I ran in, tracking mud across the kitchen to the phone. I dialed 911 and explained what had happened to the dispatcher. I heard the dogs barking as I ran back to the barn.
“Good dogs!” I called as I trotted up to where they stood guard. They were jumping at the stall, their paws thudding on the wood. Annie was scratching at the bottom of the door, trying to dig her way through the concrete. I looked over the gate and saw Joseph plastered to the far wall. He had a look of terror on his face. Rosie had her muzzle resting on the middle of his chest. It looked like she was leaning into him just a little. She was probably wondering why he wasn’t scratching her ears. He saw me and started pleading.
“Get this horse off of me! It’s huge. My ribs are cracking. I can feel them caving in…” his panicked raving went on.
“Good girl, Rosie,” I said to the horse.
* * * * *
“Why hasn’t she moved?” Tom asked, gesturing to Rosie. He and Brooks had arrived with two other cars, sirens blaring.
“I told her to stay,” I said. “Max trained her for his grandkids. She does all kinds of different things. She’ll stand like that for hours, if you ask her to. And she fetches balls like a dog.” I nodded my head in Joseph’s direction. “I could probably get her to sit on him, if I wanted to.”
Joseph was looking green. He had long since stopped begging me to get him out of the stall, and now I think he was just praying I wouldn’t ask Rosie to sit. Tom gestured the two uniformed guys into the stall with Rosie and Joseph, then smiled at me.
“You can call her off now,” he said. “What was he doing in there anyway? I wouldn’t think a guy who’s afraid of horses would willingly lock himself in a stall with one.”
“He went in after my cell phone, and I locked him in. After I let the dogs out of the house, I doubt he would have come out if he could have.”
“Doesn’t know your dogs, then,” said Tom. He turned his head to Joseph “You’d have been safer with the dogs,” Tom told him. “They might lick you to death, I suppose, but that’d be better than having your chest compressed.”
“Rosie.” I saw her ears flick in my direction and knew I had her attention. “Back now.” The pony shifted her weight back away from Joseph and took two careful steps backward. “Good girl, Rosie,” I said. “I’ll come back and give you a good rub later.”
The uniforms pulled Joseph roughly out of the stall, and Tom put cuffs on him. Joseph kept glancing nervously at the dogs. His behavior was making Hank nervous, and he started to growl.
“I should be pressing charges against her!” Joseph spat the word in my direction. “Look at me! My clothes are ruined. I’ve been practically squashed to death by a monster horse.”
“Pony,” I said. I glanced over at Hank, who had started to slink toward Joseph. “Hank! Lie down,” I snapped, and Hank sank back to the floor.
“What?” Joseph looked at me like I was from outer space.
“Rosie is a pony, not a horse,” I explained.
“Well she’s the frickin’ pony from hell,” he said to me. Joseph turned back to Tom. “It wasn’t like I was going to hurt her or anything. I just wanted to get Gunnar released. I figured if she could get him put in jail, she could get him out.”
Brooks took a good look at Joseph. “Where are you from?” he asked. “You have absolutely no idea how the legal system works, do you?”
“I’m a writer for
The Unfaithful
,” said Joseph. He looked at Brooks in contempt. “In my world, the legal system does what I say it does.”
“Well, fortunately, that not the way it works in the real world,” said Brooks. He nodded to Steve. “Put him in the squad car. I’m tired of listening to him talk.” Brooks walked over to me and wiped some mud off my face.
“You okay, Ms. MacGowan?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I said. Fine, but completely confused. Lieutenant Brooks was being nice to me. Go figure.
“I’m going out to question Dolly, again. I was wondering if I could persuade you to come with me?”
“Sure, I guess,” I said. “Can I have a couple of minutes to get cleaned up?”
“Actually, if you don’t mind, it would serve my purpose better if you went like that.”
“What purpose would that be?” I asked.
“I’ll fill you in on the way over there.” He turned his attention to Tom. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to take Ms. MacGowan over to Dotty Walker’s house. I think Bree might be the persuasion we’re looking for.”
“Persuade away,” said Tom. “I’ll take a look around and make sure the animals are secure.”
I followed Lieutenant Brooks out to his car. I could see Joseph sitting in the back of one of the other cars. Brooks opened the passenger side door for me.
“You called me Bree?”
“Must have slipped out.” He started the car.
We turned left out of my dooryard and bounced up the hill, heading up and over to North Road. Brooks briefly explained to me what he needed me to do, and about a mile from Dotty’s place, he stopped the car. I got out of the front seat and held my hands behind my back for Brooks to cuff me.
“No,” he said. “Let me cuff them in the front. I’m pretty sure Mrs. Walker is not going to realize that you should be cuffed behind your back, and it will be a lot less uncomfortable for you if I cuff your hands in the front.”
I wasn’t sure where the new and improved Lieutenant Brooks came from, and frankly, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with him. I was getting used to stinging words and insults.
He helped me into the back seat of the car, and we made our way to Dotty’s single-wide sitting in a small clearing in the back woods. Dotty came out of her trailer as we approached and looked at the car in puzzlement. Brooks brought the car to a stop and got out, leaving his door open.
He went and talked to Dotty for a few minutes. I could hear their voices but couldn’t distinguish what they were saying. Brooks walked Dotty up to the car, and Dotty looked down on me with confusion on her face. Brooks stood behind her, dead serious. When I glanced up at him, he gave a barely perceptible shake of his head. He was warning me to keep quiet. I was shivering; the snow and ice had melted, leaving me a soggy mess. I looked down at my feet. A puddle was forming around them from the water dripping off my pant leg.
“But what happened to her?” Dotty asked. “She’s all covered in mud.” She turned to look at Brooks.
“Did some wrestling around in the snow and mud outside her barn,” he said. “Put up quite a fight. You should see the other guy.”
Dotty turned and stared back through the window at me. She looked shocked, disbelieving. I had a flash of insight.
She knows I didn’t kill Vera.
The question then became, does she know who did?
“But didn’t she tell you she was innocent?”
“Of course she says she’s innocent. All guilty people say they’re innocent. Don’t you watch cop shows on TV?” Lieutenant Brooks had his cop face on. I almost felt sorry for Dotty. I knew what it was like to deal with Brooks when he was in cop mode.
“But she couldn’t have killed Vera,” cried Dotty. “How can you arrest her? She couldn’t have done it.”
“Do you have any facts to back that statement?” asked Brooks.
Dotty shook her head. She turned away and walked back to her trailer. I looked down at my hands, frustrated. Our plan to get Dotty to talk hadn’t worked.
“Don’t be too disappointed,” said Brooks as he slid into the drivers seat. “Sometimes it takes a while for conscience to kick in. It’s possible she’ll change her mind and talk.”
I watched Dotty open the door to her trailer. Something glittered beside the steps. It was a little gazing ball sitting in one of those metal holders. I’d seen them down at Pier One. The balls sat on metal stands shaped like dragonflies or frogs. Maybe flowers. There was something about Dotty’s that didn’t seem right. The gazing ball was the wrong size for the stand. Dotty looked back and saw me staring. Her head was tilted as she watched me. I caught her gaze, and she closed the door.
“That was weird.”
Lieutenant Brooks looked back at me. “What was weird?”
“Dotty had a strange look on her face. She was watching me as she closed her door.”
“Dotty doesn’t exactly strike me as having an elevator that goes all the way to the top.” He started the car and pulled away from the house.
Lieutenant Brooks stopped the car once we were out of sight of Dotty’s and removed my cuffs. I moved back into the front seat and stared out the windshield. I wasn’t sure what I had expected Dotty to do, but she didn’t do anything. Didn’t say anything. I couldn’t help being disappointed.
When we got back to my farmhouse, the others had cleared out. The dogs were sitting on the porch waiting for their dinner, and I could see Annabelle stretched out in the window over the kitchen sink. What would happen if I fell in love with a man who didn’t like animals?
That won’t happen,
I told myself.
It’s not worth worrying about.
“You look tired,” Brooks said. “You should take it easy for a while. And I’d appreciate it if you kept a low profile for a few days, just in case Dotty has a change of mind. If she thinks you’re in jail, it’ll eat at her some.”
“I was planning to lay low for a while anyway. I’m getting a lot of negative attention. Thanks for rescuing me from that dickweed Joseph.”
“You didn’t need rescuing, just a mop-up crew.” Brooks smiled at me. “And you can call me Miles. We’ve spent too much time together for you to keep calling me Lieutenant Brooks.”
“I’m not sure I could get used to Miles. I always think of you as Brooks.”
“Well, then, call me Brooks, and leave off the Lieutenant part, okay?”
“I’ll think about it.” I slid out of the car. “Maybe when I’ve stopped being mad at you for treating me like a scumbag.”
“Fair enough.” Brooks flashed me a smile and pulled out of my drive.
I stripped off in the kitchen. Another set of clothes that needed to be dried and de-mudded before they went in the wash. If I didn’t get to the laundry soon, I’d be all out of clothes. I dropped these in the laundry room and padded upstairs to the shower.
The water pounded on my back, and I watched the dirty water swirl down the drain. I wondered how much dirt could go down there before my pipes would be permanently plugged. My thoughts drifted over the day. Not one of the finest ever. How strange that Lieutenant Brooks was being nice to me. Had it impressed him that I’d brought Gunnar in? Or was it finding Joseph squashed between Rosie and the wall that had put him in such a good mood?
Too bad Dotty didn’t jump for the bait. She sure had looked strange standing there inside her door. She was watching me. What had I seen? Oh, yeah, the odd gazing ball. Dotty had gotten a stand that was too small for it. Or maybe not.
I stepped out of the shower and dried off. I wrapped a towel around me and went in search of my phone. I was tempted to call Tom first to see if he’d discovered how many Christmas balls had been found. But I decided I might as well take advantage of Lieutenant Brooks being nice to me. Who knew how long that would last? I dialed his number.
“Did anybody count how many Christmas balls were found?”
“I’ve got the number written down somewhere. Why? Do you think it’s important?”
I wouldn’t be asking, if I didn’t think it was important, but this probably wasn’t the right moment to point that out. “Yes, I think it’s important. There were twelve glass balls in that basket. If any are missing, it’s significant.”
Papers shuffled on the other end of the line. “Eleven. We found eleven. I’ll send someone out to look for the other one.”
“Don’t bother. I think I know where it is.”
“You are not to go after that ball by yourself. You hear me? Stay put, and I’ll pick you up in thirty minutes.”
“Okay. I’m waiting.”
I threw on jeans and a long-sleeved tee-shirt. Then I pulled on my cowboy boots. Courage for my feet. I was actually glad Brooks was coming with me. I would have asked Tom or Steve, but Brooks would do just as well. Better even. He couldn’t accuse me of tampering with evidence, if he was there when we found it.