The Michaela Bancroft Mysteries 1-3 (69 page)

"He told him?"

"Yes. Sterling was not paying Robert for the training and boarding bills here. I went to talk with him about it. I explained that the money I'd been giving him was from an insurance policy that we had on Justin and that he needed to use the money to pay Robert, and for his rent and education."

That must have been what Michaela witnessed between the two of them the other day. Paige had tried talking to Sterling about this. "I didn't know he was going to school."

"He was taking acting classes. It was his dream to be an actor and he would've been wonderful at it. He promised me that he'd get caught up with his bills with Robert. He went to talk to Robert. Things heated up, I guess, and Sterling lost it and told him that it didn't matter that he owed him money. Sterling laughed at Robert and told him where the money was coming from. Robert was so upset. He came to me and asked me what I'd been doing. I told him. I explained that Sterling was like a son to me and that I was trying to help him. I got him to calm down after a bit. Sterling had auditioned for a play and had promised to pay me back because he'd gotten the part. Robert was still angry, but not as much. Then this morning I found the letter. I guess he changed his mind."

Michaela was more than confused. This would take some time to digest. Sterling had played poor Paige. He
was
an actor. She felt sorry for the woman on so many levels.

She stood and tried to see if the invoice she'd spotted on Robert's desk was still there. It wasn't. She sighed.

"I'm sorry to have rambled on. I shouldn't have troubled you," Paige said.

"No. Not at all. I'm glad I was here for you." She put a hand on Paige's shoulder.

Paige nodded. Michaela said that she had to go, as she had a riding lesson to give. She walked out of the office, her brain twisted in frustration, for she had no real clue as to what had just taken place, or the significance of any of it. But if working around animals had taught her one thing, it was that trusting your intuition usually meant that you were on the right track.
Her
intuition told her that Sterling Taber had maintained some interesting and complicated relationships, and that more than one person had reasons to want him dead.

MICHAELA NEEDED A BREATHER AND HAD ABOUT an hour before she had to be back home to give a riding lesson to Joe's little girl. Thank God that Joey believed in her innocence and had no plans of removing Gen from the riding center.

She walked down the stalls at the polo field to say hi to Rebel. Someone had moved the horse and at first she couldn't find her. She'd been moved all the way down to the end of the row. The bay mare walked over to her as soon as she called to her from the other side of the barred stall. "Hi, gorgeous, how are you today? Tell you what, I've been better. Why'd they move you down here?"

The horse's ears popped forward and she stared at Michaela as if she were listening intently. The beautiful thing about these animals was that they provided total and complete therapy, and all for no money down. Well, that wasn't entirely true when you broke down board, feed, and training, not to mention show fees, vet bills, horseshoeing bills, etc. No, hardly free, but they were really good listeners.

Michaela opened Rebel's stall door and slid through. She stroked the mare's neck and scratched under her chin, which made her toss her head about. The chin was typically sensitive and the scratching caused Rebel to bare her teeth with her top lip turned up, as if she were smiling or laughing at Michaela. "Oh, so you find my woes amusing. Wish you could talk; bet you know something about all the strangeness that goes on around here."

She continued to pet the horse. She rounded behind the animal and saw that her back leg had been wrapped. That was not unusual. Horses acquired cuts and scrapes at times that caused the grooms to have to treat the superficial wounds and then wrap them to keep the flies away and prevent the area from getting infected.

Michaela noticed that the wrap was partially off. She bent down and rewrapped it, uncovering a fairly deep cut. Looked as if maybe she'd rubbed up against something sharp. Kind of like what had happened with Lance Watkins's dapple gray gelding. Rebel had probably gotten the scrape in the other stall and that was why she'd been moved. Michaela retightened the binding. As she started to stand, something shiny caught her eye. She bent back down and brushed away the shavings to get a better look. She stared for a moment as her mind registered what it was. Then she picked it up. Oh, wow! Someone would be looking for this: a tennis bracelet. Each diamond had to be a carat and had obviously cost someone a lot of money. She started to stand when she heard voices in the corridor.

Juliet Mitchell sat astride her chestnut gelding, and Zach Holden walked next to them. Neither noticed Michaela. "You did good out there," Zach said. "All you need is to relax. He can tell that you're tense." He gave the horse a firm pat on the neck. Michaela was about to step out of the stall and say hello.

"Tense! Of course I'm tense! How the hell could I not be stressed out?"

Michaela shrank back inside the stall. Maybe now wasn't the best time to reveal herself. She'd never heard Juliet so…edgy. The girl was always well mannered, typically soft-spoken, definitely upper crest. It was possible that, like her father, the young woman had a hot temper hidden beneath her polished exterior.

"Think about it, Zach." She slid off her horse. "We have to get that letter out of Sterling's apartment. Do you know if the crime scene tape has come down?"

Oh boy. This was mighty interesting. No way was Michaela going to announce her presence now. What were these two talking about? A letter? What letter? She ducked back down, the bracelet gripped in her hand.

"I don't know why you even sent him that. What was the purpose?"

"Look, I know it was stupid. Really stupid." She started to cry. "I don't even know if it's there anymore. I had to send it to him. I was scared of him and I thought that was the best way to get him to leave me alone. I tried to send an e-mail but I thought a letter would be more final, more to the point. I had no idea it would wind up like this."

"It's okay. I understand. It has to still be at his place. You mailed it on Friday? Maybe he hadn't gotten it by Saturday. Or maybe he didn't read the letter. It might still be in his mailbox."

Michaela watched the two through the stall bars.

"What if the police find it? The things that I wrote in there…it was bad, Zach."

"The police are focused on Michaela Bancroft."

Michaela bit down hard on her lip.

"We both know she didn't do it," Juliet replied.

"But until we get that letter, we have to let the police think what they want. We can't tell them anything. It will ruin your life,
our
life, and so many others in your family."

"It feels wrong."

"I know," Zach said. "But we can't afford not to be protective right now. Not until we know for sure. And then we can decide what to do."

Michaela watched as he pulled Juliet into him. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Juliet nodded. Zach lifted her face up and kissed her. "We'll get through this together."

Get through
what
together?
Michaela had no idea what they were up to. She started to sink down lower in the stall as she saw Zach turn her way.

"I promise it's going to be okay, Jules. Trust me." He smiled and brushed a piece of hair out of her face. She smiled back at him and nodded. "Look, I've got to check on Rebel. One of the grooms said she had a cut on her leg. Hang on. I know she likes to try and pull her wraps off."

Rebel.
Rebel! Oh shit, he was coming into Rebel's stall.
As he approached, Michaela lifted her head. Zach jumped back.

"Oh hey," she said. "Didn't know anyone was here." She knew she didn't sound very convincing. "I came to visit Rebel and saw that she had a gash on her leg. Silly mare had her wrap off. I redid it."

"Oh. Yeah, I was going to check on her. Gosh, we've been here for a little bit." Zach glanced back at Juliet, who had a wide-eyed look on her. "You didn't hear us?"

"No. I didn't. I was bent over treating the horse, and you know, I've been having sinus problems lately. My ears seem clogged. I don't know…" She shrugged. "Maybe allergies." Michaela was fairly certain that neither Zach nor Juliet were buying her story. "I'd better go." She slipped out the stall door. "I've got a lot going on, you know."

"Yeah, sorry about all that. We heard. We know you're not a killer." He frowned.

"No I'm not. You two have a good day." Michaela walked quickly out of there. She knew she wasn't a killer, but after overhearing those two chat, she wasn't so sure that either one of them couldn't have murdered Sterling.

MICHAELA DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF Zach and Juliet's conversation. What were those two hiding? Of all the gall for Zach to say that it was okay for the cops to focus on Michaela when they both knew she hadn't killed Sterling. They were so certain about it, too, and yet they didn't really know her all that well. She was pretty sure that, upon first impression, she didn't come across as a homicidal maniac. But, were they so certain for some
other
reason that she hadn't killed Sterling? Was it because one of
them
had done it? She recalled Juliet stumbling out onto the stage and appearing flushed at the time and apparently not knowing where Sterling was. It had surprised Camden. What did they not know for sure? What did those two have to make decisions about?

One thing was for certain, there was a letter that Juliet Mitchell had written to Sterling Taber and it was damning to her in some way—which meant that Michaela had to find the letter before they did.

She needed to make a stop at the tack shop and see if a new helmet she'd ordered for Gen had arrived. The girl's birthday was only four days away, on Saturday, and she'd promised to get some things together for Joe and Marianne to give Gen. She couldn't let them down. As much as Joe and Marianne had done for her, she had to come through for them. They were like family.

Camden was helping a customer with a pair of boots. Boy, she'd come a long way form the hopeless shopaholic who didn't care much for anything other than designer clothes and cocktails shared with a good-looking guy. She'd always been a good friend to Michaela though, and it was a delight to see her making such positive changes.

She checked the back room and found that the helmet had been delivered, but not the charm that Marianne had asked her to get for Gen. When Camden was finished with her customer, Michaela asked her if she'd signed for any jewelry that might have come in.

"No jewelry. Some clothes, a box of horse wraps, those leg wraps."

"Sports medicine boots?"

"Yeah, the Professional's Choice ones everyone's asking for. How are you today? I tried to get online this morning to see what I could find out about Sterling, but the Internet is down. I called the cable people."

"Thanks. I'm okay. I'm trying to get through this, figure it out. So far, all I can determine is that I'm not the only one who didn't think much of Sterling."

Camden frowned.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to speak badly of him, especially considering the circumstances, and I know you didn't feel that way about him, but try to understand where I'm coming from."

"I know. I do. I'll get online as soon as I can. I've got several things to do around here as well."

"You do what you need to here first. I'm weeding through what I've found out."

She didn't go into what she'd overheard and seen in the past couple of days, because Camden had a propensity to worry, and she had enough on her plate in trying to manage the new store. They'd made the decision to go ahead and open their doors on Monday once the crime scene investigators had cleared the scene, because they didn't really see another option. "How's business so far?"

"Not too bad. I didn't know what to expect after what happened. I think there are some people who have stopped by just to see where a murder took place, but most of the people coming in are buying things. You know who did stop by?"

"Who?"

"That Erin Hornersberg, still as rude as ever. She said that she wanted her makeup brushes. I didn't know what she was talking about. She insisted they were in the storage room, but I checked and didn't see anything. Then she wanted to go back and look herself. At first I wouldn't let her, but finally I went back there with her and stood over her shoulder, but we still didn't find them. She says we'll have to pay for them. She wrote down her address for us to send her a check." Camden handed it to her. "I told her she had to be joking. She says she left four brushes here and she wants more than two hundred dollars for them."

"I don't think so. Give me a break! Since when did makeup brushes cost fifty bucks each?"

"Actually, if you buy the good ones, like the professional ones, they can be expensive."

"Fifty bucks?" Camden nodded. "Like I said, I don't think so. I'll stop by her place and see if we can't work this out. I have a few things to ask her about anyway. Maybe her brushes will turn up."

"She's weird."

Michaela nodded. "Oh, speaking of
lost
. Look what I found in one of the stalls at the polo field." She took the bracelet she'd picked out of Rebel's shavings from her purse.

"Oh my God."

"I know. Someone has to be missing this. Can you post a sign up about it, and place a classified ad or something, maybe even call the police and see if anything like this has been reported missing?"

"Sure. Someone has to be missing it. One of my exes gave me one of those once. They cost thousands."

"That would bum me out, if it was mine. I'll hang on to it, and if anyone calls about it, let me know."

"Well, how do we know if they're telling the truth?" Camden said.

"Good point." Michaela looked it over closely to see if there was any way someone could distinguish it. "The only thing I can think of is to take it down to Ed Mitchell's jewelry store and have them tell me what size the diamonds are, and the clarity. That kind of thing. I'll try and get by there and see what it's worth. Whoever owns it should have all of that information on hand, I would think."