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he's sick right now. The vet's coming out this afternoon to look at
him. Stallions can be contrary animals.
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Especially if you don't know what you're doing around them. "
"So what was I doing in the barn? I don't know anything about horses."
He wished he understood the workings of her mind. How could she know
that but not remember going into the barn? Had someone lured her out
there?
Adam checked his rearview mirror. Sleet pelted the truck, reducing
visibility. There was one vehicle behind him on the otherwise empty
road, but it looked like one of Hank's red work trucks. Adam couldn't
be sure, and frankly he didn't care as long as there was no sign of the
big black truck.
He was probably letting his imagination run wild. Josy must have gone
to the barn for a reason. Brug knew to watch for trouble. He would
have said if someone else had been on the grounds.
"I feel funny," Josy said, breaking into his thoughts.
"Are you sick?" Adam asked quickly.
"No, not sick, just... I feel fragile. Like my head might fall off if
I move too fast."
Adam increased his speed. The roads weren't bad yet despite the
reduced visibility. Fat white snowflakes began mixing with the
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sleet.
He'd take snow over ice any day.
"Try not to move around. We'll be at Luke's place in a few minutes.
He's got an impressive operation in one wing of his house. He even has
his own lab and X-ray equipment. We're a good distance from the
nearest hospital, so Luke is set up to treat just about anything. He
even has a helicopter pad for emergencies. Not that you're an
emergency," he hastened to assure her.
"Uh-huh. That's why you bundled me into the car so fast."
"Hey, I just" -- "Don't worry, Adam. I don't need to be placated. My
head's harder than it feels at the moment."
"I wasn't trying to placate you. Taking you to see Luke is to placate
me."
Josy fell silent. Adam darted periodic glances in her direction to
make sure she didn't fall asleep. Josy stared out the window, but she
didn't close her eyes. He guessed she was trying to reconstruct the
morning's events.
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Thankfully, Luke's parking lot was pretty empty. His plump wife,
Tracy, led them straight back to an examining room, but then shooed
Adam out to the waiting room when he would have stayed with Josy.
"It's okay," Josy offered on his behalf.
"He can wait outside until Luke tells him different," Tracy decided.
She leveled Adam with a practiced look guaranteed to inspire
obedience.
Instead of pacing the cluttered waiting room, Adam went to the truck
and called the house. Martha answered on the first ring. "Brug told
me what happened. Who would have thought she'd be foolish enough to
open Harry's stall? I just sent her out with a thermos of coffee while
the kids were doing their chores." Well, that explained Josy's
presence in the barn.
"The girls are worried."
"Tell them she'll be fine, Martha. I wanted Luke to check her over as
a precaution. We should be back shortly. Is Brug nearby?"
"Underfoot as usual," she groused good-naturedly.
"I'll get him for you."
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"Adam?" Brug questioned in his ear after a brief pause.
"Yeah.
Listen, I want you to go outside and have another look around. Don't
Spock Martha or the kids, but I want to make sure there was no one else
in that barn this morning. "
He sensed Brug's surprise, but the other man responded cautiously since
Martha, and probably the girls, was right there.
"A fuse went bad, Adam, but I'll have a look around."
"Thanks. We should be back shortly."
Adam clicked off and placed another call to the investigator who'd
originally located Josy for him. Ned Pohl and his partner ran their
firm out of Cheyenne. They specialized in missing persons. He'd
already talked to Ned earlier that morning to ask that they continue
the search for Josy's mother.
"Hey, Adam," Ned greeted, "I know we're good, but even we aren't this
good. I don't have anything for you yet."
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"You're slipping, pal. Listen, Ned, I've got something else. Josy was
injured this morning. It isn't serious and it looks like an accident,
but I've been thinking. Have someone in Reno run a check on
Pandergarten for me, okay?"
Ned's voice raised an octave.
"The casino owner?"
"Yeah. I want to know if Josy's mother owes him more money, or if Josy
had some other connection to him beside the one through her mother." A
chain-smoker, Ned drew hard on one of his constant cigarettes. Adam
could almost see him expel a stream of smoke before he replied.
"That'll be tricky, Adam. The owners don't exactly broadcast who owes [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]