spies and spells 02 - betting off dead (15 page)

“I think so.” He straightened up and rubbed his hand down my back. “Everyone is keeping a close eye on us. The men have been called to the theater room in the basement to talk about Rails and Nails and the Byrds’ role with him as the Derby contender for the spring.”

My heart flipped again and again. It was proving to be a staggering challenge being so near to him and very hard for me to concentrate on his words.

“You mean they’ve already picked him?” I was a little taken aback. “You said they had a couple of auctions to go.”

“I guess Rails and Nails was the guy.” He shrugged. “I’m curious to see how much stake all of us get to claim versus how much the Byrds get. I’m more curious to see what the training schedule is going to be. That’s where we are going to see him getting stronger and when the doping will probably take place.”

I nodded my head. He brought his face toward me and put his nose up to my ear. I found him disturbingly attractive and it was hard to concentrate on my job.

“They are watching our every move,” his voice seductively passed through my ear and oozed into my veins.

“I know they are.” I turned my head toward him. Our lips inches apart.

His lips thinned. His eyes probed my soul.

“Mick, dude. Can’t the two of you keep your hands off of each other for a couple of hours?” Forest had popped his head out of the door. “It’s time to head downstairs.”

Mick laughed. He gave me one last knowing look before he headed on inside and I followed him.

Like the good wife role I was playing, I went into the kitchen where the women had gathered. Different conversations were going on at once and it was hard for me to clear my head and eavesdrop as I was being paid to do.

It was easy to pick out the voices of Amber and Riley since my ear had already been trained on them. They were tucked in the butler’s pantry away from the other women.

Riley seemed to be a little distressed.

“Why did you invite her?” Riley sounded as if she were in tears.

“Joel said it would be good for the society papers if we rubbed elbows with them.” Amber tried to reason with a very upset Riley.

“They’ve never come to our group parties before and she doesn’t fit in.” Riley had suddenly found her voice. “She’s not fitting in very well.”

Were they talking about me? My ears perked up.

“I don’t know what to tell you. If the shoe were on the other foot and Forest told you to invite them, you’d have been all over it,” Amber whispered and she stuck her head out of the pantry.

Her eyes drew to mine. She smiled.

“There you are.” She stepped out of the pantry with Riley following her. There wasn’t a smile on Riley’s face. She stole away into the powder room off the pantry. “Where did you go?”

“I was checking out the amazing moon from your deck.” I generated a smile even though I knew she’d just been talking about me.

How on Earth was I going to explain to Mick that we weren’t invited to something because Riley didn’t like me. That would definitely blow our cover.

Amber’s attention was hailed down by an older woman with a short blond bob hairstyle that was asymmetrical hitting at her chin line. She dripped in jewels.  She smelled just like money. I had to figure out just how I was going to get back in Riley’s good graces now that she seemed to have picked Amber as her best friend after seeing Amber’s house.

I grabbed a glass of bourbon on my way out of the kitchen and went back outside on the deck hoping the fresh night air would swirl around me, bringing me fresh ideas.

The rustle of leaves and a shadowy figure caught my attention as soon as I made my way over to the edge of the deck. I glanced through the wooded area as the sound of light footsteps made off in the distance. The light from the bulb above the barn skewed as the door swept over its light.

I pushed my hair back and glanced over my shoulder to see if anyone was looking at me or if they were just watching Mick, after all, he did say they were watching us and using a little witchy magic probably wasn’t the best thing. I set my glass down on the deck railing.

Before I did anything that wasn’t of the mortal world, I ran my finger over my pendant and it didn’t warm. Vinnie hadn’t responded with it warming, making me feel a little better investigating what was going on down at the barn.

I sucked in a deep breath and let the clean, crisp fall air fill my lungs before I puffed out my checks to make a streamlined breeze that transported me to the side of the barn.

The lights of the house flickered through the bare tree limbs. That same cloud eased by the moon, shielding any small amount of light that showed my way. I put my hand up to my pendant and nothing. Even though my mind told me everything was fine and proceed to check out the barn, my gut told me danger lay ahead.

With the barn door slightly ajar, I took a peek inside. There were only two stalls that ran along each side of the barn. The one on the right was empty and the one on the left was occupied by Rails and Nails.

He brayed as he sent his head over the stall door and turned to stare at me. He stared at me before lifting his nose in the air, braying and shaking his head back to its normal position. There was another door on the far side of the barn that was cracked and I couldn’t help but wonder if the shadowy figure I saw walked into the barn and through that door.

Rails and Nails was batting the stall door with his hoof. I stepped inside. My heart drummed against my chest from the uncertainty of who I might find in here. I wasn’t supposed to be in there and how would I explain it if I got caught.

Rails and Nails seemed to beckon me like he had his own agenda or spell for me. Puffs of dry dirt clouded around my feet as I walked inside. Slowly I opened the stall door. Rails and Nails backed up, letting me know it was safe to come inside.

I shut the door behind me. The horse stepped up as if he were in high heels. The new shiny horseshoes sparkled underneath his muscled legs. I ran my hand along his side up toward his face and rested on the bridle that smelled of new leather. The brass nameplate proudly had Rails and Nails stamped into it.

His nose continued to bat at my chest as if he were trying to tell me something. This was the second time I’d wished my mom were here to see what he was trying to tell me. Again, I put my hand up to my pendant and nothing happened.

“Everything is fine.” I ran my hand along his nose. “I think Amber and Joel are good people.”

I did. I hadn’t gotten any bad vibes about them and I wondered if Amber even knew the extent of the group they’d joined. I heard the sound of a car door slam. The sound of a metal ramp clinked as if someone was resting on the ground. A bright light shined through the crack of the back door.

Rails and Nails began to prance around the large stall in a nervous rage. His head bucking, his nose flaring as puffs of air expelled into the cold air around us. He drew his front legs up and pawed at the dirt.

“I think the faster the better.” The voice caught me off guard. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I heard the door creak open and footsteps walked across the barn’s dirt floor. Two headlights glittered through the dust inside the barn.

I scurried around the stall. Rails and Nails raised all sort of ruckus allowing me to take shelter under a stack of horse blankets that were stacked in the corner.

I put my ears on high alert to see if I recognized the voices. There were two sets as well as two sets of footsteps. One was heavier than the other.

“I think you are right.” The other voice was a woman’s that I didn’t recognize. I touched the pendant to let it record the conversation.

“We need to get a move on now.” The male’s voice was vaguely familiar. The stall door opened. “Here, boy.”

I peeked out the blanket. Rails and Nails looked back at me. Our eyes met. The sound of metal clipping onto something brought my eyes up to his bridle. The male was stocky and bald.

My heart sank. My eyes focused on the man that had turned around. It was Ranger Esposito.

“Come on, big guy.” Ranger clicked his tongue in his mouth to get Rails and Nails to move.

Where was he going? Where was he taking Rails and Nails?

There was no time to run back up to the house. There was no time to see if anyone was watching. I simply nodded my head and put myself in the stairway of the Byrds’ basement stairs next to the theater. I had to get Mick’s attention.

My pendant didn’t go off, but my internal witchy senses told me something bad was about to happen.

The voices of the men were talking over one another as one spouted off what was best for Rails and Nails’s training schedule.

“Psst,” I called when I peeked my head around the corner of the doorway. I was glad to see Mick was standing up against the wall, facing me. He lifted off using his back muscles when he saw me. I waved him over.

His eyes shifted around the room and made sure it was clear to move. With ease, he walked over to the bowl of nuts that was sitting on the bar and grabbed a handful before he nonchalantly moseyed over to the doorway and propped himself up on the wall.

“Something is wrong,” I whispered. “They are taking Rails and Nails. I saw it.”

Mick rolled his body toward the door and curled around the corner.

“What?” His eyes searched mine.

“I went to the barn and was petting Rails and Nails. Ranger, the bald guy from the auction came in and took him. I swear they were loading him up in a horse trailer.” It dawned on me that the sound of the metal ramp had to be a horse trailer.

Mick jutted up the stairs and I followed closely behind. The moon had been completely covered by the cloud by the time we’d made it out and rushed down the three decks. Using the light bulb over the barn door, Mick weaved in and out of the wooded brush as I let my legs float in the air and glided behind him without him knowing. Running really wasn’t my thing.

As soon as we made it to the clearing, the flash of a horse trailer’s taillights glowed in the distance before disappearing around the curve of the country road.

“Oh no.” A flicker of apprehension coursed through me. The sound of a zipper rang in my ears. I grabbed Mick and threw him out of the way. We sailed through the air right as the roof of the barn exploded into thousands of pieces lighting up the night sky.

Chapter Seventeen

“Tell me exactly what happened last night.” Burt sat on the edge of his desk with Sherry next to him. His arms crossed over his chest. Mick sat in the chair next to me.

Burt had called us to come in at five o’clock in the morning. Vinnie and I drove with our eyes closed. I was getting used to not waking up so early like I had to when I worked at the diner.

“I told you.” I started my story over for the umpteenth time. “The women were in the kitchen discussing their clothes and I happened to be outside enjoying the night air when I noticed a shadowy figure heading out to the barn. I was bored and figured I’d go check it out.”

“I told you she couldn’t just play the part.” Sherry cocked a brow. “She doesn’t just want to blend in anymore.”

“You talk about me as if I’m not here.” I shot back at her.

“Maggie, please. Just tell the story.” Burt was much better than I was at ignoring Sherry’s underhanded comments.

I continued to tell him the exact same story as if he thought I was going to change it or have any more clues.

An agent knocked on the door of the office and Burt waved him in.

“Sir, the fire chief ruled the explosion as arson.” The agent handed Burt a file and a large blue zip bag. “We have the scene cleaned up. Unfortunately, the bag contains what little remains of Rails and Nails that was recovered from the stall and also Agent Esposito’s remains.” The agent went back to the door and before he walked out he said, “Sir, the Natural Preserve of Wildlife is outside. They are here to discuss evidence of an very rare and powerful owl that has been seen in two separate parts of Louisville.”

Mick looked at me with a sly eye. I gulped. Then it registered what the young agent just said about Ranger.

“Agent Esposito as in Ranger?” My lashes flew up my cheeks as the shock of discovering that Ranger was an undercover agent hit me full force. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You only need to know your role in the investigation. That role is to play Mick’s wife so you can rub elbows with the women and get him into the men’s circle.” Burt looked through the bag. He pulled out a bag that had
EVIDENCE
printed in bold lettering across it. “It might be a good thing that you didn’t stay put because now we have an agent killer on our hands. You might’ve seen more than you know.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I told you everything I know.” I continued to replay the memory. “I didn’t see the woman and when I left the women in the house, all the wives were accounted for.”

“This means there is an outside couple that didn’t come.” Sherry noted. She picked up the phone. “I need you to get me the list of everyone who was invited to the Byrds’ party and we can compare it to the list that is going to the Tuckers’ shindig.”

“Shindig?” I asked.

“Your next assignment for the case.” Burt dragged a file off his desk with his empty hand. When he handed it to me, I noticed the horse bridle in his other hand in the bag. The brass tag was pushed up against it and it read Rails and Nails.

“Wait.” My eyes narrowed on the bag. “Rails and Nails?” The words stabbed me in the gut to even think the horse had died too.

“I’m afraid the only remains found in the stall was this and the shoes.” He took another evidence bag out of the big blue bag.

My heart sank. Rails and Nails was trying to tell me something and I wasn’t listening. I was too busy trying to play detective that I let down my life’s journey.

“Are you okay?” Mick leaned over as Burt and Sherry dismissed themselves and went over the evidence.

“I’m fine.” I shook my head. I glanced up at Sherry. “It’s early and if she’s not at The Brew, then I need to go and help Auntie Meme out today.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Mick’s voice was sympathetic. “You’ve been through a lot for someone who isn’t used to this line of work. We lost a good agent last night.”