spies and spells 02 - betting off dead (8 page)

“What?” I gripped the driver’s side door handle letting Vinnie know that I was on to him.

“Bird crap on the back side of the handle.” He bent down and rubbed his hand across the grass. “That’s one talented bird with good aim.”

“That was good aim.” I slammed the door when I got in and clenched the steering wheel. “Stop it now,” I whispered. “You are going to have to get over it.”

“Over what?” Mick had jumped into the passenger seat before I could shut my mouth. “What did you say?”

“I. . .a. . .” I turned the key in the ignition and tapped the circuit screen. “Hey, Vinnie. Please give me directions to Churchill Downs,” I said like he was the voice-activated navigation app like the one on phones.

“I would love to give you directions to Churchill Downs, Maggie,” Vinnie quipped back in more of a computer voice.

Mick shook his head. “Abram must really know his cars.”

During our last investigation Abram and Mick had a couple encounters where Abram thought Mick was my boyfriend and Mick thought I was on a date with Abram. It was a big mess in my heart, but only one of them really cared. Abram. I made a mental note that I needed to go see him and explain why I hadn’t shown up for the date my family had set up.

Since he knew I had helped SKUL, he’d understand. At least, I think he would.

“You aren’t getting off that easy by ignoring me.” Mick adjusted the seat belt and gripped the door handle once Vinnie got on the interstate and took off. “What did you mean by getting over it?”

“I thought you might’ve forgotten about that when you started talking about Abram.” I kept my hands on the wheel, pretending to drive.

“I’m a spy. I rarely forget anything.” He put his hand on the dash in front of him. His legs extended. “Whoa. Slow down.”

“You know what, I’m upset that you called me sloppy in front of Burt and Sherry yesterday.” That word had rolled around my head when he said that while I was at SKUL headquarters.

“Oh, Maggie.” His gentle yet nervous laugh rippled through the air. “You can’t tell me that you got lucky on a lot of what you did last time. I mean, you just so happened to get the package out of the bin at Central Park? And you just so happened to be hiding in the Mystic Couture warehouse when I got shot?”

“That was saving your ass, not being sloppy.” I drummed my fingers on the wheel. Vinnie took the exit off the interstate and turned right toward Churchill Downs. “Not to mention that I took you to the hospital after you got shot and saved your life.”

“You mean that you mysteriously got me in your car, even though I’m much bigger than you.” He glanced over. I was aware that his eyes were on me. “And you dumped me at the emergency room doors. You didn’t even go in with me.”

“And? I took you.” Vinnie pulled to a stop once we were in the parking lot. The two white steeples that were the iconic images of the racetrack pointed up to a very dark sky. I rested my hand on the gearshift.

“We need to head over to the stables.” Mick put his hand on top of mine. I inhaled sharply at the contact. My gut dropped. I’d hoped the tingling feelings that I got when I was near him had to do with my life’s journey, but I was starting to think it was more than that. “Thank you for saving my life. I’m not going to lie. When Burt suggested that you replace Sherry, I was a little leery.”

I gulped. I dragged my hand from underneath his.

“SKUL agents go through many years of vigorous training and it takes years to even get to the level to even become a spy for SKUL.” He shook his head and glanced out the window. “It’s just so unlike Burt to go against SKUL policy and let a layperson join only because she can blend in. It’s a little hard to take in and swallow.”

A clap of thunder roared overhead, it was like the sky could feel my insides and was reacting. I understood how he felt, but he didn’t realize that I too had been on a lifelong mission to find out my life’s journey. It didn’t just happen overnight.

Both of us looked out the window.

“You’re silent. Does that mean you are mad?” He adjusted himself in the seat to face me.

“No. I understand, but I’m much smarter than you give me credit for. And you if need me to go through some sort of training, I’m more than happy to do that.” I bit the edges of my lip hoping he’d say no.

“I think that’s a great idea,” he spoke eagerly. “Even if you just take the citizen’s class that’s offered by the police department.”

“Fine. I’ll ask Burt about it.” I would ask Burt about it, but I wasn’t too happy with it. “I told you it was going to rain.” I rubbed my elbow for good measure.

“This isn’t good.” He looked out the windshield. The rain was really coming down in buckets. “They cancelled on me last week when it rained, which happened to be good because that’s the same day we found out that some of these people know Sherry.”

“That was luck,” I lied. Everything happened for a reason in my world and I couldn’t help but think the coven was setting things in motion for me to take my position. “So if you know who is involved, then why didn’t you bring him in for questioning?” I eased my hand in the air and twirled my wrist
, braks, dem, sei, braks,
I repeated twice in my head as Mick talked. A little go away rain spell never hurt anyone.

As I repeated the chant, I vaguely heard Mick mention something that Sherry’s childhood friend was only a bystander and the agency couldn’t risk any sort of notion that Sherry was an agent if the bystander knew her job. He was right. Louisville was big enough for our family to stay hidden, but small enough for us to be in the community. It was a perfect size for our cover and the same would hold true for Sherry.

I’m sure her family, unlike mine, was thrilled that she’d become an agent and let it slip to their friends who told others and the chain went on.

“Huh,” Mick observed the sudden change in the weather. “The rain stopped.” He slid his eyes over to me. “Now that was strange.”

“You know Mother Nature in Kentucky.” I shrugged and put Vinnie in gear. “You never know from one minute to the next if it’s going to rain, sleet, shine, or snow.”

“That’s the truth.” Mick pointed the way for Vinnie to go.

I had to say that I was proud of Vinnie for taking orders from Mick and was going to let the bird poop things slide. I had to take the good with the bad as long as the bad didn’t give our cover away.

“Did you read the file Burt gave you?” Mick asked. His eyes were focused on one of the barns where there was a group of people standing in a circle.

“I did, but it was late.” Crap! I’d totally forgotten about the file. I was so focused on Sherry, Mrs. Hubbard, the Spell Circle and all the other goings-on that I had completely forgotten to look over the file. “Why don’t you tell me in your opinion. You know paperwork doesn’t really explain what is really going on.”

“Good observation.” Mick put my heart in agony every time he looked at me with those big blue eyes. And that widow’s peak that every once in a while showed itself from underneath his hair part teased me.

I loved a man with a good widow’s peak. It was a sign of a strong man. Mick was definitely strong in all areas.

“There are two main players in the sale of horses. The auctioneer and the seller.” He gestured to the barn. “This is a private auction that is invite only with the wealthiest of people in the horse industry. The bald guy over there.” He pointed out the window to a stocky man in a suit with Rayban reflective-lensed sunglasses. Someone I wouldn’t want to get in a rumble with for sure. “That’s Ranger Esposito.”

Ranger Esposito looked like he could put the hammer down and I wouldn’t want to be on his receiving end because I wasn’t sure if my spells could outwit him.

“He is security for these auctions and would know every single person invited. He does all the background checks and even a police check. They also do a check that alerted us to why we needed to investigate. They do an extensive check to see if anyone here has had any relationship working for any government agency. We have an inside informant that said someone in this group of elite horse owners is doping,” he said.

“Doping?” I asked.

“No different from any athlete that uses enhancing drugs to perform better in their sport.” The tension reached his jaw. “If someone is doping one of their horses now in the fall season, they can run these fall races making them favorites by the time the spring meet comes around.”

“And the Derby,” I gasped. The Derby winner was a big deal around these parts. “It not only affects the Derby, but the entire Triple-Crown.”

“You got it. That’s why it’s important that we find out if it’s starting right here on our own soil.” He kept his eyes on the other couples filing in. “Other SKUL agents are on the ground in New York and Maryland.”

“Wow.” I had no idea this was such a serious thing.

“Horse racing is a serious sport and it’s no different than human sports.” He eased back into the seat and placed his hands on his thighs. His eyes looked forward. “Please don’t put yourself in harm.”

“I won’t,” I whispered.

“I’m serious. This is a big case and someone in that crowd is dangerous.” Mick was trying to protect me. My pendant warmed. It was Vinnie. He wanted to let me know that he was the only one to protect me. “If you ever think you are in danger, or you hear anything that makes you stop and think that it doesn’t sound right, don’t hesitate to come to me.”

“I bet he’s dangerous.” I pointed to Ranger. He was looking over the crowd. The lit cigar was nestled in the corner of his mouth. When he spoke to the person who’d walked up to him, he didn’t bother removing it from his lips, he bit down on the end and seemed to talk through his gritted teeth.

“He could be. We don’t know, so that’s why your assignment is to mingle with the wives and try to get us invited to some of these cocktail parties. The only way we’ll really figure out what is going on is to get inside.”

“I can do that.” I knew I could do that.

The Triple-Crown was a prestigious award that started with the Kentucky Derby winner. The winning horse was automatically entered into the Preakness, another popular horse race in Maryland, and if the horse won there, they went on to race at the Belmont Stakes in New York. If the horse won all these races, it was named the Triple-Crown winner. Not only did the winner get a big old trophy, they got a big payday and the horse was put out to stud where his offspring would bring millions.

“That’s Forest and Riley Tucker. Riley Kirkpatrick is her maiden name.” He pointed to the couple. That name sounded familiar. “He is how I got an invitation in.”

I grabbed my red pendant necklace that was dangling on the gearshift and put it on. I rubbed the pad of my finger on it and felt it warm against my chest. Instantly Vinnie started to tell me about the Kirkpatrick family.

“They are the wealthiest horse family in Kentucky. But legitimate.” There didn’t seem to be anything illegal in the search Vinnie did and transported to me.

“Good, you did do some homework last night,” Mick noted. “But the Kirkpatrick family didn’t want Riley to marry Forest because he came from the streets of Louisville, was a troubled teen, but when he met her, he straightened up.”

“He saw a meal ticket.” I watched at Forest took a glass of champagne off the tray from the young woman who was walking around the group of people.

 “I think that Forest has told her they are going to win and he’s involved somehow with the deaths of the other horses, fixing the races.” His eyes lowered. “They are letting the bookies know about their long shot and that’s where they are making their millions.”

“I see.” I watched as Riley ran her long slender hand down the side of a tan horse. She patted its butt before she turned around and I got a good look at her.

There was an inherent strength in her face. Her face was bronzed and I wasn’t sure if it was left over from the summer or if she kept up with her looks by having procedures done. She looked to be around thirty-five and her ginger hair hung below the big hat she was wearing. She had on a modest white sweater that fit her lean body and a pair of brown trouser pants and held brown shoes that were the same brown shade as her pants. Her gold necklace was chunky and matched the bracelet around her wrist. But her diamond ring was modest, which made we wonder if it was from when she got married to Forest and it was all they could afford.

He on the other hand stood around six feet tall. His profile was sharp and confident. When he turned around I could see that his square jaw was visibly tensed and his eyes were focused. There was tension on his face that told me he was stressed about this morning’s situation. He wore a round hat and I was unable to make out his hair or his eyes due to the shadow.

“They finally approved our application a few weeks ago after I had been laying the ground work with Forest over the past three months.” He held up three fingers. He leaned to the side and stuck his hand in his pocket. He held a very large yellow diamond ring in between his fingers. “You are going to have to keep this on at all times during the investigation.”

A gasp escaped me. A smile jelled into my expression of shock.

Even if it was pretend, I got excited. The giddiness shook me to my core. My mouth dried as I tried to swallow Mom’s and Auntie’s words about my feelings about Mick might be more about him and not SKUL. Maybe my life’s journey was more than SKUL. There was a tickling in my mind that my life’s journey was also about Mick.

Mick laughed.

“We don’t leave any stone unturned.” He grabbed my finger and slipped the ring on.

Little displays of fireworks popped around his head. My smile broadened in approval as my heart sang with delight. It was as if I was having déjà vu and this had happened to me before. I felt a warm glow flow through me before it was rudely interrupted by Vinnie’s circuit screen going nuts with flashing lights and beeping noises.

“Darn car.” I tapped the screen with my finger. Vinnie was not happy. “What can I say, it’s an old car.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard you say that a few times.” His jaw clenched, his eyes slightly narrowed. “Anyways, we’ve been married for five years. We met at Bellarmine University where you went to school to be a nurse and I went to school to be a teacher. We were tired of the old humdrum life and got into betting on the ponies. We got lucky and ended up making millions from it. SKUL fixed all the records to prove it and overnight they changed all the paperwork and photos to yours.” He also pulled a photo out of his pants pocket. He handed it to me.