Dark Horse, page 1
DARK HORSE
SEARCH AND RESCUE COZY MYSTERIES, BOOK 10
PATTI BENNING
SUMMER PRESCOTT BOOKS PUBLISHING
Copyright 2024 Summer Prescott Books
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying, or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.
**This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue
Also by Patti Benning
Author’s Note
Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing
CHAPTER ONE
Winters in Michigan were a double-edged sword. They were cold, icy, and dangerous, and they always seemed to linger a little too long before giving way to spring. On the other hand, they could also be breathtakingly beautiful, and today was one of those days. Evelyn Foster was in the car with her sort of, maybe boyfriend, Aidan Morgan. It was the day after a fresh snow, and they had just pulled into a long driveway leading to a horse stable owned by a mutual friend of theirs. The boughs of evergreen trees hung low with the weight of the powdery snow, and in the pastures where the horses hadn’t been let out yet, the snow was an unbroken, pure, glittering expanse under the pale blue sky. Everything was crisp and fresh and perfect for their first real date. Between holiday travel, a power outage, and a murder, this was the first chance either of them had gotten to enjoy the best parts of winter.
“It looks like Sophia wants us to park by the house,” Aidan said as he guided his sedan up the dirt driveway. It had been plowed already, so there was no risk of them getting stuck in the snow. “Look, she’s waving us over.”
Sophia, a middle-aged woman who owned the stable and did most of the work to run it on her own, on top of giving lessons and taking care of the horses her clients boarded there, was standing in front of her house and gesturing to a cleared out parking spot next to her work truck. Aidan pulled in, and Eve unbuckled her seat belt. “She probably just wants to catch up after her trip, but I’ll go see what she wants. She looks a little worried. I hope it’s still okay for us to go ice skating today.”
Much of Sophia’s acreage was forested land cut through with riding trails. One of those trails led to a gorgeous little pond that Sophia allowed volunteers to clear off and use for ice skating. It had been a long time since Eve had gone ice skating, and while her skills were rusty, she knew she would have a lot of fun with Aidan today; even if both of them ended up slipping and falling all over the place, at least they would be laughing.
While Aidan got out of the car, she walked around to the other side to greet Sophia. “Hey, it’s good to see you. How was your trip?”
“Busy, but worth it,” Sophia said. She had spent the last week out of state while a couple of students from one of her classes competed at an event in Wisconsin. It wasn’t easy for her to get away when she had an entire horse ranch to run, but between help from volunteers and hiring on an old stable hand, she had managed. Eve and Aidan had spent an evening helping muck out stalls after work, so she didn’t feel too bad about using her pond for a free Saturday afternoon of ice skating.
“Sorry for making you park over here,” the older woman continued. “I know it’s further from the trails than the parking lot by the barn is, but the police are on their way out, and I don’t want them to block you in.”
Aidan came to stand next to her, the bag with their ice-skating supplies hanging off his shoulder. “Police?” The concern in his voice told Eve he was on the same page she was. “What’s going on?”
Sophia sighed. She looked exhausted, and Eve couldn’t blame her; she had just been gone for a week, and now apparently had a problem she had to deal with right away instead of getting a chance to rest first.
“One of the boarders hasn’t been in to care for his horse all week. He isn’t paying for full board, which means he’s supposed to come out here every day and make sure his horse has fresh water, food, and generally take care of the basic care including exercise and turnout—though we’ll bring all of the horses in if there’s a weather event. He hasn’t been doing any of that. Of course, I told Mark to make sure the horse had what he needed, but that sort of behavior isn’t like my client at all.”
Mark was the stable hand she had hired to keep things running smoothly while she was gone. Eve knew she was planning to keep him on as long as she could afford the expense. Eve had only met him in passing, but he seemed like he knew a lot more about horses than she did.
“Do you think your client abandoned his horse?” she asked.
Sophia shook her head. “No. He’s a local, so it’s possible you know him; his name is Victor Thompson. He’s been a regular at this stable for years. His old horse retired about six months ago, and he recently got another one, a very expensive dressage horse. I’ve been trying to get in touch with him all week, and I haven’t been able to reach him. The number he left as his emergency contact is out of service, so the police are my last option. I don’t know what else to do. At first, I was just irritated that he wasn’t taking care of his horse, but it’s been nearly a week, and now I’m getting worried.”
“Hopefully he’s okay and he’s just in the hospital with a broken arm or something,” Eve said. She tried to imagine what might keep her from caring for her own animals, two German Shepherds named Atlas and Willow, and couldn’t think of anything else. An unexpected hospital stay was the best scenario she could come up with. “Is it not a good day for us to go ice skating? It sounds like you’re dealing with a lot.”
The older woman shook her head. “You two go and have fun. There’s nothing you could do to help anyway, and you won’t bother the police all the way out at the pond. You enjoy yourselves, don’t worry about me.”
They offered their help if Sophia ended up thinking of anything they could do, and after a final goodbye, they started walking toward the trails. Eve knew where the little pond was, but she had only been there in the summer; she had yet to see it frozen over in the winter. It was a bit of a walk, about twenty minutes from the trailhead, but like usual when she was with Aidan, the time went by in a flash.
They spent most of the walk talking about Victor Thompson, who neither of them knew. His name wasn’t unique enough for it to stand out to Eve, so there was every possibility that he was a client at the dental clinic she worked at, but she had no hope of placing his face or remembering if she had seen him around town recently.
The mystery of the missing man put a dampener on their outing, but as soon as they reached the pond, their spirits soared. There was a light dusting of snow on the ice, but a few push brooms were waiting in a rickety lean-to that had been built near the pond. There was a mostly clear spot of ground under a weeping willow near the pond, and it was there that they left their bag and changed out of their boots. Some sort of vehicle had left tracks in the dirt before the mud turned to ice, and she wondered what else this pond offered. Was it clean enough to swim in, during the summer? That might make a fun break after a dog training session. She would have to ask later.
After strapping their skates on, they got to work clearing the fresh snow from the pond’s surface. The ice wasn’t as smooth as it would be in an indoor skating rink, but it was in decent condition overall, and it was thick enough that she wasn’t worried about falling through. The weather had been well below freezing for nearly a week now, after a brief thaw that had felt almost like spring, and being able to safely ice skate outdoors was one of the only benefits of the cold temperatures. As soon as the snow was cleared, they relaxed and started to have fun, skating in circles around the pond that were unsteady at first but quickly began to get more and more confident. Maybe a little too confident. When Aidan slipped and fell, Eve skated over to attempt to help him up, but ended up falling too. They looked at each other, then burst out laughing, and Eve lay back on the ice, gazing up at the sky where it was visible through the snow-covered trees that surrounded them.
“This is perfect,” she breathed, her breath steaming in front of her face. “Thanks for inviting me out here, Aidan.”
“I’m glad you’re having fun,” he said, settling into a seated position beside her. “It might not be a ritzy date, but I’ll take you on one of those later.” He paused. “Of course, I don’t mean to assume you want to keep seeing each other like this. I value your friendship a lot, and if you’d rather not add romance into it, I’ll understand.”
She sat up before the remnants of the snow could melt through her coat. “I like you a lot,” she admitted, feeling her cheeks heat up and glad that the cold was a good disguise for her blush. “It’s been a long time since I’ve dated, but I think I’m ready to get ba
“I’ve never liked casual dating,” he admitted. “If we’re going to do this, I’d want to be serious about it.” He got to his feet, more graceful than she was on the ice, and held his hand out to her. “What do you say, Eve? Will you be my girlfriend?”
She grinned, certain that her stomach had just spawned an entire flock of butterflies. Taking his hand, she got to her own feet, wobbly on her skates. “Yes, Aidan, I would be thrilled to be your girlfriend.”
This time when they kissed, there was no mistletoe above them and no Alice to interrupt them with a thrilled squeal. When it ended, Eve was left breathless and dizzy—in a good way. Grinning, she let go of Aidan’s hand and began to skate backwards slowly. Yes, she was rusty, but she had taken ice skating lessons back in high school. That might be almost half a lifetime ago, but it was like riding a bike, right?
She tried to turn and one of her feet slipped out from under her. She went down again, wincing as her rear struck the ice.
“Are you all right?” Aidan asked, skating over to her.
“Yeah, I guess I was getting too big for my britches,” she said, turning over on her hands and knees to begin getting up.
Before she could get her skates under her, she froze, her entire body locking up as if she was stuck in a vise.
“Eve? Are you hurt?”
She didn’t answer Aidan, unable to tear her eyes away from the ice beneath her hands. The ice that held a frozen face. A man’s face, with his wide blue eyes staring back up at her.
CHAPTER TWO
“I think we found Sophia’s missing client.”
Even though the words came out of her mouth, she felt like she was hearing them from far away. Aidan rushed over and dropped to his knees beside her, wiping at the ice with his coat sleeve. “Whoa,” he muttered. “He must have been here for a while. We’ve got to go back to the stable and tell the police.”
Nodding mutely, Eve sat down so she could take her skates off. Aidan did the same, then helped her up. Rising to her feet, she looked down at the body in the ice one last time. She didn’t know if this was Victor, but who else could it be? He had dark hair, blue eyes, and a terrified expression on his face that she tried not to look at too closely. Had he drowned in this pond, or had someone killed him and hidden his body in it?
“Let’s go,” she muttered. Aidan took her hand, and they picked their way back across the ice to where he had left their bag of supplies. After putting their skates back in it, he hitched it over his shoulder and they hurried back up the snowy bank to the trail.
The walk back to the trailhead was a quiet one. Try as she might, Eve just couldn’t figure out how that man had ended up dead and frozen beneath the ice. Had he tried to walk on the frozen pond during the thaw? That was the only answer she could think of, but the pond was shallow enough that he should have been able to touch the bottom if he fell in.
They reached the tree line and hurried up to the stable. Eve spotted a police cruiser sitting in the parking lot, and was glad the authorities were already here, at the very least. They wouldn’t have to call and then sit around waiting for them to arrive. Waiting was one of the hardest parts of something like this.
Sophia was the first one to spot them from where she was chatting to the deputy near the open stable door. She raised her hand in an uncertain wave, and the deputy — Deputy Hubble, whom Eve had met a few times before—turned around to watch them approach.
“Was everything all right out at the pond?” Sophia called out. “You two weren’t out there very long.”
“No,” Eve said. She hesitated, coming to a stop a few feet away from them. Past them, through the open door to the stable, she saw Mark the stable hand grooming one of the horses. Another person, a riding instructor who contracted out of the stable who Eve thought was named Lisa, was in a stall with her horse, braiding its mane. She felt suddenly suspicious. Had the man been murdered? If so, anyone here could be a suspect. While Sophia’s property was technically private property, she ran a business and always had people coming and going.
“What happened?” the older woman asked. “Did one of you get hurt?”
“No, we’re fine,” Eva assured her. “It’s ... well, we found a body. A man, dark hair, blue eyes. I think it might be–”
“Victor,” Sophia breathed, pressing her fingers to her lips in horror.
Deputy Hubble frowned, all of his attention suddenly on her. “You’re not pulling our legs, are you? Where did you find this man?”
“We can show you,” Eve said. She turned to point toward the woods and realized her hand was shaking. “He’s at the pond. It takes about twenty minutes to get there, less if you hurry.”
“I’ll go with them,” Aidan said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You stay here and get warmed up. There’s no reason for both of us to walk back there. I’ll leave the skates with you.”
“Are you sure?” Eve asked, feeling terrible at the thought of him having to make that walk back alone. Well, with the deputy and Sophia.
“I’m sure,” he said.
“We don’t have to walk,” Sophia said. “I’ve got a four-wheeler somewhere – I told Mark he could use it to help him get around the property more quickly, so I’ll have to ask him where it is, but it can take both me and the deputy out there. I don’t need either of you to lead the way, I know where the pond is.”
“You’re sure about what you saw?” Deputy Hubble asked. They both nodded and he sighed. “I’ll radio the sheriff before we head out. You two stick around. I’m not sure what’s going on, but we might need to ask you some questions.”
Once the sheriff had been notified, Sophia and Deputy Hubble set off to retrieve the four-wheeler where Mark had left it near the stable. It had a little cart on the back that Sophia had to unhook – Eve wished she had known about it before, because it would have made it a lot easier to move around some of the wood shavings and hay that she had been tasked with moving in the past. They left for the trail to the pond, leaving her and Aidan alone. Eve wasn’t sure where they should wait. She didn’t want to invite herself into Sophia’s house, though the older woman had said she was welcome to use the restroom in there anytime she wanted so she probably wouldn’t mind. Instead, she and Aidan decided to wait inside the stable. It wasn’t heated, but it was much warmer than it was outside with the added benefit of being full of cute horses.
Mark, who was still grooming the horse further down the aisle, ignored them, but the woman, Lisa, peered at them over the stall door. “Pardon me, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but did you say you found a body? Like, a dead body? A human body?”
Eve exchanged a glance with Aidan. “I’m not sure how much we should say,” he hedged. “The police haven’t even gotten a chance to investigate yet.”
“If something’s going on, I think the people who work here and board horses here deserve to know about it,” Lisa replied. She patted her horse, a beautiful dark bay, on the neck then slipped out of the stall, taking care to latch it behind her. “Is this about Victor?”
“Did you know Victor?” Eve asked.
“Of course I did. Anyone who’s been here for more than a few weeks knows everyone else.” She turned to look over her shoulder. “Hey, Mark, come on, get over here. They know what happened to Victor.”
Mark looked up, his eyes narrowing. He looked about her and Aidan’s age, but his surly expression and his sun-weathered face gave him the initial appearance of someone older.
“What are you talking about?” he called back, patting the horse’s shoulder to soothe it as he raised his voice.
“They found a body out by the pond.”
His expression barely changing, Mark gave the horse one final pat then dropped the curry comb he had been using on it into a bucket full of grooming tools and strode over to them. He walked with a limp, and glared at Eve when he saw that she had noticed.
