Just Horsing Around

Chapter 11

When I got off the phone, the three of us stood there in silence. We knew not to touch anything.

“Do you think he was murdered?” Sophie finally asked. I nodded, motioning to where a tiny bit of blood had pooled behind his head.

“Yeah, look at that. Something hit him in the head, and if he just passed out and hit his head on the counter or something, that would be covered in blood. I’ve watched enough CSI to know that’s a murder.”

“Well I guess we can rule him out as Caroline Gibson’s murderer then,” Sophie said, slowly. “Although I’ll still wait for the actual professionals to declare it a murder, as much as I trust your credentials as a person who watches a lot of CSI.”

“I think we should go wait for the cops outside,” Charlotte finally said, and the three of us made our way onto the front porch. It was strange, going back out into the sunny world, knowing there was a dead body only a few feet away. And unlike when I’d found Tony Nyman’s body in my vet clinic a few months earlier, I had known Corey. I’d spent some time with him, and he was a nice guy, even though up until a few minutes ago I also thought he was a murderer.

I found myself strangely moved by his death, and I sat down on the porch steps to collect my thoughts while I waited for the cops to arrive. Sophie, noticing my melancholy, sat down next to me and draped her arm over my shoulder while we waited.

About ten minutes later an ambulance arrived, as did the coroner and Chief Hawthorne.

“Seems every time a body pops up around here you’re involved,” he said as he waddled up to where I was sitting.

“Yeah, she’s a master criminal who murdered a guy then called the cops herself. Great deduction there, Sherlock,” Sophie snapped at him, the filter on her mouth decidedly turned to “off” today.

“It’s ok, Sophie, relax,” I murmured as Hawthorne looked her up and down, leering at her in a way that made me want to throw up. Sophie, to her credit, just glared a look at Hawthorne that I didn’t want to be on the other end of.

“You better watch your mouth, girlie,” he told her, “Or I’m gonna have to arrest you, and believe me, I’d really enjoy putting handcuffs on you.”

Sophie shuddered in disgust. “I guess unwillingly is the only way you get girls to touch you,” she replied, and I closed my eyes and shook my head. Sophie really didn’t know when to stop.

Hawthorne grunted and looked like he was about to arrest her when one of his cops came running out of the house.

“Chief, where are you? We need you in here, this is almost certainly another murder.”

“I’ll be back, don’t you move from here,” Hawthorne grunted before following the other cop into the house.

“I knew you said he was disgusting, but boy was that a whole other level,” Sophie said, shaking her head.

“Seriously, you’re going to get arrested if you keep mouthing off to him,” I told her. “Just say as little to him as possible, I find that’s the best way to get away from him quickly.”

We looked over to where Charlotte was talking to one of the other officers. “Let’s go over there,” I continued. “If we can get someone else to take our statements, maybe we can get out of here before we have to see him again.”

Sure enough, the other police officer was taking Charlotte’s statement. “If the two of you want to speak to those two officers over there, they’ll be happy to take your statements as well,” he told us, motioning to two men who were busy setting up the yellow police tape cordon along the edge of the property.

“I get the one on the left,” Sophie said. “He’s hotter.”

“You have a boyfriend!” I reminded her.

“I’m just going to look at the goods, not sample them,” she replied, rolling her eyes. I sighed and went over to the other guy, one of those men that you just know coaches both his kids’ soccer teams, whose wife volunteers for everything, and whose kids are straight A students who play soccer, do gymnastics and swimming. He was in his late 30s, maybe early 40s, with just a sliver of grey beginning to show at his temples, and that authoritarian look that said he was stern, but also approachable. When he saw Sophie and I coming, he quickly finished up what he was doing and gave us his full attention.

“What can I help you with, ladies?” he asked.

“That man over there,” I said, motioning to the cop talking to Charlotte, “told us to come here and that you and your colleague could take our statements.”

“Of course,” he said. “Let me get out my notebook and I’ll be right with you.”

Sophie hung around the other guy, so that I ended up speaking with the firm but fair parent type.

We went through the usual introductions, I found out his name was Officer Lindmark, and he began to take down my account of what had happened that night.

About ten minutes in, however, a late-model white Lexus SUV pulled up in front of the house, tires squealing. I looked up in surprise and saw Ellie jump out of the drivers’ seat, practically screaming.

“No! No, you arrested him, didn’t you? You animals, Corey’s innocent! Corey! I love you! I know you didn’t do it!” she screamed as two other officers grabbed her before she reached the yellow cordon and took her aside. I didn’t hear them say the words, but I knew what she’d been told as soon as the wailing began.

“No! Corey! No, no, no! This can’t be happening. Corey, I love you so much! Come out here and see me, Corey! Come on out! Please! Come out and see your Ellie! Please!”

She broke down into incoherent sobbing and my heart went out to the poor girl who’d lost her mother and her boyfriend over the course of just a few days. Eventually the paramedics who had shown up took care of her, giving Ellie a sedative and loading her up into the ambulance; I figured she’d be spending the night at the hospital. Poor girl.

As we drove home, Charlotte said what I knew we were all thinking.

“So if Corey wasn’t the murderer, who was?”

Wasn’t that the million dollar question?

“I have no idea,” Sophie replied. “We’re really back to step one.”

“I agree,” I said. “I’d have to say Tony is the only other person who obviously had problems with Caroline Gibson, and seemed vocal about it.”

“Can we eliminate Ellie from suspicion now?” Sophie asked. “After all, I could see her wanting to whack her mom for stopping her from being with her boyfriend, but she had no reason to kill Corey whatsoever.”

I nodded. “For sure. I never liked Ellie as a suspect to begin with. She’s a very sweet girl. A little bit naïve, and immature for her age, but definitely a good kid. Plus, we all saw what she was like over there. She was totally distraught.”

“It could all be acting,” Charlotte offered, “but I tend to agree. I don’t think she’s the one who killed Corey, or her mother. For the same reason Sophie thinks. She might have had a motive to kill her mom, but now that motive has turned up dead. No, she wouldn’t have killed them both.”

“Who else are the suspects again?” Sophie asked. I rattled them off on my fingers.

“There’s Susan, the housekeeper. I honestly didn’t really think of her as a suspect. She seemed like just an efficient woman, but she definitely was different after Caroline Gibson was killed. I don’t know if she’s just sensitive or what, but she didn’t really give off that impression. So who knows. Then there’s Philippe, the trainer. He seems to really not care about Caroline Gibson one way or the other. Said he’s had way worse bosses than her, and given what I’ve heard about horse racing people, I can definitely believe it. There’s also Tony, the jockey. He definitely hated Caroline. Granted, I haven’t exactly seen a lot of murder victims, but he was downright mean to her while standing over her corpse. It takes a certain kind of person to do that; I didn’t like her at all but even I would have never, ever said anything like what he did, especially not while standing over her body. And then there’s Polly, Caroline Gibson’s best friend. I get the feeling she’s the type who’s always happy playing second fiddle to the star, who in this case was Caroline. The type of friend whose generosity is taken advantage of, but who doesn’t really mind. I can’t really see her killing Caroline, to be honest. It was obvious when I met her that they were really good friends, and as far as I know she was in the house when Caroline was killed.”

“I think we should focus on Tony,” Sophie announced. “None of the others seem to really have anything against Caroline. That’s what made me so sure it had been Corey; he really had a reason to dislike her.”

“Agreed,” I replied as we pulled into our home back in Willow Bay. “I think he’s now the strongest suspect.”

“We have to figure out where he was last night, that’ll be the best way to figure out if he did it. If he has a good alibi, well, we know it wasn’t him. If he doesn’t, well we can keep investigating.”

“Ok, but can we get started on that tomorrow?” Charlotte asked. “This has been a pretty big day, and I am dead tired. I’m going to bed.”

As she yawned loudly, I realized just how exhausted I was as well. Who knew spending the afternoon as a bird and finding a dead body in the evening could be so tiring?