Puss 'N Cahoots

bad when I was a teenager, I would die for it. Nearly did, too—like I said, being a messenger I came close.”
    “Did you sing ‘Nearer, My God, to Thee’?”
    Renata laughed. “Did not.” She lit her cigarette, dragged on it, then said, “Thanks, Harry.”
    “For what?”
    “Taking my mind off this.”
    “It was his time.”
    “You believe that?”
    “I do.”
    “But he was murdered.”
    “It was still his time. That doesn’t mean we don’t try to find the murderer, that we don’t demand justice, but I still believe in the three fates, spinning and snipping.”
    Renata shuddered. “That’s a potent image.”
    “The myths are powerful.”
    “I wasn’t the best student, but acting teaches you things. I remember the three fates; kinda think the Three Witches in
Macbeth
are the Renaissance remake.”
    “I’m sure you know a lot else.” Harry paused. “Taking the sheriff a long time to get here. There must be trees down and wires across the roads and, for all we know, car crashes. A bad night.”
    “Yes.” Renata closed her eyes a moment. “And when he does get here, along with the forensics team and God knows who else in an official capacity no matter how trivial, Queen Esther will be long forgotten. How am I ever going to find my horse?” She stopped abruptly. “You must think I’m awful. A man is dead and I want my horse.”
    “It’s natural. There’s nothing you can do for Jorge. After all, she is your horse and extremely valuable. Who would steal her?”
    “The only person I can think of is Charly Trackwell, that slimy bastard. But Charly is too smart to do something like that. God, I hate him.”
    Harry ignored the personal connection lest Renata let fly another stream of invective. “Charly ever steal other people’s horses?”
    “Not that I know of. He confined himself to money.”
    “For real?”
    “Well, no. He didn’t rob a bank, but he padded his board bills. I know he did, the schmuck. He’d charge me for supplements that weren’t given, tack I didn’t buy. Stuff. Not thousands on one month’s bill. Little bits here and there. Adds up.”
    “You confronted him?”
    “Did. He denied it, of course, but I put every bill in front of him with an inventory of my tack. I also—and he didn’t know this—had blood drawn so if supplements were in my horses’ systems, I’d know. If he’d given them anything, including glucosamine, stuff like that, you know. Anyway, the tests proved they had some supplements perhaps, but not all that he claimed.” She paused. “Hard to pin that on him.”
    “How’d you get blood drawn?”
    “Paid off a groom. Charly always has Mexicans in and out. Carlos is different. That’s his right-hand man. Obviously, I did this behind Carlos’s back, too.”
    “Ah.” Harry’s sense of Renata’s intelligence, cunning even, was deepening.
    “We had a knock-down, drag-out. He swore he didn’t know anything about it. Someone in his stable wasn’t doing the job properly.” She stopped to inhale again. “The kind of bullshit you hear when people try to cover their asses. Enron. Hey, fill in the blank. It’s always the same. But he groveled and we patched it up and he even gave me back what I claimed had been pilfered.”
    “That’s good.”
    “I thought so. But underneath, I didn’t trust him. I always felt he was trolling for another rich client through me, you know, or a very rich wife.” She waved her right hand, cigarette glowing in front of her face, a gesture indicating something had flown away. “I’m over it.” She wasn’t.
    “You think he’ll get even?”
    “He already has. He has my horse, or he knows where Queen Esther is.”
    “He wouldn’t kill her? You know, like Shergar.” She named the famous racehorse who disappeared in the twentieth century, presumably kidnapped for money. No trace of the horse had ever been found.
    “No. Charly loves horses, even if sometimes he’s too harsh for my taste. But then he says to me, ‘A horse that’s woman-broke is no good.’ Pissed me off.”
    “Actually, Renata, there is a scrap of truth to that, whether it’s horses or dogs. Women have a tendency to be too lenient—not every woman but most women. An animal must have consistent discipline, good nutrition, and love, but you can’t leave off the discipline.”
    “You train your horses?”
    “Do. If you ever can, please come visit us. If you come in the fall you can foxhunt.”
    “God, I’d love that.” She