The Black Sheep and the Hidden Beauty. Donna Kauffman

surfaced to say otherwise.” Kate looked at Mac, then back at Rafe. “I’m usually a pretty good judge of people. She’s a hard worker, a self-starter, and better with horses than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

      “You also think she’s too good to be true. Your instincts are good ones, Kate—don’t ignore them.”

      “You know there are a million reasons why she might have wanted to get away from that facility with her horse when she did. As I said, it’s a big operation and she was one of many junior trainers trying to get a leg up and not succeeding as well as she’d hoped. Who knows what else may have added to her decision to leave when she did. Maybe there was harassment, maybe she was involved with someone and it didn’t work out. Or maybe it’s just what she said it was—a dead-end job, and she had a horse who could use some peace and quiet for a while. If a surprised look about her vet showing up unannounced is all you’re going on, then I’d have to say—”

      “You don’t think it’s odd she didn’t mention the problem pregnancy when she took the job?”

      “Not really. Maybe she didn’t want to hurt her chances by making me worry she was bringing in a potential problem. She’d already missed out on her last job opportunity. Maybe that was why she was surprised to see her vet. She’d told me she had an old family friend who would take care of her horse, but nothing about there being a problem. Maybe that look you intercepted had to do with her worrying that he’d say something to the wrong person about her horse having problems with her last foal before she could let him know what was what.”

      “What did she say about that lost job opportunity?”

      “She didn’t say specifically, but I gathered it didn’t turn out to be what she was looking for. She turned it down, not the other way around. She gave me a reference, but, to be honest, I didn’t call that one. She’d been with Charlotte Oaks long enough and her employment there was steady, problem free. And, frankly, I really liked her and didn’t want there to be anything to keep me from hiring her.”

      Rafe and Mac shared a look.

      “What?” Kate asked. “You know I wouldn’t have hired her if there was even an inkling of a problem. My camp kids mean more than—”

      “I know,” Rafe said. “Let me ask you this. I’m guessing she intentionally bred her horse. I mean, it’s not like a dog who gets accidentally knocked up by the local mongrel. So, she breeds her horse, even though she’s contemplating leaving. A horse who had problems with the last pregnancy. Does that make sense? Why make such a huge career transition and do something like that with your horse at the same time?”

      “I don’t know. Maybe she had a chance to breed her for a good deal and so she went for it. Hard to say. Maybe her mare is hard to breed and she couldn’t afford to pass up the opportunity. I really don’t know.”

      “There just seems to be a lot of that with her. Stuff we don’t know.”

      Kate sighed, and Mac rubbed her shoulder as he tucked her closer to his side. “Don’t worry. He’ll figure this out without screwing anything up.” He kissed the top of her head. “I promise.” He looked at Rafe. “Don’t screw it up.”

      “I still don’t understand why you’re so concerned about her,” Kate grumbled at both of them. “I want to go on record as saying I really hate this.”

      “I know,” Rafe said, not exactly loving it, either. “Did she mention how she heard about the job here?”

      “Horse community grapevine. You’d be surprised how effective it is.”

      “I can see racing circles keeping up with racing circles, and the same with show horses, but you’re not really involved in either.”

      “But we’re sitting smack-dab in the middle of show-horse country, which her dad was linked to quite heavily, back in his day. She probably has all kinds of contacts because of her family background, and her vet friend is in the area, too. I didn’t question her specifically. I mean, clearly she heard about it somehow, as she showed up and applied—why does it matter how she heard?” Kate tilted her head up and eyed Mac, who still looked as skeptical as Rafe felt. “I swear, you guys. You know, not everything or everyone is a ‘case file.’ Elena told me this was just the right thing for her and Springer at the right time. She was also the right thing at the right time for me. She has every intention of resuming her career goals at some point. And, frankly, I have every intention of trying to get her to change her mind and stay. So unless you can give me a real concrete reason why I shouldn’t, then I want this over and done with.” She eyed them both. “It’s my business to run.”

      “Understood,” Rafe said, looking at Mac, knowing he was probably thinking the same thing he was. That Kate was sharp, and great at her job, but she was human, and sometimes she let her soft heart get in the way. And, much as he’d like to let this whole thing go and never take a single riding lesson, he couldn’t ignore the fact that his gut instincts were still clamoring.

      “So what aren’t you telling me?” Kate asked. “There has to be something more going on. How much am I going to hate it?”

      “Ever heard of a racehorse named Geronimo?”

      Kate looked nonplussed. “Geronimo?”

      Mac nodded, still skimming the report. “Sure, he won two legs of the triple crown, then broke everyone’s heart by missing out on taking the third by half a length. Definitely a crowd-pleaser. A damn shame what happened to him, just doesn’t seem right that—” He broke off and looked up. “Oh, shit. Really?”

      “Really.”

      Kate looked up from her report. “Really what? Why oh shit?” She looked between the two of them. “What happened to Geronimo?”

      “He’s the famous racehorse that died in that fire,” Mac said, then went back to skimming the report again.

      “He was retired, put to stud, and bought by a new owner,” Rafe filled in while they scanned the info. “Not much there yet on that part, but I was focused on Elena and just started digging on the farm itself. Should have gotten this the first day.”

      “Gene Vondervan,” Kate read aloud, then gasped and looked up. “Owner of Charlotte Oaks racing stables. Elena worked for the stables where Geronimo died?”

      “Where and when,” Rafe confirmed.

      “But, wait a minute,” Kate cut in, “a whole lot of people work for Charlotte Oaks. Surely if there were any concerns, or if she was involved in any way, negligent in any way, there would have been consequences. At the very least, she wouldn’t have gotten the reference she did.”

      Rafe shrugged. “From what I overheard, it seemed like her vet thought her leaving might be connected. She didn’t mention it when you hired her?”

      “No,” Kate said. “She didn’t.”

      “The fire was when?” Mac said, still skimming the report. “Last summer, right? But she didn’t leave until fall. Doesn’t sound like a direct connection there.”

      “Maybe.” Rafe honestly didn’t know. Yet. “It just seems odd that she wouldn’t mention it. Like she didn’t mention her horse having potential medical issues. Geronimo’s death has been out of the current news loop for some time, but in the big scope of things, it’s still recent news.”

      “In the race world, maybe,” Kate said.

      “No,” Mac said, “it was a big story everywhere. He was a pretty special horse who had captured the hearts of a lot of people.”

      “Then how did I miss it?”

      Mac smiled and tugged her in for a fast, hard kiss. “Because you don’t follow the news unless it’s published in a medical journal.”

      She pushed at him and started to argue, then stopped, looking a bit sheepish. “Okay, so you might have a point there. But she couldn’t know that.”