The bar door opened and then slammed shut, and running footsteps echoed along the concrete, drawing closer.Danica arrived out of breath, concern painted all over her face.“What happened?I heard you leave in a panic.”
“Someone has kidnapped Midnight.”
She gasped and entered the stall.“What?”
“I … I must have forgotten to turn on the alarm last night.The cameras show two people entering.”
“Two?”
I nodded.
She already had her phone in her hand and stepped out of the stall.I grabbed my phone, still staying close to Raven, and called the first person that came to mind—Jagger.
“Yo, bro,” Jagger greeted with a yawn.“What’s up?”I could barely hear him over the buzzing in my ears, and Raven’s continued sounds of anguish.
“Midnight has been kidnapped.”
“What the fuck?”Now he was awake.
“I … I don’t know what to do.Danica is on the phone—”
“On it.We’ll send out an island-wide BOLO.Have you called the cops?”
“I … I will.”
“Okay.We’re on the way.”
“Grazie.”
“No worries.” Then he disconnected the call.
Danica returned to the stall.“I just called Gabrielle.”
“And I called Jagger.”
She nodded.“They’re all on their way.McEvoys too?”
“Si.”
“I’ll call the cops, you … you look at the camera footage again and maybe see if you can find the point of entry.”
All I could do was bob my head.My brain wasn’t working right now.Not anymore.Not since walking into this stall and finding my foal missing, and his surrogate mother in distress.
“Hey, Myla.This is Danica.Yeah, I’m over at Tommaso Barone’s and one of his horses is missing.The foal, Midnight.He’s been stollen.We can see on the security camera footage that someone broke into the barn this morning—two people, by the looks of it—and now the foal is missing.Yeah … okay … thanks, Myla.See you soon.”
I pressed a kiss to Raven’s neck, but every cord, every muscle in her body was tightly wound with stress.I couldn’t even imagine what she must have been feeling right now.
“Perhaps we should move Raven with Kenny for the time being.To help calm her down,” Danica suggested, returning to the stall.She stepped up beside me and petted Raven’s neck.“Hmm, sweetheart.”
“Si.That’s a good idea,” I murmured.
Danica took care of everything.She harnessed Raven, then gently led her over to be with Kenny, where lo and behold, the old gelding comforted her, just the way we'd hoped.
Raven was beginning to settle, but I wasn’t nearly as lucky.I still had that awful ringing and buzzing in my ears, which kept me from hearing anything going on around me as any more than muffled sounds.I squeezed my eyes shut and bunched my fists to keep my fingers from twitching.
But when a hand landed on my shoulder, I jumped.
Danica, wide-eyed, took a step back.“The McEvoys are here,” she said gently, wariness on her face.“You okay?”
