“A couple of days ago, Animal Welfare dropped off two stallions,” Ross tells me. “The usual story. Owner ran out of money so he left them to starve.”
“Any other horses on the property?” I ask.
“A mare. But they didn’t get to her in time.”
Merele shakes her head. “When the stallions arrived here they were so weak they could barely stand. We had to drip-feed them and it was touch-and-go for a while.”
Ross stares into the remains of his coffee mug. “There was feed in the adjacent paddock,” he says quietly. “One of the stallions lacerated his right hock pretty badly trying to scale a fence to get to it.”
Merele touches his arm. “We haven’t named them yet. Nothing we come up with seems to fit.” Her eyes meet mine. “Maybe you’d like to give it a go.”
I nod. “I’ll take a look at them in the morning.”
Nolene joins us, her hair wet and spiky from her shower. Merele makes a move to stand, but Nolene waves her back down and helps herself to a glass of water. She catches my gaze.Sorry, she mouths.
I nod, my chest tightening. Just when I’m ready to write her off, she surprises me.
Ross glances at his watch. “Time for the evening feed.” He gives Merele a meaningful stare. “Be nice to Kane. He’s here for at least a week. Plenty of time for you to prank him.”
“You want to wait until I’m out of the room?” I ask.
Merele slants me a mischievous look. “Nervous?”
“I’d be a fool not to be.” I smile slightly, appreciating their attempt to lighten the mood, realizing at the same time I’m testing our friendship by bringing Amy here.
Nolene rises with Ross. “I’ll help with the feed.”
If Ross is surprised, he hides it well, saying easily, “We’re always grateful for an extra hand.”
I catch a brief glimpse of Nolene’s face before she leaves with Ross. The expression carved there says she knows all too well she’ll always be the outsider to our cozy threesome, a stilted participant amid our easy camaraderie.
As soon as they’ve gone, Merele turns to me. “Will you take me to Amy now?”
I drink the rest of my coffee and set the cup down. “All right.”
We walk in silence down the hallway. The smell of Merele’s perfume stirs up memories of loss, love, and happier days. Days when I laughed more, when the lines on my face weren’t dug in so deep, when the weight of my actions didn’t ride so heavily on my shoulders.
I unlock the door to Amy’s room and ease it open, stepping aside to let Merele in. Without a word, she moves past me to stand at thefoot of the bed, her head tilted to one side as she stares down at Amy’s sleeping form.
“What did you give her?” she asks.
“A mild sedative.”Not to mention major mental trauma.
I sit on the edge of the bed and take my time checking Amy’s pulse and thumbing back her eyelids to examine her pupils. Satisfied she’s suffering no ill-effects, at least not physically, I carefully lift her head to adjust her pillow and force myself to face Merele. She’s an easy read and I prepare myself for what she won’t be able to hide.
It takes a couple of seconds before I realize there’s no condemnation in her eyes, only a gentle understanding that unexpectedly nooses my throat muscles.
“I’ve seen enough,” she says with an enigmatic smile. “We can go now.”
#
The moment I’m alone and out of earshot, I dial Andries. “We have a problem.”
“I believe you do,” he replies. “I hope you have an explanation as to how the package managed to contact the father?”
It takes effort to suck in enough air so I can speak. “How do you know?”
“I make it my business to know.”
