“Which is?”
“Why would a patrol officer take a horse trailer from this property. And not the actual horse?”
“What, that’s odd.”
“Yes, we all know that Gus Godwin stole Sally, Myrna’s horse, and Myrna took her back and left. She’s safe now, and no one will get to her, but why steal the horse to begin with. As we discussed in our theory, the person Myrna replaced was sending auto parts to the Godwin’s. He retired, and Myrna took over. Within months, Randy seeks her out, and it takes months to get her to agree to go out with him. Did he do it to see if she knew what was happening at her job, to make sure she didn’t know what was going on, or was it about Sally all along?”
“Sally?” Lela asked with a frown. “Who’s Sally?”
“My horse, the one Gus Godwin stole, and I went to his property to retrieve her. I rode her out of there, and Pedro found me along the road.” She looked around and nodded. “I was heading toward Fool’s Gold, that’s where my cousin lives. He’s the county sheriff down there.” She saw their faces and continued, “I rode Sally at night, and stayed hidden during the day. I’ve been where I have been for almost five weeks now.”
“What type of horse is Sally?”
“I think she’s just an everyday horse.”
“I think she’s a racehorse,” Pedro said at the same time.
Lela shook her head. “I don’t understand, what’s the significance of either one of them?”
“If Sally is an everyday horse, then nothing.”
“But, if she’s a racehorse, there is a significant difference. If she is, and has the proper bloodline, then they could have sold her for millions of dollars.” He turned to Myrna. “Cocoa’s real name is Chocolate Champion, and on his debut ride, he won, Faith was his jockey, I was his trainer. He went all the way to the Triple Crown, he alone earned damn near ten million dollars from that race.”
“Holy shit, that much?”
“Yes, however, the owner thought Faith should use a crop on him, beating him to run faster, she refused, he fired her, and the next year, he, Cocoa, came in third. The year after that, he came in fifth. That owner sold him, and after that, his racing career wasn’t ever as good again.”
“Why?”
“In my opinion, it was because the owners never listened to the trainers, and the trainers didn’t listen to the jockey. If you don’t have cohesiveness between the horse, jockey, trainers, and owners, then you don’t have a good race. I was able to purchase Cocoa from a disillusioned owner that thought he could bring him back to his glory. They didn’t take intoconsideration that he was older than when he raced at the age of three. I bought him because I want to breed him, and train his babies, then sell them to owners who care for their horses, and not the glory said horses can give them.”
The six of them stood there looking lost in their own thoughts when Lela spoke.
“Myrna, where did you get Sally?” Everyone turned to look at her with frowns, but she only shrugged.
“My friend. I used to work with her.”
“Okay, how did the sale come about?” Lela asked, and went over to her laptop bag and pulled out a pad of paper and pen. She went back to the kitchen table, and all the other agents went for their own paper while Pedro made another pot of coffee. Myrna set out the sandwiches she had made earlier that day, and they all settled in for a brainstorming session.
“Tell us about your friend,” Robert said gently. “Tell us everything you can remember.”
“Okay,” Myrna drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She cradled the fresh cup of coffee in her hands and stared at a spot on the table as she talked.
“I met Mary years ago. I’ve been at my job for thirty years. I was hired as a picker.” She looked up, saw their confusion, and explained what she had done at work before getting promoted. She didn’t see censure in their expressions, and relaxed.
“Mary started four years after I did.”
“Last name?” Robert asked.
“Oh, when she started working there, she was Mary Thomas. Three years later, she got engaged, and married Mark Griffin. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding.”
“Stop,” Lela said when it looked like Myrna was going to continue. She shook her head at her fellow agents. “Do you have a photo of the bride and groom.”
Myrna frowned, then turned to the other agents. “When you brought my things to me, did you bring any photo albums?”
“No, we just got the papers that Manchester told us about, why?”
Myrna held up her hand and left the room, she came back carrying a thick green album. After settling back down, she flipped through them, and stopped to point. Pedro was the one to lean in first, then turned the album with Myrna’s finger still on the photo.
