Рита Браун - Whisker Of Evil

The people at Herb’s table pulled their chairs closer to listen.

“So he, not Marshall Kressenberg, killed Mary Pat?” Big Mim inquired.

Cooper nodded affirmatively. “He was in love with her. He told the truth about that. He begged her and begged her, and one evening he grabbed her down at the barns. He thought no one was around. He was wrong. He kissed her and she pushed him away. He grabbed her again; she hit him. He lost it and strangled her. Marshall Kressenberg, who had been up in the hayloft, witnessed the whole thing.”

“He could have helped her!” Alicia was aghast.

“Chicken.” Cooper shrugged. “Or maybe he saw his chance. We’ll know his side of the story when we extradite him back to the States.”

“And then they dragged her up to the high pastures?” Harry felt so sorry for Mary Pat.

“Threw her in the pickup truck. It rained that night, washing out their tracks. They buried her at the corner of the stone wall. Then Tavener had the bright idea to bring up Ziggy Flame. They’d be missing together. While Tavener walked up Ziggy Flame, Marshall walked up a mare so Ziggy wouldn’t jump out of the pasture. Since Tavener was Mary Pat’s vet and Marshall worked at the barns, no one doubted their word about the number of mares on the farm. They thought only Ziggy was missing. Also, mares were going in and out of St. James daily to be bred. That part was easy.”

“When did they move Ziggy to Maryland?”

“When Marshall left. Tavener dyed him. Showed Marshall how to do it. Tavener falsified all the papers.”

“And made a fortune.” Fair knew Tavener had done these terrible things, but he couldn’t reconcile this behavior with the colleague he’d worked with and liked for years.

“Why kill Barry and—maybe I’m jumping the gun—Sugar?”

Everyone leaned forward, quiet.

“Barry found both Mary Pat’s diary and her breeding notes. She’d hidden them behind a loose board in the tack room at the biggest barn. Why we’ll never know, except that she really didn’t have much privacy, I suppose. Servants everywhere. I don’t know. Do you?” Cooper looked at Alicia.

“She probably wanted her breeding notes at the barn. That’s where she did her work. And the diary, maybe she didn’t want me to find it. I don’t think the servants snooped, but I did.” Alicia cast her eyes downward.

“Barry read the notes and the diaries. He put two and two together, since there were many references to Tavener’s declarations of love and his desires to go into the thoroughbred business with Mary Pat. Tavener managed to find the diary in Barry’s things. He burned it as soon as he got his hands on it, but he couldn’t find Mary Pat’s breeding notes with Barry’s stuff. Barry did a better job of hiding those, probably because they meant more to him.”

“But what about the rabies? People have been crazy about that. Did the men really have it?” Blair asked.

“That’s the terrible part.” Cooper looked toward Blair. “Tavener gave it to Barry and Sugar. Barry had been blackmailing him. Maybe graymailing is a better word, because Tavener confessed that Barry didn’t make threats. Suggestions, not threats. Lots of business suggestions. Then Tavener would come through with the money. Barry put most of it in the business. We think he kept some for himself—he bought a new truck, anyway. Sugar, who kept the books, didn’t know where this money was coming from, and he finally got mad enough at Barry that Barry just said he had something on Tavener. We don’t know if he told Sugar everything, but Tavener wasn’t taking any chances. Even if Barry hadn’t told Sugar, it was possible Sugar might figure out some things in time.”

“How?” Aunt Tally simply asked.

“Shots. He told the guys he’d give them their rabies vaccine free. It’s expensive and anyone who works with animals for a living ought to have it. He gave them a live virus, not a killed one. And since it generally takes so long to develop, they felt fine.”

“I’d like to add here that veterinarians do not usually work on humans,” Fair mentioned.

“No, but you can if you have to. Vets work with humans during emergencies,” Big Mim said.

“You’d think Barry would be suspicious.” Aunt Tally said, sharp as a tack about Barry. “After all, Tavener was forking over money to him.”

“Tavener acted like their best friend. He did a lot of work gratis. I know Fair did, too. Tavener gave them all their equine medications for free. He said that took discipline. He had to act as though he was enthusiastic about their business, liked them, acted like a mentor.”

Susan observed the loudly dressed Carmen. “And she was in danger, too?”

“A slip of the tongue.” Cooper smiled. “She mentioned to Tavener when he was in her shop that Barry showed her the diaries. When Jerome was killed it slowly dawned on her that, with Barry’s nosing around, this might have something to do with the horses.”

“And?” Harry tapped the edge of her glass.

“I took her to my house and told her not to show her face. The hardest part was cleaning up after Ruffie since he couldn’t go outside.” Cooper laughed. “The hardest part for Carmen was knowing her family and the gang at work had to be frantic.”

“So you were on to Tavener?” Fair was still surprised at the turn of events.

“Mmm, getting close, but Rick and I just didn’t have enough.”

“But why didn’t Tavener wait for the rabies to kill Barry?” Harry asked.

“Barry pushed too hard. Tavener said Barry wanted an extra hundred thousand dollars to buy more broodmares. So Tavener asked Barry to meet him down past St. James’s entrance gates. He told Barry not to tell Sugar if Sugar was there. As it turned out, Sugar was in town.

“So Barry met him, and as Tavener wrote out the check he offered Barry a drink from his flask. Loaded with Quaaludes and bourbon.”

“What would he have done if Barry hadn’t taken a drink?” Fair wondered.

“Shot him, I guess. But Barry did take a drink. They chatted. When Barry started to fade out, Tavener drove down the road, turned up one of the farm paths. He stopped, hauled out Barry, and carried him to the creek, then walked downstream until his strength gave out. He dumped him, slashed up his throat with a serrated knife. He did a pretty good job of mimicking an animal bite, but Tavener overlooked the fact that the lack of saliva would be a tip-off that this wasn’t a natural death. So he felt safe. He thought he’d be able to pull off Sugar’s murder, too, and close the door forever on this. Harry found Barry shortly thereafter.”

“Luckily, I didn’t see Tavener, or he would have slashed my throat.” Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

“Barry was young and strong. He lasted longer than most people.” Cooper rested her hand on the table edge.

“The ring?” Alicia asked.

Cooper shrugged. “He swears neither he nor Barry had it.”

“Fate,” Big Mim said.

“And Jerome?” Little Mim, who’d found Jerome, would not soon forget.

“Tavener lured Jerome out. Given Jerome’s ego and excitement, that was easy. He told him he could show him how to collect the live rabies virus. He said he’d just found an injured animal by the road, which he believed was rabid.”

“Jerome didn’t suspect Tavener?” Fair thought Jerome wouldn’t have trusted Tavener at this point.

“Jerome, like us at the time, was focusing on Marshall Kressenberg. Tavener had been helpful; none of us suspected anyone so close to our community. Jerome didn’t, either. And Jerome’s curiosity got the better of him. He wanted to see Tavener collect the live virus. He’d told Tavener and others how someone could be killed, remember?”