This excerpt is close to the beginning of the book. I will be reading a couple more sections during the launch of 'Pointed Attacks' at Blue Heron Books blueheronbooks.com on Sunday November 17 between 1 and 3pm.
The landline phone
rings as I reach for the kettle. Neal Carvey, the racehorse trainer for Rose
and Speed, is on the other end.
“You won’t believe
this,” he says.
“Are Rose and
Speed okay?”
“Great. I should
have said that first. This is something different. But it’s a bit of god-awful déjà
vu.” His voice is sombre and raspy.
“What is it Neal?”
“There’s this
trainer, he’s a friend of mine. I should say “was”, because he’s dead and I’ve
just heard that it’s being treated as a suicide.”
“Oh no.” I gasp. “I’m
so sorry Neal.” There’s more to this.
“He didn’t kill
himself. I know he didn’t.”
“You’re saying
someone killed him?” A weight lands on my shoulders as my stomach knots. I’ve
barely had time to recover from my investigations into who killed my husband,
Frank, and who killed the jockey, Juan. Neither death was considered to be suspicious
at first, and it was assumed that Frank had committed suicide. Talk about déjà vu.
“He wouldn’t have
killed himself. I’m sure of it. Can you and William look into it? You got the
guy who killed Juan. Sorry, my voice is cracking up.”
“I’m just about to
leave for England.”
“Oh.” I can hear
dejection in his lowered, quieter voice. “I don’t know anyone else who could
help.”
“Right. Well, my
flight isn’t until the day after tomorrow, so I could talk to a couple of
people in the meantime, and then follow up when I get back. That’s the best I
can do.”
“How long will you
be away?”
“I haven’t booked
my return flight because I don’t know. But I can’t leave Kelly and the horses
for long. I haven’t even found someone to look after Kelly yet. It’s all
happened rather quickly.”
“I’ll see you
tomorrow then?”
“I’ll be at the
track as early as possible.”
Copyright 2019 Vicky Earle
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