Page 43 of Dirty Looks

“You work with horses too?” I asked.

She chuckled, the laughter in her eyes contagious. “God, no. They scare me to death. I’m good with smaller four-legged animals.” As if on cue a white ball of fluff barreled into the room. I assumed it was a dog, but it was hard to tell. “I’m an accountant. The idea of being on my feet all day is not appealing.”

“Do you live here?” Jack asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “Lizzie and I went to college together. Figured we’d keep rooming together until we fell in love and got married. We’re obviously both still waiting.”

“The men around here must be stupid,” I said.

“I like to think so,” she said, grinning. “Maybe if the men around here looked up from their phones from time to time they might see their soul mate standing right in front of them. Lizzie has better luck. Men who work outdoors aren’t so attached to an electronic device. I’ll go get Lizzie. Just have a seat wherever.”

“Nice girl,” Jack said after she’d disappeared into a back room.

“Gorgeous,” I said. “She could be a model.”

I took a seat on the edge of the sofa and realized the dog was still there. I couldn’t decide if he was staring at me, or if he was afraid to move because he couldn’t see through the hair covering his eyes.

But apparently he could see because he jumped onto the couch beside me and wiggled his way into my lap.

“Well,” I said. “Hello there.” And then I remembered Oscar and that there was still the possibility that Jack hadn’t heard about him yet. But I figured that was unlikely. If Martinez had told Cole, and Cole had told Lily, then he’d probably mentioned it to Jack too. I figured the best thing to do was not say anything until faced with the moment.

We only had to wait a couple of minutes. I was expecting for Lizzie Ryan to have some semblance of her grandmother, at least in the height department, but Lizzie was a couple of inches taller than me and her hair was the same color as the chestnut foal I’d seen in the foaling pen earlier that day. There was a smattering of freckles across her nose and her eyes were wide set and green. She was a girl-next-door type, pretty and fresh faced and understated in black sweats and a KGU sweatshirt.

“Trin said you were the police,” she said coming in. “Does this have to do with Evie? I saw about her on the news. It’s a horrible thing that something like that can happen here. We always feel so safe.”

“It always pays to keep an eye out,” Jack said. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

“Sure,” she said. “I don’t really know what I can tell you about Evie. I work down at the stables.”

“How long have you worked there?” Jack asked.

“I graduated from KGU with a degree in equine therapy,” she said. “My dad introduced me to Alex and he hired me on about three years ago.”

“Alex said y’all had quite a night last night,” Jack said.

Her smile was radiant. “It was a great night. And exhausting. We were up all night. I’ve been sleeping most of the afternoon.”

“Tell us about Alan Goble,” Jack said, his gaze steady.

Her smile faltered and slight color came into her cheeks. “What about him?”

“What was your relationship with him?”

“I guess you already know that or you wouldn’t be here,” she said, blowing out a breath. “Alex told you he caught us, didn’t he?”

“He did,” Jack confirmed.

“I knew it was stupid when we were doing it,” she said. “I don’t know what came over me. Alan has that ability to make you feel wild and reckless. We were right there in the stables. Upstairs in one of the storage rooms. Alan always knows where there are no cameras because he’s the security guy. But still, anyone could have walked in. Mydadcould have walked in. I was mortified when Alex found us.”

“Did it make you stop seeing Alan?” I asked her.

Her lips pursed together tightly and her hands rubbed nervously on the knees of her sweats.

“No,” she admitted. “And I already know it’s stupid. You don’t have to tell me. And I know it won’t last. He just has this kind of raw animal magnetism.” She looked directly at me. “You ever met a guy like that? A guy that just fries your circuits?”

“Yeah,” I said, cutting a look to Jack. “I get it.”

“When was the last time you saw him?” Jack asked.

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