According to procedure, Mitchell and I should go to the house first and let the Castells know we need to search the barn, but I don’t have time for procedure right now. Nor do I give a damn if Victor or Darla presses charges for me searching without a warrant. The gate at the top of the road is open, which means Terry is most likely here taking care of the horses.
Mitchell pulls his Explorer through the gate and down to the stables. Sure enough, Terry is brushing Maggie when we pull up. He squints at the SUV. It’s stopped raining, and the sun is trying to peak through the clouds. I step out of the vehicle and give him a wave.
“Hi, Terry. Do you remember me?”
He wipes his sleeve across his forehead. “Ms. Ashwell, right?”
“Yes. This is Detective Brennan.” I motion to Mitchell. “Detective, this is Terrance Walsh. He tends to the horses.”
Mitchell holds out a hand to Terry, who shakes it and then resumes brushing Maggie.
“What can I do for you both? Mrs. Castell didn’t inform me you were stopping by.” The meaning behind his words is clear.
“Unfortunately, time isn’t our friend today, Terry. I need to see the barn. We believe Veronica was held there briefly after being kidnapped.”
“In my barn?” He shakes his head. “I don’t think so. Nothing was out of the ordinary. I would have noticed.” He stops brushing the horse and looks up at Mitchell and me. “You don’t think I—?”
I hold up a hand to stop him. “No, Terry. We don’t. I think this happened late at night, after you had already gone for the day. We’re looking for a bearded man in his fifties. Have you seen anyone fitting that description around here before?”
“Bearded, you say?”
I step toward him. “Yes. You’ve seen him, haven’t you?”
He looks down at the brush in his hand. “I’m not sure. I was up at the house a few weeks ago, and there was a man getting into his car. He might have had a beard. It was early in the morning. I had to be here for a vet appointment. One of the horses had some issues during the night. I suspected it was a twisted gut. I had to call the vet to come in right away. We were afraid Penny Lane wouldn’t make it through the day. She had to have surgery, so naturally I needed the Castells to sign off on it.” He wipes his forehead again. “I thought it was odd that they had company so early in the morning. At least, company of that gender.”
“What does that mean?” Mitchell asks, jotting this down on his notepad.
Terry’s eyes widen. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
I move toward him, bending down so I’m at his level on the small stool. “Terry, anything you know might help us find Veronica. If we don’t get to her today, she will die. Now, you might not see how this detail could be related to her kidnapping, but there’s a good chance we will. Please.”
He swallows so hard I hear it. “Well, Mr. Castell has been known to have women come to the house from time to time.”
Victor Castell openly has affairs in his own home? “Does Mrs. Castell know about this?” I ask him, trying to keep my voice level.
Terry nods. “They have separate bedrooms for a reason. Their marriage is just for show. Mrs. Castell stays around for the money.”
For the money, not for their daughter? What is it with these people? They all love their cash more than their flesh and blood.
“How long have you worked for the Castells?” Mitchell asks, his pen poised and ready.
“Twelve years now.”
“So, you’d say you know them pretty well?” Mitchell scribbles on his pad, but his eyes remain focused on Terry. I know he’s trying to read Terry’s expression to determine if he’s being completely honest.
“As well as anyone can ever know an employer. We don’t cross paths much, to be honest. I come here, tend to the horses, and only go to the house when there’s an emergency.”
“How many times would you say you’ve been inside the house?” I ask.
“To date, only a handful.”
A handful of times in twelve years. That’s not much to go on.
“Do you think this man you saw, the one who might have had a beard, could have been visiting Mrs. Castell?” Mitchell quirks an eyebrow.
Terry holds up his hands, waving them in front of him. “I’m not one to gossip about who might be having an affair. I shouldn’t have told you about Mr. Castell as it is.”
“You do know that we’re asking these questions as part of an ongoing police investigation and that not answering to the best of your abilities could be seen as withholding information from the authorities.” Mitchell stands up taller, clearly trying to intimidate Terry. Part of me wants to step in on Terry’s behalf, but we need answers now.
Terry meets my gaze as if he’s waiting for me to come to his aid as well. I simply nod for him to tell us what he knows. “I see. Well, I’ve never seen any men go to the house to visit Mrs. Castell, but like I said, their marriage isn’t exactly on the up-and-up, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s seeing other people on the side like he is.”
“Thank you, Terry,” I say. “We’ll let you get back to work here.” I gesture to the horse.
“Ms. Ashwell,” Terry says as I start for the Explorer.
“Yes?” I answer, meeting his gaze.
“Something’s off about that family. You see all these horses?”
I nod.
“They all belong to Veronica. Every single one of them. What does one girl need with four horses? Especially when she barely spends any time at home.”
“What do you mean?” Mitchell asks. “Where was she before college?”
“Boarding school. She came home for holidays and birthdays. That was all. And sometimes when I’m leaving at night, I see lights on in all three upstairs bedrooms, the ones with the balconies. Why use three rooms?”
Because Mr. Castell is having affairs. They don’t even share a bedroom. And that explains why Veronica has so few personal effects in her room. She never really lived there. That entire house is for show, just like the rest of their lives.
“Thank you again, Terry. You’ve been very helpful,” I say. “We really do need to check the barn.”
Terry shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Ms. Ashwell. You seem like a nice lady, but this is private property, and if you don’t have the Castells’ permission to search the barn”—he looks at Mitchell—“or a search warrant, then I’m afraid I can’t let you do that. I’m not about to lose my job over this.”
“Want me to put in a call for a warrant?” Mitchell asks.
“No.” I start toward the Explorer. “Let’s go talk to the Castells. It will be quicker.”
“So it’s a marriage for show, right?” Mitchell says once he’s behind the wheel and driving us up to the entrance.
“Seems that way.”
“Think they actually slept together to conceive Veronica, or do you think Darla was artificially inseminated with Victor’s sperm?”
I cringe. “Ugh, I’d rather not contemplate things like that. The potential visuals that accompany such thoughts are too much for me to bear.”
“What’s the plan? Are you going to tell them what you saw in your vision and that you need to search the barn?”
“Direct does seem to be the best approach, but I think there’s more we aren’t seeing here.” I run through Terry’s words in my head. “It’s possible Terry didn’t see the exact man we’re looking for leaving the Castells’ house, but what if he did?”
“Then that means the kidnapper knows the Castells, which is pretty typical. It would have to be someone who knows about Castell’s money at the very least.” Mitchell pulls up the driveway and parks, but instead of getting out, he turns in his seat so he’s facing me. “It could be a business partner or a business rival. Or it could be one of Darla’s lovers.”
“One of? You think she has multiple lovers on the side?”
He shrugs. “Sounds like Victor does, so why not her, too?”
“You’ve seen her, right?”
“Tell me you wouldn’t sleep with someone who was loaded and could buy you whatever pretty things you wanted.”
“I wouldn’t. That’s disgusting. Would you?”
He looks up at the roof of the Explorer, like he’s contemplating it.
I smack his arm. “Clearly I’ve given you too much credit these past few days.” I start to get out of the car, but he grabs my arm.
“I was teasing you, Piper. Loosen up a little. I find with our line of work, you need to laugh whenever possible because the gravity of what we do can drown you.”
He’s right. I laugh about the littlest things because if I didn’t, I’d curl up in a ball and rock myself to sleep every night from all the horrors I’ve seen. This is a rewarding profession, but getting to the point of rescuing a missing person can be pure hell. William Catton’s butchered eye flashes in my mind. As awful as Catton was, I didn’t want to see him murdered. I wanted him behind bars, serving time for his crimes. Now all I can do is find this bearded man and make sure he never sees the light of day from outside the walls of a prison.
Mitchell removes his hand from my arm. “You weren’t reading me somehow were you?”
I hold up my right hand. “Not without using this. You’re completely safe.”
“So I can touch you, but you can’t touch me. Got it.” His cheeks redden. “I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.”
“Let’s go, Romeo. We have a case to solve, and we’re losing daylight.” Considering how early we got up, the day is flying by. I open the car door and step out. My eyes go to the three balconies, and I see the curtain move in the middle bedroom. Someone knows we’re here.
We walk up to the door, and Mitchell rings the bell. To my surprise, it’s Mrs. Castell who answers the door.
“Did I somehow miss your phone call?” she asks, no warmth in her voice.
“Is your husband home?” I ask, leaving off the rest of my question: or is he out with one of his mistresses?
“No, he had a business meeting he couldn’t get out of. What is it you need?” She stands squarely in the doorway, blocking our entry.
“Mrs. Castell, do you know a man in his fifties with a graying beard?”
“That’s a rather vague description, don’t you think?”
I don’t want to throw Terry under the bus here, but I don’t know how else to make her talk. “I had a vision of this man. I believe he took Veronica. We were just down by the horse stables, and Terry—”
“Who’s Terry?” she asks.
“The man who takes care of your horses.” Is she really that stuck up that she doesn’t know the names of the people she employs?
“They are not my horses. They’re Veronica’s. I have nothing to do with them.”
“Mr. Walsh...” Mitchell pauses at the look of confusion on Darla’s face. “That’s Terry’s last name,” he clarifies. “He told us he had to come up to the house a few weeks ago because one of the horses was having a problem and needed medical attention. He believes he saw this man leaving the house.”
“Then he must be a business associate of Victor’s. You’ll have to ask him when he gets home.” She starts to close the door, but I put my hand on it to stop her. She fights me, pushing back against the door, and I decide to take drastic measures. Her diamond tennis bracelet dangles from her arm, and I reach for it, letting my index finger loop through it.
“You are not writing her another check. That would be the second one this month! She has her own account for God’s sake.” Darla grabs the checkbook in Victor’s hand.
“This was the arrangement for her silence.”
“Let go of me!” Darla yells, tugging the bracelet out of my grasp.
“What did you see?” Mitchell asks me.
“How dare you? I insist you arrest her!” Darla clutches her bracelet to her chest. “She tried to steal my jewelry right off my wrist. You saw her!”
Mitchell holds up a hand. “Mrs. Castell, you need to calm down. You and I both know that’s not at all what Ms. Ashwell was doing.” Darla starts to shut the door again, but Mitchell sticks his foot in the way and forces the door back open with his palm. “Mrs. Castell, it would not be in your best interest to do anything to stymie this investigation. It’s your daughter’s life at stake. You’re well aware of Piper’s abilities, and I think it’s pretty clear she just had a vision while touching your bracelet.”
The garage door closest to us opens, and Victor’s BMW pulls into it. But instead of the door closing, Victor walks out and comes over to us. “What’s going on here?”
“Something I’m willing to bet is very much illegal,” Darla says, clutching her bracelet once again. “This woman tried to take my diamonds.”
Instead of responding to Darla’s accusation, I turn to Victor. “Whose silence are you paying for?”