I found Charles at the practice track watching horses being put through their paces.
He didn’t seem surprised to see me.
I rested my arms on the railing as he did and watched the practice race with several horses. “Are they yours?”
Charles answered, “No, they are owned by a Middle Eastern sheik. See that man on the other side of the track with a stopwatch.”
I looked across the track and noticed a man in a green shirt and khaki pants.
“That’s the sheik’s trainer. I’m sure by the end of the week, he’ll move the sheik’s horses to another horse farm due to all this negative attention by the press. One thing Middle Eastern potentates dislike is drama,” Charles said, waving away an insect.
“Are the reporters still outside?”
“Yeah. The neighbors are raising hell because the reporters are blocking the road with their vans.”
“Do you blame them?”
“No. You missed the helicopter flying overhead. Scared the horses so much, we had to bring them in from the pastures.”
“Charles, can you answer some questions for me?”
“You sure you want to involve yourself in this?”
“I’m not interested in Last Chance per say. I want to ask about Juan Gomez.”
Charles ruminated, “In all the hubbub, everyone seems to have forgotten about poor Juan.”
I asked, “What do the police say?”
“They are telling us nothing.”
“Do they think it is an inside job?”
Charles nodded.
“Do they think it was Juan?”
“I’m not sure they do. Mike, my entire family, Miss Shaneika, and the employees working that night have taken lie detector tests. I get the drift from Detective Drake’s questions he thinks someone other than Juan opened the gates.”
“What about the surveillance tapes?”
“Everything had been wiped clean.”
“How is that possible?”
“That’s what the police want to know.”
“Isn’t there a backup system like in the cloud or something similar?”
“Not there either.”
“Don’t you have a backup system?”
“We have two, but both were wiped clean.”
“Are you a suspect, Charles?”
“They are breathing down my neck, Josiah. I think there is a distinct possibility they might arrest me. I’m at the top of their list. I take care of the security monitors and the backup systems. The only reason I haven’t been arrested so far is that my lie detector test was clean.”
“That’s poppycock. What reason would you have to steal Last Chance?”
“That’s the other reason I haven’t been arrested, Josiah. I lack motive. Nevertheless, the police are building a case against me. I’m sure of it.”
I didn’t reply. I felt Charles was being paranoid, but then again maybe he was correct. Charles, like most African-American men, grow anxious when the police look at him more than once. I understood his trepidation. “Do you think someone on the inside did this?”
“I think it was either Mike, Juan, or one of the other guards.”
I was surprised he mentioned Mike. They had worked closely together for years. “What can you tell me about Juan?”
“He toiled for Lady Elsmere a long time, came to work on time, rarely complained. I thought he was a good employee.”
“What about his family?”
“I don’t know anything except that he was married and sometimes brought his grandchildren to see the horses when we had an open house.”
“If he had grandchildren, he had children. Know anything about them?”
Charles hesitated before answering. I could tell he was growing tired. The strain of the past several days played on his face.
“I’m sorry, Charles. I don’t mean to badger you, but you know I’m good at solving puzzles.”
“Don’t apologize, Josiah. I’m just worn out with worry. I know you are trying to help.”
I put my hand on his arm, giving a squeeze. “Can you tell me where he lived?”
“Sure.”
“And where his wife lives?”
“What do you mean?”
“They were separated.”
Charles looked surprised. “Let me ask Bess.” He plucked out his phone and called Bess asking her to go into his office off the kitchen. “Give Bess a second. She has to boot up the computer.” A minute later, Charles gave me two addresses.
“I’m going to check these out.”
“Suit yourself, Josiah, but be careful. We don’t know who is involved, and they might not like you sticking your nose in this affair.”
“One more thing.”
“Yeah.”
“Is the foal Asa found Last Chance?”
Charles answered sadly, “I knew the moment Jean Harlow rejected that foal, he was not Last Chance. We have made a terrible mistake. Lady Elsmere and her estate are in big, big trouble. I don’t see our way out of this. Logan J. Kilkorn could bankrupt Lady Elsmere or take away her farm in a settlement.”
“That’s what Mike said.”
“Mike is right.”
I took my leave, so glad I was not in the hot seat this time. However I couldn’t sit idly by and let someone take Lady Elsmere’s farm away from her. I was angry with the old biddy, but that was temporary. I also had to fix it so Asa was never mentioned to the authorities. Oh, gosh, I was starting to feel the anxiety Charles felt.
I guess misery loves company.