Page 41 of His Tenth Dance

She put her eyes on the ground and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. As she walked, she passed the pasture and the two walking circles on her right. All of the buildings were connected by roofs to keep snow and muck off the dirt ground.

Under the roof between the barn and the first stable, she found a second group of horseback riders getting ready to go out for their lesson. The teenagers parted for her, and she gave them a tight smile as she moved through their midst and kept going.

The first stable had pastures beyond it, with the counselor cabins for the kids’ therapy sessions on the other side of them.

Kristie kept walking, the afternoon heat beating down on her and causing sweat to run down the side of her face and the back of her neck. She couldn’t brush it away, so she simply kept going.

She finally ducked into the shade of the second stable and entered the door there, her muscles quivering.

“Hello?” she called, hoping Mission would hear her and come relieve her of one of these cases.

No one answered, and no one came, so Kristie kept going. The scent of hay and wood filled the stable, and she told herself that was better than blood. No one had texted an update on Lady’s condition, and Kristie had no idea what she’d find in the last stable.

Her steps became shorter and more stilted as her body started to protest more violently that she could not continue like this. Exhaling, she paused and set down the cases. She had passed another several stalls, so she tried again with, “Hello?”

“Yep, I’m coming,” Mission called, and his footsteps came jogging toward her.

Relief filled her from head to toe, and she managed to smile at him.

“Hey,” he said, and the absence of his usual grin told her how anxious and serious he’d become.

“Hey.” She shook her hands out to relieve the tightness from gripping the case handles.

“You should’ve texted me you were here.”

Kristie glared at him, because while they’d been dating for almost a month now, she hadn’t told him she absolutely loathed it when someone started a sentence with,You should’ve.

She was the professional, and she wouldn’t have texted other farm owners or foremen to come help her with her heavy equipment.

“It’s crazy out there,” she said instead.

Mission looked beyond her for just a moment. “Yeah. That’s why we’ve got her back here,” he said. “Everyone’s been told not to come into this stable, so it should stay quiet.”

Kristie nodded as he bent to pick up her cases. “She’s back here.” He moved that way, and Kristie went behind him.

“How many people are back here?” she asked.

“Just me and Gloria,” he said.

Kristie nodded. That was good.

“Has Lady eaten or had anything to drink?” she asked.

“No.”

Also good, and Kristie shouldn’t have been surprised. Gloria Whettstein was a master horsewoman and the barn manager here at the farm and for Pony Power. She ran a meticulous stable and knew a great deal about horses. She’d probably already diagnosed the injury, and if she couldn’t take care of it, that told Kristie it would be something serious.

“It’s her front right leg,” Mission said over his shoulder. “We’ve got her in a stall, but she won’t put any weight on it.”

“She’s tied?”

“Yep. She shouldn’t give you a problem.”

Gloria came forward to meet them, giving Kristie a quick hug. “Thank you so much for coming so fast.”

“Of course,” Kristie said.

As Gloria faded back, Mission set her cases down, and Kristie looked at the horse in the stall. “Can we open these doors?”

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