Page 4 of One in a Million

Turning away, he mounted the waiting stallion and headed back toward the arena.

The three grooms—two boys and a girl—had unsaddled the filly and were leading her to the wash station. The grooms had pretended to ignore the conversation, but they’d probably heard every word. Jasmine’s face burned with humiliation.

Fine, she told herself. If Roper expected her to ask her father, that was just what she would do. Frank usually said yes to whatever she wanted. Soon she would have Roper McKenna at her beck and call. And he would learn to like it.

She hadn’t seen her father this morning. But he couldn’t be far. He’d mentioned sitting up with a mare in labor or sharing breakfast coffee with some of the cowboys. Finding him should be easy enough.

Taking her time, she walked back along the double row of stalls. The last stall on her right belonged to Frank’s prized stud horse, One in a Million.

As she came closer, she noticed that the stall gate had been left open a few inches. Maybe Frank had stopped by to spend a few minutes with his old friend. That should put him in an agreeable mood.

“Dad?” Her voice echoed strangely in the space below the rafters. From over the top of the stall gate, she could see the stallion. Usually the calmest of horses, the big bay roan was snorting, tossing his head, and showing the whites of his eyes. She couldn’t see her father anywhere, but something was upsetting One in a Million—and he was telling her the only way he could.

Her hand felt cold as she slid the gate farther open and stepped into the stall. At first, she could see only shadows. Then her foot bumped something solid. Looking down, she gasped.

Her father lay sprawled facedown in the straw.

He wasn’t moving.

CHAPTERTWO

Jasmine’s scream echoed down the corridor, startling a pair of doves from their nest on an overhead beam. Dropping to her knees in the straw, she huddled over her father’s motionless body, her arms clutching her ribs. This couldn’t be happening. Not to her father. Not to her life.

Do something!

Summoning her strength, she forced herself to move. But even as she fumbled for a pulse, she sensed that she’d found him too late. His skin was cool, his flesh rigid. He was dressed in the clothes he’d worn at dinner last night. There was no visible mark or blood on him; and nothing appeared to be missing, not even the wallet in his hip pocket.

Numb with shock, she stared down at the man who’d always been there for her. She had idolized her father, but now her emotions were frozen. No fear, no grief, not even tears. It was as if she were seeing herself in a movie where, at any moment, the lights would come on, and she would get up and walk out of the theater.

A snort from the stallion roused her. She could hear voices and the sound of running feet.

The gate swung outward. The stallion whinnied and lunged as Roper burst into the stall with two grooms behind him. Seeing the body, he stopped as if he’d hit a wall. But he swiftly recovered and took charge.

“Get the horse out of here,” he ordered. “Put him somewhere calm and safe. And have somebody call nine-one-one.”

The stallion had backed into a corner, his rump slamming the boards. His front hooves flailed. The husky grooms rushed to get him under control. Gripping his halter on either side, they soothed him until he was calm enough to be clipped onto a lead.

“Try not to handle him any more than you have to,” Roper warned. “The police will want to check him for evidence. You don’t want to leave anything of yours behind.”

As the horse was led away, Roper dropped to a crouch next to Jasmine. He felt his boss’s neck for a pulse. His jaw tightened. “I’m sorry, Miss Culhane,” he said.

“You sound like a character fromLaw and Order.” Jasmine took refuge in mindless chatter. She could feel herself crumbling around the edges. She kept talking, as if words could hold her together. “I was on one of their shows. I played the murder victim. I looked spectacular laid out on a slab.” Tears were welling. She blinked them back. She probably sounded like an idiot, but she’d be damned if she was going to cry in front of this man.

“Tell me what happened?” he said.

“Nothing you can’t figure out for yourself. The gate was partway open. I thought my father might be with the stallion, so I stepped inside, and I found Dad like this. I could tell right away that he was—wasn’t alive.” She swallowed hard, took a breath, and kept talking. “I heard what you said about the police. That horse loved my dad. He would never have hurt him.”

“I agree with you about the stallion,” Roper said. “But the crime scene unit will want to go over him before they can rule out that possibility.” He frowned, a notch deepening between his dark eyebrows. “Did your father have heart trouble?”

“Not that he ever mentioned. But it’s possible. Dad isn’t—wasn’t—” She stumbled over the words. “He wasn’t a young man. And look—no blood, no sign of injury. It had to be a heart attack, or maybe a stroke.”

“We won’t know any more until he’s been gone over for evidence, but for the family’s sake, I hope you’re right,” Roper said. “Meanwhile, somebody will need to break the news to your mother. Can you manage that?”

“She’s not my mother!”Rage washed over Jasmine’s grief. “My mother lives in Austin. That floozy who broke up their marriage is my stepmother. And no, I don’t think I should be the one to tell her. I wouldn’t know what to say. The police can do it.”

“She should be prepared before the police get here.”

“Thenyoucan damned well tell her yourself. I’ll phone my brother and our real mother. But right now, Lila is all yours.”

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