you ladies don’t need anything else, I’ve got stalls to clean.”
“I think that’s it,” I said. “Thanks for talking to us. And I’m glad Shadow is all right.”
She nodded and headed for the barn. We trailed back to the SUV and drove off.
“Why that horse?” Ida Belle asked. “Who steals a stallion who’s barely under saddle and uses him for a stunt like that? The number of things that could have gone wrong is astronomical.”
Gertie nodded. “True, but he did look the part. Are there any other solid black horses around?”
“Probably not that look like Shadow,” Ida Belle said.
“I assume River knew Gil, right?” I asked.
“They were in school together,” Gertie said. “But they ran with completely different crowds. Or I should say Gil ran with a different crowd. River preferred crowds of one.”
“Did they ever have any beef with each other?” I asked.
“Not that I saw,” Gertie said. “More like they didn’t know the other existed. The only people I ever saw River talking to were a couple of guys who did rodeo and Judith. I figured that was because they were both girls working their fathers’ businesses. It wasn’t exactly the norm for women to take over farming or ranching. They caught a lot of flak for it—‘manly girl’ and all that crap.”
“I wonder if River and Judith still talk,” I said.
Gertie shrugged. “She’s talking to someone, because she knew about you. But I don’t know that they hang out. Neither has the time. I know Judith hires some locals to help when things are really busy, but for the most part, she does it all herself. I’ve never known River to hire someone, and the care alone of that many horses is a ton of work. Then add the breeding, raising and training so she can sell them, and you’ve got another two full-time jobs.”
Ida Belle nodded. “River’s always been an independent cuss. Walter said she’s ordered parts for machinery and her vehicle but she never lets Scooter fix anything. Always says she’ll do it herself.”
“How much money is in horse breeding?” I asked.
“Not nearly as much as people would imagine,” Ida Belle said. “It’s hard to make a living, so River handling things herself doesn’t surprise me. One good stud, like Shadow, can keep you in the black, but I’ve never known anyone who got rich off of it. Honestly, unless you just love the work, I can’t see why anyone would do it.”
“And obviously River loves the work,” I said.
“She’s always preferred horses to people,” Gertie said.
“Well, this visit didn’t tell us much,” I said. “The butcher shop is closed today, right?”
They both nodded.
“Maybe we could keep an eye on Tiffany’s house,” Gertie said.
“I don’t think that would do any good,” I said. “Unless we were planning on following her if she left. If Tiffany and Liam have anything going on, they’re not going to meet at her house, especially now that all of Sinful is focused on her.”
“You think they’d meet at Liam’s place instead?” Gertie asked.
I shook my head. “That seems risky as well. What if Carter has more questions and shows up or even worse, has a search warrant? Unless Liam lives in a busy apartment where Tiffany could hide her car and exit out a back window, it would be a big risk.”
“What about your microphone thingy?” Gertie asked. “We could listen in and see if she calls him.”
“Phone calls and email would be the kind of thing an amateur would do,” Ida Belle said. “Especially now that Carter is sniffing around. My guess is that’s why Tiffany showed up at the butcher shop. Either she knew better than to call or Liam was refusing her calls.”
Gertie threw her hands in the hand. “So what now?”
“Oh, to heck with it,” I said. “I’m not interested in going back home, especially with Merlin there plotting ten ways to kill me. Let’s find out where Liam lives and see if we can listen in on him watching television or whatever else he’s doing on his day off.”
I pulled out my phone and did a quick search. Sometimes you didn’t get a good hit but this time, we lucked out. At least, there was a physical address. Assuming Liam still lived there, then we were in business. I pulled up the address on maps and passed the phone to Ida Belle.
“It’s near the butcher shop,” she said. “Looks like a small neighborhood of houses—maybe twenty or so, and his is on the outside perimeter.”