Free Blood and Roses (Holly Jennings Thriller) by A.K. Alexander

hand. Holly was sure he would down all of it.
    “What do you think?” Chad asked, once back in the car.
    “I think the guy had motive. I think he was pretty damn angry at Tieg, and he admitted as much to us. I think his reasons for not telling us the whole truth earlier seem shady, but he was convincing, and if his wife is in charge…well, we all know husbands don’t like to piss off their wives. Husbands have been known to lie—or in his case, not be forthright—in order to stay out of trouble, even to the police.”
    “No doubt.”
    “You have to admit, partner, that this is strange, and even if Christiansen has nothing to do with these murders, my gut says there is some kind of connection. Let’s check his employees again. And I think we also need to find this Rafael Torres. Frog juice, cobra venom? What the hell?”

CHAPTER
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    11
    Leann Purdue brought two cups of tea to bed. Dan was already tucked between the sheets, their German shepherd, Rascal, at his feet.
    She walked around to his side of the bed and set the cup on the oak nightstand. “I bet you’re tired.”
    “A little.” He took her hand. “Thank you.”
    “Of course.” She winced when she saw the scars on his hands. She’d thought, after nine months of being together, that she’d gotten used to the scars, but she hadn’t. Dan had been badly burned by boiling water as a child.
    He picked up the mug and took a sip of the tea. “It was good, though. I’m excited to think we’re going to expand this business.” He smiled. True happiness was reflected in his green eyes.
    “I don’t know if that’s going to happen.” She crawled into bed and tucked her blonde hair back behind her ears.
    “What do you mean? I just signed the deal yesterday in Virginia for the land. I thought we agreed we wanted to open another rescue facility. I’ve already put some ads out there for volunteers and someone who can manage the place.” Dan set the cup back down.
    “We did agree, but I think Cay is shooting blanks. I had another mare’s owner call today, furious that his horse didn’t take.” Leann picked up the lavender-scented lotion off her nightstand and put some on the palms of her hands.
    “Shit. I knew we shouldn’t have trusted Tieg.”
    “You haven’t heard,” she said.
    “Heard what?” he asked.
    “Tieg. He was found murdered this morning in LA.” She replaced the lotion on the nightstand and rubbed her hands together.
    “What?” Dan said. “You’re joking.”
    “I’m not at all. Pretty graphic, too. I saw it on the racing blog. There’s not many details yet, but it’s scary.”
    Dan shook his head and patted the side of the striped duvet cover, indicating for her to scoot in next to him. “Dammit. That’s not good. I hate to see the guy dead, and we certainly won’t get any money back on the horse now.”
    “Danny.” She moved over and leaned her head on his shoulder.
    “I’m just saying the truth, love.”
    “Right, but it also means…” she whispered.
    “I know what it means, sweetie. It means the funds could dry up. We all put up a lot of cash to buy that horse, expecting the stud fees would help supplement the needs here.” He put his arm around her and pulled her in closer.
    She tried to fight back the tears. Leann Purdue, like her sister Elena, had been raised on the track, but they had been raised to be compassionate. They worked hard, and they invested wisely in horses, and when those horses were off the track, they brought them back to Leann’s farm in Kentucky where they could live out their days in peace. They also took in other horses that needed rescuing. Between her fiancé, Dan, and another friend, Ian, they had two trailers running across the country to pick up horses in need. All the workers on their place, Golden Hearts, were volunteers. But feeding fifty head and counting and running an operation like theirs wasn’t easy. Elena, Dan, and she had banked on the purchase of Cayman’s Cult last