Free Town Darling by Holly Copella Page B

horse in the barn aisle while Dr. Stein cleaned the gash on its
hindquarters.  Storm snorted and thrashed his leg in response to the pain.  He
nearly clipped the vet with his hoof.  Vaughn held onto the lead rope and
attempted to keep the horse from bolting.  Storm reared slightly and nearly
pulled Vaughn off his feet.  Dr. Stein jumped out of the way while Vaughn
attempted to control the panicking horse.
    “Whoa, easy, boy,” Vaughn
said in a soothing tone to the large horse.  The horse snorted and tossed his
head.  Vaughn gently caressed the horse’s nose.  “It’s okay.  It’s going to be
okay.”
    Dr. Stein watched Vaughn
clinging to the horse’s head as his forehead touched the horse’s forehead.  The
horse snorted softly in response.  The vet patted the horse’s neck while
producing a syringe.  He gently slapped the horse’s neck then stuck it with the
syringe.  The horse barely flinched.
    “What was that?” Vaughn
asked.
    “A horsey Valium,” Dr.
Stein replied.  He drew solution into another syringe, waited a few minutes,
and then approached the horse’s neck.  “Once I give him this, he’s going to be
heavily sedated.  It should last long enough for me to stitch the cut.”
    The vet inserted the needle
into the horse’s neck vein and dispensed the contents directly into the horse’s
bloodstream.  Storm’s head almost immediately lowered and his large body
sagged.  Vaughn appeared surprised by the sudden sedation.  Dr. Stein cleaned
the gash on the horse’s hindquarters and shook his head with disgust.
    “I’m beyond shocked,” Dr.
Stein remarked softly.  “Who would go after the Remington’s like that?  Are
they really dead?”
    Vaughn clung to the horse’s
lowered head and stroked its forehead.  He stared off and didn’t answer at
first.  “There’s still no word on Casey’s condition,” he replied softly.  “Last
I heard; she was still in emergency surgery.”  He trembled slightly and drew a
shallow breath.  “There was so much blood--”
    Dr. Stein glanced at the
distant look in Vaughn’s eyes and the pink stains on his uniform then returned
to stitching the gash on the horse’s hindquarters.  “Do me a favor, Deputy?”
    Vaughn gently cleared his
throat and came back to life.  He sniffed and wiped his tears.  “Yeah, sure. 
What do you want me to do?”
    The vet focused on suturing
the gash and responded without emotion, “Kill the bastard who murdered the
Remington’s.”
    “I thought I did,” he
replied softly.

Chapter
Eight
     
    T he rain poured down in the
early morning hour, drenching the cemetery grounds.  A sea of large, black
umbrellas surrounded the three caskets awaiting burial.  Casey stood in the
pouring rain, her black, leather jacket and jeans soaking wet, as she stared
blankly at the three caskets.  The reverend was speaking, but his words were
inaudible to her.  She could hear the voices of others talking over her, but
she couldn’t make out their words.  She heard Dina’s voice as she repeatedly
said the same thing over and over.  Her voice seemed so garbled--so far away. 
Casey just stared at the caskets and kept thinking this was just some cruel
joke being played on her.  She had no family; there was no one left.  The
voices seemed much louder now.  She wished everyone would stop talking over
her.  She just wanted to be left alone with her grief.  Images from that
godforsaken night kept repeating in her mind--playing out in an endless loop of
terror, pain, and tremendous sorrow.  She subconsciously rubbed her lower
abdomen and felt the gut-wrenching pain as the killer stabbed her.  It was
over, but it felt so real.  She uncertainly looked at her hand.  Blood seeped
between her fingers as she clutched herself.  Casey suddenly gasped and removed
her trembling hand from her bleeding abdomen.  There was so much blood!
    “Don’t do this to me!”
Deputy Vaughn’s voice called out.  “Please, Casey, stay