“Does this horse get grain or sweet feed?” Cole asked.
“Yes.”
“I need you to put a hold on that, but keep some grass hay in front of him. We’ll try to make him feel better so that he’ll keep eating. You’ll have to keep him as quiet as possible.”
“Shall we keep him tied up?”
“No, let him move around on his own. But hold off on any other form of exercise. I’ll let you know what the lab results are tomorrow.”
With a frown of concern creasing her brow, she studied Diablo. “This horse means a lot to me. I can do whatever treatment you recommend. Just tell me what you want me to do.”
“I’ll leave medications and show you how to give them and what to watch for. Keep an eye on him and call me with an update around four this afternoon. Call sooner if he gets worse or if you have a question.” Cole picked up his stethoscope. “I’ll want you to count his heartbeats per minute.”
“I have my own stethoscope. I’m used to what a normal heartbeat sounds like.”
Cole thought Carmen appeared experienced enough to leave the stallion in her care; he was too sick to transport to the clinic anyway. Diablo’s heart still raced, but there was nothing more Cole could do for him now. He outlined a treatment plan with Carmen while the IV fluid finished dripping. Then he disconnected the tubing, recapped the end, and prepared to leave. Carmen accompanied him as he left the barn. The Doberman rushed to the end of the chain, coming to a hard stop and barking a fierce warning.
Cold wind blasted, and Cole pulled his jacket close. Gray storm clouds filled the sky. At the truck, he put away his supplies and moved to get into the driver’s side where he took a moment to jot down a list of instructions for Diablo. He gave it to her along with a business card. “I should come back tomorrow or Sunday to check on him, unless he’s had a sudden turnaround for the better.”
Taking off her glove, she offered another handshake, and this time it felt warm and soft and her hand felt small in his. “That will be fine,” she said. “Thank you for coming so far to take care of Diablo.”
Cole said good-bye and climbed into the cab of his truck. Out on the racetrack, two men wrestled with a beautiful chestnut horse, its red coat glistening with sweat. It tossed its mane, reared, and struck out at the man who approached with a saddle. The guy dodged the flailing hooves, barely getting out of the way in time.
High-strung thoroughbreds. Must be hard to manage.
Cole did a three-point turn and drove down the lane to leave the property, pulling out his cell phone, intending to call Tess to tell her he was heading back to the clinic. No signal. He placed the phone back in his pocket. He’d call her once he got down from the high country; maybe he could reach her when he hit the highway.
Chapter 6
Wind buffeted the SUV as Mattie steered around the last curve leading into Timber Creek. After having exhausted all the potential leads on the list that Cole had given them and some additional names that Anya Yamamoto had shared, she’d decided to ditch searching by phone and drive along some of the county roads between the hot springs and Cole’s clinic. Perhaps they’d get a lucky break and she and Robo would find Adrienne’s abandoned car—if one could consider that kind of thing lucky.
Mattie’s cell phone rang as she neared the town. She glanced at the caller ID. It was Cole. She used her new vehicle’s hands-free feature to connect. “This is Mattie.”
“Hi, I’m just checking in to see how things are coming along with the search for Adrienne,” Cole said.
“Nothing solid yet.”
“So none of the people I listed could tell you anything useful?” He sounded disappointed.
“No, but thanks for helping with that. It was worth a try.”
“I’m on my way down from a stable up in the mountains. It’s looking pretty ugly up here. I’m afraid a storm is coming in.”
Mattie looked at the sky layered with gray clouds. “Yeah, it’s starting to look bad down here, too.”
A silence deepened between them, and Mattie knew they were both thinking of Adrienne and what this storm meant if she was up in the mountains somewhere, unprotected and exposed to the elements. Neither of them seemed to want to say it.
“Hey, do you want to come for dinner tomorrow night and test out Mrs. Gibbs’s cooking?” Cole asked. “It’s proving to be a winner so far. Besides, I’d like to see what you think of her.”
Why would he care about that? She was familiar with dinner invitations to the Walker home, but she couldn’t imagine that he’d seriously be curious about her opinion of the housekeeper. “I’ll have to see where we are with the case. I don’t want to say I can come and then not be able to make it.”
“Can I tell her it’s a ‘maybe’? One more person for dinner shouldn’t be a big deal, and you can come if you’re able.”
“All right.”
She could hear the smile in his voice. “Good. I hope to see you then.”
Feeling herself relax, Mattie smiled, too. After disconnecting the call, she reached to turn on the radio. She tuned to a station out of Denver to listen to a weather forecast. She didn’t have to wait long to learn what she needed to know.
“An arctic front is moving into Colorado, bringing strong winds and the first snow of the season to Colorado’s high country. Temperatures will drop to the low thirties here in Denver, and we’ll need to batten down the hatches. Expect winds around forty miles per hour with gusts up to sixty. Our snow forecast is for six to eight inches in the mountains above ten thousand feet for tonight. But don’t be disappointed, folks, we can expect snow by tomorrow night even down here in the Mile-High City. Stay tuned for more details.”
Having heard enough, Mattie switched off the radio. At about eight thousand feet, Timber Creek would most likely receive its first snow of the season by tomorrow night. The wilderness area around them would probably get hit tonight. Even without snow, she figured the temperature would plummet in the high country today from the seasonal sixties to frigid twenties with a wind-chill factor that would sink toward zero. She shivered and turned up the heat. She hoped Adrienne was someplace where she could do the same.
Back at the station, she unloaded Robo and went inside. Rainbow took off her headset and stood up from her desk.
“Mattie! I was just about to call you. Sheriff McCoy wants to see you right away. We’ve got a hit on Adrienne’s car.”
Her heart did a double step. “Where?”
Rainbow’s face paled as she said the words. “Way up Dead Man Gulch. A logger reported it to Sandy Benson. He noticed it yesterday and got concerned when it was still there today. Especially with the storm coming, you know. So he called it in, and now you’ve got to get up there and let Robo find her.”
Mattie squeezed Rainbow’s hand as tears welled in her friend’s eyes. “Where’s the sheriff?”
“In his office.”
Mattie crossed over and tapped on the door. “Come in,” he said.
He was halfway across the room when she opened the door. Excitement had replaced his typically unflappable expression. “We found Adrienne’s car.”
“Rainbow told me.”
“We’ve caught a break. The car isn’t parked at a trailhead. It’s at a pull-off on a logging trail up Dead Man Gulch. This is a rugged area, not a typical place for people to hike. In fact, it’s not near any groomed trails.”
“I wonder what she was doing there.”
“I’m not sure, but we need you and Robo to head up there. Here are the directions to get to the site and the GPS setting.” He handed her a handwritten list. “Is it clear enough?”