The Tell-Tale Horse by Rita Mae Brown

Author:Rita Mae Brown
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780345490247
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2007-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

Thick icy fog shrouded the soft rolling hills of central Virginia. Early colonists called this a pogonip, a word borrowed from the Native Americans and no doubt somewhat altered in the process. A pogonip freezes on trees, stones, and rooftops and then melts on the earth, warmer than the air. Superstition has it that evil spirits frolic but Marion, driving very slowly, thought superstition just that.

Usually on Wednesday she trooped in a half hour before opening, it being her “late” morning. But last night she had had a dinner date with an old flame and had neglected to take her paperwork home. Why sit through dinner fretting over paperwork? Better to rise early and knock it out at the office.

She could barely see the store as she turned into the top drive and parked next to the building. But approaching the door she gasped, stopped, and her hand flew to her heart. A corpse sat astride a child’s hobby horse. She forced herself to breathe deeply, then gingerly approached the naked white figure. The fog intensified her dread. Not until she was up close did she discover the corpse was a mannequin.

She slumped against her front door. What a sick joke. Furious, she reached over to push the wretched thing over and smash it to bits but then stopped herself. The sheriff would want to see this.

Flipping open her cell, she speed-dialed the department, the first number she had programmed on her new phone. Since the murder she’d put the number on speed dial, hoping she wouldn’t have to use it. She wanted someone over here fast because the mannequin needed to be removed. The townspeople wouldn’t enjoy the joke any more than she did.

Thank heaven Trigger was in the store. She couldn’t have faced a mannequin on him.

Next she dialed Sister.

“Good morning,” came Sister’s cheery voice. The hounds could be heard in the background for she was in the kennel.

“Sister, someone put a naked mannequin on a hobby horse in front of the store. Thank God there’s a thick fog.”

“You’re kidding.”

“How sick is that?”

“Sick. I assume you called the sheriff.”

“Someone is on the way. I want to get this damn thing out of here. I can’t believe it. My heart stopped. Stopped. I couldn’t breathe. All I could think of was Why? and then I was terrified I’d know the victim.”

“Is the store all right?”

“I don’t know. I’ll go in right now.” Marion fished out her keys, opened the lock, stepped in, and hit the lights. “Well, it’s a quick look, but I don’t think anyone has been in here.” She exhaled loudly. “I could kill. I could just kill!”

“We might have to,” Sister replied, over the roar of the girls flying into the feed room. “Let me go into the office. Can’t hear myself think.” She waved at Shaker as she left the large room.

“What do you mean we might have to kill?”

“Just popped out of my mouth.” Sister sat on the corner edge of the desk. “Do you think kids did it?”

“I don’t know.

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