Foal Play: A Mystery Read Free Page B

young Colleen and her parents. Given the close quarters, it hadn’t taken curious Colleen long to figure out that while she and the babysitter’s children were playing outside, the grown-ups were inside playing games of their own.
    Young Colleen had had no idea that announcing the infidelity at a neighborhood picnic would cause such a fuss. Tears were shed. Punches were thrown. Ambulances were summoned. There had been a lot of screaming, not the least of which had been directed at her. Her mother and father had been furious at Colleen for not minding her own business. Did she know how hard it was for them to find a good babysitter? Colleen still didn’t understand why she had been grounded. She wasn’t the one who had had the affair. As far as she was concerned, if the babysitter hadn’t been up to hanky-panky with her best friend’s husband the whole ugly incident could have been avoided.
    No, her gut had never steered her wrong and right now it was telling her that the burned body on the beach meant trouble had arrived on their little island. Bill would need all the help he could get. Perhaps a new approach was in order. Colleen gently placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder.
    “Come on, Bill,” she said, lowering her voice. “How long have we been friends?”
    Bill saw Rodney watching them and quickly pulled away. “Shouldn’t you be preparing for tonight’s fireworks? Checking permits, the engine, duty schedules?”
    Colleen’s neck and cheeks flushed red with fury. It was one thing for Bill to stubbornly protest her involvement in the case. It was another thing to tell her how to do her job. She glared at him a moment, waiting for him to take it back. Rodney pretended to study his camera. A gull squawked. An awkward moment passed.
    “Fine!” Colleen snapped.
    She stomped to her vehicle, where Sparky eagerly awaited release. She yanked open the driver’s-side door, shooed the dog aside, squeezed in, started the engine, and hit the gas. The SUV spun its wheels in the sand, then lurched forward down the beach. Sparky watched sadly out the window as Bill and the stinky pool disappeared behind him.
    Colleen returned to the firehouse in a foul mood. She pulled into the lot in the back. She pushed open the door and was nearly knocked to the ground as Sparky leapt out and hurried inside. He knew to stay clear of her when she was angry. There would be no treats, no walks, no fun.
    Colleen stormed into the station. Having finished the morning chores, two of the volunteers were taking a break playing Nerf basketball. Jimmy spotted Colleen marching through the entrance and instantly sensed something was wrong. He tried to warn the men playing basketball with a quick whistle but it was too late. Colleen rounded the corner and one of the Nerf players bumped into her as he was about to take a shot.
    “Sorry, Chief,” the man said, recovering and preparing to shoot.
    “What’s going on here?” Colleen asked, grabbing the ball from the volunteer’s hands.
    Jimmy quickly stepped forward. “I thought the guys could use some downtime. Everything’s ready for tonight.”
    “Inspection. Now!”
    The men scrambled to attention in a line along the wall. Colleen walked the firehouse, checking for any task that still had not been performed—unswept floors, missing oxygen masks, improperly wrapped hoses. As she approached the men to inspect their appearance, they avoided eye contact. Nobody wanted Chief McCabe to interpret eye contact as a sign of disrespect or insubordination. They knew from experience that this was one thing she wouldn’t tolerate.
    As she studied the men’s faces, Colleen remembered how lonely she had felt when she first became chief. It had been hard, especially for the older, more experienced firefighters, to adjust to the idea of having a woman for a boss. They had reluctantly accepted her as an important member of the team, even eventually as fire lieutenant, but as chief? They didn’t think