Death by Equine by Annette Dashofy (booksvooks txt) 📕

Hospital Christmas party when she’d discovered—and liked—chocolate wine. “First of all, you aren’t my boss.” She hoped she sounded flip rather than stupid. “And if you were, wouldn’t this be considered sexual harassment in the workplace?”

“Yes, it would. Too bad.”

Another obstacle came to mind. “What about your girlfriend?”

“Girlfriend?”

“That evening I saw you at the races?”

“Oh. Gwen.” He waved a dismissive hand. “She’s just someone I spend time with on occasion. Nothing serious. I’ll pick you up at seven.” He placed a hand at the small of Jessie’s back and escorted her from the office.

“Wait a minute.” She turned to face him. “Where are you taking me?”

“Lorenzo’s, Mount Washington, Pittsburgh.”

She had a sneaking suspicion her mouth gaped open. He flashed a dimpled smile as he stepped back and shut his door.

ALL THE WAY BACK TO the clinic, Jessie chided herself for being a moron. How in the world had she gotten herself into this? Lorenzo’s? Mount Washington? There was no way she could possibly fit into a place like that. She didn’t have the wardrobe for it. And she sure as hell didn’t have the sophistication for it. She should’ve flat out told Daniel no.

Katie was pacing in front of the clinic looking pale and worried when Jessie pulled in. “How is he?” the girl asked as Jessie slid down from the truck’s cab.

Relieved to be back in her comfort zone, Jessie said, “The kitty has a broken hip. I can do surgery and fix him up.”

“When?”

“Right now. Check back in a couple of hours. If he’s coming out of the anesthesia by then, you can take him home.”

Katie smiled and thanked her before jogging away.

Jessie found the tabby in the same spot where she’d left him, purring in his kennel. She gently scooped him up and carried him into the adjacent operating room.

The surgery consisted of performing a femoral head ostectomy to remove the broken bone fragment. She’d done many of them and this one went flawlessly. To finish, she created a perfect line of stitches across the cat’s hip. Her handiwork would never be seen once the cat’s fur grew back.

Five o’clock came and went with no Katie. At five thirty, with only an hour and a half until Daniel would be picking Jessie up, she decided to track down the freckled-faced girl. She made a quick trip to Barn M only to learn that Katie had come down sick and left early.

“Looks like you’re going home with me,” Jessie told the sleepy cat.

She crossed the hall to the storage room where she’d seen a plastic cat carrier. Somewhere. As she searched the shelves, her phone rang. Another emergency? She dug the device from her pocket thinking at least she’d have a good excuse to cancel her date. But the text was from Greg. Stop at my apartment on your way home.

Maybe he’d learned something about Doc’s death. She located the cat carrier and transferred the tabby into it. Before leaving, she gathered an armload of Doc’s folders from her office, as well as the notes and records she’d rescued from the floor following the brawl. Loaded down with paperwork and her patient, she climbed into her truck and headed for West Cumberland.

Since moving out of their house, Greg had taken up residence above a secondhand store. Jessie turned right at the only traffic light in town, pulled into the alley, and parked behind the building next to Greg’s car. She assured the groggy tabby she wouldn’t be long, climbed the steep stairs to his apartment, and knocked lightly.

When the door swung open, she expected to see six-foot-four dark-haired Greg. Instead, the person who stood there was barely five feet tall and very blonde.

“Vanessa?”

Her receptionist’s eyes widened. “Dr. Cameron. I—I—didn’t think—”

Jessie struggled to process the scene in front of her. Everything about it was familiar. But the pieces didn’t fit. What was her ditzy receptionist doing in her husband’s apartment?

Vanessa turned away from Jessie. “Greg! Dr. Cameron’s here.”

A door squeaked elsewhere in the apartment. Greg appeared from around the corner dressed only in a brown towel wrapped around his hips. “Jess? I didn’t expect you so soon.”

With a thunk, the pieces fell into place. Vanessa’s tardiness at work. Meryl’s suspicions about a new boyfriend.

Meryl’s fury at Vanessa last night.

“Oh, my God.” Jessie averted her eyes from her half naked soon-to-be-ex-husband. “I’m an idiot.”

Greg strode toward her. “You never head home from the track this early.”

“I have a date.”

He stopped. “A what?”

“A date.” She looked up at him. Noticed his ripped abs. Turned away only to find herself looking into Vanessa’s deer-in-headlights blue eyes.

“With whom?” Greg demanded.

“Daniel Shumway.” Jessie immediately regretted it. Her social life was none of Greg’s concern. “You texted me to stop here. Did you find out anything about Doc?”

Greg put his hands on his hips and must have only then remembered his current state of undress. He clutched at the towel. “No. This isn’t about Doc. Excuse me while I go put on some pants.”

“Please.” Jessie fixed her gaze on a spider crawling across the stair’s railing. Anything to avoid looking at Greg. Or Vanessa.

He disappeared into the back room. “Come on in.”

Jessie stepped around Vanessa into a small but neat kitchen. The aroma of fresh coffee permeated the apartment.

Peanut rose from his bed on a rug in the living room and, tail wagging, galloped to Jessie.

Relieved to have something safe to focus her attention on, she dropped to her knees. “Hey, there, old boy.” She threw her arms around the dog who greeted her as if it had been a year since he’d seen her instead of a day.

“Coffee?” Vanessa asked, her childlike voice even softer than usual.

“No, thanks. I’m kind of in a hurry.” Jessie gave the dog’s ears a final scratch before standing. Peanut ambled back to his rug and flopped down.

With the dog out of the way, Jessie and Vanessa stood alone and silent, awkwardly avoiding each other until Greg returned, zipping up his jeans.

Jessie cleared her throat. “What did