Thanks for the reviews! One more to go after this, believe it or not!
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was 7pm when Don returned to the office. Megan was sitting at her desk working on her computer and David and Colby were sitting at David's desk doing the same.
"I went to see Larry," Megan told Don as he wearily dropped down in his chair.
"And?"
Megan shook her head. "I showed it to both Larry and Millie, but neither has any idea. It's apparently advanced math, of the kind that very few people in the world can do. I'm a bit hesitant about just continuing to show this to people though. This could very well be some top secret code."
Don nodded. "Yeah, I think we can put that aside for a little while. When Charlie comes back I'm enrolling in all of his classes."
Megan laughed. "So you can learn the math or so you can watch him like a hawk?"
"Both. I think you guys can call it a day. We're not going to get much further on this tonight…"
"Got it! I found her!" David yelled from his desk all of a sudden. Megan and Don rushed over. On his computer screen was a picture of a woman and a large black horse, a riding helmet was on her head, and a blue ribbon attached to the horse's bridle. She was beaming at the camera.
"Where did you find it?" Don asked incredulously.
"We were waiting for the program to run through, and I thought, why don't we search online for pictures of local riding stables, see if I can match their pictures with the background in the photo of Charlie. Well, I discovered that many of the websites have pictures of their clients on it, so I just started looking. It's been hours, but this looks like her."
"There's no name?" Don asked.
"No, just pictures, no descriptions. But the stables – Red Leaf Stables – is just an hour drive out of the city. We could be there by 8."
"Let's go," Megan said eagerly. "We can stop for food along the way."
An hour later, Colby parked the SUV in front of a large barn and David, Megan and Don piled out.
There were horses everywhere, and Don was pretty sure he recognized the fencing and trees as being the same as on Charlie's picture. This was where it must have been taken.
"Come on," Megan said, determinedly walking into the barn. The barn itself was tidy, and had a wide aisle down the centre and rows of stalls along either side. On the front of each stall was a plaque with the horse's name and owner's name and emergency contact information. There were a few people here and there with their horses.
Don stopped in front of a stall with a large black horse in it and stared at the plaque. "Oh my god," he muttered.
"What is it?" Megan asked.
Don motioned toward the horse. "Madraghana, owned by Marjolie Cooper."
"Well, that explains it," Colby muttered.
"Can I help you?" a female voice asked from behind the group.
They all spun around and there she was, the mystery girl from Charlie's picture.
"Is this your horse?" Don asked.
"Yes," she said suspiciously, hands on her hips. She was petite, and dressed in riding breeches a boots. "Who are you?"
"My name is Don Eppes. Do you know my brother Charlie?"
"Can I see some identification?" she asked, surprising Don with the determined and suspicious edge to her voice.
Don pulled out his FBI badge and showed it to her, then pulled out his wallet and showed her a picture of him with Charlie for good measure.
"What's your name?" Don asked, seeing her determined resolve begin to crack. She looked near tears.
"Marjolie Cooper. Has something happened to Charlie?"
"We don't know. We can't find him. How did you know Charlie?"
"We… Charlie and I met in Europe three years ago. I was looking at some horses; he was doing a lecture tour. I temporarily abandoned my search for a horse and traveled with Charlie for two months. We got pretty close, but then something happened that scared Charlie."
"What happened?" Don asked.
Marjolie looked at him. "These people kept showing up. At our hotels, at restaurants, at his lectures. Everywhere we went they were there. Sometimes one of them would speak to Charlie when I wasn't close by. He was afraid of them, I'm pretty sure, because he started making phone calls to people in the middle of the night. And then others stared appearing, and it was freaking me out. People to protect him, people who were trying to get him." Marjolie shook her head. "Charlie insisted I go back home. Said he didn't want me to be hurt or taken. So I did."
"And Charlie?" Megan asked.
"I didn't hear from him for a couple of weeks, and then Maddie was delivered." Marjolie motioned to the horse. "Charlie bought her for me." She smiled. "Imported her from the Netherlands."
Don looked at the horse again. "Charlie bought you a horse? He doesn't know anything about horses."
"Ah, well, he had to listen to me talk about them for two months," Marjolie said with a laugh. "He remembered me telling him where my dream horse would come from, so he visited the farm and well, I don't even know how that would have gone." She shrugged. "He comes here sometimes to see her and me."
"But you're not…"
"Together? No. I guess I was scared, and Charlie respected that. Stupid me." Marjolie stepped past Don and opened the stall door to stroke Maddie's neck. "You can pet her if you want."
"Uh, no," Don said. "She has teeth."
Marjolie laughed. "Charlie said the same thing at first. But now when he stops by he'll feed her carrots and apples. Maddie loves Charlie." She turned serious again. "Maybe those people are after him again?"
"When did you last speak to him?" Megan asked.
"Sunday night."
"What time?" Don asked.
"Late. He woke me up. He said he couldn't really talk, but wanted to check in with me and see how I was. I was a little mad that he called me in the middle of the night, but that's Charlie. Sometimes he just doesn't notice."
"Has Charlie ever mentioned who was after him?" David asked.
"No. He never talked about any of that. He was worried though. Lately, especially. Something had happened in the last month or so." Marjolie stroked Maddie's ears a few times. "Charlie's fine. He has to be."