The old tenement had been creaking and groaning all night when Evie finally decided to give up on the idea of falling asleep. The wind had started blowing late in the afternoon and around 10pm it had started raining too. Then, Evie had still hoped for a quiet night but when sleep refused to come, she started hoping a client might call on her. With a sigh she decided to make some tea while absentmindedly petting her cat. Oz didn't normally spend his nights inside the house with her. The black cat much preferred the streets of Birmingham to her company but apparently even he had decided the chances of a successful hunt were too slim that night.

Evie was debating what to read while she drank her tea when she was interrupted by a sharp knock on her front door. As always, she paused for a moment acutely aware that she had no clue who was on the other side but also fully cognizant of the fact that she would lose her job if she showed such qualms. It was one of the things she was trying to make peace with while she settled into her new life in Birmingham.

'Who's there?', she called out, heading towards the front door, listening for a reply.

'Dr. Calman? I, uhm, I'm supposed to get you to look at the horse.'

Dr. Calman, she thought. Well, the poor fellow was in for a surprise but that wasn't really her concern, she decided and grabbed her coat, her hat, and the bag with her medical supplies. Upon opening the door, she found herself almost bumping into a man wearing a peaked cap that he held to his head with one hand to keep it from being blown away by the wind. He looked at her in shock now, his brows knitted together.

'Where's Dr. Calman?'

'I'm Evelyn Calman, if you were supposed to get someone to look at the horse…well, then that would be me', Evelyn explained while giving him the most confident look she could muster. It was always the same and when it came down to it, she didn't really blame the man in front of her. The problem was just that those who were to blame for the fact that she wasn't actually a doctor would never come knocking at her door.

After a short pause the man grumbled in response and shrugged but headed towards a car gesturing at her to follow him. Evelyn had been prepared for a lengthier discussion of her qualifications but was relieved that he was clearly in a hurry to get out of the wind and rain. When she got into the car, she tried asking questions about the horse she was supposed to look at but it quickly turned out the man had no clue what was wrong with the horse. He was just following orders in getting her.

'Well, who's the owner?', Evelyn asked.

'That would be Mr. Shelby, but he's not there. Curly sent me', the man offered. Shelby? The name sounded vaguely familiar but then again, it wasn't an unusual name. Curly on the other hand was a name she was only too happy to hear. She'd met the man just a few weeks ago at a stable, where he'd helped her examine a particularly frightened horse. He'd been kind and sweet and obviously not at all used to all of her questions and the praise that came with it. She remembered how nervous he had been at first when she addressed him but that this had soon given way to pure enthusiasm when she'd included him in making a plan for the treatment of the horse. He hadn't mentioned that he worked for anyone though, as far as she could remember he'd said he was doing a friend a favor looking after the horse. Evie looked forward to working with Curly again and felt a little reassured now.

'Where are we going? I don't recall there being stables near here?', Evelyn was new in Birmingham and it had been hard for her to recognize any landmarks in the dark and through the rain but she was certain she'd never been in this part of town.

'Charlie's boatyard, we'll be there in a moment. Horse is there too.'

Since there wasn't anything else she could do at this point, Evelyn decided to be patient but she couldn't ignore the dread she felt at not knowing where exactly they were. It helped that Curly was the one to have called her though, she reminded herself.

Finally, the car came to a halt and Evie immediately spotted the illuminated building that indeed looked like a stable of sorts. She got out of the car and hurried towards the entrance without looking back at the man. She was in her element now - a patient was waiting, and she would soon be going through her established and long perfected exam routine. Before Evie could reach the entrance however, she heard what sounded like a gunshot even over the noise of the wind and the rain. Could it really have a been a gunshot? No, it must have been, Evie had been in France the past four years and had come back to England even later than most soldiers had. Well, those at least that had been lucky enough to make it home. If there was a sound she recognized, it was a gunshot.

The man that had driven Evie ran past her and she followed him more slowly until she rounded the corner of the building and saw the white horse. It was laying in the straw with a bullet wound right between the eyes. Evelyn didn't even notice any of the men in the building, she rushed to the horse and crouched down next to it, her hands flying over its head, then its back trying to understand what had happened. The world around her was reduced to the white horse, covered in blood, bone fragments, and brain.

'Who the fuck is this?', she heard a deep, gravelly voice behind her.

'Oh, this…Tommy, this is…', Curly's familiar voice started up to her right, a tinge of panic coating the words.

'I'm Evelyn Calman, I'm a veterinarian. What is going on here?', Evelyn interrupted and turned to face the voice, trying to get control over her emotions as well as to understand the situation better. All she could see were two icy blue eyes staring down at her. They glimmered with what might have been unshed tears that were in stark contrast to the open hostility on his face. If looks could kill, this man would have perfected that art, Evie thought. And she would be laying dead next to the horse.

'Curly, what the fuck is this?', the man gestured at her all the while staring at poor Curly who now looked even more uncomfortable than Evelyn remembered him looking when she first met him.

'I called her, Tommy. She's good with horses, thought…thought she could…'

'Why did you shoot the horse?', Evelyn intervened, raising her voice slightly for emphasis, she had heard and seen enough to understand whatever reason Curly would give for having called her would not help the situation in the slightest.

'Cursed! The Lee's cursed…', Curly started up again, running his hands anxiously along the brim of his hat in front of his chest.

'Curly, out!', the man shouted and Curly immediately retreated.

Evie debated what to do now; the horse was definitely dead, with blood still running over its white head. It had been gorgeous, and it looked young still. What the hell did Curly mean when he said there had been a curse, surely no one in Birmingham believed in curses still? Dark magic and curses were beliefs of a time and a culture at odds with the awful noise and smog of the factories that surrounded this place until any history that could have been there before the industrial revolution was drowned out, reduced to ashes and dirt.

'Where's the owner of this horse?', Evelyn decided to ask calmly, trying not to give into the rage that was slowly building in her chest, threatening to take over.

'I'm the owner', the man was lighting a cigarette now and the light of the match momentarily made his features appear more tired rather than hostile. The tone of his voice clearly suggested otherwise though.

'Why did you shoot?', Evelyn asked again, fighting to keep calm and somewhat professional. She could not afford to lose this job and if she knew one thing it was that standing up to any man could cost her the position with Dr. Robertson immediately. And this particular man held himself with such authority that she sensed the consequences might be even worse in this case. Fuck, this was not good.

'How'd you know Curly?'

'He helped me with a horse a few weeks ago, he's wonderful with them', Evelyn felt the need to praise Curly after how the man in front of her had just yelled at him. What had the driver said his name was?

'Aye', he acknowledged before dragging on his cigarette and turning away from the horse and towards the door.

'Horse was cursed by gypsies, like he said. He's seen it happen before, would have killed the beast by tomorrow. There was nothing to be done.'

With that, the man strode out of the shed, leaving Evie with the ghostly white horse. While there was nothing she could do for the creature now, she felt her anger reaching a boiling point. She had seen countless horses shot in France that could have been easily treated. To see one here - in England - being shot when she was just mere minutes away from being able to examine it was more than she could process right then. So, she followed the man outside where she had to yell over the wind and rain.

'Next time maybe let a veterinarian take a look before you fucking shoot!'

The man paused mid-stride but then resumed walking towards one of the other cars and Curly quickly joined Evelyn effectively blocking her path though it didn't look like he did so on purpose.

'I'm sorry Ms. Evie, I didn't know what to do. I've seen the curse before…and…and Tommy didn't want it to suffer. It was a bad curse…', Curly gave her a look that would have broken her heart in an instant if she hadn't been so damn angry. Evie didn't know what to say so she just squeezed Curly's shoulder before asking him to explain to her how to get back home from here. She refused a ride and stubbornly marched home through the rain while fuming over the man. Shelby? Yes, that's what the first guy had said the owner's name was. She made a mental note to ask her employer, Dr. Robertson, if he knew the man when she saw him.