Best Kept Secrets(88)
of the straight, wooden chair, making it available for Alex.
He sat behind a desk cluttered with mountains of paperwork.
"I wasn't all that surprised to hear from you," he remarked
candidly.
"Why?"
"Pat Chastain called and said you'd probably get around
to asking me some questions."
"I thought he was out of town."
' 'This was a couple of weeks ago, right after you got here.''
"I see."
Alex had decided to utilize the hours before her appointment
with Sarah Jo by questioning the veterinarian. When
she'd phoned, he had readily agreed to see her.
"Are you familiar with the murder of Celina Gaither?"
she began, intentionally playing down her personal involvement.
"Sure am. She was a sweet girl. Everybody was sick about
it."
"Thank you. It was your father who attended the foaling
at the Minton ranch earlier that day, wasn't it?"
"That's right. I took over his practice after he died."
"I'd like some background information. Do you work exclusively
for the Mintons?"
"No, I'm not a resident vet. I have a practice. However,
I must be honest and tell you that the Mintons give me so
much business I could almost work for them exclusively. I'm
out there nearly every day."
"It was the same with your father?"
"Yes, but if you're suggesting that I wouldn't rat on the
Mintons at the risk of cutting off my meal ticket, you're
wrong."
"I didn't mean to imply that."
"This is horse and cattle country. I have to turn down more
business than I can accept. I'm an honest man. So was my
daddy."
Alex apologized to him a second time, although it had
crossed her mind that he might be reluctant to divulge information
that would tend to incriminate his well-paying clients.
"Did your father talk to you about Celina's murder?"
"He cried like a baby when he heard that she'd been killed with one of his instruments."
"Dr. Collins positively identified the murder weapon as his scalpel?"
"There was never any question. Mama had given him that
set of sterling silver instruments for their twenty-fifth wedding
anniversary. They had his initials engraved on the handles.
That scalpel was his, all right. What he couldn't get over is that he'd been careless enough to lose it."
Alex scooted to the edge of her chair. "It would be unlike
Him to be careless with that scalpel if it was an engraved gift
from his wife, wouldn't it?"
He scratched his cheek. "Daddy treasured those things--
kept them in a velvet-lined box. I never could figure out how
that scalpel fell out of his bag, except that the mare had
everyone's attention that day. In all the commotion, I guess
it just got jostled out."
"You were there?"
"I figured you already knew that. I'd gone along to observe
and assist if Daddy needed me. 'Course, Reede was there,
too. He had helped in other births."
"Reede was there?"
"All day."
' 'Did your father ever leave him alone with his black bag?''
Ely Collins gnawed the inside of his cheek. She could tell
he didn't want to answer. "Daddy could have and wouldn't
have given it a second thought," he said finally, "but don't
get the notion I'm accusing Reede."
"No, of course not. Who else was in the stable that day?"
"Well, now, let's see." He tugged on his lower lip while
he thought back. "Just about everybody, at one time or
another--Angus, Junior, Reede, all the stable hands and gal
lop boys."
"Pasty Hickam."
"Sure. Everybody at the ranch was pulling for that mare
Even Stacey Wallace stopped by. As I recall, she'd just gotten
back from a trip to the coast."
Everything inside Alex went still. She worked hard at keeping
her expression impassive. "Did she stay long?"
"Who, Stacey? No. Said she had to go home and unpack."
"What about Gooney Bud? Was he around?"
"He meandered everywhere. I don't remember seeing him,
but that doesn't mean he wasn't there."
"If you didn't see him, weren't you surprised when he
turned up with the scalpel covered with Celina's blood?"
"Not really. Daddy hadn't noticed it was missing until
they found it on Gooney Bud. We believed what they said
--that it had fallen out of Daddy's bag, that Gooney Bud
had seen it, picked it up, and killed your mother with it."
"But it's conceivable that someone, in the midst of all the
confusion and concern for the mare and her foal, sneaked it