Scarlet Smith—horse tranqued UNSOLVED
She asked, “Is there anything else, no matter how small, that’s happened?”
Juliet waved. “Thisissmall, but I went to carry boxes inside one day and they all fell on top of me. I had significant bruising. I thought I tried to take too many, but it turned out that all the bottoms had been split apart. It wasn’t uniform, so they weren’t faulty boxes.”
“Thank you. More information. Anyone else?”
Scarlet leaned forward. “I had an odd incident. I’m a hypnotherapist so many of my clients are unusual. But one man came in and I quotewanted to be cured. Of course, I don’t cure people. I help them cure themselves. In any case, when I told him that, he said, “’You’ll regret this, Scarlet,’ and stormed out.”
“I didn’t know this,” Heath said vehemently. “You should have told us.”
“None of us knew, Scarlet,” Finn said. “I agree with Heath.”
Scarlet’s face flushed. “I’m sorry. I should have said something.”
“What was his name?” Rayburn asked, adding it to the board.
“Henry Perkins. It was a first interview so I only met him once. I have his information form but it’s spotty.”
“Do you have it with you?”
“Yes.” She handed a paper to the male agent.
Agent Stanton said, “My first recommendation would be to close down the collective until we can figure all of it out.”
Daisy’s eyes widened. “We talked about this. And we closed for two weeks after the homicide. But I need this income to live and by practicing in Scarlet’s barn, which was nice and I appreciated, my enrollment dropped. And I can’t leave the collective. We all invested a big chunk of change in this place.” Heath worried that she was close to spiraling. “We can’t close.”
“Do the rest of you agree?”
Oliver put his hand over Daisy’s. “We all lost money during that time. It’s all our livelihoods except for Heath, who still practices medicine.”
“Hold on a second.” Rayburn pulled Jack Stanton aside.
Oliver huffed. Juliet sighed. Scarlet got up and paced. Daisy was close to tears, Finn scowled and Heath sat stone-faced.
The agents came back in ten minutes. “All right,” Stanton said. “You can keep your businesses open. We’ll provide more security.”
The members of the Harmony Health Collective let out their collective breath that the FBI wasn’t abandoning them.
* * *
From her parents’ kitchen, Anabelle stared out into the bright, sunny day. Even the weather was on their side. She sighed at the lovely turn her life had taken.
Her dad came over to her, dapper in a lightweight navy suit. “How’s my girl doing?”
“I’m terrific, Dad. And very happy.”
“Good. That’s good.”
She’d chosen a deep rose dress, sleeveless and calf-length. Then she’d found rose outfits for both of the girls. They were inside with Irene in another room of the house. They’d come out just before the service began.
“Is everyone here?” Dad asked.
“Not quite. Three of Oliver’s brothers and their wives came early. Mrs. Ricardi is coming with the oldest.”
Just then Rosalina Ricardi appeared. Her dress was a deep shade of pink and she’d had her hair done in an upsweep.
“Are the members of his collective here?”