Splintered Bones by Carolyn Haines

Her mares are ready to be bred. Past ready. She's not going to tolerate much of a delay. She's on her cell phone talking to a lawyer right this minute. If this bill of sale is legal, and if Kemper had the authority to sell the horses, she's going to do her best to take them as soon as possible. That's why I need to talk to Lee."
    "I'll call Coleman."
    "Make it fast. She's left the motor running in her truck." He hung up.
    It took a few calls to track Coleman down, but, as it happened, he was headed out to Swift Level. My call was patched through to him, and I gave him the pertinent details. He promised to check into it.
    I'd just hung up when the phone jangled beneath my fingers. "Delaney Detective Agency."
    "It's me." Tinkie's voice bubbled with excitement. "What do you have to eat?"
    Whereas Cece preferred cheese Danish hot from the local bakery, Tinkie liked to come to Dahlia House for empty calorie consumption. Her expensive, registered dust mop, Chablis, liked to romp on the kitchen floor with Sweetie Pie.
    "As it happens, some fresh strawberry pie." It was Delaney tradition to have at least one pie with the lush, sweet berries sliced and piled high in a graham-cracker-crumb crust and covered with mountains of whipped cream. I was a slave to tradition, especially when it came to food.
    "We're on our way," Tinkie said as she hung up.
    I looked around for Sweetie Pie. She'd be delighted to see Chablis. They were an interesting pair--the big, gangly red tic hound and the froufrou toy Yorkie. They adored each other.
    My hound was nowhere in sight. I remembered that Kip had taken a liking to her, and it was a good excuse to check on the teenager. I knocked on her door, pounding to get over the din of the music. "Kip, Sweetie Pie has a friend coming over to play. Is she with you?"
    The sudden silence was startling. When the door opened, the first thing I noticed was Kip's clean face. Without all that makeup, she looked vulnerable. Her eyes were puffy from crying. Sweetie Pie sat at her side, tail thumping the floor. In that moment she looked like only a fourteen-year-old kid who'd listened to her parents fight and had been pressured to a level of performance in the show ring that I couldn't even imagine.
    "Your dog has a friend coming over?" Kip looked from me to Sweetie Pie.
    "Chablis. Tinkie's dog." I hesitated, then took the plunge. "I think you'd like the little vermin. She's terminally cute, and she has a lot of heart. Why don't you come down and meet Chablis and have some strawberry pie with me and Tinkie?"
    She looked as if I'd asked her to perform a ballet on a bed of nails. "I'm not hungry."
    "Kip, please come down. A grilled cheese sandwich won't hold you for long. You haven't eaten enough to keep a bird alive since you got here."
    "Why do you care?" Her green eyes didn't flinch, but the please had gotten to her.
    "I won't pretend to like you, but I do care what happens to you."
    "Because of my mother?"
    "Partly. Also because of you. I have a feeling that if you'd give me half a chance, we might actually like each other."
    She rubbed her eyes as if suddenly aware the makeup was gone. "Why aren't you married?" she demanded.
    The question took me by surprise. "I haven't found the right man." I glanced past her to see if Jitty, somehow, had invaded her room and her brain. "It hasn't been my sole mission in life."
    "All the women who come to the barn talk about their husbands, or the men they're screwing. That's all they talk about." She said this with complete disgust. "What's wrong with you?"
    "Now that's a question that will take at least half an hour to answer. If you come downstairs, I'm sure Tinkie will be glad to fill you in."
    Her lips pressed together. "I can leave if I want?"
    I nodded. "But once Tinkie starts dishing the dirt on me, you'll be too fascinated to depart."
    I didn't give her a chance to refuse. I walked away. Kip was furious with everyone and everything associated with her parents. I'd found only