Million which he had won three times after Arlington Park had been rebuilt from the fire which destroyed the famous track’s clubhouse. Now it stood as a modified glass structure standing against the sky fully lit at night.
Hunter’s Destiny’s stall itself was padded in order to prevent the stallion from injury should he decide to kick the wall. Hunter’s Destiny was not a dangerous horse but he did have a propensity to kick at anything which moved in his domain, be it wall, door, groom or water bucket.
Senator Elliott was well dressed as I said…he looked like he had just stepped from Gentlemen’s Quarterly; tan slacks; blue turtle-neck sweater, camel colored jacket with patches on the elbows and he was wearing Gucci loafers with no socks in the dead of winter. Maybe he had to get out of the house quickly and forgot the socks? He had a coffee in his right hand and switched it to his left to extend the right to shake my hand. Even in a disaster, he was elegant, every bit the well-educated and splendidly bred man of gentry.
“Detective Lang…you know my wife, Mona Tate, of course?
"Yes," I smiled and she moved forward to politely hug me.
"Thank you for coming out so quickly…we are so grateful that you are working on the day after the New Year. Can I offer you a tea or coffee?”
“Thank you Senator, maybe later. I have a lot of work to do and I want to strike quickly to solve this theft before the tracks get cold.”
“The horse means everything to our family but at the moment I am so concerned over the condition of our night watchman Eddie…we’re just beside ourselves over this whole thing Detective…poor Bill here was shocked on his arrival to not only find our night watchman bloodied, bound and gagged but also to find our prized stallion missing…I don’t know what to say?”
“It’s bad business Senator, but bad business is what we do, and my experts are now on the scene, gathering evidence, carefully looking for any clue or prints out of place. And, most important Senator, let us not forget, we have a 1250-pound flashy thoroughbred which will not be easy to hide.”
“Thank you so much Graham, just so you know, we have every confidence in Bill Riley. He has been a loyal employee of this farm for at least ten years. He has my utmost respect as a trusted farm manager…I am going to have to leave it to you and Bill…but if you need me, please do not hesitate to call me on my cell phone. My wife and I are going to the hospital now to see our night watchman Eddie Renfroward before we are scheduled to fly back to Washington in the morning.”
“I am truly sorry for this Senator…but don’t you worry, we’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“Yes, I am confident you will, my hope, is that you will recover my stallion before he is injured, or colic’s…it would be devastating to me and all the others connected to this horse that he might die from improper handling, these are delicate creatures. And of course our major concern is for Eddie Renfroward, I have spoken with Bill about speaking to you on your thoughts of posting a reward. I am ready willing and able to do so immediately. Any amount which would help to catch these bastards responsible for the pain and suffering they have cause Eddie and his family. I’ll post it with the Bank of Oldham County…any amount which will get the attention of someone who knows the whereabouts of these criminals. Please Graham, I am asking you to squeeze these bastards for what they have done to Eddie and my horse.”
“Yes, sir, Senator…a reward will be very helpful, I’ll talk with Bill Riley as we get along in the investigation…and he can make the arrangements with you…but we don’t want to throw your money away, so we will be very careful.”
As the Lang's left the barn, I could see there was a general good feeling shared by the staff for the family. They were so genuine, and it was obvious that the Elliott’s felt that these employees were family and vice versa. Mona Tate hugged and kissed all before they left for the hospital and she had a warm moment with Bill and Betty Riley whom she knew were extremely depressed over the matter and I could hear her say to Betty, as they held hands…” I’ll call you from the hospital.”
As my team swept the area for any special prints or to find anything out of place, I finally went to the office for that coffee and Bill Riley followed me like a hurt puppy.
Riley finally spoke, “You know Graham, it is especially troubling how these folks knew their way around this stud barn…like they had been here many times before the theft.”
“What about security Bill?”
“This barn has the latest in technology. There is a security camera, going 24/7 at the entrance and exit, as well as one over the stall of Hunter’s Destiny. But even if they disabled those cameras, Hunter’s Destiny’s stall had a special cornea registry for all to gain entry into his stall. The cornea of anyone on this farm was preregistered and a positive actual match must be identified in order to gain entry into the stall. Obviously, no match, no entry.”
“Ok Bill, the first thing we need to do is review the tapes, and I need a copy of those on the farm whose cornea and finger prints have ever been recorded from the beginning…is that possible?"
Riley, had already looked at the tapes and made the discovery that the security had been breached… someone was able to place a cap over the eye of the camera and refocus it on the ceiling.
“Bill, I expect the perpetrators forced Eddie Renfroward by beating him nearly to death to utilize his own cornea to gain entry into the stall.”
“Yes, they could have done so if they were careful not to damage his right eye because any damage, like a blow to the eye would have distorted the actual focus of the eye and negate a positive identification, but if all was well with Eddie, a match would have been made and the big door would have opened.”
“So, Bill…we are two down and the stallion must be lead from the stall and then the barn and apparently vanned away in the night. Into the mix comes Hunter’s Destiny whom I am told is high strung with a penchant for kicking and biting.
Is it reasonable to think this horse is going to respond positively to a stranger?”
“More, and more Graham this theft is pointing to an inside job? I am going to get some help to research our files to determine any connection to anyone going back to the installation of the system through the computer to get a match on anyone who may have handled Hunter, at any time. Obviously, that person or person’s must have a special knowledge of this horse because, as you say, he did have a penchant for being aggressive and not just anyone could handle him.”
“Bill, I have a theory about how they got Hunter’s Destiny from the stall to the waiting van. I believe someone he knew, forced Eddie to open the door, placed the shank on him and walked him out the back door, leading the big horse through the paddock and down the lane leading to the back entrance where the security camera was disabled, loading him on the van and driving away in the early hours of the morning.”
“But Graham, there is a “fly in the ointment” because there is no gate at the back paddock! Anyone taking a horse at that point must have a chain saw to cut through a five board rail attached by screws, so a hammer would have been of no use, and either method would have been noisy.”
“Well, I say we walk back to the back paddock and determine if they did cut through the fence or utilized some other methodology similar to those utilized by loggers for example.”
Bill Riley and I walked through the back exit of the stallion barn as the other horses nickered for morning oats. There were fresh hoof prints, easily seen in the fresh snow which had fallen in the night. We followed them along a row of fences until we reached the back paddock, located some two hundred yards from the barn. A chain had been utilized, attached to a truck and the fence rails were pulled out, permitting Hunter’s Destiny to walk through freely and onto the van…there would have been little or no noise associated with pulling the fence apart.
“Pretty slick Bill! They use poor old Eddie Renfroward to gain entry into the stallion’s stall and then an experienced hand feeds the big horse a few