Page 17 of The Rancher

“Sure. Anytime.”

Lyris had a bad feeling about Ted, but she couldn’t put a name on why. “Will you hold him here while I run some tests?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. Fine.”

She went back to her office and took the test kit off the shelf. As she placed a drop of blood into the vial of fluid and shook it, she watched it change color.

She wasn’t happy with what she saw. Given these results and the horses antics, Lyris was sure that Stormchaser had been doped. But why? He’d just raced. Why dope him now, unless… She slipped her phone out of her pocket and called Ray.

“Stormchaser raced yesterday, right?”

“Yes, he did and it was a great showing, better than I thought possible. He came in second. He took first at today’s race. I guess the extra training we’ve been giving him is working.”

“I see.”

“What do you see?” Ray sounded confused. “Tell me what you think is going on.”

“It appears that Stormchaser was doped. He’s acting up, prancing, rearing and trying to toss Ted with his head as though he doesn’t want to leave the stall. Is he usually the type of horse to protest leaving his stall?”

“Never. He always wants to go outside, even if it’s just for a walk. He’s my prancer and always struts his stuff when he walks.” At the other end of the call, Ray was adamant.

Lyris could almost see Ray pacing and shaking his head. “Okay, I just wanted to know.” She ended the call.

“Ted, hold him still again. I need to administer some medicine.” She used her stethoscope and listened to Stormchaser’s heart, starting to count. The beats were racing. Someone had probably doped him before yesterday’s race and maybe for today’s race, too. The suspicion would fall on Ray if she couldn’t prove it differently. She walked into her office and got the activated charcoal and magnesium ready. The charcoal would hopefully absorb any leftover medications and the magnesium would help to get the charcoal out of his system after it’s done its job. It was the only thing she could do for him now and she wasn’t sure how effective it would be. Once she had the medicine prepared, she went back to where Ted held Stormchaser.

Ted frowned. “What are you giving him? I don’t think you ought to give him anything that might have an ill effect until Ray gets here.”

“Ray gave me jurisdiction to care for the horses as I see fit from a medical point-of-view. This is what I’m doing…as a vet. It you don’t like it, take it up with Ray.” She administer the antidote with a large syringe to get into the horse’s stomach, then patted the animal. “You’re a good boy. You’ll be back to normal in a little while.” She turned and looked at Ted. “Thanks for your help, grudgingly given though it was.” She held Stormchaser’s lead rope.

Ted turned on his heels and stomped off.

He was presumably going to find Ray.

Ray drove up in his fancy Lincoln Navigator and entered the barn.

Ted came in right behind him.

“Will someone tell me what’s going on here?” Ray looked between Lyris and Ted.

Lyris removed Stormchaser’s lead rope and closed the gate to his stall before turning to face Ray.

Ted was the first to approach Ray. “She’s been giving Stormchaser drugs.” He glared at Lyris. “Drugs I don’t think he needed.”

Ray lifted a brow. “Since when are you the vet?”

Ted plowed ahead. “I know the horses better than she does.” He crossed his arms over his chest, apparently not one to back down.

“Which is exactly why I took a sample and determined the problem. It’s still there if you want to look, Ray.”

Ray waved her off. “I don’t need to see. That’s why you’re here to do this job.”

“Thank you for that. It’s nice to be trusted to do my job.”

Ray waved off her thanks. “Now tell me what you suspected and what test did you run?”

“The test is for opioids and showed positive.”

“They can enhance performance, right?”