Lead a Horse to Murder Read Online Free PDF

out.”
    “Nick?” Betty blinked in surprise. “But he’s usually so calm! In fact, I didn’t know he had it in him to get stressed out about anything!”
    “Me, either. But classes just started last week, and I’m already seeing an entirely new side of him.”
    Actually, he’d been so busy that I’d hardly seen him at all—either his new sides or his old sides. And now he was talking about joining a study group, getting together once or twice a week with a bunch of other law students who would share their notes and pool their knowledge.
    It’s a good thing I keep a photograph of Nick next to my bed, I thought glumly, or by now I’d have forgotten what he looks like.
    “I’ve been a little stressed out myself,” Betty admitted, jumping up to silence the whistling kettle. “Opening night is only a week and a half away, and I’m getting jittery.”
    “But you love performing!”
    Her face lit up in a smile. “That’s certainly true,” she said, her sapphire blue eyes twinkling. “There’s nothing like the sound of applause ringing in your ears—and knowing you’ve just put on a performance that deserves it.” Her smile faded. “Still, I haven’t been in showbiz for—well, for much too long for me to admit to. It’s terribly exciting to be in a musical again, but between you and me, I’m finding that I’m a bit rusty. And of course getting on a stage always involves a few butterflies in the stomach, even for us seasoned veterans. I’ve loved the rehearsals, but with the opening around the corner, I’m finding the prospect of dancing in front of a real live audience after all this time a little frightening. I know I used to be good at it, but I keep wondering if I still am.”
    A few decades earlier, Betty had shown incredible gumption, saving a summer’s worth of wages from her waitressing job at the Paper Plate Diner in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and buying a one-way bus ticket to New York City. Her pluck had paid off. She’d taken Broadway by storm, performing in musicals like South Pacific and Oklahoma .
    In all the years that followed, her passion for musicals had never wavered. A few months earlier, back in June, I’d been thrilled to learn that Betty had decided to throw herself back into dancing. She’d auditioned for a community theater production of Chicago, winning the part of Katalin Helinszki in the electrifying “Cell Block Tango” dance number.
    All summer, she’d bounded off to rehearsals with the Port Players four evenings a week, cradling her ballet shoes lovingly in her arms. Late at night, she’d knock at my door, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright as she related the detail of every dance move, every comment the director made, every bit of intrigue among the cast members. It struck me that getting back into theater was precisely what she needed to stay young.
    “Anyway,” Betty continued, “let me worry about my return to the stage. You can focus on that lovely boyfriend of yours. And be patient with him! I’m sure Nick could use a little moral support right now. Starting law school is no small thing—especially since he’s been out in the world working for a few years since college. Hitting the books again is going to be quite a change from the freedom he enjoyed as a private investigator. It’s going to take a lot of discipline. Plenty of back rubs, too.”
    “You’re absolutely right,” I assured her. I figured I could rise to the occasion, becoming a pillar of patience and strength for our hardworking law student.
    Besides, those back rubs were sounding pretty darned good.
    I still had a full day ahead of me, back-to-back appointments all over the island. I generally tried to group my calls to clients’ homes, based on their location. But Long Island is well named—although an even better name would have been Long, Wide Island with Way Too Much Traffic.
    Still, I never regret my decision to become a veterinarian-on-wheels. I love the feeling of having