Happy Hollow Stables Series Books 1-6: Happy Hollow Cozy Mystery Series

HAPPY HOLLOW STABLES SERIES BOOKS 1-6

Happy Hollow Cozy Mystery Series

Eve Craig

Cozy Mystery Press.com

© Copyright 2017 by Eve Craig All rights reserved

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HAPPY HOLLOW STABLES SERIES

BOOKS 1-6

First Printing December 2017

Published by:

Cozy Mystery Press

http://www.CozyMysteryPress.com

Printed in the United States of America

Also by Eve Craig

For a list of all Eve’s books please visit her website at:

http://www.EveCraig,com/p/book-list.html

HAPPY HOLLOW

COZY MYSTERY SERIES

DYING TO WIN

KILL THEM WITH KINDNESS

CART BEFORE THE HORSE

OLD DOG NEW TRICKS

SILENCE OF SNOWFALL

A HOUSE DIVIDED

FIRST GLANCE PHOTOGRAPHY

COZY MYSTERY SERIES

PRETTY AS A PICTURE

HOT OFF THE PRESS

PICTURE OF THE PAST

POINT AND SHOOT

WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

COST OF DOING BUSINESS

CEDAR RANCH

COZY MYSTERY SERIES

APRIL 2018

MOPPING UP A MURDER

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Contents

Dying To Win

Kill Them With Kindness

Old Dog New Tricks

Cart Before The Horse

Silence of Snowfall

A House Divided

Also by Eve Craig

About the Author

Dying To Win

Happy Hollow Stables Cozy Mystery Series Book One

Chapter One

Holly Bridges jumped out of her truck and eagerly loped around it to shake hands with the real estate agent. Thanks for meeting me on such short notice.

The realtor, Mrs. Hudgins, nodded her curly gray head and smiled. It’s no problem. I was just surprised to have someone interested in this place. She fiddled with a set of keys as they approached the big barn door.

Really? As she had come up the long driveway to the stable, Holly had already been impressed with the place. All the pastures were lined with beautiful white fencing. The barn had an attached indoor arena as well as several outdoor arenas. Whoever had originally built the place had put some money into it.

Oh, yes. Mrs. Hudgins put the key in the lock, tried to turn it, and then grabbed a different key when it didn’t work. A big place like this isn’t the kind of thing that just anybody goes for. You are serious about renting it, aren’t you? She glanced over her shoulder at Holly.

Absolutely! It had always been a dream to start a stable of her own. She’d been in several horse shows as a child and then had gone on to compete on her university’s equestrian team. Though she had thought her riding career had been over upon graduation, she quickly found that she wasn’t going to be able to stay away from the sport forever.

Mrs. Hudgins managed to get the rusty lock working and shoved open the big door. Groping in the darkness, she found the light switch and then wiped her hand off on her skirt suit. This building has thirty stalls and an indoor arena. She flipped another switch.

Lights came on down a long center aisle way. The stalls on the left were covered in dusty cobwebs, and several of them still had old bits of deteriorating tack hanging from the hooks on the doors. The dirt floor of the arena was nothing but mud in a few spots where rain had leaked in. The gate that lead to it hung limply on its hinges.

The owner would like to offer complete control of the space in exchange for the rental fee. That means that you don’t have to ask to make any changes to the property. He simply doesn’t want to have to deal with it anymore.

Holly’s mind was already churning with ideas. The stable was going to take a lot of work; there was no debate about that. She would have to spend all her evenings and weekends scrubbing, dusting, repainting, and repairing. Between the normal daily operations of a stable and fixing the place up, she would be constantly busy. She couldn’t wait.

Mrs. Hudgins’ sensible shoes made soft thuds on the concrete floor of the aisle as they strolled past the stalls. As I’m sure you noticed, there are quite a few pastures and paddocks available for your use. Everything inside the fences comes with the place. The rest of the surrounding real estate is farmland.

Holly nodded. So, no real neighbors. Nice. There would be no loud trucks or barking dogs to disturb the peace and the horses.

The agent tipped her head to the side. Well…Mr. Gibson is on his land quite often. He does keep his tractors in an equipment shed on the land, and if he’s not tilling and planting then he’s tinkering.

I think I can handle that.

They had reached a tack room at the end of the aisle. At some point, someone had converted it into an office. The dusty desk was nothing more than a plank of wood balanced on two stacks of cinder blocks, and the accompanying chair didn’t look safe enough to sit in. But there were a few outlets in the walls, and the floor was wood instead of dirt.

I think this is going to work out just—What is that? Holly took several steps backwards as a hairy lump rose out of the shadows in the far corner of the makeshift office. Deep, growling yowls emanated from its throat as it shook off the straw that clung to its fur.

Mrs. Hudgins laughed. Oh, that’s just Rufus. He’s been living here for as long as anyone can remember. I should tell you about that part of the contract. If you rent the place, you have to agree to let Rufus stay.

The shaggy creature advanced towards them, and Holly could now tell that he was a scraggly old barn cat. Bits of straw and dirt still clung to the ends of his long gray fur. His pale green eyes seemed permanently set in a scowl, and his crooked whiskers only added to the look. He sat down on the floor in front of the two ladies, watching them with such an intensity that Holly thought perhaps even he was waiting for her final answer.

She grinned at the hideous feline. Of course, he can stay.

Chapter Two

I think organizing a show is going to be one of the best ways to attract attention to the place, Holly explained to her new employee. It’s going to take a lot of work, but I think it will be worth it. Have you ever helped put on a horse show before?

McKenzie Allman grinned from the other side of the hay room, where she was filling several large plastic trash cans with bags of grain. I think it’s a great idea! I don’t know anything about it, really, but I’m sure we can pull it off. As a local college student, she had lots of energy and enthusiasm. That was one of the main reasons Holly hired her.

The two women made their way back to the office, which Holly had worked hard to fix up as soon as she had signed the rental agreement. She needed a base of operations, not to mention a place to sit down and rest while she fixed everything else. She pulled a bottle of water out of a cooler and handed it to McKenzie before grabbing one for herself. Soon enough, she would find room somewhere for a fridge.

I can order the ribbons online and have them delivered. We’ll have to make our own jumps for the hunter class. I’ll need to find some judges, too.

McKenzie ran a hand over her dark brown ponytail to get it off her neck and took a big swig of water. I saw some scrap lumber over by the backside of the barn. That might be a good start for our jumps. Do we want to have any kind of concession?

That’s a great idea! Of course, we would need someone to run the concession, and the two of us will be busy enough just keeping the riders organized and announcing all the events. Holly grabbed a notebook out of her desk to take notes. It was just an old teacher’s desk she had found at a thrift store, but it was much better than the one that had been there before.

I have a few guy friends who would probably be happy to work for free food. Throw a few hot dogs and sodas their way, and they could run the stand. Oh! Or we could see if some of the local food trucks want to come out here. We wouldn’t make any money off of them, but it would be another attraction for people.

Rufus marched into the office with an agitated look on his face that said, How dare you start a meeting without me? He leapt straight up into McKenzie’s lap and butted his dirty head against her hand. She immediately obliged, running her hands down his body and then shaking off the dirt and loose fur that was left on them. It was another reason Holly hired her. She was the only person Rufus seemed to like.

That might work. Holly jotted it down and then shook her head. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. I really want to do this show. I mean, we’re at the perfect time of year for it. If we get it going, it could become a yearly tradition, which will keep our name out there in the horse world. But it really is a lot to put together, and it’s going to take some money. She thought about how much she had already spent over the last month. The new sign out by the road had been a large part of that, and that didn’t help repair the leaking roof.

No way, McKenzie enthused. You already have a few kids signed up for lessons. That’s a great start, and they’ll probably tell their friends about it. You could have entire classes before you know it. And don’t forget that you’ll be charging an entry fee for the show. We have to get that at just the right amount that people don’t mind paying but that it will still cover our expenses.

Holly couldn’t write fast enough. You know, I helped put shows on when I was riding on my university’s equestrian team, but there was a lot of this that I never had to think about. The entry fees were already set, and most of the equipment was in place. We just needed warm bodies to run everything.

I think we can pull it off. McKenzie scratched the cat’s chin, causing a ragged purr to issue forth from the scraggly creature. We can do lots of advertising that doesn’t cost much. Social media, maybe a few flyers in the right places. We might have enough time to organize business sponsors for a printed schedule or for some of the jumps.

Of course! Holly wanted to smack her forehead. Local businesses could pay a fee to have their sign or banner incorporated into a jump or hung alongside the arena. It would go a long way toward making sure they had enough equipment. I don’t know what I would do without you, McKenzie. I think I’ve just been so overwhelmed with the little details of running this place that I’m not thinking clearly. But you’re definitely worth your salary. What did you say you’re going to school for, again?

Veterinary medicine, the young girl replied as Rufus rolled over on her lap to reveal his belly. The fur might have been slightly lighter than the dark gray of the rest of his body, but the color was obscured by all the arena dirt that had been rubbed in over the years. But I’m minoring in business.

Holly shook her head. I couldn’t have gotten any luckier when it came to finding an assistant.

After another hour of brainstorming, it was time to shut things down for the day. Go on home, she told McKenzie. I’ll get everything buttoned up. She peeked in the stalls of the few horses that now stayed on the premises, making sure they had plenty of hay and water to last them through the night. They were old schooling horses she had picked up for a good price, and they watched her with soft brown eyes as she passed by.

Pausing a moment at the end of the aisle, Holly turned around to take it all in. The arena gate had been fixed with no small effort, and all the cobwebs had been removed from the stall doors. Several rusty name plates which could no longer be read had been pried away from the fronts of them and the concrete had been swept and power washed. The scent of sweet feed and good hay hung thickly in the air. Things were coming together, and McKenzie was right. The show would all work out just fine. She turned off the lights.

As she guided her big truck down the long drive, she paused just long enough to admire the new sign. It wasn’t as fancy as she would have liked, but it still looked nice. She admired the tall white letter on the green vinyl: Happy Hollow Stables. It was more than she ever could have hoped for. She pulled out onto the road and headed home.

Chapter Three

The next day, Holly couldn’t quite keep her mind off of finances as she measured out grain and refilled water buckets. Even though she had convinced herself the evening before that everything would be fine for the show, there was still the matter of being able to make the monthly rent payment. The owner, whom she had still never met, had really let the place go. Even so, it was a large place with a lot of land and the rent was no small amount.

Clomping back down the aisle in her rubber boots, she was surprised to see someone waiting for her outside her office.

Finally! the young woman exclaimed. I was starting to think this place was haunted. It certainly looks like it is. She frowned at a cobweb in the corner that had somehow managed to escape the broom earlier.

Can I help you? Holly stammered. She had never seen this person before, and even though she was extremely rude, she didn’t want to chase anyone away.

"I’m Erin Bosworth. And yes. Before you even ask, those Bosworths. I heard this place had just opened back up, and I’d like to see about boarding my horse." Erin flicked her chin so that her short dark hair, cut in a glossy bob, danced around her jawline. She watched Holly with sharp green eyes that tipped up at the outside corners and gave her an exotic look.

Oh. Oh! Okay, let me show you around. She had no idea who those Bosworths were, but she didn’t care who they were or what they did if Erin was interested in boarding with her. The boarding fee varies depending on the size of stall, and—

Don’t waste your time. Just show me to the biggest, nicest stall you have. King needs lots of room to move. Erin walked next to her, glancing around with disdain.

What kind of horse is he?

A dark bay Hanoverian gelding, Erin boasted, throwing her pointy chin into the air. Daddy bought him for me as a graduation present. He’s an excellent hunter/jumper, and he moved through the dressage circuit before I had him.

Sounds expensive, Holly thought, but she didn’t mind. If Erin (or her father) could afford a horse like that, then there was no doubt she could afford the highest boarding fee Happy Hollows charged. Wonderful. I think this would be an excellent place for him. She stopped to open a door on a big corner stall. This is a nice, big stall with a private turnout.

Oh, good, the new client sneered. I don’t want to worry about other horses bothering him or biting him.

The schooling horses I keep here are down at the other end of the barn. I can’t guarantee that he’ll always be alone, since we do have more and more boarders coming all the time. This was a bit of a white lie. Revenue from boarders and lessons was still only a trickle, but she needed her stable to sound good. He’ll be alone at least for a little while, and we can always put boards up over the bars between the stalls if it becomes a problem.

Erin waved a dismissive hand in the air. No, it won’t be a problem. My friend Missy will take the neighboring stall for her horse. She spun on her heel and headed back toward the office without another glance at the stalls.

Oh? You have someone else who wants to board as well? Holly tried to keep the sheer glee out of her voice. These were going to be the two most expensive spots in the entire stable, and the first month’s rent for the two horses would cover the majority of their expenses for the horse show. Her heart jumped up in her throat.

"Yes, Missy and I never do anything without each