EPISODE 12: WHO ASKED FOR YOU ## CHAPTER 1: HALE IN THE HALL Monday. Beaufort Large Animal. The hall smells like iodine and new paint. I have been in town thirty-six hours. The cottage still smells like other people’s soap. Dolly claimed the windowsill that faces the creek and is refusing to negotiate. She is at the cottage. She is not on my shoulder. She is a cat. This is a clinic. Hale meets me before I find the coffee. Dark hair pulled back. Linen the color of sand. She looks like a person who already knows how many breaths a hard morning takes. “Tucker.” “Hale.” “Your first client asked for you by name.” She says it like a compliment. She smiles. I smile back, because on Saturday it would have been one. “I don’t know anyone here yet.” “You do now. Stall two. I’ll walk you.” My brain offers explanations. Martinez sent my file. A Johns Island trainer has a horse on the islands. Reputation. The yes I said three weeks ago growing legs. I take the explanation. It is easier than the other feeling, the one that started when Martinez said Hale has been asking for you by name and I thought I had earned a traveling reputation. Hale’s shoes are quiet on the sealed concrete. She...