Adam extended an arm, steering Jenn around a puddle. “What can I say? Dennis told me they were awesome.”

Equally uncomfortable eavesdropping, she quickened her pace.

Jenn threw an arm around her waist. “Dennis was a dud, huh?”

She leaned into her former roomie until their shoulders bumped companionably. “Let’s just say he’s no Amish dude.” As if the very word “Amish” summoned them, she rounded the corner at the base of Central Park to discover a line of horse-drawn carriages.

Outrageously dressed drivers beckoned, promising breathtaking views and a night to remember. The horses swished their tails and clomped the pavement idly.

Not long ago, she fantasized about a moonlit ride through Central Park and an exciting, new life with her best friend at her side. Now, she just didn’t know. New York was electric and rife with opportunity. Jenn was living proof. But the city was relentless, too, and years later, she still felt like she couldn’t wash the grime from her hands. Plus, the air smelled weird. In fact, it smelled really weird. This place was a medieval gauntlet of odors.

She ambled past an ornate white carriage upholstered in shamrock-green velvet with plastic daffodils protruding from every crevice. The carriage couldn’t have been more different from Jonas’s plain buggy. She breathed the familiar scent of horse.

Horse and something else—something sharper and more pungent. She sniffed again, and her stomach turned. How strange. She usually liked the smell of horses. It reminded her of home and farms…of Jonas.

“Two lovely ladies.” The carriage driver swept off his cap and bowed. “Lucky man. Care for a ride?”

“Yeah. No.” Adam said.

Jenn snorted. “We live here.”

Well, you do.

Jenn covered her nose with the back of her hand. “What smells?”

Adam scanned the street and pointed. “Maybe that?”

Just beyond the carriages, two police cars and a fire truck idled, lights spinning in ominous silence. A small crowd clustered on the sidewalk, and several officers diverted traffic around the scene. The wind shifted, and a gust of putrid air nearly knocked her flat.

“Seriously, what is that smell?” Jenn said.

Bile rose in Tessa’s throat. Rising onto her toes, she squinted into the streetlights.

An indistinct, dark mass lay in the street. A sole festooned carriage stood by.

An equally dark mass of dread coalesced in her stomach. She quickened her step, eager yet afraid to discover exactly what caused such a commotion. Turning her shoulders sideways, she squeezed through the crowd for a better view.

From the amorphous lump on the street, one detail came into focus—hooves sticking out from beneath a wet tarp. Pressing a palm to her mouth, she gasped. A horse! An officer stepped onto the sidewalk and shooed the onlookers like they were ducklings.