Tami Hoag - Dark Horse

Landry went in the direction of the nod. Halfway between Jade's tent and the next a man in riding clothes was sipping from a Starbucks cup, listening impassively as an attractive blonde talked at him. The blonde seemed upset.

"Mr. Jade?"

The pair turned and looked at him as he approached and showed them his badge.

"Detective Landry, Sheriff's Office. I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Oh, my God!" the blonde laughed, flashing a big smile. "I knew you'd get caught! You never should have torn the tag off that mattress." She turned the smile on Landry. "Paris Montgomery. I'm Mr. Jade's assistant trainer."

Landry didn't smile back. Three hours' sleep didn't supply enough energy to waste on phony charm. He looked past the woman. "You're Mr. Jade?"

"What's this about?" Jade asked, striding into the tent and past Landry, trying to draw him back away from where passersby might see them.

"Are you aware of what happened here last night?" Landry asked. "Some horses were set loose a couple of tents down the row."

"Michael Berne's," Paris Montgomery supplied. "Of course we know. It's terrible. Something has to be done about security. Do you have any idea what these animals are worth?"

"Their weight in gold, apparently," Landry said, bored hearing about it. Why in hell should a horse be worth a million bucks if it wasn't on a racetrack?

"He's going to come after you, Don," she said to her boss. "You know Michael will be telling everyone who'll listen you did the deed-or had it done."

"Why would you say that, Ms. Montgomery?" Landry asked.

"Because that's how Michael is: bitter and vindictive. He blames everything but his lack of talent on Don."

Jade looked at her with hooded eyes. "That's enough, Paris. Everyone knows Michael is jealous."

"Of what?" Landry asked.

"Of Don," the woman said. "Don is everything Michael is not, and when Michael's clients see that and leave him, he blames Don. He probably turned those horses loose himself just so he could publicly blame Don."

Landry kept his eyes on Jade. "That must get old. You ever want to do something to shut him up?"

Jade's expression never changed. Calm, cool, controlled. "I learned a long time ago to ignore people like Michael."

"You should threaten to sue him for libel," Paris said. "Maybe that would shut him up."

"Slander," Jade corrected her. "Slander is spoken. Libel is written."

"Don't be such a prick," Paris snapped. "He's doing everything he can to ruin your reputation. And you walk around like you think you're in some kind of isolation bubble. You think he can't hurt you? You think he isn't in Trey's ear every chance he gets?"

"I can't stop Michael from spewing his venom, and I can't stop people from listening to him," Jade said. "I'm sure Detective Landry didn't come here to listen to us complain."

"I'm not here about the horses either," Landry said. "A woman was assaulted in the attempt to stop whoever set them loose."

Paris Montgomery's brown eyes widened in shock. "What woman? Stella? Michael's wife? Was she hurt?"

"I understand there was a scene yesterday between you and Mr. Berne, Mr. Jade," Landry said. "Would you care to tell me where you were around two A.M.?"

"No, I would not," Jade said curtly, going to stand beside the horse that was tied in an open stall. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Detective, I have a horse to ride."

"Maybe you'd rather discuss it at length at the Sheriff's Office," Landry suggested. He didn't like being dismissed like a servant.

Jade gave him a look. Haughty-even through the shades. "Maybe you'd rather take it up with my attorney."

"Save your money and my time, Mr. Jade. All you have to do is tell me where you were. It's only a trick question if you were here."

"I was with a friend. We were not here."

"Does this friend have a name?"

"Not as far as you're concerned."

He tightened a strap on the saddle. The horse pinned its ears.

Landry looked for a place to jump in case the beast went nuts or something. It looked mean, like it would bite.

Jade unsnapped the ties that held the animal in the stall.

"Our conversation is over," Jade announced. "Unless you have something that connects me to what happened, other than the hearsay that Michael and I don't get along-and I know that you don't-I don't intend to speak to you again."

He led the horse out of the stall and down the aisle. Landry pressed back against a wall, holding his breath-a good idea regardless, in this place. The smell of manure and horses and Christ-knew-what hung in the air like smog. When the horse was out of range to kick him, he followed.

"What about you, Ms. Montgomery?"

The blonde caught a look from her boss, then turned to Landry. "Ditto. What he said. With a friend."

They went out into the sunshine and Jade mounted the horse. "Paris, bring my coat and hat."

"Will do."

Jade didn't wait for her, but turned the horse and started down the road.

"With each other?" Landry asked, walking back into the tent with Montgomery.

"No. God no!" she said. "I take orders from him all day. I'm not interested in taking them all night too."

"He's got an attitude."

"He's earned it. People don't cut him a lot of breaks."

"Maybe that's because he doesn't deserve any."

He followed her into a stall draped in green with an oriental carpet on the floor and framed art on the walls. She opened an antique wardrobe and pulled out an olive green jacket and a brown velvet-covered helmet.

"You don't know him," she said.

"And you do. Who do you think he was with last night?"

She laughed and shook her head. "I'm not privy to Don's private life. This is the first I heard he's seeing anyone."

Then it seemed unlikely he was, Landry thought. From what he'd gathered, these horse people practically lived in each other's pockets. And proximity aside, they were all rich, or pretended to be rich; and the only thing rich people liked better than fucking each other over was gossiping.

"He's very discreet," Montgomery said.

"I guess that's what's kept him out of prison: discretion. Your boss has toed the wrong side of the line a couple of times."

"And has never been convicted of anything. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd better get up to the schooling ring or he'll kill me." She flashed the bright smile. "Then you'll have a job to do."

Landry followed her out of the tent. She climbed behind the wheel of a green golf cart with the Jade logo on the nose, folded the coat, and put it on the seat beside her. The helmet went into a basket behind the seat.

"What about you, Ms. Montgomery? Does your mystery pal have a name?"

"Yes, he does," she said, batting her eyes coyly. "But I don't kiss and tell either, Detective. A girl could get a reputation that way."

She started the golf cart and drove away, calling and waving to people as she went past the tents. Ms. Popularity.

Landry stood with his hands on his hips for a moment, aware there was a girl watching him from inside the tent. He could see her from the corner of his eye: chubby, unkempt, tight T-shirt showing off curves and rolls better left to the imagination.

Landry wanted to get back in the car and leave. Estes was right: he didn't give a shit what these people did to each other. But he'd had to account for what had gone on in the office in the middle of the night with Estes demanding to see only him, and no paperwork being filed, and what a fucking nightmare. His lieutenant wouldn't take that Estes wasn't filing charges and leave it at that. He had to follow up.

He sighed and turned, drawing a bead on the girl.

"You work here?"

Her small eyes widened. She looked like she didn't know whether to shit her pants or have an orgasm. She nodded.