Tami Hoag - Dark Horse

"I know Gryphon Development is in charge of Fairfields, where Trey Hughes' barn is going up."

"Have you personally had any dealings with them?"

"I may have spoken with someone from their office once or twice."

"Bruce Seabright?"

"I don't recall."

"How did Erin Seabright come to work for you?" Landry asked.

"Trey knew I was in need of a groom and told me about Erin."

"How long have you been associated with Mr. Hughes?"

"I've known Trey for years. He brought his horses to me last year."

"Shortly after the death of his mother?"

"That's it," Shapiro announced. "If you want to go on a fishing expedition, Detective Landry, I suggest you hire a boat. Come on, Don."

Landry let them move for the door to the interview room, speaking only as Shapiro reached for the doorknob.

"I own a boat, Counselor," he said. "And once I get a trophy on the line, I reel him in, fillet him, and fry him. I don't care who he is or who his friends are or how long it takes."

"Good for you," Shapiro said, pulling open the door.

Dugan was standing on the other side with Armedgian and an assistant district attorney.

"You're free to go, Mr. Shapiro," Dugan said. "Your client, however, will be enjoying the county's hospitality for what's left of the night. Bail hearing tomorrow."

He told me to meet him at the back gate," she said quietly, her eyes downcast.

Landry had slept on a bunk at the station and come back to the hospital at the crack of dawn to wait impatiently for Erin Seabright to wake up. Jade would be arraigned later that morning. Landry wanted the state's attorney to have every scrap of ammunition possible to keep Jade in the tank.

"People gossip-especially about Don," Erin said. "He said he didn't want them talking about us. I totally understood that. I thought it was kind of exciting, really. Our secret affair. Pathetic."

"Had you had sex with him prior to that?" Landry asked. He kept his voice matter-of-fact. No accusation, no excitement.

She shook her head. "We flirted. We were friends, I thought. I mean, he was my boss, but… But I wanted it to be more, and he did too. At least, that's what he told me."

"So he asked you to meet him at the back gate. You knew no one would see you there?"

"There weren't any horses in those last two barns that weekend. That's where the dressage horses are stabled when they come to Wellington for a show, but there wasn't a show for them. Plus it was Sunday night. No one hangs around."

"You hadn't told Mr. Jade you were quitting your job, moving to Ocala?"

"No. Why would I? I wanted to work for him. I was in love with him."

"What happened then, Erin? You went to the back gate to meet him…"

"He was late. I was afraid he had changed his mind. Then this van pulled up and a guy in a mask jumped out and-and-he grabbed me."

Her voice died out as another bout of tears came. Landry handed her a box of tissues and waited.

"Did you recognize him, Erin?"

She shook her head.

"Did you recognize his voice?"

"I was so scared!"

"I know you were. It's hard to remember details when you're afraid and something awful like that is happening. But you need to try to slow it all down in your mind. Instead of seeing it all happen so fast, you need to try to see individual moments, like snapshots."

"I'm trying."

"I know you are," he said quietly. "Take your time, Erin. If you need a break, just let me know and we'll take a break. Okay?"

She looked at him and tried to smile. "Okay."

"If you never saw their faces, why do you think Jade was one of the kidnappers?"

"He's the one who told me to be there at the back gate."

"I know, but did you recognize anything in particular about one of the kidnappers that made you think it was him?"

"I know him," she said, frustration showing. "I know his build. I know how he moves. I'm sure I heard his voice different times."

"What about the other guy's voice? Did he sound familiar? Did he have an accent?"

The girl shook her head and rubbed a hand across her eyes, exhausted. "He didn't talk much. And when he did, he whispered and mumbled. He never talked to me."

"Do you know where they were holding you?" Landry asked. "Could you take us there?"

Erin shook her head. "It was a trailer house. That's all I know. It was horrible. It was filthy and old."

"Could you tell if you were near a busy road? Were there any particular sounds you heard regularly?"

"I don't know. Cars, I guess, in the distance. I don't know. They kept me drugged most of the time. Special K."

"How do you know that was the drug?"

She glanced away, embarrassed. "I've had it before. At a party."

"What happened last night? How did you get away?"

"One of them-the other one-he dragged me out of the trailer and put me in the van. I thought he was going to kill me and dump my body somewhere, and no one would ever find me!"

She paused to catch a ragged breath and try to compose herself. Landry waited.

"He just drove around. I don't know how long. He had given me a shot of K. I was pretty out of it. I just kept waiting for the van to stop, knowing that when it did, he would kill me."

"You couldn't see out the windows?"

She shook her head. "I was on the floor. And then we stopped, and I was so scared! He opened the door and dragged me out. I was dizzy. I couldn't stand up. I fell on the ground, a- a-dirt road. And he just got back in the van and drove away."

Thrown on the side of the road like a sack of garbage. Something they had used and didn't need anymore. Still, she was damn lucky, Landry thought.

"I don't know how long I was laying there," Erin said. "Then finally I got up and started walking. I could see lights. Town. I just started walking."

Landry said nothing for a moment. He let Erin's story sink in. He turned it over a few times in his mind, more questions shaking loose.

So, Jade and company figured out they weren't going to get the ransom. They dumped the girl rather than face a murder rap. Only, the way Landry saw it, Van Zandt was Jade's accomplice, and he was already under the lights for one murder. Why risk Erin Seabright identifying them? Because they knew she couldn't do so positively? Because they had taken pains to make certain there was no physical evidence to tie them to her?

That remained to be seen, of course. The clothes Erin had been wearing were at the lab being scrutinized under microscopes and fluorescent lights, swabbed and stained and picked over with tweezers.

Maybe letting Erin go was just part of the game for them. Let the victim live, and let her live with the knowledge that she can't put them away. Let the vic live, and let the cops live with the knowledge of their guilt, but no evidence to prove it. Power trip.

The problem with that theory was that Landry had no intention of letting anyone get away with anything.

"Erin, did they ever talk about why they singled you out?"

She shook her head, her eyes on Landry's microcassette recorder sitting on the bed tray, tape rolling. "I was so drugged up most of the time. I know they wanted money. They knew Bruce has money."

"Did they call him Bruce?"

"They called him I don't know how many times-"

"When they talked about him," Landry clarified, "did they use his first name? Did they call him Bruce?"

Erin nodded, though he thought she didn't get the significance of her answer.

"Did you tell them his name?"

"No. They just knew it."

It struck Landry odd the perps would call Seabright by his first name. Familiar. Like a friend.

"I could have died because of him," Erin said bitterly. "I can't believe my mother stays with him. She's so weak."

"People are complicated," Landry offered, out of his element.