Chapter 2
Everything became a blur after that. The ambulance arrived in a whine of sirens and carted the stable girl off to the hospital, and Camille complained at the top of her lungs about the shooting as though it were somehow their fault. Matthias sat on the concrete outside the stall with his hand over his mouth, shaken up and shivering from more than the cold. There was the sound of car doors opening and closing, and footsteps. A rather reverberating deep voice spoke, making him look up at last. A pair of men in suits were standing with Doug, talking to both him and the disgruntled looking owners. The taller of the pair was a dark-haired man with a craggy face and a rather cynical expression. The other one held a notebook in his hand. Matthias saw a gun when the dark-haired man shifted, and realized that these must be cops. Not uniform cops, either. He stumbled to his feet and went over to the little group to hear what they were saying.
The dark-haired one said: “We’ll need to know who regularly has access to this part of the stables. You don’t just let anybody wander around here, right?”
Doug shook his head, his agitation clear from the way his cigarette smoke was puffing into the air in quick bursts. “No, of course not. And any strangers would be noticed and stopped, because there have been cases in the past of people tampering with the horses. Everybody around here knows to question someone they’ve never seen before.”
“Then the deceased would have been suspicious of someone she didn’t know approaching the stall where she was working?” the dark-haired detective asked.
“Yeah,” Doug said, as Matthias stiffened.
“Wait a minute! Did you say…deceased?” he cried. “Is Julie…?”
The craggy-faced man gave him a cool look. “That’s correct,” he replied. “Ms. Julie Conyers died in the ambulance on her way to the hospital. This is a homicide investigation.”
Matthias stood there dumbly, not even aware that tears had started to trickle down his face. Doug put a comforting hand on his shoulder as the same detective said: “You’re Matthias Billings. You discovered the girl, isn’t that right?”
He nodded miserably. “Yes,” he croaked. “I found her.”
“I’ll need to interview you, then,” the cop replied. He glanced at his partner. “I’ll take Mr. Billings somewhere private to talk to him, if you finish with Mr. Wazowski and Mr. and Mrs. Rochet.”
His partner nodded. “Okay.” He turned back to the owners and the trainer. “Did either of you know the victim personally?” he asked the Rochets.
The tall detective turned to Matthias. “Come with me, Mr. Billings.” He walked away, and Matthias followed him numbly. He still couldn’t quite believe that Julie was dead. How could she be dead? Why had someone shot her? He just didn’t understand. He wiped futilely at his eyes as the detective led him to a shaded corner of the stable with no one else around. He turned to look down at Matthias (literally, he had to be about 6’2’ so he towered over the tiny jockey). “I’m Detective Joshua Harper,” he said without preamble. “And you’re the jockey that rides for the Rochets?”
Matthias nodded. “Yeah. I was exercising one of their horses earlier.”
“And the vic…Ms. Julie Conyers took care of that horse? Is that correct?” his pen hovered over his notepad.
“Yes. She took care of Farley’s Hope and six other horses. She also took care of the horse I was going to ride in time trials – the one whose stall she was in when I found her…” he trailed off, his throat trying to close up.
“I see. Tell me everything that happened from the time that you first saw her this morning to when you discovered her lying in the stall,” the detective urged him.
Matthias gathered his thoughts together as best that he could, and began to relate how he’d seen Julie at about five o’clock this morning when he’d arrived at the track to ride Farley’s Hope. The girl hadn’t seemed down or worried about anything; she’d smiled at him, in fact, when she’d handed him the horse’s reins. And she hadn’t seemed upset or anything when he’d returned and requested that she saddle up Far From Home instead. He told the detective that he hadn’t expected any of this at all, in fact. He’d just returned to the stables to ride Far From Home and had found Julie in the stall –and had assumed at first that the horse had kicked or stepped on her. “But she…she was…shot…” he finished in a near whisper, tears clotting in his throat once more.
“Did you know Ms. Conyers very well?” Detective Harper asked him, his voice neutral.
Matthias shook his head. “I knew her about as well as I knew the other stable boys and girls,” he explained. “We didn’t talk about personal stuff that much, just the horses. I don’t even know if she had a boyfriend or any family.”
“I see,” the detective remarked, jotting this down as well. “And did she seem to have a good relationship with the trainer, Mr. Wazowski?”
“I guess. Doug liked her, but he liked all of his stable hands. They’re like his kids, since he doesn’t have any of his own. He never singled her out for more attention than anybody else, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“It was,” the detective conceded. “What about the Rochets? Did Ms. Conyers have any contact with them?”
He hesitated. “Not in her day-to-day work,” Matthias said slowly. “But I can’t be sure about the times they came down to the stables to see their horses and talk to Doug. I was usually getting ready for the race when that happened, so I was in the changing room. But I can’t imagine that someone like Camille…” he stopped himself, realizing how he sounded. “That she and Julie had much contact,” he continued.
“All right. That’s all the questions I have for you,” the detective said as he closed his notepad and put it in his jacket pocket. “Especially since you have a built-in alibi, since you say that you were getting something to eat in a room full of people when someone shot Ms. Conyers. That will be easy for us to verify.”
Matthias felt grateful for that. He already felt awful; he was reeling from what had happened to Julie. To be a suspect in the shooting would have made it a hundred times worse. He rubbed the heel of his left hand over his eyes. “Can I go now?” he asked wearily.
A hesitation, then the detective said: “Just one more thing, Mr. Billings.”
Oh, God, what now? Matthias thought, just wanting all of this to be over with so that he could go home and have a good cry, then take a hot shower and maybe grab a nap. He lowered his hand and was surprised to see the tall detective pulling at his tie a little. He looked almost…nervous. What the hell?
Detective Harper cleared his throat. “Err…I know this is going to sound strange,” he began. “But are you…gay, Mr. Billings?”
Shocked silence, as Matthias gaped up at him. The detective looked even more uncomfortable under his wide-eyed stare. “Why would you want to know that?!” Matthias said explosively, starting to get angry. “What business is it of yours?!”
The taller man shook his head. “it isn’t my business,” he said hurriedly. “Except that I…err…was wondering because if the answer is ‘yes’, I’d like to…ask you out.”
More shocked silence on Matthias’ part. He felt like he was in some kind of strange dream world. The cop was good-looking in a rugged sort of way, and for some strange reason he’d always liked really tall guys…but he’d never expected anything like this to happen to him. Not in the middle of all of this awfulness. “You’re gay?” he said feebly.
The detective shrugged. “Yeah, although I don’t advertise that fact. And if I’m wrong about you, please don’t be offended. I’m not trying to push myself on you or anything…”
“No, it’s all right,” Matthias replied slowly. “I AM gay, actually. It’s just …I never expected you to say something like this, and with what happened to Julie, I’m not really sure…”
“I get it,” Detective Harper said hurriedly. “You’re upset; that’s understandable. All I ask is that you think it over and give me an answer sometime in the future. My partner Gabe and I will be working this case until we can find out who shot Ms. Conyers.”
“Okay, I will,” Matthias told him. “And thanks for asking me, even if I end up saying no. Listen, I think I’m going to go home now. Would you tell Doug…Mr. Wazowski…where I’ve gone? He’ll understand. I’ll call him later,” he added, his shoulders slumping with soul-weariness and grief.
“I’ll tell him,” the detective replied, a look of compassion on his face. “It's never easy, especially when you were the one that found her. Go home, Mr. Billings.”
“Thanks,” Matthias conjured up a bit of a smile for the handsome detective, appreciating the view even if only in a dim way at the moment. He walked away slowly toward the car park, just wanting to get home and take a nap.
Joshua Harper stood still for a moment and watched the back view of the jockey as the small man walked away. Okay, it had been kind of dumb of him to ask Mathias Billings that question, especially when the man was clearly struggling with grief and upset over what had happened to his friend. He’d let his tongue run away with him, but damn if that jockey wasn’t a total cutie! Perfectly proportioned, a man done in miniature…and he had a curl that kept falling over his face, one that Joshua wanted to smooth back. His eyes were speaking and intelligent, and the way his ass was cupped in those white riding pants…what did they call them? Jodhpurs. Okay, maybe he shouldn’t be thinking lustful thoughts about a guy struggling with a tragedy, but he couldn’t quite seem to help himself. He frowned at his own reaction to Matthias as he walked away to rejoin his partner. It was never goods when his objectivity flew out the window where a case was concerned, but since the jockey wasn’t a suspect it wasn’t a real problem…well, sort of, anyway.
He found Gabe grilling the owners and trainer of the horse Far From Home, the animal whose stall the stable girl had been found in. The woman looked like she’d been sucking lemons, and it was obvious she wasn’t going to tolerate too many more questions from a peon like Gabe. The trainer was smoking moodily, his hands in his pockets. Joshua approached them, and Gabe glanced over at him. “Well, I think that’s all for now,” he remarked, closing his notebook.
Camille Rochet snorted, giving Gabe a cold look. “If that’s so, can we go? We have a luncheon to attend in a few hours.” Her voice was biting.
“Yes, you can go. We’ll call you if we have any more questions for any of you,” Gabe replied smoothly, earning him a daggers-drawn look from Camille.
This is ridiculous. As if any of us would have shot that girl,” she drawled, sounding as though she meant ‘nobody’ in place of ‘girl’. “Come on, Seymour,” she barked at her spouse, who jumped and scurried after her away down the stable block.
Gabe grimaced silently at his partner, which made Joshua try to hold in a chuckle. Doug stirred, shaking his head. “Sorry about that,” he told the two detective. “Unfortunately, I have no control over the people who buy horses and need them trained for racing. Believe me, if I’d had a choice I wouldn’t have taken on their horses.”
“You don’t like Mrs. Rochet?” Gabe asked him, which made his lips twist.
“I think it’s fair to say that I hate that raging bitch,” the trainer said bitterly. “But her money spends as well as anybody’s, and they buy good horses. And it’s all about them, anyway – the horses. For a good horse, I’d train for the Devil himself. Although I think that may pretty much be the case anyway…”
The two detectives exchanged speaking glances. “Well, that’s all for now, Mr. Wazowski,” Gabe said to the trainer.
Doug nodded and walked off, heading down the stable block toward the new stall that they’d moved Far From Home into while the Crime Scene Unit had scoured the stall for any evidence. Gabe shook his head. “What a group,” he remarked. “Especially that woman. Good God. Too bad that she was in the coffee bar surrounded by witnesses. I’d love to nail her for this.”
Joshua nodded. “But unfortunately for us, we can’t lock people up for being assholes,” he told his partner.
“Yeah, too bad. This one might be pretty difficult, unless the girl turns out to have a jealous or abusive boyfriend. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it turns out to be that.”
Joshua sighed. “As if it’s ever that easy. Let’s hit it, Gabe. That’s all we can do here for now.”
His partner nodded in agreement, and the two detectives left the race track to get back to work on their other cases.
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