Toni Petti - Horse Girl Homicide

Chapter Nine

The cops slam the tailgate on their pickup truck which draws my eyes and causes me to study the accident scene one more time. Now I'll never forget the dead stallion's body strapped to the truck, the firemen, and the bloodstained sand. It's all etched in my brain like the names and dates on the crystal bowls in the trophy room.

The cool air and equine smell of the stables envelopes me and I shiver. The sinister barn cat who abandoned her offspring glares at me from a salt lick between two empty stalls. There are voices ahead and I increase speed to help squash the notion that I'm trespassing.

Near the center of the complex, adjacent to the indoor arena, I find Monica Locksley with her eyes on her phone. Delia Masterson brushes her horse beside Monica's white mare. Both girls' eyes are puffy and their faces are red from crying.

"Oh, God no. They ruined it." Moni drags her fingers up screen which tells me she's scrolling through comments on Instagram.

"Delete it." Delia says.

"No..."

"Oh my Gawd. Yes! Delete it dumdum." The redhead reaches for Monica's phone, but the blond pulls away and they grapple. Moni's horse chortles when the girls bump her.

"Take it outside." Bernard appears with a shovel full of horse dung. "Go on. I'll finish up in here."

Monica seems happy to oblige. She clutches her phone to her chest protectively and raises her eyes toward the exit but freezes when she sees me alone in the aisle. Both girls gasp at my unescorted presence in their sanctum.

"Why are you creeping around?"

"I'm just here to get Ainsley's riding saddle."

"Well get it then." Delia points in the direction of Kaiser's stall on the other side of the arena.

"Stay away from our horses," Monica says as they pick up their personal belongings.

Bernard empties his shovel and recovers the wood handled brush that Delia dropped. He scans her horse's flank and finishes her job. The ladies resume their bickering at the end of the corridor. They disappear left and their argument dislodges the barn cat who yowls in protest.

"You're wearing our uniform," Mr. Delany startles me. He points at his own matching coveralls, and then to my head, "but where is your lovely hat?"

"Huh? Oh, it stopped working." I glance back at the girls, eager to change the subject. "What're they fighting about?" I ask him and he just smiles. I don't expect him to answer, but he does.

"Comments appeared on Miss Locksley's phone which caused them both considerable consternation," Bernard reports smartly and his diction lightens my mood. I recall how he referred to my headpiece as millinery which is another old word. He must have a heightened sense of equestrian culture and I can appreciate that; I like his style, even if he is a curmudgeon.

Thanks to Mr. Delany, I believe I know what triggered Monica. The last picture I saw her post online was the group shot I snapped of them on horseback. I took that photo and watched her compose a description before she published. Now I imagine the news of Tanya's accident is spreading online, and that picture must carry new significance. I'd like to see the upsetting comments. Bernard surprises me again.

"Miss Chan probably didn't mean to kill Cortes, or harm Tanya," the barn manager waits to see how I'll react. He's testing me. He hopes I'll confess something or act guilty, but I stamp it out.

"Ainsley didn't do anything wrong," I reply. "She fed Tanya's horse some stale peanuts. Which I gather... Was kind of dumb. But not deadly."

"We all saw her feed Cortes. That's what I'll report. I saw her do it with my own eyes."