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Equus	By : Deb Category: Gundam Wing/AC > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 2855 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, it belongs to Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. I do own the equines though, please do not take them without permission. Written for pleasure not profit.

Chapter List
- 62
- 63
- 64
“Equus”

Chapter 63

Quatre walked out of the Head Inspector's office with a satisfied smile on his face. In his hand he carried a file which contained all the paperwork for Heero's requested investigation regarding Stefan and cruelty to the horses. Having worked through most of the night to compile all the evidence, Quatre was more than prepared. When he'd approached the Head Inspector, Clive Tollington, the man had been very interested to hear what Quatre had to say and even more so when he saw the video evidence. Quatre had sat in silence as the recording played out, watching his boss carefully as the man's face slowly darkened with anger.

At the conclusion of the recording and Quatre's presentation of what evidence he had, Mr. Tollington had agreed that there were definitely grounds for a case and worked alongside the blonde to put it all together to have the necessary paperwork drawn up. Tollington had contacted the Society's lawyers and they had gotten together with Quatre to finalize the papers and to take over the preparation of the case for court.

With all the paperwork in order, all that was left for Quatre to do was to notify the police department of their intention to serve the papers and to arrange an appointment with the court to book a date to have the case heard. Stepping back into his office, Quatre headed straight for his desk and the phone. He spoke briefly with a constable at the Salsbury Police Department who advised him there would be someone there who could sign the papers for him so he could serve them on Stefan. Feeling much better about things, Quatre grabbed his jacket and left the building for the police station.

* * *

“I want my lawyer,” Stefan repeated.

“And you can contact him once we get to the station,” Williams replied. “Now, come along quietly.” Williams placed a strong hand upon Stefan's shoulder and turned the man around.

“Do you have any keys on you? Anything in your pockets?” Detective Anderson questioned.

Stefan grunted, he fully intended to make these men work for everything.

“No problem,” Williams stated and shoved Stefan against the wall face first. He pushed his booted foot between Stefan's and kicked the man's legs apart. With Anderson placing his hand at the back of Stefan's neck to keep him in place, Williams proceeded to 'frisk' the man. He located a bunch of keys in Stefan's pocket and pulled them out. “That's all he's got on him,” Williams told the detective.

“Right. Let's get him into the van and then we can take a look through this place.”

“Hey! You need a warrant or something to go through my place. I know my rights!” Stefan bellowed.

“So do I,” Anderson smirked and waved a piece of paper under Stefan's nose. “One warrant to search the property.”

Still snarling under his breath, Stefan found himself propelled not too gently outside to the waiting police van where he was placed in the back and secured. Williams closed and bolted the door from the outside, turning back to the house and Anderson who was donning a pair of latex gloves.

“I'm just going to do a preliminary search for now. I'll come back later with a few others to do a more thorough search,” Anderson informed the Sergeant.

“Any idea what we're looking for?” asked Williams as he also put on a pair of latex gloves.

“Anything that might connect him to the Yuy place, the fire or the rape.”

“Okay.”

* * *

Arriving at the police station, Quatre explained his reasons for being there to the person behind the counter who asked him to wait a moment. Quatre took a seat and gazed around him. He was only waiting for a few minutes before a police officer appeared. “Inspector Winner? I'm Constable Henry. I understand you have some paperwork that needs a stamp and signature to be served?”

“A pleasure to meet you, Constable,” Quatre returned, standing and shaking hands with the man. “Yes, I have to serve these papers for cruelty on a Stefan Graves, but I need the police stamp first.”

“Inspector, would you come with me into my office, please? There's a couple of things I need to talk to you about before I sign and stamp those for you.”

Clearly puzzled by the request, Quatre nodded his head. “Sure, no problem.”

The officer opened the door to the side to allow Quatre to pass through and led the Inspector to a small office. “Please, take a seat.” Quatre sat. “Inspector Winner, I'm more than happy to sign the papers for you, no problem there, but...”

“But?” Quatre questioned, clearly not following.

“I am not at liberty to disclose much information as you can understand and appreciate with a case currently under investigation.” Quatre nodded, Henry continued. “However, This Mr. Graves that you wish to serve papers on is currently being arrested in regards to that fire.”

“Ah, I see. If he's not at home it could make it rather difficult to serve the papers,” Quatre stated and then frowned. “But I do need to serve them.”

“Inspector Winner, if you could hear me out for a moment, I'm sure we can come to an arrangement that will suit both the Society and the police department.” Henry's eyes held a twinkle to them.

“Of course, please, go ahead, officer.”

“I would suggest that we sign and stamp those papers and if you wish, you can leave them here with me and I will serve them on Graves when he's brought in for questioning. Or, if you prefer, I can call you when he's here and you can come down and serve them yourself. Another thing too, this case of cruelty of the Society's against Graves does tie in with our investigation into the fire and as such, I can, if you wish, place the charges the Society has in with the charges the police will be laying against him. That way all the charges can be heard in the same court, under the same judge at the same time.”

Quatre's mind chewed over that for a moment. It really did seem like an excellent idea. It would make things easier for the Society and meant the court wouldn't be tied up with another case when all could be heard at once. “Officer, I think that is a great idea and I would be more than happy to go along with your suggestion. However, it's not my place to agree with it, I will need to get back to my superior officer at headquarters and run it by them as they have the final say in the matter. I'm sure the head Inspector will be happy to comply and it's really just a matter of protocol, but I am duty bound to do things this way. I hope you understand?”

“Of course. Here, let me sign and stamp the paperwork for you and I'd suggest you go back and speak with the head of the Society. Just give me a call to let me know how the Society wishes to proceed and we can take things from there.” Henry said and then took the offered papers from Quatre. They were duly stamped and signed, Henry handing them back.

“Thank you Officer Henry, I really do appreciate all your help with this. I'll be in touch very soon.” Quatre stood to leave and shook Henry's hand.

“You're most welcome, Inspector Winner. Here's my card, call the number on there and it will put you through direct to my office.” Henry handed over a small card which Quatre took and placed in the briefcase with the paperwork.

Quatre left the police station with a spring in his step – things were working out far better than he'd ever thought.

* * *

“Any luck?” asked Williams as he met back up with Anderson in the kitchen.

“Not really, but I haven't gone through everything properly. I'll have a team out here later today to do a thorough search.”

“Good idea. I didn't find anything either.”

“I suggest we lock this place up and get going back to the station, we've got quite a bit of time ahead of us interviewing this sleaze ball.”

“Right with you.”

* * *

Heero had managed to fill the kettle and set it to boil. Zechs had arrived and was helping Duo out of the bed and into his wheelchair, Heero having assisted his partner as much as he could to get dressed whilst still in the bed. Zechs strode into the kitchen, Duo rolling in behind him a minute later.

“Here, let me make the coffee,” Zechs said and went to fetch the mugs. “Anything in particular you'd like for breakfast?”

“Just some toast will be fine,” Duo replied. “With these hands it's easier to eat a slice of toast than try to use a spoon in a bowl of cereal.”

Zechs grinned. “Toast it is then.”

The phone rang, drawing Heero from his staring out at the landscape. “I'll get it,” he said and walked off into the lounge room.

With Heero answering the phone, the other two conversed in the kitchen, Duo thanking Zechs yet again for his help and Zechs brushing the thanks off. Heero returned to the kitchen just as the toast was popping up in the toaster, a smile on his face.

“Someone looks happy,” Duo remarked. “Good news?”

“Hai, most definitely. That was Constable Henry on the phone, he was calling to let us know that Williams and Anderson went out and arrested Stefan this morning. He's currently at the police station and being questioned.”

“Yes!” Duo crowed and punched the air. Smokey, who had wandered back into the kitchen from the laundry where she'd finished her breakfast, looked a little startled for a moment. “That's the best news I could have had.”

“There's more,” Heero said with a sly grin.

“More?” Zechs raised a pale eyebrow as he placed the plates of toast on the table and motioned for everyone to sit down and dig in.

“What more?” Duo questioned. “Ouch, careful of the claws, Smokey.” Smokey, seeing her chance, had jumped up into Duo's lap, although she hadn't counted on the chair moving slightly when Duo lined himself up with the table to eat his breakfast and consequently had dug her claws in to stop herself from falling off the vet's lap.

“You remember how Quatre said he would look into all the evidence we had against Stefan and take it to his superior?” Duo nodded. “Well, he did that this morning and the Society agrees that there are grounds for charging Stefan. Quatre had the paperwork drawn up by the lawyers and went to get it signed by the police so he could serve the papers. Constable Henry was the one to speak to him and he let Quatre know they were currently in the process of arresting and charging Stefan themselves. He also told Quatre that if the Society is okay with it, the charges can be incorporated into their case and can be heard at the same time as the other charges are. It would save the Society some time and money if that is to happen.”

“That is good news,” Zechs commented.

“Yeah, ain't karma a bitch?!” Duo snickered. “I must admit, it makes me feel a whole lot better knowing he's at the cop shop and not running around the streets any longer.”

“Amen to that.” Heero picked up a piece of toast and started to eat.

“I wonder if the rape retrial will be incorporated with this one or not?” Zechs mused.

“Dunno, the coppers did say something about maybe putting all the charges together and having only one court date. I guess we will find out soon enough,” Duo said and lowered his eyes.

“I'll call them later and see what's going on,” Heero offered. “Meanwhile, we have the other police officers coming this morning to take our statements regarding the fire.”

“Oh yeah I'd forgotten about that.”

“I'd better get going,” Zechs said and got up to put his plate in the sink. “I'll wash these up for you after morning consults.”

“That's fine, Zechs, don't worry about it,” Duo said with a wave of his hand. “I'll pop up to the surgery once the statements have been taken and see how things are running.”

“Okay.”

* * *

“Where is my client?” Bremner asked as he approached the reception desk in the Salsbury Police Station.

“Who might you be, sir? And who is your client?” asked the young constable.

“Bremner, Anton Bremner. My client is a Mr. Stefan Graves,” replied Bremner and handed over his business card to the constable.

“If you would wait one moment please sir, I'll see what I can find out.” Bremner scowled but took a seat whilst the constable made a couple of inquiries. “Mr. Bremner, Detective Anderson will be out to speak with you in just a moment.”

Bremner gave a curt nod and waited. Within a few minutes a middle aged man appeared. “Mr. Bremner?”

“Yes, that's me.”

“Detective Anderson. I'm the one that made the arrest of your client. If you would follow me we are about to commence questioning him.” Anderson turned and led the way back through the department to an interview room. As they walked so Bremner fired off several questions at Anderson.

“What are the charges? What proof do you have? How long do you intend to keep my client here?”

Anderson ignored the questions, opting to wait until they were in the interview room when all charges and questioning would take place. Stefan looked up from where he was sitting, still handcuffed in the interview room.

“Bremner,” he snapped. “About time you got here.”

Ignoring the clipped tone, Bremner placed his briefcase on the floor and took a seat next to his client. Across from them, Anderson dropped a heavy file to the table and took a seat. There was a long window on one side of the room, but the glass only reflected the occupants of the room. Stefan was pretty sure it was one of those two way things. He was correct. In the room on the other side of that window were Sergeant Williams and Constable Henry.

“What is this all about?” Bremner asked, leaning back in his seat.

Anderson took a breath and opened his folder. “Mr. Graves, you are charged with the following: Breaking a restraining order. Breaking and Entering. Committing Arson. Willful damage to property and Trespass. Those are the charges from this incident. Also combined with the court case for these charges will be the retrial of the rape of one Doctor Maxwell. Aside from that, I also have papers here to serve on you on behalf of the R.S.P.C.A.-”

“What?” Bremner shouted and reached for the papers.

Anderson let him have them and continued. “The R.S.P.C.A. have filed charges of Aggravated Cruelty against Mr. Graves in relation to the fire.” Anderson sat back and let the words sink in for a moment.

“This is all bullshit,” Stefan growled. “I didn't light any fire at the Yuy stables, I was home watching television.”

Anderson raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“Mr. Graves, I have evidence that clearly puts you at the Yuy stables on the night of the fire,” Anderson said with a sly smile.

“You don't have nothing,” Stefan said sullenly.

“Ah, I beg to differ. Mr. Graves; what were your movements on the night of the fire between five and nine in the evening?”

“You don't have to answer that,” Bremner said.

Ignoring the solicitor, Stefan snapped. “I already told you, I was at home watching television.”

“Do you have anyone who can validate that? Someone that was with you, saw you at home?”

“Anderson, my client does not have to answer any of your questions.”

“If he's so adamant that he's not guilty, then why shouldn't he answer? If he's got nothing to hide then it should be a simple case of answering the questions and providing us with an alibi. Unless of course, he is guilty.” Anderson smirked.

“I ain't sayin' nothing.” Stefan muttered.

“Mr. Graves. I put it to you that after Judge Harris ordered a retrial of the rape case you knew you would be found guilty. In fact, you were so angry and annoyed that you'd been caught out you decided to extract your own revenge.”

“No!”

“You went to the Yuy stables and under the cover of darkness you entered the property and made your way to the stables. Once inside you went into the feed room and set fire to the hay that was stored in there. With the fire underway, you made your retreat, closing the stable doors behind you and knowing that those animals had no possible way of escape.”

“NO!”

“You fully intended to kill all of Yuy's horses and destroy the man's livelihood as well as his spirit!”

“NO! I never set fire to anything,” Stefan barked.

“Then what were you doing on the Yuy property?”

Stefan clammed up.

“Anderson, I suggest you stop harassing my client unless you can provide what evidence you supposedly have that suggests my client was at the crime scene on the night in question,” Bremner growled.

“Oh, I have evidence alright,” Anderson said with a smirk as he leaned back in his chair, his eyes boring into Stefan. “It seems our Mr. Graves here forgot one vital thing when he decided to break into the Yuy stables. You see, Mr. Yuy had security cameras installed in the stables, those cameras were working perfectly on the night of the fire. They recorded everything.”

Stefan felt the bile rush up his throat as his heart sank to his feet.

“Now, shall we start again?” Anderson sneered.

Stefan looked to Bremner, the lawyer looking quite shocked himself at that little revelation. “I think we need to have a serious talk, Mr. Graves and try to sort out this mess. I cannot defend you if you don't start telling me the truth.” Bremner turned to Anderson. “I request some time alone with my client, Detective. I would also like to see the camera footage.”

Knowing he wouldn't be getting much more from the suspect at this point in time, Anderson agreed to the solicitor’s request. “I'll take you through to one of the other interview rooms where you can have an hour with the suspect,” Anderson rose. “Follow me.”

Bremner and Stefan stood and followed the Detective out of the formal interview room and along the corridor to a much smaller one. “I'll be back in an hour,” Anderson reaffirmed before stepping out and closing the door. Williams and Henry appeared in the hall. “Can one of you stay outside this door please?” Anderson requested.

“I'll wait,” offered Henry.

“Thank you.” Anderson left with Williams to fetch the recording for Bremner and discuss what had been said so far in their interview.

* * *

The morning passed quickly for Heero and Duo. The police arrived and took their statements, unable to give either man any further information as to how the investigation was going. Quatre called with the news that the Society was going to press charges against Stefan. Heero let the Inspector know what Henry had told them of the case, Quatre confirming it and adding that the Society had decided to let the police go ahead as suggested and have their case against Stefan heard along with all the other charges.

Duo had made his way to the surgery afterwards to catch up on everything going on there and see if he could give Catherine a hand in reception. The woman had called in on her way to the surgery and changed the dressings on both guys as she'd promised to do. The burns were starting to look a lot better, the blisters either settling down and starting to diffuse or having burst. Duo's calves would take a while longer than his hands to heal, but all in all Catherine was pleased with the state of the injuries.

Heero had gone to the stables to see what he could and couldn't manage as far as stable work went. Given his current state of inability to do much, all the horses except for Jester were enjoying a bit of a break from their training. Heero wouldn't be able to ride for a short while, not until the healthy, new tissue had started to grow on his hands, and even then he'd have to take it easy for a while. Given the horses weren't getting any work, Heero had cut their grain intake right back. There was no point in feeding them up when they weren't doing the work to warrant it and Heero didn't want any of the horses getting sick because of the rich feed and lack of exercise.

June was a constant visitor to the stables, putting the horses out, making up the feeds and doing the water buckets. She only did what she was capable of, seeing the sense in not stressing or straining her body with her pregnancy. Carl would stop by in the evenings and do the bulk of the stable work.

Heero discovered he could manage to wield the poop scoop and clean the stables, but that did take him twice as long as it usually would. The rake however completely defeated him. Having done what he could of the stable work, Heero was putting things away when his cell phone went off. Not recognizing the number, Heero answered politely. “Heero Yuy speaking.”

Seeing how Heero was obviously in a private call, June made herself scarce, stepping into Duo's feed room to start on making up the night feeds and getting the hay nets filled. She was half way through when Heero joined her, a smile on his face. “Good news?” she asked politely.

“Hai. That was the Insurance company. They're sending out an assessor this afternoon to look over the burnt stables. They have all but approved the claim, all they need is the assessor to go over the ruins and put in his report along with an estimate cost of rebuilding, once that's done and I've lodged the list of items that were lost in the fire, they can start to organize for the stables to be rebuilt.”

“That's great,” June enthused. “Oh, that reminds me, I have gone through all of Orion's things and most of it is okay as it was in the other tack room. Here's a list of the few things of his that were destroyed in the fire.” June handed Heero a piece of paper, the rider taking it and reading June's neat handwriting.

There wasn't much, a couple of rugs, lead rope and a set of bandages. Orion's saddle, bridle grooming gear and other items were in the larger tack room Heero had allotted for the use of the clients. “That's all?”

“Yes. I think you'll find that Carl's list will be similar and so will Frank's. It was mostly your stuff that was in the small tack room. I hope the insurance company will cover all your gear, if not you're welcome to use anything of mine until you can replace it,” June offered.

Heero was touched by the woman's generosity. “Thanks. I should be okay though as I did have some of my other stuff in the other tack room too. It's mostly the rugs I'm concerned about for now. I know I still have all their winter rugs in storage, but we still have a couple of months of warm weather to get through and I don't have much in the way of back up for their summer sheets.”

Whilst Heero didn't need to rug the horses in the summer months, he liked to keep what were called 'summer sheets' on the horses to stop them from getting sun bleached and keep the flies at bay. All the horses had been wearing their light rugs on the night of the fire with their summer sheets draped over their stable doors. The fire had destroyed all of those rugs and the ones that had been on the horses either completely stunk of smoke or had been fire damaged or both; to the point where Heero refused to put them on any of the equines.

“I'm sure we can arrange something for now. Maybe even buy a few and hang onto the receipts for the insurance company to reimburse you.

“That's a good idea,” Heero replied. “I'll ask the assessor when he's here about doing that.”

June glanced at her watch. “I'd best be going, my sister-in-law is coming over this afternoon to take me baby shopping.”

“Baby shopping?”

“Yes. I need to start getting stuff together for this baby, you know, things like clothing, cot, diapers, that sort of stuff.” June gave a wide grin when Heero appeared to shudder.

“Rather you than me. I'd much prefer saddlery shopping.”

June laughed. “So would I.”

* * *

No sooner had Heero entered the cottage than the phone was ringing. “What is it with the damn phones today?” he grumbled as he went through to answer the call. Duo wasn't anywhere to be found so Heero assumed he was still up at the surgery. “Maxwell Veterinary Practice. Yuy speaking.”

The news that came down the line was music to Heero's ears. As he listened so the grin on his face got wider and wider.

“Thank you, Sergeant, I'll be sure to pass that information on to my partner. You have a good day too and I'll wait to hear from you regarding the date.” Heero replaced the receiver and stood for a moment. Then he jumped up and did what he called 'a Duo'. Leaping into the air, punching it with his fist and dancing around on the spot. “Yes!” he crowed. “Got you, you fucking bastard! I hope you rot in hell for the rest of your miserable life!”

Once he'd calmed down, Heero headed straight for the back door, put his shoes back on and jogged up the small, connecting path to the surgery.

* * *

At Bremner's insistence, Anderson had shown the solicitor and Graves the footage recorded by the security cameras. The solicitor had watched with a grim expression on his face, Stefan's features had gone from pale to a chalky white followed by a sickly looking gray. There was absolutely no question it was him on the recording. Once the pair had seen enough, Anderson departed, leaving the pair alone to discuss the evidence.

“Mr. Graves, I don't need to tell you after seeing that evidence that this is looking very bad for you.” Stefan nodded. “If I am to defend you successfully, you need to start telling me the truth. I suggest you begin now. Why on earth were you at the Yuy stables? Did you set fire to those stables?”

Stefan looked up sharply. “No, I didn't.” He sighed. “Look, after Marion spilled her guts it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that this retrial will find me guilty.”

“We have already discussed all that and have our planned attack. Once we're finished with her, her testimony won't stand up in any court.”

“I know what we discussed, but...” Stefan swallowed. “I went out and had a few beers, that got me to thinking that what if the court didn't buy our line of defense? What if they still found me guilty? I guess I had a little too much alcohol and wasn't thinking straight. Anyway, I thought if I was going to go down, then I fully intended to take something of Yuy's with me, something that would hurt him for the rest of his days. I wanted to do something that neither he or that boyfriend vet of his would ever be able to forget. I didn't want to harm Maxwell, although I know how much Yuy cares for him; no something that beautiful should be cherished, not harmed.” Stefan's voice took on a husky tone as he spoke of the vet, eyes turned a touch glassy and he was lost in memories for a moment.

Bremner cleared his throat. “Carry on,” he prompted.

“I decided to get back at Yuy by making one of his horses sick, so sick that the vet wouldn't be able to treat him and the horse wouldn't be capable of doing much ever again. I managed to get hold of some dried Patterson's curse. I planned on putting it in that horse, Shinigami's feed. I went to the stables and managed to get inside to the feed shed. I located the feed bucket with Shinigami's name on it and put the dried plant material in it. Then I left. There was no fire when I was there and I certainly didn't start one. Like I said, all I planned on doing was making that horse sick.”

Bremner stroked a hand over his chin. “We just might be able to salvage this. There isn't any actual proof on that recording of you starting the fire so it's just their word against yours. I think we should plead not guilty to the Arson charge, but we will need to explain why you were there and what you intended to do. The other charges of breaking and entering and breaking the restraining order we don't have much hope of defending; I'd say we plead guilty to those. Once we state our case, the charges the R.S.P.C.A. has filed will become null and void. If they want to charge you with anything they will have to try and come up with another case against you and actually prove you put that stuff in the animal's feed. Considering that was most likely destroyed in the fire, then they have nothing. The rape retrial we will proceed with as we'd already planned.”

Stefan started to look a little brighter.

“No, definitely plead not guilty to the charge of Arson. For all we know an electrical fault could have started that fire.” Bremner stretched. “I'll try to get bail for you. From now until the court date, you do not talk to anyone other than me. Understand?”

“Yeah.”

~ * ~

tbc...
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Equus