Hugger Mugger by Robert B. Parker Read Free Book Online

guess.”
    â€œHow about the footsteps? Heavy? Light? Fast? Slow?”
    â€œJust footsteps, sounded like running. It was on the dirt outside the stable. Didn’t make a lot of noise.”
    â€œAny smells?”
    â€œSmells?”
    â€œHair tonic, shaving lotion, cologne, perfume, mouthwash, tobacco, booze, liniment.”
    â€œSleeping in the stable,” Rice said, “mostly everything smells like horses.”
    I nodded.
    â€œThey going to bring Jimbo out,” Rice said. “Time to get Hugger out the way.”
    The exercise rider brought Hugger Mugger to the rail. Billy snapped the lead shank onto his bridle. The exercise rider climbed down, and Billy led Hugger Mugger back toward the stable area. As they walked their heads were very close together, as if they wereexchanging confidences. The security guards moved in closer around Hugger Mugger as he walked, and by the time he’d reached the stable area they were around him like the Secret Service.
    I moved up beside Hale Martin. Coming from the stable area toward the track was an entourage of horses and horse keepers. There was a big chestnut horse with a rider up and a groom on either side holding a shank. With them were two other horsemen, one on each side. The chestnut was tossing his head and skittering sideways as he came.
    â€œJimbo?” I said to Martin.
    â€œJimbo,” Martin said.
    The outriders gave with him as Jimbo skittered, and closed back in on him when he stopped. Riding him was a red-haired girl who might have been seventeen. The grooms and the outriders were men. One of the outriders had a cast on his right leg. He rode to the right, so that the injured leg was away from Jimbo.
    â€œWhat about the guy with the cast?” I said.
    Martin grinned.
    â€œJimbo,” he said.
    When Jimbo was on the track, the outriders peeled off and sat their horses in the shade near the track entrance. The grooms unsnapped their lead shanks at the same time and stepped quickly away. Jimbo reared and made horse noises. The red-haired girl held his head straight, sitting high up on his shoulders as if she were part of the horse. She gave him a light tap on the backside with her whip, and Jimbo tossed his head and began to move down the track.
    â€œRun him a lot,” I said. “Get him tired.”
    â€œJust makes him cranky,” Martin said, his eyes following Jimbo. The redhead let him out and he began to sprint.
    â€œHas he killed anyone yet?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œBut he might,” I said.
    â€œHe wants to,” Martin said.
    â€œYou have to handle him like this all the time?”
    â€œYep.”
    â€œIs it worth the bother?”
    â€œHe can run,” Martin said.
    â€œHow about gelding?”
    â€œSomebody gelded John Henry,” Martin said. “Do you know how much money that cost them?”
    â€œStud fees?”
    â€œYou bet.”
    â€œYou mean you’d let Jimbo loose with a mare?”
    â€œHe’s different around mares,” Martin said.
    â€œHim too,” I said.

TEN

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    M ICKEY B LAIR WENT out of the track office with a springy walk that made her long blond braid bounce against the full length of her spine. She left the door open behind her. Through the open door, I could look straight along the stable row where the horses hung their heads out of their stalls and looked around. It reminded me of one of those streets in Amsterdam where the whores sat in windows.
    I had a yellow legal-size pad on the desk by my right hand, and a nice Bic pen lying on it at a rakish angle. The pad was blank. I had spent the day interviewing stable crew about the attempt on Hugger Mugger and had learned so little that I thought I might have crossed into deficit. I looked at my watch. Twenty to five. Penny Clive came in wearing black jeans and a white T-shirt and a black jacket. She went to the refrigerator, took out two Cokes, and handed me one. She sat down on the couch