Hugger Mugger

by Robert B. Parker

  Robert B Parker

  Hugger Mugger

  Joan: the ocean's roar, a thousand drums

  ONE

  I was at my desk, in my office, with my feet up on the windowsill, and a yellow pad in my lap, thinking about baseball. It's what I always think about when I'm not thinking about sex. Susan says that supreme happiness for me would probably involve having sex while watching a ball game. Since she knows this, I've never understood why, when we're at Fenway Park, she remains so prudish. My focus this morning was on one of those "100 greatest" lists that the current millennium had spawned. In the absence of a 100 greatest sexual encounters list (where I was sure I would figure prominently), I was vetting the 100 greatest baseball players list and comparing it to my own. Mine was of more narrow compass, being limited to players I'd seen. But even so, the official list needed help. I was penciling in Roy Campanella ahead of Johnny Bench, when my door opened and a man and woman came in. The woman was great to look at, blond, tight figure, nice clothes. The man was wearing aviator sunglasses. He looked like he might have a view on Roy Campanella, but I was pretty sure she wouldn't. On the other hand, she might have a view on sexual encounters. I could go either way.

  "Good morning," I said, to let them know there were no hard feelings about them interrupting me.

  "Spenser?" the man said.

  "That's me," I said.

  "I'm Walter Clive," he said. "This is my daughter Penny."

  "Sit down," I said. "I have coffee made."

  "That would be nice."

  I went to the Mr. Coffee on the filing cabinet and poured us some coffee, took milk and sugar instructions, and passed the coffee around.

  When we were settled in with our coffee, Clive said, "Do you follow horse racing, sir?"

  "No."

  "Have you ever heard of a horse named Hugger Mugger?"

  "No."

  "He's still a baby," Clive said, "but there are people who will tell you that he's going to be the next Secretariat."

  "I've heard of Secretariat," I said.

  "Good."

  "I was at Claiborne Farms once and actually met Secretariat," I said. "He gave a large lap."

  He smiled a pained smile. Horse people, I have noticed, are not inclined to think of horses in terms of how, or even if, they kiss.

  "That's fine," he said.

  Penny sat straight in her chair, her hands folded in her lap, her knees together, her ankles together, her feet firmly on the floor. She was wearing white gloves and a set of pearls, and a dark blue dress that didn't cover her knees. I was glad that it didn't.

  "I own Three Fillies Stables. Named after my three daughters. We're in Lamarr, Georgia."

  "Racehorses," I said.

  "Yes, sir. I don't breed them, I buy and syndicate."

  Penny was wearing shoes that matched her dress. They were conservative heels, but not unfashionable. Her ankles were great.

  "In the past month," Clive said, "there has been a series of attacks on our horses."

  "Attacks?"

  "Someone is shooting them."

  "Dead?"

  "Some die, some survive."

  "Do we have a theory?" I said.

  "No, sir. The attacks seem entirely random and without motivation."

  "Insurance scam?"

  "Nothing so crude as shooting the horse," Clive said.

  He was tall and athletic and ridiculously handsome. He had a lot of white teeth and a dark tan. His silver hair was thick and smooth. He was wearing a navy blazer with a Three Fillies crest on it, an open white shirt, beige linen trousers, and burgundy loafers with no socks. I approved. I was a no-socks man myself.

  "Eliminate the competition?"

  Clive smiled indulgently.

  "Some of the horses who've been shot are barn ponies, not even Thoroughbreds-to think you could do anything constructive for your own horse, by eliminating other horses… not possible."

  "Only a dumb city guy would even think of such a thing," I said.

  He smiled again. It was a smile that said, Of course I'm superior to you, and both of us know it, but I'm a good guy and am not going to hold it against you.

  "You're a detective, you have to ask these questions," he said kindly.

  He smiled again. Penny smiled. I smiled back. Weren't we all just dandy. Penny had big eyes, the color of morning glories. Her eyes were nearly as big as Susan's, with thick lashes. Her smile was not superior. It was friendly… and maybe a little more.

  "Last week, someone made an attempt on Hugger Mugger," Clive went on.

  "Unsuccessful?"

  "Yes. His groom, Billy Rice, was in the stall with him, at night. Hugger had been sort of peckish that day and Billy was worried about him. While he was there someone opened the stall door. Billy shined his flashlight and saw a rifle barrel poking through the open door. When the light came on, the rifle barrel disappeared and there were running footsteps. By the time Billy peeked out around the door, there was nothing."

  "Footprints?" I said.

  "No."

  "Could he describe the gun barrel?"

  "The gun barrel? What's to describe?"

  "Did it have a magazine under the barrel, like a Winchester? Long stock or not? Front sight? Gun barrels are not all the same."

  "Oh God," Clive said, "I don't know."

  I tried not to smile a smile that said, Of course I'm superior to you, and both of us know it, but I'm a good guy and am not going to hold it against you.

  "Cops?" I said.

  "Local police," Clive said. "And I have my own security consultant."

  "Local police are the Columbia County Sheriff's Department," Penny said. "The deputy's name is Becker."

  "I wish to hire you, sir, to put a stop to this," Clive said.

  "To prevent the horse from being hurt?"

  "That certainly."

  "Usually I get only one end of the horse," I said.

  Penny laughed.

  Clive said, "Excuse me?"

  "Daddy," Penny said, "he's saying sometimes he gets a client who's a horse's ass."

  "Oh, of course. Guess I'm too worried to have a sense of humor."

  "Sure," I said.

  "Well, sir, are you interested or not?"

  "Tell me a little more of how you see this working," I said. "Am I sleeping on a blanket in the horse's stall, with a knife in my teeth?"

  He smiled to show that he really did have a sense of humor even though he was worried.

  "No, no," he said. "I have some armed security in place. An agency in Atlanta. I would like you to look at the security and let me know what you think. But, primarily, I want you to find out who is doing this and, ah, arrest them, or shoot them, or whatever is the right thing."

  "And what makes you think I'm the man for the job?" I said.

  Penny smiled at me again. She thought my modesty was very becoming.

  "The horse world is a small one, sir. You were involved in some sort of case over there in Alton a few years back, with Jumper Jack Nelson. I knew of it. I talked with the Alton Police, with someone in the South Carolina State Attorney's Office. My attorney looked into it. We talked with the FBI in Atlanta. We talked with a man named Hugh Dixon with whom I once did some business. We talked to a Massachusetts State Police captain named Healy, and a Boston police captain named Quirk."

  "How the hell did you find Hugh Dixon?" I said.

  "I have money, sir. My attorneys are resourceful."

  "And I'm the man?"

  "Yes, sir, you are."

  "Fairly expensive," I said.

  "What are your fees?" Clive said.

  I told him.

  "That will not be an issue," he said.

  "And who is the outfit in Atlanta that's on the job now?" I said.r />
  "Security South."

  Meant nothing to me.

  "The on-site supervisor is a man named Delroy. Jon Delroy."

  That meant nothing to me either.

  "Will Mr. Delroy be pleased to see me?"

  "He'll cooperate," Clive said.

  "No," Penny said. "I don't think he will be pleased to see you."

  Clive looked at her.

  "Well, it's the truth, Daddy. He will be absolutely goddamned livid."

  Clive smiled. He couldn't help being condescending, but it was a genuine smile. He liked his daughter.

  "Penny has been quiet during our interview, Mr. Spenser. But don't assume that it's habitual."

  "Jon will have trouble with you bringing in someone over him," Penny said. "Mr. Spenser may as well know that now."

  Clive nodded.

  "He's not really 'over' Jon," Clive said. "But Jon may feel a bit compromised. That a problem to you, Mr. Spenser?"

  "No."

  "Really?" Penny said. "You think you can work with someone like that?"

  "I'll win him over," I said.

  "How?"

  "Northern charm," I said.

  "Isn't that an oxymoron?" she said.

  "You're right," I said. "Maybe I'll just threaten him."

  TWO

  "LAMARR, GEORGIA?" SUSANsaid. She was lying on top of me in her bed with her clothes off, her arms folded on my chest, and her face about six inches from my face. Pearl the Wonder Dog was lying somewhat grumpily on the rug at the foot of the bed, having been displaced, if only temporarily, by me.

  "Just an old sweet song," I said.

  "Don't sing. Do you know anything about racehorses?"

  "Secretariat gave me a big lap once," I said.

  "Anything less specialized?" Susan said.

  "That's about it."

  "And you are being brought in over someone who has heretofore been in charge?"

  "Yes."

  "So you are going to Georgia without Pearl, or me, and you'll be gone for who knows how long, and you don't know what you're doing, and the people you're working with will resent you."

  "Exactly," I said.

  "And you're doing this because you love horses?"

  "Because I hate starving," I said. "I've been doing pro bono for you and Hawk so long that I can't afford to buy a new knuckle knife."

  "Too bad virtue is not, in fact, its own reward," Susan said.

  "Or if it really were, the reward would need to be monetary."

  "Well, perhaps we can visit."

  "You and Pearl could come down," I said.

  "Pearl does not, obviously, fly in a crate in the hold of some disgusting airplane," Susan said.

  "It's an easy drive," I said. "One overnight stop."

  Susan stared at me. Her eyes were so close they were out of focus as I looked up at her. They seemed bigger than human eyes could be and bottomless, like eternity.

  "I cannot bear to drive long distances."

  "Of course you can't," I said. "Maybe Paul would come up from New York, for a weekend, and take care of Pearl."

  "That might work," Susan said. "Or Lee Farrell, or Hawk."

  "And then you can come to Lamarr on an airplane and ball my brains out."

  "Didn't I just do that?" Susan said. "Except for the airplane part?"

  "Yes," I said, "and brilliantly."

  "I know."

  "However," I said, "I don't think we've ever done it in Georgia."

  "Well, if you insist on going down there," Susan said, "what's a girl to do?"

  "What she does best," I said.

  "In which case we'll never be able to eat lunch in Lamarr again," Susan said.

  THREE

  I SHOWED UP in Lamarr with some clean shirts and extra ammunition in my black Nike gym bag, checked into the Holiday Inn on the highway outside of Lamarr, and set out to visit my employer. Lamarr was one of those towns you read about but no one you know ever lived in. It was probably like the town that Jack Armstrong lived in with his sister Betty, when he starred at Hudson High. The downtown was three-story buildings, mostly brick, along the main street, with some stores and restaurants, a pool hall, a movie theater, and a railroad station. There were two cross streets, where more business was done during daylight hours. In the center of the town was a square with a statue of a man on horseback, and some benches. As I drove through the downtown, the streets were lined with trees, and behind the trees were lawns on which sat some nice-looking southern-type houses, mostly white, with verandas. Often vines grew over the verandas and made them leafy.

  At two in the afternoon I was ringing the bell at the Clives' front door. They lived in a white mansion with a wide pillared veranda across the front, which sat in the middle of something that looked like the world's largest putting green. A sprinkler system was producing a fine spray to protect the lawn from the East Georgia summer, and the sun shining through the spray made it iridescent.

  Penny Clive, in white shorts and a blue top that didn't quite conceal her belly button, answered the door. All of her that I could see uncovered was a smooth tan. Not the deep-cured kind, but a gentle healthy-looking one that seemed casually acquired, though the evenness of it made me wonder just how casual the process was.

  "Well, hello," she said.

  She had a light voice with some kind of rich undertone, which made everything she said imply somewhat more than it seemed to. I had a moment when I thought maybe it wasn't so bad that Susan couldn't be here. I thought about whether I should feel guilty about that and decided I should not since I was simply being human, albeit male human.

  "Hello."

  "Please come in. Do you have everything you need at the hotel?"

  We stood in a vast, high central hallway with dark floors that gleamed with polish.

  "Bed, television, a/c, running water, what more could there be?" I said.

  "What indeed?" she said, and the little smile lines at the corners of her wide mouth deepened. "I was just having some iced tea on the terrace-would you have some with me?"

  "Of course," I said, and followed her the length of the corridor and out through some very large French doors onto a wide white-brick terrace under a green-and-white-striped canvas canopy.

  "Daddy's not here," she said.

  "You're more fun anyway," I said.

  "It depends," she said.

  She gestured at a couple of comfortable-looking patio chairs. We sat. There was a big glass pitcher on a serving table and some glasses and ice in a bucket and sugar and lemons and fresh mint.

  "On what?" I said.

  "On whether you're a business partner or a sex partner," she said.

  She put ice in a tall glass, added a lemon wedge and a mint leaf, and poured me some iced tea. I added some sugar.

  "It's probably not the business partners who are voting for fun," I said.

  "No," Penny said. "Speaking of fun, we're having a little welcome party for you tonight. I hope you don't mind."

  "Most employers hold one when I leave," I said.

  "Daddy thought it would be a convenient way to introduce you to everybody. Very informal, starts around seven."

  "Wouldn't miss it," I said.

  The backyard, if one could call it that, was being sprinkled too. It stretched dead level toward some sort of outbuildings in the middle distance. Beyond them was a tennis court and, beyond the courts, a paddock and what I assumed were stables. As we sat, a Dalmatian came sniffing around the corner of the terrace, paused, looked up, put his ears back, and came over toward me, moving more slowly, with his head lowered a little and his tail wagging tentatively.

  "That's Dutch," Penny said.

  Dutch kept coming until he was in pat range. I put my closed fist out so he could sniff it. Which he did for maybe a full minute, quite carefully sniffing all aspects of it. Then he was satisfied. His ears came back up and his tail resumed full wag. He put his head on my leg and stood while I stroked his head.

  "Tell me more a
bout the horse shootings," I said.

  She was turned half sideways in her chair, one leg tucked under her, giving me her full attention. She was clearly one of those especially likable women who made you feel that you might be the most interesting creature they had ever encountered. I knew that everyone she talked to felt that way, but it was no less pleasing for that. Right now it was my turn.

  "I'm not sure where to start," she said. "I know all of us are in something of a tizzy."

  "Well, were all the horses shot with the same weapon?"

  "Oh God, I wouldn't know that sort of thing. Jon Delroy might know. Or you could talk with Deputy Becker."

  "Any geographical pattern?"

  "All here," she said.

  "How many horses?"

  "Three-a stable pony, and two colts."

  She sipped some iced tea, dipping her face into it, holding the glass in both hands, looking at me over the rim.

  "Where did they get shot?"

  "I just told- Oh, you mean what part of them did the bullet hit?"

  "Yes."

  "One in the head, the stable pony. He died. Heroic Hope was shot once in the left shoulder. I don't think he'll run again. Saddle Shoes was shot in the neck. The vets tell us he should be fine."

  "You said 'bullet'-was each of them shot just once?"

  "I believe so."

  Dutch took his head off my leg suddenly and walked away. I saw no reason for it. He appeared to be stepping to the beat of his own drummer. He found a spot on the lawn, in the sun, out of sprinkler range, turned around three times, and settled down and went to sleep.

  "Only one died?" I said.

  "Yes."

  I nodded.

  "You're looking so wise all of a sudden. Have I supplied you a clue?"

  "Just a thought," I said.

  "Oh, tell me, what is it?"

  I shook my head.

  "I assume that's not Three Fillies world headquarters down there," I said.

  "The stables? Oh God no. It's where we keep our own horses. The racing operation is about a mile down the road. Are we changing the subject?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "So you won't have to tell me your thought?"

  "I have so few," I said. "I like to nurture them."