Horse Race

by Bonnie Bryant

  She charged across the ring and confronted Josh. He blinked at her in surprise. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  Stevie didn’t bother to answer the question. “Where’s Mack?” she barked.

  Josh’s confused look changed to one of annoyance. “What do I look like, his baby-sitter?” he said.

  Stevie clenched her fists and opened her mouth to answer. But Carole, who had joined them by this time, shoved her aside. “Sorry about that, Josh,” she said, much more calmly than she felt. “We don’t mean to be rude, but we’re kind of anxious to talk to Mack, and since you were so much help when we were looking for him before, we figured you were the most likely person to know where we could find him now. Could you help us out? Please?” She smiled widely at him and blinked her eyes a few times as she’d seen actresses do on TV. She felt a little silly doing it, but it seemed to work. Josh still looked suspicious, but he tentatively returned her smile.

  “Um, well, okay,” he said slowly. He had just noticed Josh C standing behind Carole, and he frowned. But he went on. “He already weighed out and headed back to the jockeys’ room to change.”

  “Thanks, Josh,” Carole told him sincerely, giving him another big smile. Stevie and Lisa had already taken off in the direction of the jockeys’ room, Josh C in tow. But Carole paused for another moment. “We really do appreciate it,” she told the boy. “And I promise to explain everything later, okay?”

  “Okay.” This time Josh’s smile was a lot bigger. “Oh, by the way, Mack is riding again in the fourth race, so he’ll probably be in the jockeys’ room for a few more minutes,” he offered.

  “Thanks.” Carole paused for one last grateful smile, then took off after her friends.

  “THIS SHOULD DO,” Stevie muttered, pushing aside some branches of the thick bushes flanking the door to the jockeys’ room. “After you, Show—er, I mean, Josh,” she said, holding the branches back to reveal a hollow space near the center of the bush. “There should be just enough room for all of us.”

  Josh stared at Stevie, then glanced down at his clean khaki shorts and white T-shirt. “Um …,” he began.

  “I’ll go first,” Carole volunteered, stepping forward. She ducked down and crawled into the hiding place. “Very cozy,” she pronounced, sitting down on the dirt.

  That was all Josh needed to hear. A moment later he was seated next to her, so close that their knees touched. “This is cool,” he said, grinning at her and leaning a little closer.

  “We’re coming in,” Stevie announced. She crawled in beside the pair, and Lisa followed. Soon all four of them were crouched in the tiny hiding space in the hedge.

  “Wow. Talk about togetherness,” Lisa said, moving her arm to avoid a scratchy branch.

  Stevie elbowed Josh in the ribs. “Can you see out at all from where you’re sitting?” she asked. “You’re going to need to be able to tape what’s going on outside.”

  Josh wiggled around a little until he was able to poke the camcorder through a bare spot. He peered through the view-finder. “I can see a little bit,” he said dubiously. “I just hope whatever or whoever you want me to tape is going to be standing right in front of us, though, or you’re out of luck.”

  Stevie frowned, but Carole wasn’t worried. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Even if we can’t get a good picture, we should be able to pick up the sound track we need. That’s more important anyway.”

  “Really?” Josh sat back and tapped the top of the camcorder. “That’s good. This thing has an awesome microphone. It picks up everything.”

  “Heads up!” Lisa hissed. She was peering through the branches. “Someone’s coming.”

  They all looked out. “It’s Garvey,” Stevie whispered, recognizing the big man easily, even though she could only see him from the elbows down. “Your plan’s working perfectly so far, Carole.”

  Carole smiled and held one finger to her lips as Josh gave her a questioning look. She pointed to the camera, and he obediently went into his taping position. “Switch it on when I tap you on the arm,” she whispered in his ear.

  “Keep your fingers crossed,” Lisa murmured to her friends.

  They waited for what felt like forever. Josh had to shift position slightly once or twice to stay comfortable. The three girls sat completely still, watching Garvey, who was visible in patches through the shrubbery as he paced back and forth.

  Finally they all heard the sound of the jockeys’ room door slamming shut. “This could be it,” Stevie whispered.

  “Shhh!” Carole leaned forward a little, trying to see who had come out. Before she could get a good look, she heard Garvey stomp forward.

  “I’ve got a few things to discuss with you, little man,” he growled.

  Her heart in her throat, Carole tapped Josh on the elbow. He obediently switched on the camcorder and leaned forward a little farther, trying to get Garvey in view.

  Next Mack’s voice came toward them clearly. “I don’t want to hear it, Garvey,” the jockey said brusquely.

  “Well, you’re going to hear it,” Garvey replied. Suddenly the two men moved to a spot where Carole could see them clearly through a break in the leaves. Garvey had taken hold of the smaller man’s arm and was dragging him straight toward their hiding place!

  “Uh-oh,” she muttered. A moment later they all ducked back as the branches around them bent back under Mack’s weight. Garvey had just shoved him into the hedge.

  “Watch it,” the jockey said calmly. “I’ve got to ride in these silks.”

  Garvey didn’t answer. “Come here,” he said, his voice getting quieter as he moved away. “We’ve got to talk in private.”

  Carole’s heart sank. If Garvey dragged Mack off to an empty stall in one of the shed rows or the men’s room or someplace else, the plan would be ruined. They hadn’t taped him saying anything incriminating yet.

  Luckily Mack didn’t seem eager to go anywhere with the big trainer. “If you’ve got something to say, say it right here,” he said belligerently, his voice still close and clear.

  Garvey let out an indecipherable grumble. “At least come over here behind these bushes,” he said at last. “The whole track doesn’t need to hear this.” Apparently the jockey nodded agreement, because the next sound the girls heard was footsteps moving around the side of the hedge where they were hiding.

  Lisa gasped and scooted forward. “Do you think they’ll be able to see us?” she whispered frantically. The branches in the back of the hedge were thinner than those in front.

  Carole gulped and turned around. The last thing she wanted was for Garvey to catch them spying on him. “Just keep as far back as you can,” she said helplessly, shrinking away from the sound of the footsteps.

  “And think green,” Stevie added in a whisper. The men’s legs were clearly visible to all four of the hiders as they emerged and stopped about two yards in front of them. By crouching farther down and looking up, the girls could see their angry faces.

  Josh hadn’t missed a beat. The camera was still running, and he leaned forward just a little to get a clear shot of the two men. Carole bit her lip and watched him, hoping that his white shirt wasn’t too obvious among the green branches.

  Luckily, the men didn’t even glance in their direction. They were standing on the bare patch of dirt between the hedge and the outside wall of the jockeys’ room, glaring at each other.

  “Now,” Garvey said slowly. “Would you care to explain yourself?”

  Mack shrugged. “What’s to explain?” he said. “Anyway, what do you care? Your horse won anyway, didn’t she?”

  “That’s not the point!” Garvey shouted. Then, remembering where he was, he lowered his voice. “I paid you to do a job, and you didn’t do it. Doesn’t your word mean anything, you lousy cheat?”

  “You’re the cheater, not me,” the jockey replied. “You’re just lucky I’m not going to talk to the track officials.”

  Garvey balled one hand into a fist and punched it int
o his other hand. “You’d better not turn me in, little man,” he said, his voice dangerously low.

  “Save your threats,” Mack said, sounding annoyed. “I’m not interested. And if you have any intention of pulling something like this again, leave me out of it. I never felt right about it in the first place. Leprechaun is a good filly, and she deserves her chance. I only listened because I thought I owed it to you, since we grew up together.”

  “You owe me more than a listen now, that’s for sure.” Garvey took a step closer.

  The jockey reached back and pulled something out of the waistband of his fitted white nylon pants. It was a long white envelope. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to keep your stinking money,” he said. “Here. I’m sure you’ll need it to pay someone else to do your dirty work.”

  Carole forgot her nervousness and grinned. Turning, she saw that Stevie and Lisa looked just as thrilled. Garvey, with Mack’s help, was confessing to everything—and he didn’t even know it! Glancing at Josh, she saw that he looked puzzled, as if trying to figure out what was going on. Promising herself to fill him in fully when it was all over, Carole turned her attention back to the men.

  Garvey snatched the envelope, opened it, and pulled out the bills inside. After counting the money, he nodded and stuffed it into his pocket. “I should whip you for not whipping that filly,” he said. “You could have cost me everything. And you’re a fool, man. That money was a lot more than your ten percent would’ve been even if your horse had won.”

  Mack just shrugged. “Not everybody is a slave to money, Garvey,” he said, turning away from the big man to go back around the hedge. He paused and glanced back. “Actually, it was some folks from your own barn who helped me realize it. You could take some lessons on sportsmanship from them.”

  Garvey grabbed the jockey by the shoulder. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he bellowed. “You better not have told anybody about our little arrangement, or you’ll be very, very sorry. Was it that rat Toby?”

  Mack didn’t reply. He just twisted out of Garvey’s grip and turned to face him. “It wasn’t Toby. Now leave me alone. I’ve said all I have to say to you, you oversized jerk.”

  That was more than Garvey could stand. He swung a huge fist toward the jockey’s face.

  The girls gasped in horror. But Mack was too quick for Garvey. He ducked the punch easily, then took a few steps out of range. Grinning, he shook his head. “No wonder you never made it as a boxer,” he said. Then he was gone.

  With a roar of frustrated rage, Garvey pounded his fist into his own thigh. “It had to be Toby,” he muttered to himself. “I’ll pound him into—Wait.” He paused. “He said ‘them.’ Could it be …?” A look of amazement crossed his face, followed by one of rage.

  He didn’t bother to go around the bushes the way he had come. Instead, he shoved his way right through the hedge. His heavily booted foot missed Lisa’s leg by inches, but he never looked down and didn’t see The Saddle Club and Josh cowering in their hiding place.

  Carole was still shaking minutes after the trainer had disappeared. “Wow,” she said at last, her voice quavering. “That was close.” She glanced at Josh. “You can turn off the camera now.”

  “Oh!” The boy seemed a little surprised. He glanced at the camcorder, which had fallen into his lap after the big man’s departure. He flipped the Off switch. “Who was that guy, anyway?” Apparently he hadn’t recognized Garvey from when the girls had pointed him out that morning. But Carole didn’t want to take the time to fill him in right then.

  “I’ll explain everything in a little while,” she said, grabbing Josh’s hand and squeezing it. “Okay? Right now we need to take that tape and show it to someone.”

  “Okay.” Josh glanced down at their joined hands and smiled.

  Carole gulped and let go of his hand. She hadn’t even been aware of what she was doing. Somehow, in the last few minutes, she had stopped thinking of Josh as a guy who liked her and started thinking of him as just another coconspirator. But now most of her embarrassment flooded back in full force. Still, this time she was determined not to hurt anyone’s feelings.

  “Um, all right then,” she said. She held out her hand, and Josh popped the tape out of the camcorder and handed it to her. “Thanks, Josh. We’ll—I’ll come find you in your parents’ box in a few minutes. I promise.”

  Josh nodded and crawled out of the hiding place. The three girls followed. With a quick wave, they left him and set off toward the shed row.

  “I really hope Deborah is back by now,” Lisa muttered as they jogged along the path.

  Carole hadn’t thought of the possibility that Deborah hadn’t yet returned from her trip into the country. “If she’s not, maybe we can give the tape to an official for safekeeping,” she said. “Or maybe Toby will help us.”

  “Or maybe we’ll just have to hide in the bathroom until Deborah gets back,” Stevie suggested with a grin. “Hey, I just realized something. This will give Deborah another really big scoop to write about, won’t it?”

  Lisa nodded, but she wasn’t really thinking about Deborah’s reporting career at the moment. “At least we shouldn’t have to worry about running into Garvey,” she pointed out. “That bay colt is in the fourth race. Garvey’s probably already in the paddock with him.”

  Lisa was in the lead as the trio rounded the corner into the shed row, so she was the one who actually ran smack into Garvey, who was standing just inside the doorway. Stevie ran into Lisa, and Carole stopped just short of colliding with Stevie. She clutched the tape tightly and looked up at the towering trainer.

  “Uh-oh,” she said.

  Garvey seemed a little surprised at their abrupt arrival, but he didn’t waste any time. He grabbed Lisa’s arm in one hand and reached for Stevie with the other. “Just the little girls I was looking for,” he growled.

  Carole backed away a few steps and cast a desperate look around. The Maskee shed row was deserted, and the bay colt’s stall door was standing open. She guessed that the rest of the staff had gone to the paddock for the fourth race. That meant that The Saddle Club was alone with Garvey.

  “Let them go,” Carole said. She was hoping to sound brave, and was embarrassed to find that her voice came out in a high squeak.

  Stevie and Lisa were twisting and wiggling, but they couldn’t break Garvey’s grasp. “Come here,” Garvey said menacingly, staring at Carole.

  Carole took another step backward and stuck the tape behind her back. “Why should I?” she challenged him.

  Garvey caught the motion and his eyes narrowed. “What’s that you have?” he said. “A videotape?” He was silent for a second, his mind working that one over. As he realized what it might mean, his frown grew deeper still.

  “Run, Carole!” Stevie shouted. “He doesn’t dare do anything to us—ouch!” she yelped, as Garvey’s grip tightened on her upper arm.

  Carole hesitated, not sure what to do. Would the trainer hurt her friends if she left them and ran for help? Or would he let them go and chase her? She didn’t like the sound of either option.

  Before she could decide what to do, Garvey started dragging her struggling friends farther into the building. Carole took a tentative step after him. “Where are you going?”

  Garvey gave her a nasty smile. “I’m moving this discussion to someplace more private.” He continued down the aisle, pulling Stevie and Lisa as easily as if they were bales of hay, despite their best efforts to hook their feet around pillars and drag their heels on the dirt floor. A moment later he had dragged them into the tack room, which was really just a large box stall.

  Carole hurried to the doorway and peered in. “Carole, no!” Lisa cried. But it was too late. Garvey’s arm darted out and yanked her inside. When she caught her breath, Carole saw that Garvey had let Lisa go. She was cowering in the corner, while Stevie continued to squirm in Garvey’s other hand.

  Suddenly Lisa darted forward, trying to get past Carole and out of the stall. But Garvey move
d so that his huge bulk blocked the doorway. Carole managed to jerk free, but she and Lisa were both still trapped inside the makeshift tack room. Stevie, who was still trapped in Garvey’s steely grip, finally stopped her efforts to escape and stood still.

  “There, that’s better,” Garvey said with satisfaction, surveying his three captives. “Now maybe we can have a reasonable discussion about this little situation. What do you say?”

  There was a long moment of silence as the girls stared at him, then turned to look at each other. What would happen now? Carole felt the bulky videotape she still clutched in her hand. If she gave it to him, would he let them go? Or would he keep them here and try to make them promise not to tell anyone what they knew? Maybe they could convince him somehow that this was all a big misunderstanding. If he thought they didn’t know anything about the payoff, they might still get away free.

  “Well?” Garvey said at last, letting go of Stevie and crossing his arms on his massive chest. “I’m waiting.”

  One look at his expression convinced Carole that it would be useless to pretend at this point. He knew they were onto him.

  “Yo!” yelled a familiar youthful voice from just behind the trainer.

  Garvey looked surprised, then turned slowly to face the newcomer. The girls could see Josh C standing just outside the doorway, his hands on his hips.

  “Josh!” Carole cried in amazement and fear. He must have followed them. Now he would be in just as much trouble as the rest of them.

  At that moment, Josh A stepped forward, taking his place at Josh C’s side.

  “Josh!” Lisa exclaimed.

  Next, Josh B came into view on Josh C’s other side.

  “Josh!” Stevie said. “I mean, Joshes!”

  Garvey scowled at the three boys. “What’s this all about?” he said. “Who are you kids, and what do you want?”

  “We’re here to make sure you don’t hurt our friends,” Josh A spoke up bravely.

  “Oh yeah?” Garvey put his hands on his hips and surveyed his challengers. A small smile played around the corner of his lips. “Do you really think you three puny little boys can stop me?”