Horse Race (11 page)

Lisa smiled and leaned back against the sinks, crossing her arms on her chest. “Isn’t it obvious?” she said. She turned to Stevie. “It was what you said about horses’ quirky habits that made me realize it. Josh told us that Leprechaun hates
the whip, remember? So what better way to make sure she loses the race today than to convince her jockey to whip her?”

Stevie’s mouth dropped open and she sat down on the bench. “That’s so sneaky,” she said. “But I guess it does fit our clues, doesn’t it? And since Mack will be riding Leprechaun in a race for the first time, he could say he just forgot in the heat of the moment.”

“It
is
sneaky,” Carole said thoughtfully. “I’ve read about cases where jockeys have held their horses back on purpose and the stewards have caught them. But this is different. There’s no way anyone could prove he did it on purpose. At worst, he’ll probably get a warning.”

Lisa nodded. “Leprechaun is C.C.’s only serious competition in that race. Everyone says so. Garvey obviously wants to do something to guarantee that his horse will win.”

“But why?” Carole asked. “I mean, isn’t he taking an awfully big chance? I’m sure that would be considered cheating. He could get in a lot of trouble.”

“Money?” Stevie guessed, tapping her fingers on the bench next to her as she thought. “That always seems to be a good reason around here.”

“I don’t know,” Lisa said slowly. “I guess that’s a possibility. As trainer, I think he gets a percentage of whatever the horse wins, right?”

Carole nodded. “That’s how it works,” she confirmed. “But would the difference between the first- and second-place money be big enough to be worth it?”

“Probably not,” Stevie said. “And we already know he doesn’t gamble, so it’s not that.”

“What other reason could he have for wanting to win so badly?” Lisa mused.

Carole’s empty stomach let out a sudden growl of protest, and she briefly wondered if Josh was still hanging around outside. Then she forgot about her hunger as an idea occurred to her. “What if he’s doing it because he feels insecure?” she said.

Stevie gave her a skeptical look. “What?” she said. “I doubt that anyone would really—”

“No, wait. Listen,” Carole interrupted. “Everyone at Maskee Farms is expecting C.C. to win this race, right? Maybe Garvey is afraid that everyone will blame him if she loses. He already had one career that was a big failure—he was a dud as a boxer. He might be trying to guarantee that his brilliant new career as a trainer doesn’t end before it begins.”

“But Mr. McLeod wouldn’t fire him just because one horse lost a race it was supposed to win,” Stevie said.

“We
know that,” Carole replied. “But Garvey must be feeling a lot of pressure since this is his first time in charge. He might not be thinking totally logically.”

Lisa gave Carole an admiring glance. “Wow, that makes a lot of sense,” she said. “How did you figure it out?”

Carole shrugged and smiled. “Let’s just say I can relate to feeling a little insecure right now,” she said, gesturing toward the door.

“Ah,” Stevie said wisely. “The Joshes.”

“The Joshes,” Carole confirmed. “Every time one of them starts gazing at me like I’m the girl of his dreams, I feel like I’m suddenly supposed to be brilliant and amusing and everything else all rolled into one—you know, to live up to his expectations. So I can imagine how Garvey must feel, having such a promising horse being threatened with competition in her very first race—a race that he’s been training her for.”

Stevie nodded. “Especially since he hasn’t been following the training schedule his boss gave him,” she said, remembering Toby’s comments. “Still, even if I were in Garvey’s situation, I would never cheat my way out of it. That’s just wrong. Besides, Leprechaun could get hurt if she panics when Mack whips her. Or cause an accident that hurts someone else.”

“I know,” Carole said. “That’s why we’ve got to stop him. As much as I’d love to see C.C. win today, it won’t mean anything unless she does it fairly. And I’m sure Mr. McLeod and the head trainer would feel exactly the same way.”

“But what can we do?” Lisa asked.

The girls were silent for a moment. Finally Stevie looked at her watch. “Whatever we’re going to do, we’d better do it soon,” she said. “There’s only a little over a half hour to post time now.”

“Maybe we can find Mack and talk to him,” Carole said, standing up. “It sounded like Garvey was having trouble
convincing him to go along with his plan. We might be able to change his mind.”

Lisa shrugged. “I can’t think of anything better to try.” She shuddered. “We definitely shouldn’t waste our time trying to talk to Garvey. But how are we going to find Mack?”

“Let’s check the jockeys’ room,” Stevie suggested. “Maybe he’s there already, getting ready for the race.”

The girls headed for the rest room door. As soon as they emerged into the sunlight, they saw that Josh A was leaning against the wall beside the door.

He straightened up when he saw them. “Hi!” he said brightly. “I saw you go in there. I guess you didn’t hear me calling you.” He smiled at Carole. “So I decided to wait for you out here.”

Stevie rolled her eyes. They had been inside the women’s room for fifteen or twenty minutes. She couldn’t believe that Josh had waited for them—or rather, for Carole—all that time. But since he was here, she decided they might as well take advantage of it. “Listen, Josh,” she said. “Do you have any idea where we could find Leprechaun’s jockey? We really need to talk to him.”

Josh looked surprised. “Mack?” he said. “As a matter of fact, I do know where he probably is right now.”

“Where?” Lisa asked breathlessly. “In the jockeys’ room?”

“Nope. Every race day here at Bluegrass he has lunch at the same hot dog stand.” Josh gestured toward the grandstand. “It’s a little out-of-the-way place just past the lost and
found. He always gets the same thing—a chili dog with all the trimmings and a cup of coffee. It’s sort of a superstitious thing he does for luck.” He grinned. “He’s the only jockey I know who could get away with that kind of habit and still make weight. In fact—”

Stevie cut him off before he could finish. “Thanks for the info,” she said quickly. “We’ll see you around, okay?”

“I can show you where the snack bar is if you want,” Josh volunteered eagerly, taking a step closer to Carole. “And actually, I was looking for you because I have some great news I wanted to tell you about. I just found out that I get to lead Leprechaun to the paddock all by myself. And if she wins, I get to—”

Once again, Stevie interrupted before he could finish. “That’s great, Josh, but we’ve really got to go.” She dragged Carole away before the boy could say another word.

Carole glanced back at Josh over her shoulder as the three girls hurried away toward the entrance to the grandstand. He was staring after them, looking dejected and a little hurt. “You could at least have let him finish his sentence,” Carole told Stevie, feeling bad about being so rude. “He seemed really excited about his news.”

“We don’t have time for that right now,” Stevie replied, speeding up a little. “We’ve got a race to save.”

Lisa gave Carole a sympathetic glance. “Don’t worry,” she advised. “The best thing you can do for Josh right now is to give Leprechaun a fair chance. Otherwise there’s no way he’ll get to take her anywhere near the winner’s circle.”

“I guess you’re right,” Carole said reluctantly. She still felt guilty, but there was nothing she could do about it right now. Maybe later she could find Josh and apologize.

As soon as The Saddle Club entered the grandstand, they found another obstacle looming in front of them. It was Josh B, also known as Place.

“I was hoping to run into you,” he said, rushing over to Carole. “I have some time to give you a tour of the track now if you’re still interested. I might even be able to introduce you to my uncle if he’s not too busy. I told him all about you.”

Carole blushed furiously at that, but Stevie and Lisa were already brushing past the tall boy. “Sorry, no time right now,” Stevie said briskly. “We’ve got an important errand to run.”

“Oh, really?” Josh said. “Maybe I can help. I know this place like the back of my—”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Stevie said.

Lisa shot him an apologetic glance. “Sorry,” she added, pulling Carole forward.

The girls dove into the crowd that was starting to gather in the main concourse of the grandstand. Carole paused just long enough to peek back at Josh. The expression on his face was almost identical to the one the first Josh had been wearing just a moment earlier. Once again Carole felt bad. Still, she hadn’t asked the boys to like her. She couldn’t help it if their feelings were hurt now.

Stevie paused in front of an ice-cream cart and looked
around. “Let’s see,” she said. “He said it was near the lost and found, right?” She asked the woman scooping out ice cream for directions, and soon they were on their way, dodging around track visitors.

“At least it isn’t as crowded as it was at the Preakness,” Lisa panted, jumping aside to avoid tripping over a toddler.

“Thank goodness!” Stevie exclaimed. Suddenly she let out a groan of dismay. “Oh, no,” she said. “When it rains, it pours.”

Carole glanced forward and saw that Josh C was standing in front of them, taping them with his father’s camcorder as they approached.

“Hi there,” he called, lowering the camera. “I can’t wait for the racing to start, can you? It’s going to be totally awesome.”

The girls had reached him by this time. “Sure, Josh,” Stevie said quickly. “Whatever you say.”

She went past him, and Carole started to follow. But Josh reached out to stop her. “Hey, wait a second,” he said. “Where are you going? I was just about to invite you to come sit in the clubhouse with me. All three of you, I mean,” he said, turning away from Carole long enough to give the other two girls a brief smile. “My parents reserved a box of seats. That way, maybe you can help me with my taping.” He waved the camcorder. “My dad’s letting me use this for the whole afternoon. Isn’t that cool?”

Carole opened her mouth to answer, but Lisa didn’t give her a chance. “Sorry, Josh,” she said, smiling politely.
“Maybe later.” She yanked on Carole’s arm, pulling her past the astonished-looking boy.

“I really feel bad about this,” Carole said as she jogged alongside her friends in the direction the ice-cream vendor had sent them. “We’re being so rude.”

“Desperate times, desperate measures and all that,” Stevie said firmly. “You can deal with the Joshes later if you want.” She tossed a glance toward Carole. “Anyway, since when do you
want
to hang around talking to the Joshes? Usually you can’t get away fast enough.”

Carole just shrugged. She couldn’t explain it herself. But she knew her abrupt departures were making the boys unhappy. And she couldn’t help feeling responsible for that, even if she hadn’t asked for their attention in the first place.

Just then Lisa pointed at a sign ahead. “There’s the lost and found. We’re almost there.”

The crowd thinned out as they continued past the lost and found kiosk and around the corner beyond. When they reached the snack bar, which was set back off the main area, there was hardly anybody around at all. That made it easy for the girls to spot Mack. He was standing in front of the snack bar with a newspaper tucked under one arm. Garvey was standing right next to him.

Carole gasped and jumped back behind a large pillar, out of the men’s sight. Her friends did the same thing.

“What’s he doing here?” Lisa whispered.

Stevie nodded grimly toward the two men. “Look.”

The snack bar attendant had his back to the men at the
counter as he prepared a hot dog. Garvey had just pulled a long white envelope out of his pocket. He gave a quick glance around, but luckily he didn’t see the girls. After checking to make sure the attendant still wasn’t looking, he shoved the envelope toward Mack.

The jockey accepted the package and turned his back to the counter. Then he lifted the flap of the envelope and pulled it open a little bit. Even from where they were standing, the girls clearly saw a flash of green inside before Mack closed the flap and tucked the envelope into his pocket.

“Money,” Stevie whispered. “Garvey’s paying him off.”

“He said he’d be rewarded,” Carole recalled, thinking back to the phone conversation once again. “I guess he meant that literally.”

“And here we thought he was doing it out of hometown loyalty,” Lisa said, ducking back farther as Garvey hurried past the pillar on his way out of the snack area. “Talking him out of the plan might not be as easy as we thought now.”

T
HE
S
ADDLE
C
LUB
waited behind the pillar for a moment more to make sure Garvey was gone for good. They watched as the jockey reached out to take the dripping chili dog that the counterperson handed him, along with a steaming cup of coffee. Mack carried his food over to one of the small round tables nearby. Unfolding his newspaper, which the girls could now see was the
Daily Racing Form
, he settled down to his lunch.