‘Hot-walker?’ George said.
‘The grooms can do most of that but we’ll take Maria as well,’ Charlie said. ‘She’s experienced enough by now to act as an extra groom if one of the horses plays up. We’ll also have Victor. He’ll be getting there Tuesday morning to ride exercise. And Jerry will be riding Fire Point. We have plenty of manpower.’
‘Right,’ said George, turning to Keith. ‘That’s sorted then. We have a runner here at Belmont on Wednesday and another on Friday, so Charlie will stay here until Preakness Day itself, overseeing things. He’ll come down to Pimlico early Saturday morning. Keith, tell Rafael to sleep in your room Friday and Saturday nights. He’ll be in charge when Charlie’s gone. No track exercise Saturday. Back to normal Sunday. Got that?’
‘Yes, Mr Raworth,’ Keith said. ‘Any particular grooms you want to take?’
‘We’d better take Diego,’ Charlie said. ‘He does both Classic Comic and Heartbeat. Keith can also keep an eye on him.’
I was still standing in the shedrow nearby, and now I moved forward.
‘Paddy,’ said George Raworth, looking straight at me. ‘You look after Debenture, don’t you?’ I nodded. ‘Want a trip to the Preakness?’
‘Yes, sir,’ I replied enthusiastically. ‘I sure do.’
‘But Paddy has been with us only a few days,’ Charlie said with doubt in his voice. ‘The others won’t like it.’
Bugger the others, I thought. I wanted this gig.
‘I promise I won’t let you down, sir,’ I said quickly before George had a chance to reply. ‘Please, sir.’
He hesitated.
‘Paddy’s been very good,’ Keith said in a surprising vote of confidence. ‘He cheered on Teetotal Tiger with me just now.’
‘OK,’ George said. ‘Paddy, you’re in. We leave Monday morning.’
‘Great,’ I said out loud, almost forgetting to use my Cork accent.
Charlie wasn’t very happy. Perhaps he thought his authority had been undermined. But I didn’t care — I was going to the Preakness. I felt like a child on Christmas morning who finds his stocking full of gifts.
Indeed, the level of my excitement rather surprised me.
I had been to most of the world’s major horseraces but, I realised, this was the first time the decision that I should go had been out of my hands, and not as a result of my position within the BHA.
In spite of the ache that still persisted in my groin, I went to work at evening stables with a spring in my step only slightly dampened by the knowledge that Diego would be another of the grooms going to Pimlico.
‘Why did Charlie say you needed to keep an eye on Diego?’ I asked Keith when I got him alone.
‘No idea,’ he replied. Something in his tone told me he was lying.
‘Will I have to share a room with him at Pimlico?’ I asked.
‘All three of us will have to share,’ Keith said. ‘We’ll have only two rooms down there and Maria will be in the other one.’
I could always share with her, I thought.
‘Rafael says no bedpost. He says he find you lying on ground, beat up. Who do this to you?’
Maria was standing in front of me as I ate my supper.
‘I didn’t see,’ I said, lying to her just as I had to Rafael.
‘Was it Diego?’ she demanded loudly.
‘I didn’t see who it was,’ I said again, looking down at my food.
What would be the point in telling her the truth? She would only have a fight with her cousin and that would hardly make my life any easier. In fact, it would surely make it worse.
‘Why you lie to me about bedpost?’
‘I didn’t want you to worry,’ I said. ‘I am fine now, so forget it.’ I waved a dismissive hand at her without looking up, hoping that Diego had spotted it from where he was sitting with his three chums at the far end of the dining hall. I was uncomfortably aware that he had been watching the whole exchange.
Maria hesitated but then slowly turned and walked away. She had only been trying to help but I’d cold-shouldered her assistance. She was understandably angry at my sudden indifference towards her. I didn’t much like myself for doing it, but there was no way I was going to rectify the situation, not with Cousin Diego and his three amigos looking on.
20
I let myself into the drug store using my lock picks. I’d already searched the office without turning up anything out of the ordinary.
Saturday evening stables had been brought forward from four o’clock to three, and everyone had worked extra fast so that we had finished everything by five, ready for the big race of the day, the half-million-dollar Man o’War Stakes. All Raworth’s staff not actively involved had rushed off to the recreation hall to view the race on the large-screen TV.
All of them except me. I had volunteered to keep an eye on the barn, plus its residents, while Keith went with Diego and Maria over to the track with our two runners.
I checked my watch — 5.07 p.m.
George Raworth and Charlie Hern would, right now, be readying the two horses in the saddling boxes next to the Belmont paddock.
The race was due off at 5.28.
I had asked Keith to leave the office unlocked so I could watch the race on the television, and he had readily agreed. Being allowed to be in the office meant that searching it was so much easier and far less stressful.
‘I reckon we have a good chance with both of ours,’ Keith had said before he left, hardly managing to control his excitement. ‘There’ll be a bonus for us all if we can win this.’
My bonus would have been to turn up something that would justify a FACSA raid but there was nothing incriminating in either the desk or the filing cabinet, only regular papers concerning such mundane matters as deliveries of feed or bedding, plus the personnel files for the stable staff, which included references and testimonials from previous employers.
I skimmed through them looking for anything from Adam Mitchell that might indicate a prior employment, but there was nothing.
I glanced at Maria’s file. She had been born Maria Isabella Quintero in San Juan City Hospital, Puerto Rico, some twenty-seven years ago, and this was her first job since coming to the United States the previous January. There was nothing particularly remarkable in that. However, the file for her cousin, Diego Ríos, was much more revealing.
Diego was two years older than Maria, and also hailed from San Juan. He had been a groom at Raworth’s barn for a little over a year but he had been in trouble on two occasions in the past four months, since Maria’s arrival. Both were for violence against other grooms, and the second had resulted in his arrest.
According to a letter in the file from Judge Davidson of the local district court, Diego Ríos was subject to something called an ‘adjournment in contemplation of dismissal’, an ACD.
It was a bit like a suspended sentence except that Diego had not yet been convicted of anything.
But he had been charged with one count of assault and the ACD simply meant that his trial had been deferred for six months. The letter went on to say that, provided Diego did not commit another offence of any kind in those six months, the case against him would be dismissed. However, if he did offend again in that time, Diego would go on trial for the assault and, if found guilty, would be jailed for up to one year at Rikers Island, the notorious New York prison.
The letter was dated April 4th. Just one month ago. And it had been sent to George Raworth as the ACD had needed the consent of Diego’s employer to give him ‘the benefit of the doubt’ and to continue with his employment.
So that was why they had to keep an eye on him.
They clearly didn’t give him that much benefit of the doubt, and for good reason. My sore groin was witness to the fact that he had not learned his lesson.