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Back The Old Success
Chapters (53)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Martha Grimes
  3. MARTHA GRIMES
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. PART I
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. 9
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. PART II
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. PART III
  35. 27
  36. 28
  37. 29
  38. PART IV
  39. 30
  40. 31
  41. PART V
  42. 32
  43. 33
  44. 34
  45. 35
  46. PART VI
  47. 36
  48. 37
  49. 38
  50. 39
  51. PART VII
  52. 40
  53. Back Cover

George had sensibly pointed out that neither one of them was a licensed jockey, and no, there wasn’t time enough to get a license in the short while before the race. In any event, the racing authority was unlikely to grant Gerrard the right to ride the horse. Even if he could prove he was sixteen (through whatever shady North London connections he might have), since sixteen wasn’t eighteen and that’s how old he’d have to be to get a license.

“Bloody hell!” was Gerrard’s response to everything, including Danny DeVito’s next film about corruption at the race track, called Black Track (a film made up by Gerrard, in which Danny would not be appearing).

Sydney, even after all of her arguing, sympathized, saying it was pretty damned sad that after the heroism Gerrard had shown the night of Flora Flood’s “shooting up Watermeadows,” Gerrard was not to be rewarded.

George agreed. “But I’m not the BHA; I don’t set the rules. Sorry. You’d make a very good jockey, Gerrard. You should go to racing school.”

The word school didn’t meet with much approval. But then George went on:

“You’re old enough right now to do morning workouts if you can get someone to take you on.”

That compliment had Gerrard chewing his gum a lot faster. “How’d I do that, then?”

“Oh, I could probably help. But you’d still best go to racing school.”

Help was met with enough enthusiasm to mitigate the second mention of school. It also restored Gerrard’s faith in a trainer who would take on someone named “Bugsy.” Gerrard even managed a bit of gratitude. “Well, thanks, George. You think you could get me a job? I know you got a lot of clout.”

George Jenks smiled. “Some. So are we okay, then, about Aggrieved and the Sundown Stakes? In another week or ten days we maybe can go to Cheltenham. Prize money there’s a couple of million.”

Gerrard was chewing his gum so fast now he was close to breaking a molar. “Bloody hell!”

“Don’t think we can get into that at this late date, though. Sorry I brought it up.” No, he wasn’t. “So we’ll stick with the Sundown Stakes. Even there, the money’s not bad. Two hundred thousand.”

A race which was to be run on this new sunny day in early March. It was nearly three months since Flora Flood had been arrested for the triple murder of Tony Servino, Manon Vinet and Moira Quinn. Arrested, indicted and arraigned, she had pled innocent.