35
Nerves tight before a race were stretched even tighter today. Fair Haristeen noticed the glum silence between the Valiants when he checked over Mim’s horses early that morning.
Brother and sister worked side by side without speaking.
Arthur Tetrick stopped by on his way to the racecourse. He, too, noticed the frosty air between the siblings.
Addie, on sight of her guardian, practically spat at him. “Get out of my face, Arthur.”
His eyebrows rose in a V; he inclined his head in a nod of greeting or acquiescence and left.
“Jesus, Addie, you’re a bitch today.” Charles whirled on her as Arthur shut the door to his car and drove out the sandy lane.
She looked into her brother’s face, quite similar in bone structure to her own. “You, of course, are a prince among men!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That you and Arthur are ganging up on me again. That I know he called on Judge Parker the day I spilled the beans about Nigel’s stash. God, I was stupid. You’ll both use it against me in court.”
“This isn’t the day to worry about stuff like that.”
“You knew he went to see Parker, didn’t you?”
“Uh”—Chark glanced outside, the sun filtered through the tall pines—“he mentioned it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’d had enough stress for one day.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not lying.”
“You’re withholding. It amounts to the same thing.”
“Look who’s talking. You lied to me about drugs. You withheld the truth about Nigel. A kilo is a lot of coke, Addie!”
“It wasn’t for me!” she shouted.
“Then what were you doing with Nigel?”
“Dating him. Just because he was really into it doesn’t mean I was, too.”
“Come on, I’m not stupid.”
She pointed her finger at him. “So what if I took a line or two. I’m okay. I stopped. This isn’t about coke. It’s about my money. You want my share.”
“No, I don’t.” He pushed her finger away. “But I don’t want to see you ruin everything Dad worked for. You have no sense of—” He struggled.
She filled in the word for him. “Responsibility?”
“Right.” His eyes blazed. “We have to nurture that money. It seems like a lot but it can go faster than you think. You can’t be cautious and we both know it.”
“No risk, no gain.”
“Addie.” He tried to remain patient. “The only thing you know how to do is spend money. You don’t know how to make it.”
“Horses.”
“Never.”
“Then what are you doing as a trainer?” She was so frustrated tears welled up in her eyes.
“I get paid for training. I’m not running my own horses. Jesus, Addie, the board and vet bills alone will eat you alive. ’Chasing is for rich people.”
“We are rich.”
“Not if you try to be a major player overnight. We have to keep that money in solid stocks and bonds. If I can double the money in ten years, then we can think about owning a big string of our own.”
“What’s life for, Charles?” She used his proper name. “To hoard money? To read balance statements and call our stockbroker daily? Do we buy a sensible little farm or do we rent for ten years? Maybe I think life is an adventure—you take chances, you make mistakes. Hey, Chark, maybe you even lose money but you live.”
“Live. You’ll wind up with some bloodsucker who married you for your fortune. Then there’ll be two of you squandering our inheritance.”
“Not our inheritance. My inheritance. You take yours and I’ll take mine. It’s simple.”
“I’m not going to let you ruin yourself.”
“Well, brother, there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.” She stopped, blinked hard, then said in a low voice, “You could have killed Nigel. I don’t put it past you.” She drew close to his face. “I’ll do one thing for you though. You’re so worried about me? Well, this is my advice to you. Dump dear old Uncle Arthur. He’s a dinosaur. And a very well-off dinosaur, thanks to Mom’s will. He got his ten percent as executor. And after you dump the old fart, do something crazy, Chark. Something not useful. Buy a Porsche 911 or go to New York and party every night for a month. For once live your life. Just let go.” She turned and walked outside.
He yelled after her, “I didn’t kill Nigel Danforth!”
She cocked her head and turned back to face him. “Chark, for all I know you’ll kill me, then you can have the whole ball of wax.”
“I can’t believe you said that.” His face was white as a sheet.
“Well, I did. I’ve got races to run.” She left him standing there.