Gargantuan_ A Ruby Murphy Mystery - Maggie Estep [114]
“It’s okay, Pietro,” I told him, “it’s my friends, Jane and Harry.”
“All right,” Ramirez said, coming to the door to make sure it was in fact Jane and Harry. I offered him a pale smile. He just frowned.
Jane and Harry and I went inside my place. The cats emerged from the bedroom to inspect the visitors. I immediately went back to the couch, where I’d been lying all morning.
“I brought muffins,” Jane said, holding forth a paper bag.
“Oh good,” I said.
“You look like you need one,” Jane said, coming to sit at one end of the couch as Harry crouched down to pet the cats.
“I need more than a muffin,” I said, making a vague stab at humor.
None of us did much laughing though. After about an hour, Jane persuaded me to get dressed and come with her and Harry to take a walk. Coney Island just looked flat and gray though.
After three days I started wondering why Ed hadn’t called since the morning after he’d come to get me in Saugerties. A lot of feelings coursed through me—mostly anger at his apparent abandonment. It got to the point where I was angry enough to call him.
“What the fuck are you doing,” were the first words out of my mouth when he answered the phone.
“Ruby,” he sounded like I’d punched him. Which, I suppose, I had. “Are you okay?”
“No. I’m not okay. Why haven’t you gotten in touch with me?”
“I was trying to be respectful.”
“That’s what you call it?”
Ed was quiet. After a moment, it dawned on me that the man had no idea that I wanted him to call.
“I wanted you to call me,” I said.
“Had I known, I would have. Can I come over?”
“Please. Yes.”
He was at my place within twenty minutes. For a while, we sat quietly. He asked if I wanted to talk about Attila. I didn’t.
Eventually, we went to bed and stayed there for a long time. Ed then stunned me by saying he was quitting the FBI and coming to New York to train claimers.
THE TRAIN APPROACHES Floral Park and my mood improves slightly. I’m about to see Ed for the first time since he left for Florida to pack up his little stable and return to New York.
I get off the train and start walking. The sky is blotched and gray. The air is cold, even though spring should be coming any minute now.
By the time I reach the backstretch entrance, it’s raining lightly and my hair is moist. I don’t have a hat or umbrella and I get soaked.
I reach barn fifty-four but there’s no sign of Ed. There are horses but it’s impossible to know if any of them are his. I walk closer and peer into the first stall, finding a big bay mare. She’s friendly enough and licks my extended palm. I scratch her face a little and then move on to the next stall. Here, a small chestnut gelding shows me his hind end. I cluck at him a little but he’s not in a sociable mood. I move on to the next stall where I find a big dark bay gelding, also with his butt to me. I try a tentative cluck and he pricks his ears forward and turns around. He has intelligent eyes and he bears a striking resemblance to Violet Kravitz’s Jack Valentine. The horse comes over, sniffs at my hands then truffles at my head, rubbing his nose against my wet hair.
“So you found him,” a voice says behind me.
I turn around to face Ed.
“Hey you,” I say.
“Hey yourself.” He pulls me into his arms. I close my eyes and sink into the hug.
“You found your friend,” Ed says eventually, pulling back from me and motioning at the bay horse.
“What do you mean?”
“Jack Valentine. Or do all horses look alike to you?”
“Oh, I thought that was him. What’s he doing here?” I ask, surprised. After winning his and Attila’s last race, Jack came up with a chipped sesamoid bone in his left front leg. He won’t race again, but he will eventually heal. I figured Violet would have already sent him somewhere for a layup.
“He’s using my extra stall until you find somewhere to keep him,” Ed says.
“What?”
“Violet wants you to have him,” he