Full Cry Read Free Page A

couple of thousand a month dealing and delivering drugs. But a furniture gang? I know what you mean. The same effort could just as well produce profit in an honest trade.”
    â€œWell, maybe there’s more profit than we realize. Guess there’s a chain of people to make it all work, too, like crooked antique dealers.”
    â€œHmm. It’s one thing to steal money, but family silver, furniture—so much emotion tied up in those things. Like all those little silver plates and big trays we won in horse shows when we were young.”
    â€œOr my great-grandmother’s tea service.”
    â€œAre you going to lock your doors?”
    â€œOh, they won’t come out here.”
    â€œHope not, but still, glad I’ve got my Doberman,” Sister said.
    The phone rang. As Sister hung up her tack on the red bridle hook, she picked it up. Betty reached up next to her, putting up her hunting bridle with the flat brow and nose-bands, its simple eggbutt-jointed snaffle gleaming from rubbing.
    â€œHello, Ronnie, I’d thought you’d had enough of me today.”
    He laughed. “It’s all over town, hell, all over the county about Donnie Sweigert being, uh, quarry. Guess his nearest and dearest will take to calling him fox urine.”
    â€œBet they shorten that.”
    â€œBet they do, too.” He laughed harder.
    Ronnie, a man who, besides being fashionable, needed to be the first to know everything, enlivened every hunt. Usually discreet, he could let it rip and surprise everyone.
    â€œWhat can I do for you? I hope you aren’t calling about the board meeting. It’s not for three more weeks, and I haven’t even thought of my agenda. Well, except for more money.”
    â€œOh, that.” His voice registered sympathy. “I say we get each hunt club member to buy a lottery ticket for a dollar each week. If they win, they give half to the hunt club.”
    â€œRonnie, that’s a great idea!” Betty leaned close to the earpiece of the phone upon hearing Sister’s enthusiasm. Sister put her arm around Betty’s waist. A fabulous thing about being a woman was touching, hugging, being close to other women without worrying about repercussions. Men misunderstood affection for sexual interest, and it caused no end of difficulty.
    â€œI was joking.”
    â€œBut it’s a great idea, I mean it. Oh, please propose it at the board meeting. And Betty’s right here next to me. I’ll tell her all about it so you have two passionate supporters.”
    â€œReally? I mean, really?” His tone rose.
    â€œI mean it. You are so creative.”
    â€œActually, that’s not why I called.” He breathed in, a moment of anticipation and preparation. “You are not going to believe this. I just heard it from Marty Howard at the Subaru dealership. She was picking up her Outback, and I was dropping mine off for its sixty-thousand-mile service.”
    â€œI’m waiting. . . .”
    â€œI’m setting the stage.” He loved to tease a story. “Anyway, we chatted. I so like Marty, and I will never know why she puts up with that man, but that’s another story, so—waiting with bated breath?”
    â€œYes. So is Betty, whose ear is also jammed to the phone.”
    â€œAh, a larger audience. Well, here it is. Ta da!” He sang the “ta da.” “Ready?”
    â€œRonnie, I’ll slap you the minute I next see you.”
    â€œI might like it. Well, my dear master, Crawford Howard has hired Sam Lorillard to train his steeplechasers.” The silence was so long Ronnie raised his voice. “Sister, did you hear me?”
    â€œI’m trying to fathom the information.”
    â€œCan you believe it?”
    â€œNo.”
    Betty shook her head. “Me, neither,” she said into the mouthpiece.
    â€œIsn’t this gossip too good to be true?”
    â€œI’ll say.” Sister released her