by Jean Carroll
“Sean, what do they do now, make the jump bigger?”
“They cut the number of jumps down to say nine or ten, make some higher, change the sequence and it’s now timed. So whoever has the least amount of faults, in the fastest time will win.”
“Oh, God, they have to go faster? This was fast enough for me. I don’t think I can watch this.”
“Listen, Meg, it’s going to look scary but they’re two things Blackie understands better than anyone in the world, timing the take-off and pace. Just remember the jumps at Aintree make these look like child’s play.”
“Sean that doesn’t make me feel any better. I’m scared.”
“He’ll be fine, Meg,” Keary said, patting her hand. He didn’t look as confident as he sounded.
The first rider came in. She did the round in sixty-seven point five seconds with five faults.
“Sixty-seven seconds! Are they kidding? That’s ridiculous?”
“Just wait. Blackie’s not going to let anyone beat him on time.” Sean said.
“Oh God, I hope he doesn’t do anything reckless.”
The next rider had eight faults and sixty-eight point two seconds. The third rider had five faults and sixty-eight point four seconds. The fourth rider had a clear round and sixty-six point seven five seconds.
Then Blackie came out on Shangri-La. The horse was tossing his head and hopping up and down, he was so excited. Meg gritted her teeth.
God, please let him keep control of that horse.
Blackie took a quick look around because the course had changed. Now there were only nine jumps but the sequence was different. She hoped he knew which way to go. He made a circle again, this time when he turned the horse toward the jump; he kicked him into gear and then ran at the first jump like a high speed train.
“Oh my god, he’s going too fast,” Meg yelled and sucked in her breath as he sailed over the jump and landed perfectly. Blackie turned the horse on a dime to go another direction and took that jump at breakneck speed. She couldn’t believe he was racing that fast at these huge jumps. They flew over the Budweiser can at a diagonal to save ground. Every time they approached a jump, Shangri-La’s ears flicked back and then forward again right before takeoff, so she knew Blackie was telling him what to do. They approached a huge double oxer at a dead run and the horse took it with feet to spare. Blackie almost stopped him to make a fast turn in the other direction and took off again, faster than ever. He flew over several more jumps and turned for home before those three jumps. She couldn’t believe the speed at which Blackie drove Shangri-La forward. She was afraid to watch but was transfixed by what she was seeing. Blackie grunted as they took off over the first, landed far beyond it, immediately took off for the second without even taking a stride, another loud grunt from Blackie. Shangri-La looked like he almost landed on top of the third jump and Blackie let out this growling noise and the horse gathered himself over his haunches and leapt almost straight up in the air and sailed over the last jump. They raced to the finish line. A clear round in sixty-four point two seconds!
The crowd went crazy, jumping to their feet and cheering for the unbelievable performance they just witnessed. Blackie circled the ring at a slow canter, patting Shangri-La on the neck. He looked up into the crowd, waved and blew Meg a kiss. She and the others were crying and hugging each other with happiness and relief.
“I told you he’d do it,” Sean said with tears in his eyes. In about fifteen minutes the announcer said Blackie and Shamgra-Lai’s names as the winners over the loud speaker. More cheers and applause from the audience. In another fifteen minutes or so Blackie, leading Shangra Lai with a blanket on him and Duncan came walking out to the master of ceremonies in the center of the ring.
They were given a huge trophy and a check for $100,000. The crowd applauded and cheered again as they walked out.
Everyone hurried back to the stall area to congratulate him. Meg launched herself at him when she saw him. He caught her and twirled her around.
“Oh my god! You were awesome. I was so scared but you did it.”
“Thanks honey.” Blackie said, laughing and blushing as all of them jumped him, smothering him with hugs and praise.
“Okay you guys, that’s enough.”
“You were fantastic, buddy.” Keary said, pumping his hand.
“Yeah, buddy, that was over-the-top cool.”A teary-eyed Sean said, hugging him.
Duncan was standing around talking to people and then came over to Blackie.
“Great job, young man.” He said as he shook Blackie’s hand.
“Hey, Duncan, thanks for asking me to ride for you. It’s been a great experience.”
“I’m the one that needs to thank you. You’ve done such a magnificent job for me. I can’t begin to thank you. Can’t I pay you something?”
“No, really, I don’t need the money. Listen can you and Bobby get the horses loaded without my help? I’d like to get home and my sister-in-law looks likely to deliver any minute.”
“No, we’ll be fine. You go ahead. Bobby can pack the horses up and bring them home next week. By the way, how did Bobby do? He’s not my usual groom. That piker quit right before I shipped the horses to you.”
“Uh ... he did a good job as far as grooming.” Blackie said, reluctantly, trying not to show any animosity.
“I wondered but I figured since Mickey recommended him, he was okay.”
“What? Who recommended him?” Blackie asked, frowning.
“Mickey Reegan, your agent. Didn’t you know?”
“No. How did that happen?”
“Right after Jerry quit, Mickey called me out of the blue and said he had a friend who was an excellent groom and he’d heard I needed one. Isn’t that odd? I thought you must have told him. Oh, well, as long as he did a good job. I’ll be in touch, Blackie and thanks again.” Duncan shook hands with Blackie again and walked away.
“Uh ... see you Duncan,” Blackie said absently. “Hey, Keary, how long will it take to pack up our gear and check out?”
“I don’t know maybe an hour.”
* * *
On the way home they were animated and exhilarated, reliving every minute of the show except for Blackie. He was quiet and pensive.
“Hey, Blackie, what’s the matter?” Keary asked him.
“Do you know what Duncan told me?”
“What?”
“Who do you think recommended Bobby for the groom job with Duncan?”
“I give up, who?” Keary replied.
“Mickey Reegan.”
“Are you serious? Duncan told you that?” Keary said, an angry frown on his face.
“What the hell? When did this happen? Sean asked, equally disturbed.
“Blackie, what’s the matter?” Meg wanted to know.
“Just a minute, Meg. Duncan told me his regular groom quit right after he hired me and Mickey called him and suggested Bobby, saying he heard Duncan needed a groom.”
“Son of a bitch! That’s creepy as hell. How would Mickey know that you were riding for Duncan? We need to investigate and find out how Mickey knows shit.”
“Blackie, is that the agent you fired?” Meg asked. “Is he spying on you?”
Blackie stared at her. “That’s a good question. What do you guys think?”
“I think we need to get the lads to look into it.” Keary said, peering at Blackie in the rearview mirror. “I’ll call your dad about it tonight.”
“Exactly my thought.”
THIRTY-NINE
A couple of days after the show, Blackie was still worn out so he and Meg just walked around and looked at the horses, talking about how their training was going. They stopped in the arena and watched Jamie and Curt schooling their horses. The boys and Blackie talked about the next few weeks of their schooling. Torsk and Shangri-La were still in their boxes, so they took a quick look at them.
“I wonder when that asshole is leaving.” Blackie said, frowning.
“Jill said she t
hought he was packing up and taking the horses in the morning. She’ll be glad when he’s gone. She doesn’t like him either. She said he makes her feel creepy.”
“I know the feeling,” Blackie said. “I wonder what that bastard, Mickey’s up to?” They were still looking at some of the horses when Sean came by and asked Blackie to go and look at a horse with him in one of the racing barns.
“Ok, I’m coming. I won’t be long, Meg. You run up to the house real quick, it’s almost dinner time. Don’t hang around by yourself. I’ll be right behind you. I’m hungry,” he said, kissed her quickly and went after Sean.
She went up to the apartment, washed up and turned out the lights, set the alarm and left. As she walked past the tack room she was appalled. Grooming equipment was strewn everywhere, saddles and bridles were just thrown on the floor and a can of saddle soap was left open.
“What a mess!” She said aloud. “I’m going to get after Curt and Jamie for this.” She proceeded to reseal the soap, dump the grooming implements into a trunk and was hanging up the bridle when she felt Blackie come up behind her.
“Hi, sweetheart,” she said as he put both arms around her and squeezed.
“It’s not your sweetheart,” Bobby said in a low growl.
Meg’s blood turned to ice. She immediately kicked him in the shin and started to struggle.
“You bastard, you better get off me. Blackie’s going to kill you,” she yelled, trying to get her hands free to scratch him.
“Well, Blackie’s not here is he, bitch?” He said kissing her neck and squeezing her tighter. Fear shot through her suddenly.
Oh God, Blackie’s going straight up to the house, not coming back here. Shit! Maybe she could wrestle him over to the alarm. He turned her around quickly and tried to kiss her. She bit his lip and he hit her hard with his fist.
“Stupid whore! You’re really going to get it now!” He said trying to kiss her again. She punched at him and tried to kick him in the balls, but he caught her leg and she went down. It knocked the wind out of her for a second but as soon as she got some air, she screamed as loud as she could for Blackie.
Oh, God, honey, please hear me.
She continued to kick and scream. Bobby jumped on top of her and hit her again harder.
“Shut up, cunt!” He ripped her blouse open and grabbed her breasts. He was hurting her, but she got a huge lungful of air and screamed again for Blackie. He hit her again and she tasted blood. Now she was pissed. She twisted her body and pulled as hard as she could to get away. He was too strong for her. He ripped her bra off and got her breast in his mouth.
“You fucking bastard, get off me,” she screamed and twisted. She almost puked at the thought of him touching her. He bit her several times and she cried out in pain. She was beating him with her fists but it didn’t seem to help. Meg screamed again as loud as she could and he started choking her.
“I told you to shut up you stupid bitch,” he said squeezing her throat so hard she couldn’t breathe.
* * *
Up at the house, Blackie and Sean walked into the kitchen. They were standing there for a few minutes joking with Keary. They started in to the dining room and as they were at the doorway, Blackie stopped dead, Keary bumping into his back.
“Blackie, what are you doing?”
“Did you hear something?” he said turning his head.
“No, I didn’t hear anything,” Keary said.
“I thought I heard someone call me.” He moved a step and then stopped again. “There it is again. Didn’t you hear that?”
“No, Blackie,” Keary said.
“I didn’t hear anything either,” Sean said.
Blackie looked into the dining room, “Where’s Meg?”
“I don’t know. She hasn’t come up yet. Why?” Jill said.
Blackie stood still another second and then exploded toward the door at a dead run.
“Blackie, what the hell!”
“Call the guards, now!” he shouted as he ran for the barn.
“What the hell is going on?” Keary said.
“I don’t know, but you better call them,” Sean said, “I’m going after him.”
“Jill, call the cops, I’m going with Sean,” Keary yelled as they both ran out the door after Blackie.
* * *
Meg was still struggling and kicking but fast running out of steam. She couldn’t breathe. She wasn’t going to give up and let this bastard rape her. She tried twisting her body to get out from under him, but he squeezed her throat harder.
Suddenly he was gone! His weight lifted off her like magic. She rolled to her side, gasping for air and looked out into the aisle. Blackie had Bobby by the neck and was punching his face as hard as he could. Bobby tried to fight back but couldn’t do much. Blackie kicked him in the nuts and Bobby went to his knees. As Blackie gave him a brutal punch to the face, Meg struggled to her feet and hit the alarm.
Bobby got to his feet and tried to run, but Blackie grabbed him by the shirt and punched him in the side. Bobby’s face had blood all over it and he looked terrified. He tore away, grabbed a shovel and hit Blackie with it, who put his arm up blocking the blow. He punched Bobby in the gut. As he bent over, Blackie hit him with an uppercut and then a left. Meg knew from the sound of bone crunching, that blow broke Bobby’s nose.
Keary and Sean rounded the turn into the barn and stopped. Keary grabbed Meg and asked, “What happened?”
“Bobby was trying to rape me. He cornered me in the tack room. I’ve been screaming my head off for Blackie.”
“Well, he heard you. Are you okay?”
Just then she ran out of steam, adrenaline, anger, guts, everything and collapsed. Keary grabbed her and sat her on a hay bale as the fight continued.
“Aren’t you going to stop them? Blackie will kill him,” she said, so terrified she was shaking.
“Oh, we’ll stop it in a minute after Blackie beats the shit out of him. We won’t let him kill the guy though.” Sean said. Jill came flying around the corner and stopped dead.
“Keary, stop them. Blackie will kill him.”
“In a minute,” Keary said.
“No, now! Do you want him to go to prison for man-slaughter?” she said punching Keary in the arm. “Come on, Meg; let’s go up to the house.”
“I guess you’re right,” Keary said reluctantly. “Come on, Sean.”
Casey and Ned, Sean’s assistant, showed up at the other end of the barn and stopped with their mouths open.
“Hey, we’ll probably need your help,” Sean yelled to them.
“Let’s try and get Blackie off him, carefully. I don’t feel like getting hit,” Keary said.
It was obvious that Bobby was unconscious, but Blackie was holding him up with one hand and pounding on him with the other.
Keary and Sean tried to grab Blackie’s shoulders. He immediately turned and went after them. Ned and Casey grabbed his arms from behind and held on for dear life.
“Let go of me. I’m going to kill him,” he snarled breathlessly as he got away from Ned and Casey and started after Bobby again. Keary tackled him, getting both arms around him and pinning Blackie’s to his sides.
“Blackie, stop, listen,” Keary yelled, hardly able to hold him. “Blackie, you have to stop. You need to take care of Meg. She’s hurt!” Blackie instantly stopped and looked at Keary.
“Where is she?”
“Jill helped her up to the house.”
“Let go of me, damnit,” Blackie said, ripping away from Keary and headed toward the house.
“Did you call 911?” Blackie yelled back at Keary as he left the barn.
Keary and Sean stood there looking at Bobby along with Ned and Casey.
“Sure and you could get yourself hurt trying to stop Blackie,” Casey said. “What’d this bugger do, then?” he said nudging Bobby with his toe.
“He tried to rape Meg and Blackie caught him.”
“Oh, shyte! This guy must be super stupid. We should
have let Blackie keep going. Why’d we stop him?”
“Jill didn’t want him in trouble for killing the bastard. If it had been me, I’d have let him go and buried the fucker in the manure pile,” Keary said and they all laughed. They could hear sirens coming from a distance.
“Oh man. This is going to be dicey,” Sean said.
“Yes, let’s handle the guards and give him time to take care of Meg,” Keary said. Several patrol cars rolled to a stop in front of the barn and four officers got out. They walked up to the guys and looked down at Bobby.
“Somebody want to tell me what happened here?” Said Officer Gruber.
“I’m Keary Connelly, the farm manager. From what I understand, Mr. O’Brien ran down to the barn here because he heard his fiancée screaming. I guess when he got here; this guy was on her trying to rape her. So he obviously beat the shit out of the bastard.”
“Where is Mr. O’Brien?”
“He’s up at the house taking care of her. She’s hurt pretty bad,” Sean said.
“Who are you guys?” the officer asked.
“I’m Sean O’Brien, Mr. O’Brien’s cousin. This is Casey O’Hara, one of our jockeys and Ned Moran is a trainer.”
“Oh, so you’re all Irish, huh?”
“That’s correct, officer.” Keary replied.
This guy’s an asshole, Sean thought. He better lose the “Irish” attitude before he talks to Blackie.
“Who is this bloody mess laying on the ground?”
“This is Bobby Stahl. He came down from New York as the groom for two horses that Mr. O’Brien rode in the D.C. Horse Show,” Keary explained.
“So this guy’s a groom? What is Mr. O’Brien’s capacity around here?”
“He’s the owner,” Keary offered.
“Did all you guys gang up on this poor bastard?”
“No, none of us touched him. We stopped Mr. O’Brien from continuing so he could see after his fiancée.”
“You mean one guy did this? Which one of you stopped the fight?”
“All of us,” Sean said.
“It took all four of you to get Mr. O’Brien under control?”
“Yes, more or less,” Keary said, looking at the others.