“You did.” Suzanne took a deep breath. “I met Mick a year ago. He came on to me at the spring sales, but I didn’t reciprocate. How could someone so young, virile, and handsome be interested in an old lady like me?” Suzanne held up her hand to stop Carter from his gentlemanly response.
“We kept running into each other at fundraisers and at the races. I thought it was fate, but now I think it was planned. Anyway, he kept asking me out, and finally I said yes. He showered me with attention, and I fell for it. He kept telling me how smart I was and asking my opinion on horses. We’d been dating a couple of months when I overheard him on the phone with his partner, Sam Basques.”
Carter sucked in a breath. “Sam is bad news. He was the manager of a farm in Virginia and ran it into the ground after a couple of horses mysteriously died. The farm had to declare bankruptcy, yet Sam still had money to invest in top horses. It’s what kept getting him jobs at other farms. He had an eye for undervalued horses that ended up performing well. Off course, there are rumors of illegal drug use to make those horses race better.”
“I know that now. I didn’t know it then,” Suzanne told him. “See, Mick has a small stable of horses, and he owns one or two with Sam. I overheard them talking about Miss Mambo and how they thought she may go for as little as two hundred thousand when, with her bloodlines, she could make millions as a brood mare.”
“Go on,” Carter encouraged.
“So, we went to the Saratoga sales last October. They’re newer and I didn’t know as many of the people as I would have known here. I told them I’d look at Miss Mambo and if I liked her I would come in on her. Mick and Sam had fifty thousand and I would own the rest of her, however much that was, if I bought into her. Well, you know me. I love any horse and this is the sweetest girl I’d ever met. I instantly fell in love with her without even looking at her bloodlines. I trusted Mick, after all. Why would he want her so bad if she wasn’t any good?”
“How much did you put in?” Carter asked with a sinking feeling.
“Two hundred ten thousand dollars. We got into a bidding war, but all I could think about was that sweet horse. Anyway, I bought her and moved her to my farm against Sam’s protests. We bred her to one of Sam’s horses this spring, but she didn’t take. The plan is to breed her again next week when she comes in season. However, I thought maybe something was wrong with Sam’s stallion, which I had never heard of. I thought, this is a great mare. I’ll get a great racehorse for her. Well, I called some farms and do you know what they told me when I asked to breed to their stallions?”
“They told you no,” Carter said, understanding what had happened.
“Exactly. They said she didn’t have the bloodlines to be bred to their stallions, even if I was willing to pay the one to two hundred thousand dollar stud fee. I told Nellie this, and she asked me how much I’ve put into horses owned by Mick and if Mick had asked for any other money.”
“Has he?”
Suzanne swallowed hard. “I’ve invested the two hundred thousand in Miss Mambo and have promised to go in on another joint ownership with a filly that’s being sold at the Keeneland sales next month. That’s why this was urgent. I’m hoping I am wrong about Mick and he’s as in the dark as I am, but I’m afraid they’ve played me. Either way, even if Mick isn’t in on it, I’ve been played by Sam.”
Carter took a deep breath. Suzanne looked ready to crumble, and he was the one who was going to deliver the final blow. “I looked over Miss Mambo’s bloodlines and history and the history of her sire and dam. She’s worth maybe twenty thousand dollars. I’m sorry, Mrs. Bristol.”
“What can I do?” Suzanne asked through silent tears.
“Let me call Ryan Parker. He’s the head of the local FBI. There’s a history of racketeering in horseracing and horse showing. I don’t know if it meets that level yet, but Ryan may want to look into it. Is that okay with you?”
Suzanne looked panicked. “I’m supposed to meet Mick tonight for dinner in Lexington. I told him I was visiting old family friends.”
“How did you explain Miss Mambo being here?”
“She’s flying down to Ocala tomorrow. That’s where Sam lives.”
“Ocala? Is she flying on Keeneston Air that I recommended to you?”
“Yes. The pilot said she was flying down there to pick up several horses tomorrow, and Miss Mambo would have the whole plane to herself. I was even going to fly down with her and catch a regular flight home. She may be worth only twenty thousand, but she has my heart and I plan to continue to spoil her.”
Carter took a deep breath. “I’ll call Ryan. You get Miss Mambo out, and I’ll have a look at her. Don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of this.”
Carter waited for Suzanne to leave his office before taking out his cell phone and calling Ryan. The phone went to voicemail and Carter left a quick message about needing to know more about racketeering in horse sales before joining Suzanne outside. But when he found Suzanne, he also found a man kissing her. Mick had arrived early.
10
“Nice to meet you,” Carter said with a smile as he shook Mick Connors’s hand. Mick had an arm possessively around Suzanne’s waist and an overly wide smile. His light brown hair was gelled up in the front and his T-shirt was tight across his chest.
“You too. I’ve heard good things about a filly of yours. I’d love to buy into a piece of her if you’re selling,” Mick winked.
Carter laughed and slapped Mick on the shoulder without answering before he made his way over to the transport van with a couple of his farmhands.
“What’s going on?” Mick asked as Carter got closer to the transport van.
“I told Mrs. Bristol that her mare can use the pasture today before she flies out tomorrow. I know you probably have a stall at Keeneland, but here she can run a bit and that will make it easier on her to fly tomorrow,” Carter said as he worked in tandem with his men to quickly get the mare out of the van and into the nearest pasture. In one look, Carter could tell this mare wasn’t worth what Suzanne paid for her. He had pleasure horses worth more.
“My Suzanne sure does love this girl. Has she told you anything about her?” Mick asked as he placed a foot on the bottom board of the fence and leaned his elbows on the top rail while they watched the horse trot around her new pasture.
“Only that she was the sweetest mare she’s ever seen, and she loves her to pieces.” At least that part was true.
Mick’s phone rang, and he stepped away to take the phone call. Miss Mambo trotted over to the fence and nuzzled Carter’s hand. “You are a sweet thing,” he whispered to her. He would find a way to make Mick and Sam pay for cheating Suzanne. He just had to figure out how.
* * *
Reagan found Carter rubbing a horse’s nose and talking to a stunning woman and a very handsome man when she walked up to the main barn. She didn’t mean to interrupt a meeting, but as soon as Carter saw her he called her over.
Reagan had awoken to several texts from her father and mother. Her father had apologized and her mother wanted to set a time to have them come over for dinner, all the while promising her father would behave. Reagan didn’t want to deal with it yet. She was still too raw from the confrontation.
“Reagan, this is an old family friend, Suzanne Bristol.” Carter smiled as he introduced her to the woman. “And Mick Connors. You’ll be flying Mrs. Bristol and Miss Mambo here to Ocala tomorrow.”
“Oh, you’re the pilot of Keeneston Air Transport?” Suzanne asked.
“That I am.” And the owner, but Reagan didn’t feel the need to tell them that. People tended to act differently when they found out. They felt the need to discuss business nonstop and Reagan wasn’t in the mood to talk business. “I’m about to head over there and get the plane all set up for you ladies.”