Horse Race by Bonnie Bryant Page A

whispered. “Should we make a break for it? Those muscle-bound guys usually can’t run very fast.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” Lisa hissed back. “He’s not going to do anything to us here with all these people around.”
    Carole glanced around. At least two dozen people were nearby, from the jockeys on the track to the trainers watching them ride to a janitor sweeping up the grounds. That made her feel a little safer, but not much—especially when she got a good look at Garvey’s glowering face.
    “What are you three whispering about over here?” he demanded belligerently. The janitor looked up. Garvey noticed and lowered his voice. “I hope you’re not telling secrets you shouldn’t be telling.”
    “We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lisa spoke up bravely.
    Garvey stared at her. “Oh yeah?” he growled. “I don’t think I believe you. I know little girls tell their friends everything.”
    “You’d better watch out,” Stevie said hotly, clenching her fists at her side. “We haven’t told anybody what you’re planningyet. But if you keep threatening us, we just might change our minds.”
    Garvey whirled to face her. “Threatening you?” he said. His angry face cracked into an ironic smile. “I’m not making any threats. Your imagination must be running away with you.”
    Lisa frowned, guessing what he was driving at. It was true that nothing he had said was concrete enough to be considered a threat if the girls told anyone. And now she knew that was no accident. She knew Deborah would believe them if they said Garvey was out to get them, but would anybody else?
    “What about what you said to Carole about not blabbing to her reporter friend?” Stevie challenged him.
    “What about it?” Garvey said, still smiling. “I was joking, that’s all. You can’t arrest me for having a different sense of humor than you do.”
    Meanwhile, Carole was gaping at the big man, astonished. “What about making me ride Storm Chaser when you knew I was going to get thrown!” she exclaimed. “Is that also your idea of a joke? A lot of people might not think it was funny.”
    Garvey shrugged. “That was an unfortunate accident,” he said calmly. “Storm Chaser only throws his first rider of the day. After that he’s safe enough for a five-year-old to handle. Toby told me he’d already ridden him today when he hadn’t. Obviously.”
    It was clear that Garvey had thought this out. Lisa wondered if his excuse for putting Carole on Storm Chaser meant that Toby was in on the plot, too, as Carole suspected. Either way, Lisa knew that Garvey. was lying. But they had no way of proving it. “What do you expect us to do now?” she asked the trainer.
    Garvey shrugged again. “I don’t expect a thing,” he said. “Just for you girls to do the job you’re getting paid for and mind your own business. What could be wrong with that?”
    “Nothing,” Stevie said. “But I should warn you: Anything that has to do with horses
is
our business.”
    Lisa groaned inwardly at Stevie’s bold words. Garvey’s face was getting red and thunderous again. His huge fists clenched and unclenched as if he wanted to strangle them all then and there.
    But before he could respond, they all heard hoofbeats approaching the gap. It was Toby on one of the Maskee horses.
    “He felt pretty relaxed out there,” the jockey called out to Garvey, obviously not noticing the tension between him and the girls. “But he had a little trouble with his lead changes. He’s not used to this wide of a curve, I guess.”
    “Don’t tell me what my horses are used to,” Garvey bellowed, whirling to face him. “I’m the trainer, not you. Got it? Now get that horse back to the barn and bring out the last one. We don’t have all day.”
    Toby frowned, but he didn’t speak in response to Garvey’sheated words. He just nodded and dismounted, leading the horse through the gap.
    “You three, go with him,” Garvey told the girls.