The Harriet Bean 3-Book Omnibus by Alexander McCall Smith

only one,” said Aunt Japonica, opening the cupboard. She raked around inside, extracted some clothes, and passed them to me.
    “If you’ll wait outside, Mr. Fetlock,” she said, “we will join you in a moment.”
    I looked at the clothes. Then I looked at my aunts, who smiled and nodded. With their help, and with a lot of pinning and tucking from Aunt Thessalonika, I was soon ready. Then, with a flourish, Aunt Japonica opened the door and we went out to join Mr. Fetlock. He looked at me in astonishment, and then his face burst into a wide grin.
    “Harriet!” he cried out. “Or should I call you
Harry?
You look like a perfect jockey! Well done, my boy!”

Black Lightning’s Stall
    “Don’t worry,” said Aunt Japonica in a soothing voice. “You won’t have to ride a racehorse. Will she, Mr. Fetlock?”
    I swallowed hard. It was all very well dressing up as a jockey, and I think I looked like one, but what if somebody asked me to get up on a horse? It’s not that I hadn’t ridden once or twice before; it’s just that there was every difference in the world between the small pony I had been on and the big racehorses I could see watching us from their stalls in Mr. Fetlock’s stables.
    Aunt Japonica drew me aside.
    “We’re going to leave you now,” shewhispered. “Then, when the others come back from their afternoon ride, Mr. Fetlock will tell them that you’re a new jockey who’s come to work here.”
    I nodded. That part of the plan seemed simple enough, but what would happen after that?
    “But what do I have to do?” I asked my aunt, wondering whether it was too late to say that I had changed my mind and that I wanted to go home.
    “Really, Harriet!” said Aunt Japonica impatiently. “If you want to be a detective, you’ll have to use your imagination. Just do what all the other jockeys do and see who’s up to no good. Then you let us know. We’ll be staying with Mr. Fetlock in his house over there.”
    “Will I be staying there too?” I asked.
    Mr. Fetlock had overheard my question, and he laughed.
    “Oh, no,” he said. “I’m afraid all the jockeys have little rooms next to the horses. You can have the room next to BlackLightning’s stall. Very comfortable. A bit smelly, perhaps, but jockeys don’t mind!”
    “So you see,” said Aunt Japonica, “it’s all worked out. Now off you go to your room and wait for the others to come back. They’ll be here in no time!”
    For the first time since I had found all my aunts, I felt really miserable. As I sat on the edge of my bed in the little room next to Black Lightning’s stall, I could hear my companion next door, scraping at his trough, his hooves tapping on the stone floor. I realized that I had made a terrible mistake. If only I had told my aunts that I was too busy to help them, or if only I had refused to get into the jockey’s clothes, then I would not be sitting in this dark little room, waiting for something to happen.
    There was a knock at the door. I looked up and saw a small person peering through my doorway.
    “Are you Harry?” he said cheerfully. “Mr. Fetlock just told us there’s a new jockey.”
    I stood up and walked over to the doorway, making sure that my hair was still tucked safely into my riding helmet.
    “Er … yes,” I said hesitantly. I would have to be careful to remember my new name, or I could easily give myself away.
    “I’m Ted,” said the jockey. “And that’s Fred over there, and Ed’s just getting a bucket of water.”
    I looked in the direction he was pointing. Fred waved to me, and Ed nodded in my direction as he came around the corner with his bucket.
    “Well,” said Ted, wiping at his brow with a rather dirty old cloth, “it’s time to groom the horses. Are you ready?”
    “Of course,” I said, trying to make my voice sound as deep as I could.
    “You’ll need these,” he said, tossing me a large brush and a strong metal comb. “You look after Black Lightning, and I’ll do