Caught in the Cold Snows is a new, contemporary American novel for those who like intrigue, suspense, and good versus evil.
The Story Line:
Newly separated from his wife and career as a college professor, limo driver Curtis Reese downshifts to a detached lifestyle in the hope of clearing past impediments from the road ahead. His bid to lay low yields to Good Samaritan instincts when a chance encounter with a physically abused woman detours Curtis from indifference to involvement. He’s soon caught out of his element in the charming victim’s chillingly violent world - where gamblers, drug offenders, thugs, brutes, and serial animal killers get their kicks, and chivalry is put on ice.
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Caught in the Cold Snows - Web-e-Books® Excerpt
1. Caught in the Cold Snows
By,
T. R. Healy
A Contemporary American Novel
Excerpt
He lingered at the rail a little while longer, watching the trainers saddle the horses
before leaving for the ticket window. He had just passed the Kuwaitis when someone
seized his elbow. Irked, he whirled and saw Ike, a former groom who now hung around the
track offering supposedly hot tips to anyone willing to pay for them, which was infrequent
except for the blue-haired ladies who came out by the busload on Saturday afternoons.
“What can I do for you, Ike?”
“Have you seen Badduke tonight?” he asked, releasing his grip on Luther’s elbow.
He slowly shook his head. “No. I just got here. Why do you want to see him?”
“Not me, pal. You. He’s looking for you and told me to tell you so if I saw you
tonight.”
“What’s he want?”
“Don’t know, boss. But he sure seemed anxious to see you.”
“I’ll be here for at least half the slate tonight. We’ll probably cross paths before I
leave.”
“Be careful, boss. Badduke seemed in an ornery mood about something tonight.”
What’s new? Luther thought as he continued on to the ticket window. His
disposition was always as foul as an early winter morning. He reckoned Badduke wanted
to see him because he had slipped behind in paying off the two thousand dollars he owed
him. He was not too concerned, though. He had borrowed before from him and always
satisfied his debts with considerable interest. Of course, it was foolish of him to fall in
arrears, if only for a month, but he got careless and made some hefty bets on several
supposedly sure things that turned out to be grave mistakes. He knew from others at the
racetrack that Badduke was not someone to get on the wrong side of, especially when it
involved his money, because he was known to lose his considerable temper very quickly
and make others lose more than that.
Alton Badduke still thought of himself as a trainer, though he hadn’t run a horse of
his own in years. He didn’t need to, having inherited several choice parcels of property
2. from his father that, through lease agreements, enabled him to make a very comfortable
living. The barn he owned half a mile down the road from the racetrack was leased out to
another trainer, although Badduke was there frequently, offering advice as if the horses in
the stable were part of his own stock. There were always half a dozen people on the
premises besides those who worked there, listening to Badduke evaluate horses and
handicap upcoming races, seeking to borrow money from him, trying to persuade him to
invest in assorted schemes they were sure would succeed. Luther occasionally went to the
barn during his lunch hour, especially when he was in need of fast money. The interest
Badduke charged was usurious, but Luther went to him because he knew he wouldn’t be
turned down.
The horse he picked to win, Silver Moon, finished fourth, out of it right from the
start. After cursing his luck for a minute, he left the grandstand and walked into the lounge
and ordered a Scotch. The bartender knew from the pinched look of his face that he had
lost, and quickly shied away, having commiserated with more than enough losers tonight.
Up yours, Luther thought, swiveling around on his stool to survey the crowded lounge. He
searched for Badduke but didn’t see his raddled face, and assumed he must be collecting on
his winning tickets. The lucky bastard. Maybe that would improve his disposition tonight
but he doubted it.
“Know anything about the ponies?” an older woman at the end of the bar asked in a
slurred voice.
“Not according to the last race.”
“Guess you lost, huh?”
Nodding his head, he swallowed his drink then got up and headed for the rest room.
It was getting close to nine o’clock. He could stay for two more races then he had to call it a
night because he had a lot of work to do at the store in the morning.
He was still standing at the urinal when Badduke barged into the rest room followed
by two hardened guys who looked like they worked at his barn. Luther tensed, alarmed by
the rasping sound of Badduke’s breathing echoing in the tiled room.
“You making any decent bets tonight, Earl?” he asked calmly as he peered into the
mirror and patted some loose hairs into place.
“I’ve only bet on one race and I lost.”
A blunt, spare man in his late fifties, Badduke gritted his teeth into a smile that never
seemed to reach his eyes. “I don’t like to hear that,” he said, glancing back at the two guys
with him who were standing on either side of the door as if to prevent anyone from
entering the rest room.
Without replying, Luther flushed the urinal and rinsed his hands.
“There’s something I don’t quite understand, Earl,” Badduke continued in a calm
tone. “If you don’t have the money to pay what you owe me, how can you have any to bet
on the ponies? I’m not the wisest person in town, hell, some people think I’m dumb as a
stump, but I know enough to know that’s really my money you’re losing with tonight.”
3. “You know you’ll get what I owe you, Duke. You always have before. You know I’m
good for it.”
“But before you always paid on time. You’re nearly two months behind now,
according to my figures.”
“You’ll get everything I owe you by the end of the month. I promise it.”
“I better, son, for your sake,” he said, suddenly digging his fingers into Luther’s
sloped shoulders. “And because your procrastination has caused my blood pressure to rise
a point or two, I’m going to have to require you to perform a special favor for me.”
“What kind of favor, Duke?”
“I’m not sure, yet. But I’ll think of something, and you better comply if you know
what’s good for you.” Digging into his shoulders a little more, Badduke pressed against
Luther until his forehead rested against the mirror above the wash basin. “See, you have to
understand when you don’t live up to your obligations, I have to demand a little more from
you, as a penalty, so the next time we have an agreement you’ll do as you said you would.
Is that clear?”
“Very clear.”
“I’m glad, Earl.” Then, furiously, he smacked the back of Luther’s head so that his
nose banged hard into the tarnished mirror. “See you again, Earl, as soon as I think of
something you can do for me to get back in my good graces. It shouldn’t be long.”
Badduke straightened the shoulders of Luther’s lime-colored parka then turned and,
whistling through his teeth, left the rest room with the two men. He slammed the door so
hard behind him that the one window rattled as if about to fall out of its frame.
His heart pounding in his ears, Luther turned on the faucet at full blast and splashed
cold water on his face and across the back of his neck. He carefully checked the condition of
his nose in the mirror, his teeth, the corner of his mouth where there was a stripe of blood,
and then stepped back and for a long minute stared at himself. The person in the mirror
was almost unrecognizable. He was disgusted with himself, embarrassed by what just
happened. His face was as pale as plaster. He looked frightened, which, in a way, was
ridiculous because he knew he could level Badduke with one swing, but also knew that if
he had raised a finger against him, Badduke would have sent some of his people after him
in a heartbeat. He didn’t know if it was true, but like other regular patrons of the racetrack,
he had heard the story that, several years ago, a trainer who injured one of Badduke’s
horses had been viciously roughed up by one of Badduke’s hardboots who’d stomped one
of the trainer’s eyes out of its socket. That was why it was so foolish of him to fall behind in
his payments, to Badduke of all people, because he knew he was capable of such violence,
but somehow didn’t think he would put that kind of pressure on him because he had
always paid his debts in the past. Obviously he was mistaken. And now, as he splashed
more water on his aching nose, the last person in town he wanted to cross was Badduke. He
just wished he was more confident that once he settled his debts, everything would be all
right between them and, concerned about what more Badduke would demand of him in
