“The way it comes to me, his kid was a war hero, got himself wasted over in Nam. After that the old
guy just folded up. Least that?s the way I hear it.”
“Too bad,” I said. I was surprised at how indifferent my words sounded.
“I guess.”
“I gather you?ve got reservations about Findley,” I said.
He shrugged. “It?s the machine. I don?t trust anybody?s been in politics longer than it takes me to eat
lunch. And I?m a fast eater.”
Old feelings welled up inside me, noodling at my gut again, a passing thing I couldn?t quite get in
touch with. Or didn?t want to.
“It was like a fiefdom, y?know,” he went on. “A couple of heavyweights calling all the shots. Now it?s
a scramble to see who can get richest.”
It was an accurate appraisal and I said so.
“It?s what power?s all about,” I told him.
“So I got a dollar, you got two. That makes you twice as good as me?”
“No,” I said, “twice as dangerous.”
He thought about that for a few seconds.
“I guess it all depends on who you are,” Dutch said. Then he dropped the bomb. “Findley?s daughter
tried to take up the slack. After his son was zeroed, I mean.”
Bang, there it was.
“How?s that?” 1 asked, making it sound as casual as a yawn.
“Married herself a hotshot All-American. He grabbed the ball from Findley and took off with it. Harry
Raines is his name. Talk about ironic.”
“How so?”
“Findley?s own son-in-law?s head of the racetrack commission.”
„That one caught me a little off guard.
“How did that happen?” I asked.
“Wasn?t for Raines, there wouldn?t be a racetrack. We?d all be dustin? our kiesters someplace else.”
“Raines I echoed.
“Harry Raines, the son-in-law,” he said.
“Yeah, I know. I was just thinking about the name. Harry Raines,” I said.
“Know him?”
“Vaguely.”
Harry Raines. I remembered the name but I couldn?t put a face with it. Faces come hard after twenty
