door closed behind us.
'You mind locking it?' he said.
I turned the dead bolt and put the chain on. The venetian blinds were open. I closed them.
'There,' I said. 'Privacy.'
Billy nodded. He sat on the neatly made bed, near the foot, leaning a little forward, with his hands clasped before him and his forearms resting on his thighs.
'How'd you know I was here?' I said.
'Everybody knows you're here.'
'Does everybody know why?'
'Everybody be wondering,' he said.
I saw no reason to dispel the wonder.
'What can I do for you?' I said.
'I don't know who else to talk to 'bout this,' Rice said.
I waited.
'I mean, I talked with Delroy and he told me to just do my job and not go worrying about stuff I had no business worrying about.'
'Un-huh.'
'But damn! Hugger is my job. It is my business to worry 'bout him.'
'That's right,' I said.
'I can't talk to Penny 'bout it. She knows about it and ain't done a thing.'
'Un-huh.'
'And nobody broken no law, or anything.'
'So why are you worried?'
'They ain't guarding him,' Rice said.
'Security South?'
'That's right. They around all the time, and they keeping people out of the stable office and away from Mr. Clive's house and like that. But nobody paying no attention to Hugger, except me.'
'They used to guard him closer?' I said.
'Used to have somebody right beside his stall.'
'Anybody say why they don't anymore?'
'No. Like I say, Delroy shooed me away when I said something to him.'
'Must think he's no longer in danger,' I said.
'Why they think that?' Rice said. 'The horse shooter killed Mr. Clive trying to get to Hugger.'
'Maybe,' I said.
'What you mean, maybe?'
'Just that we haven't caught the killer. So we don't know anything for sure.'
'I been sleeping in the stable with Hugger,' Rice said.
'Family?' I said.
'Me? I got a daughter, ten years old, she's in New Orleans with my ex-wife.'
'You got a gun?'
'Got a double-barreled ten-gauge from my brother.'
'That will slow a progress,' I said. 'You know how to shoot it?'
'I've hunted some. Everybody grow up down here done some hunting.'
'What's he hunt with a ten-gauge, pterodactyl?'
'Maybe burglars,' Rice said.
'So what do you want me to do?' I said.
'I don't know. I'm worried about the horse. You seemed like somebody I could tell.'
'There a number I can reach you?' I said.
'Just the stable office, they can come get me. Don't tell them it's you. You ain't allowed in there.'
'Who says?'
'Penny, Delroy, they say nobody's supposed to talk to you or let you come near the place.'
