Out of Hounds Read online

  Out of Hounds is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by American Artists, Inc.

  Illustrations © 2021 by Lee Gildea, Jr.

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Ballantine and the House colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  library of congress cataloging-in-publication data

  Names: Brown, Rita Mae, author. | Gildea, Lee, Jr., illustrator.

  Title: Out of hounds: a novel / Rita Mae Brown; illustrated by Lee Gildea.

  Description: First edition. | New York: Ballantine Books, [2021] | Series: Sister Jane; 13 |

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020027150 (print) | LCCN 2020027151 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593130063 (hardcover; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780593130070 (ebook)

  Subjects: LCSH: Arnold, Jane (Fictitious character)—Fiction. | Murder—Investigation—Fiction. | Fox hunting—Fiction. | GSAFD: Mystery fiction.

  Classification: LCC PS3552.R698 O96 2020 (print) | LCC PS3552.R698 (ebook) | DDC 813/.54—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2020027150

  LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2020027151

  Ebook ISBN 9780593130070

  randomhousebooks.com

  Cover design: Victoria Allen

  Cover illustration: © 2021 by Peter Malone

  ep_prh_5.6.1_c0_r0

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Cast of Characters

  Some Useful Terms

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Afterword

  Author's Note

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Other Titles

  About the Author

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  THE HUMANS

  Jane Arnold, MFH, “Sister,” runs the Jefferson Hunt. MFH stands for “Master of Foxhounds,” the individual who runs the hunt, deals with every crisis both on and off the field. She is strong, bold, loves her horses and her hounds. In 1974, her fourteen-year-old son was killed in a tractor accident. That loss deepened her, taught her to cherish every minute. She’s had lots of minutes, as she’s in her early seventies, but she has no concept of age.

  Shaker Crown, the huntsman, suffered a bad accident last season. He is hoping to recover, has seen specialists, but while he can ride he can’t risk another fall.

  Gray Lorillard isn’t cautious in the hunt field, but he is cautious off it, as he was a partner in one of the most prestigious accounting firms in D.C. He knows how the world really works and, although retired, is often asked to solve problems at his former firm. He is smart, handsome, in his early sixties, and is African American.

  Crawford Howard is best described by Aunt Daniella, who commented, “There’s a great deal to be said about new money and Crawford means to say it all.” He started an outlaw pack of hounds when Sister did not ask him to be her joint master. Slowly, he is realizing you can’t push people around in this part of the world. Fundamentally, he is a decent and generous man.

  Sam Lorillard is Gray’s younger brother. He works at Crawford’s stables. Crawford hired Sam when no one else would, so Sam is loyal. He blew a full scholarship to Harvard thanks to the bottle. He’s good with horses. His brother saved him and he’s clean, but so many people feel bad about what might have been. He focuses on the future.

  Daniella Laprade is Gray and Sam’s aunt. She is an extremely healthy nonagenarian who isn’t above shaving a year or two off her age. She may even be older than her stated ninety-four. Her past is dotted with three husbands and numerous affairs, all carried out with discretion.

  Wesley Blackford, “Weevil”—he’s just tipped over thirty, is divinely handsome, loves hounds. He fills in for the injured Shaker Crown, whom he respects. Weevil has brilliance and the foundation of ballast.

  Anne Harris, “Tootie,” left Princeton in her freshman year, as she missed foxhunting in Virginia so very much. Her father had a cow, cut her out of his will. She takes classes at the University of Virginia and is now twenty-four and shockingly beautiful. She is African American.

  Yvonne Harris, Tootie’s mother, is a former model who has fled Chicago and her marriage. She divorced Victor Harris, a hard-driving businessman who built an African American media empire. She built it with him. She is trying to understand Tootie, feels she was not so much a bad mother as an absent one. Her experience has been different from her daughter’s, and Tootie’s freedoms were won by Yvonne’s generation and those prior. Yvonne doesn’t understand that Tootie doesn’t get this.

  Margaret DuCharme, M.D., is Alfred’s daughter and she’s acted as a go-between for her father and uncle since childhood. Her cousin, Binky’s son Arthur, also acts as a go-between and both the cousins are just fed up with it. They are in their early forties, Margaret being more successful than Arthur, but he’s happy enough.

  Walter Lungrun, M.D., JT-MFH, is a cardiologist who has hunted with Sister since his boyhood. He is the late Raymond Arnold’s son, which Sister knows. No one talks about it and Walter’s father always acted as though he were Walter’s father. It’s the way things are done around here. Let sleeping dogs lie.

  Betty Franklin is an honorary whipper-in, which means she doesn’t get paid. Whippers-in emit a glamorous sheen to other foxhunters and it is a daring task. One must know a great deal and be able to ride hard, jump high, think in a split second. She is Sister’s best friend and in her mid-fifties. Everyone loves Betty.

  Bobby Franklin especially loves Betty, as he is her husband. He leads Second Flight, those riders who may take modest jumps but not the big ones. He and Betty own a small printing press and nearly lost their shirts when computers started printing out stuff. But people have returned to true printing, fine papers, etc. They’re doing okay.

  Kasmir Barbhaiya made his money in India in pharmaceuticals. Educated in an English public school, thence on to Oxford, he is highly intelligent and tremendously wealthy. Widowed, he moved to Virginia to be close to an old Oxford classmate and his wife.
He owns marvelous horses and rides them well. He thought he would forever be alone but the Fates thought otherwise. Love had found him in the form of Alida Dalzell.

  Edward and Tedi Bancroft, in their eighties, are stalwarts of the Jefferson Hunt and dear friends of Sister’s. Evangelista, Edward’s deceased sister, had an affair with Weevil’s grandfather; although hushed up, it caused uproar in the Bancroft family.

  Ben Sidell is the county sheriff, who is learning to hunt and loves it. Nonni, his horse, takes good care of him. He learns far more about the county by hunting than if he just stayed in his squad car. He dates Margaret DuCharme, M.D., an unlikely pairing that works.

  Cynthia Skiff Cane hunts Crawford’s outlaw pack. Crawford has gone through three other huntsmen but Cynthia can handle him. Sam Lorillard helps, too.

  Cindy Chandler owns Foxglove Farm, one of the Jefferson fixtures. She’s a good friend and a good foxhunter.

  Freddie Thomas has run her small accounting business for years and is a CPA in her early forties. She is a good friend of Alida Dalzell. As the IRS grows insanely complex as well as being deeply unfair she has grown to hate her work, but she cares for her clients so she hangs in there. She rarely talks about her profession. She is a good rider, a very sensible person.

  Manfredo Sabatini, “Gigi,” had made a fortune producing and distributing premier plumbing appliances. He and his wife are completing Showoff Stables and are new to the area.

  Elise Sabatini is much younger than Gigi. She rides, he does not but he gives her whatever she wants. She likes people and horses.

  Carter Nicewonder has the best of everything. He’s middle-aged, a good rider. His business is buying and selling antique jewelry. He has an eye for what will make a woman look good and he has terrific contacts.

  Buddy Cadwalder, like Carter, has connections among the rich, old money and new money. Cadwalder is a great, old Pennsylvania name, so no door is closed to him. His business is buying valuable antique furniture. He and Carter are friends, working with some of the same people.

  Catherine Clay-Neal, one of the directors of the Headley-Whitney Museum in Lexington, Kentucky, rides sidesaddle hunting with Jane Winegardner, MFH, “O.J.” Revitalizing the museum with like-minded people has been a labor of love.

  Parker Bell probably never did anything out of love but he works hard at Showoff Stables.

  Father Mancusco is the new Catholic priest at St. Mary’s. An avid foxhunter, he was delighted to be assigned to Virginia where, like so many priests, he has to cover a lot of territory, not only his parish.

  Sally Taliaferro, pronounced Tolliver, is the new Episcopal priest at Emmanuel Episcopal in Greenwood, Virginia. She, too, rides and has made friends with Father Mancusco. Both face many of the same problems.

  Kathleen Sixt Dunbar inherited the 1780 House, a high-end antiques store, last year. She’s becoming part of the community. Her Welsh terrier, Abdul, helps at the store.

  THE AMERICAN FOXHOUNDS

  Lighter than the English foxhound, with a somewhat slimmer head, they have formidable powers of endurance and remarkable noses.

  Cora is the head female. What she says goes.

  Asa is the oldest hunting male hound, and he is wise.

  Diana is steady, in the prime of her life, and brilliant. There’s no other word for her but brilliant.

  Dasher, Diana’s littermate, is often overshadowed by his sister, but he sticks to business and is coming into his own.

  Dragon is also a littermate of the above “D” hounds. He is arrogant, can lose his concentration, and tries to lord it over other hounds.

  Dreamboat is of the same breeding as Diana, Dasher, and Dragon, but a few years younger.

  Hounds take the first initial of their mother’s name. Following are hounds ordered from older to younger. No unentered hounds are included in this list. An unentered hound is not yet on the Master of Foxhounds stud books and not yet hunting with the pack. They are in essence kindergartners. Trinity, Tinsel, Trident, Ardent, Thimble, Twist, Tootsie, Trooper, Taz, Tattoo, Parker, Pickens, Zane, Zorro, Zandy, Giorgio, Pookah, Pansy, Audrey, Aero, Angle, Aces are young but entered. The “B” line and the “J” line have been just entered, are just learning the ropes.

  THE HORSES

  Keepsake, TB/QH, Bay; Lafayette, TB, gray; Rickyroo, TB, Bay; Aztec, TB, Chestnut; Matador, TB, Flea-bitten gray. All are Sister’s geldings. Showboat, Hojo, Gunpowder, and Kilowatt, all TBs, are Shaker’s horses.

  Outlaw, QH, Buckskin, and Magellan, TB, Dark Bay (which is really black), are Betty’s horses.

  Cardinal Wolsey, TB, Flaming Chestnut, is Gray’s horse. His red coat gave him his name, for Cardinal Wolsey.

  Iota, TB, Bay, is Tootie’s horse.

  Matchplay and Midshipman are young Thoroughbreds of Sister’s that are being brought along. It takes good time to make a solid foxhunter. Sister never hurries a horse or a hound in its schooling.

  Trocadero is young, smart, being trained by Sam Lorillard.

  Old Buster has become a babysitter. Like Trocadero, he is owned by Crawford Howard. Sam uses him for Yvonne Harris.

  Pokerface and Corporal carry Ronnie Haslip. If a guest is a strong rider, Ronnie will lend Pokerface. They are good horses.

  THE FOXES

  Reds

  Aunt Netty, older, lives at Pattypan Forge. She is overly tidy and likes to give orders.

  Uncle Yancy is Aunt Netty’s husband but he can’t stand her anymore. He lives at the Lorillard farm, has all manner of dens and cubbyholes, as well as a place in the mudroom.

  Charlene lives at After All Farm. She comes and goes.

  Target is Charlene’s mate but he stays at After All. The food supply is steady and he likes the other animals.

  Earl has the restored stone stables at Old Paradise all to himself. He has a den in a stall but also makes use of the tack room. He likes the smell of the leather.

  Sarge is young. He found a den in big boulders at Old Paradise thanks to help from a doe. It’s cozy with straw, old clothing bits, and even a few toys.

  James lives behind the mill at Mill Ruins. He is not very social but from time to time will give the hounds a good run.

  Ewald is a youngster who was directed to a den in an outbuilding during a hunt. Poor fellow didn’t know where he was. The outbuilding at Mill Ruins will be a wonderful home as long as he steers clear of James.

  Mr. Nash, young, lives at Close Shave, a farm about six miles from Chapel Cross. Given the housing possibilities and the good food, he is drawn to Old Paradise, which is being restored by Crawford Howard.

  Grays

  Comet knows everybody and everything. He lives in the old stone foundation part of the rebuilt log-and-frame cottage at Roughneck Farm.

  Inky is so dark she’s black and she lives in the apple orchard across from the above cottage. She knows the hunt schedule and rarely gives hounds a run. They can just chase someone else.

  Georgia moved to the old schoolhouse at Foxglove Farm.

  Grenville lives at Mill Ruins, in the back in a big storage shed. This part of the estate is called Shootrough.

  Gris lives at Tollbooth Farm in the Chapel Cross area. He’s very clever and can slip hounds in the batting of an eye.

  Hortensia also lives at Mill Ruins. She’s in another outbuilding. All are well constructed and all but the big hay sheds have doors that close, which is wonderful in bad weather.

  Vi, young, is the mate of Gris, also young. They live at Tollbooth Farm in pleasant circumstances.

  THE BIRDS

  Athena, the great horned owl, is two and a half feet tall with a four-foot wingspan. She has many places where she will hole up but her true nest is in Pattypan Forge. It really beats being in a tree hollow. She’s gotten spoiled.

  Bitsy is eight and a half inc
hes tall with a twenty-inch wingspan. Her considerable lungs make up for her tiny size as she is a screech owl, aptly named. Like Athena, she’ll never live in a tree again, because she’s living in the rafters of Sister’s stable. Mice come in to eat the fallen grain. Bitsy feels like she’s living in a supermarket.

  St. Just, a foot and a half in height with a surprising wingspan of three feet, is a jet-black crow. He hates foxes but is usually sociable with other birds.

  SISTER’S HOUSE PETS

  Raleigh, a sleek, highly intelligent Doberman, likes to be with Sister. He gets along with the hounds, walks out with them. He tries to get along with the cat, but she’s such a snob.

  Rooster is a harrier bequeathed to Sister by a dear friend. He likes riding in the car, walking out with hounds, watching everybody and everything. The cat drives him crazy.

  Golliwog, or “Golly,” is a long-haired calico. All other creatures are lower life-forms. She knows Sister does her best, but still. Golly is Queen of All She Surveys.

  SOME USEFUL TERMS

  Away. A fox has gone away when he has left the covert. Hounds are away when they have left the covert on the line of the fox.

  Brush. The fox’s tail.

  Burning scent. Scent so strong or hot that hounds pursue the line without hesitation.

  Bye day. A day not regularly on the fixture card.

  Cap. The fee nonmembers pay to hunt for that day’s sport.