The call came as a shock to Ben Reach, though he knew it could come any time. Carle Dixon was dead at age sixty, had fallen dead from his horse while handling in the North Dakota Open All-Age at Columbus. The cause was a burst brain aneurism, detected three years before during a cat scan following a horse wreck while checking for a concussion and inoperable.
Carle knew it could burst and kill him any moment. He had elected to continue his career and ignore it. He had told Ben this when putting his affairs in order with a new will.
His family was his wife Molly, a surgical nurse at the lead hospital in Albany and a favorite of Sam Nixon MD and the principal breadwinner of the couple, and their son Ronnie, twenty-four and autistic and Carle’s scout. Like many autistic people, Ronnie was brilliant in some ways but juvenile in others, particularly where interaction with fellow humans was concerned. He had traveled the field trial circuit with Carle since he was seventeen and scouted, not only for Carle but also for Carle’s cousin Fred Barnes, like Carle based in Lee County, Georgia, a hot bed of the piney woods competitive bird dogging culture.
Carle had in his string at his death the previous season’s leading all-age Purina Points winner, a six-year-old pointer named Reacher after the Lee Child literary character. Reacher and Ronnie had a special bond. The dog slept at Ronnie’s bedside and had ridden between him and Carle on the front seat of Carle’s dually on the circuit.
Reacher was co-owned by Carle’s best customers, William Warren and Allen Ames, who had acquired him from Carle as a coming derby.
What would become of Reacher, of the rest of Carle’s string, of Ronnie…these were the questions that arose in Ben’s mind when he got the call from Fred Barnes in Columbus. Ideally, Reacher would go to Fred Barnes’ string and Ronnie would travel the circuit with Fred, continue to scout for Fred and perhaps one or more other handlers when the opportunity arose. One other thing was sure, whoever got Reacher in his string would have to have Ronnie as scout and caretaker for Reacher, a one-man dog, and that man was Ronnie.
When Fred returned to Lee County with Ronnie and his own and Carle’s strings and stock (he secured another handler’s helper as volunteer to drive Carle’s dually), he immediately came to see Ben. There was a complicating factor only he knew about and he did not know how to handle it. Ben was the obvious person for Fred to share it with.
“Mr. Ben, there is a problem with Carle’s affairs only I know about. I am going to tell you about it now.” Ben got a sinking feeling, but before he could say anything Fred blurted out, “Carle sold his horse Chester to both William Warren and Allen Ames, and neither knows of the sale to the other.”
Carle did not have to explain further — Ben knew by instinct what had happened with the sale of Chester.
Chester was that marvelous horse every handler dreams of: a smooth, bomb proof, anyone-can-ride, tireless mount, thrifty and lacking bad habits. The ideal horse for a customer to ride at trials or workouts. A best customer.
Many handlers made deals with customers to sell them a horse and keep possession, so the mount is available for the customer to ride when he or she comes to a trial or to the handler’s home grounds to watch a workout.
What Carle had done was sell Chester to both his best customers, telling neither about a second sale. What did he plan to do if both ostensible owners showed up at the same trial expecting to ride Chester? If he knew in advance he could hide Chester in a pasture or barn and say to each owner, Chester is temporarily lame, resting up.
What to do now that Carle was dead? Only one thing, Ben knew. Tell Warren and Ames the truth. But first he would have to tell Molly, and he dreaded that more than telling the ostensible buyers of Chester.
Molly had made an appointment to see Ben about the estate the morning after Fred Barnes’ visit.
Molly kept the books for Carle’s business and the family’s finances so she had the necessary facts organized. She was smart and steady and had been a great asset to Carle. She was also good with Ronnie.
After Ben finished telling her about the double sale of Chester, she just smiled wandly and said, “I am not surprised. I am sure he did it in a moment of desperation. He had many of those over the years. Of course we will tell the truth to Mr. Warren and Mr. Ames. Will you do that for me, Mr. Ben?”
“Of course I will Molly,” Ben said, and hugged her. He had known her and her parents since her birth.
“Do I tell them together or separately?” Ben asked Joanne.
“Together,” said Joanne without hesitation. Ben agreed.
Ben told Sam Nixon about the double sale of Chester over drams of The Macallan. “Your bird dog people are something” was Sam’s only comment.
Both Warren and Ames lived near Thomasville. Ben had Joanne set up the I meeting with them at four PM on Friday.
First Ben laid out a plan for the future of Reacher in the string of Fred Barnes, with Ronnie traveling with Fred as scout as he had with his father. This was agreeable and a relief for Warren and Ames to hear.
Then Ben got to the heart of the matter.
“There is one small complicating factor. It involves Chester. I know you I both think you own him. In fact, Carle sold him to each of you. The rightful owner is which ever of you bought him first. The other has a claim against Carle’s estate for what he paid.”
Warren and Ames looked at one another and smiled. Then Ames said,
“We figured that out long ago. We regard Chester as co-owned, just like Reacher.”
Ben felt a huge relief, and broke out a bottle of The Macallan, then had Joanne call Sam and invite him to join them, first asking him to call Molly to tell her all was OK.
In February, Reacher won the National Championship, Fred Barnes handling, Ronnie scouting. Ronnie had ridden Chester the second half of the three-hour heat, trading off with Mr. Ames who had won the coin toss with Mr. Warren for the privilege of riding Chester in the gallery.