Рита Браун - Scarlet Fever

Scarlet Fever 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 © 2019 by American Artists, Inc.

Illustrations copyright © 2019 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.

Title: Scarlet fever: a novel / Rita Mae Brown.

Description: First edition. | New York: Ballantine Books, [2019] | Series: Sister Jane; 12

Identifiers: LCCN 2019034600 (print) | LCCN 2019034601 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593130001 (hardcover: acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780593130018 (ebook)

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

Classification: LCC PS3552.R698 S33 2019 (print) | LCC PS3552.R698 (ebook) | DDC 813/.54—dc23

Ebook ISBN 9780593130018

randomhousebooks.com

Cover design: Victoria Allen

Cover illustration: © 2019 by Peter Malone

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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

A Few Facts

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 Crownhunts the hounds. He tries to live up to the traditions of this ancient sport, which goes back to the pharaohs. He and Sister work well together, truly enjoy each other. He is in his early fifties. Divorced for many years and a bit gun-shy. He has been injured.

Gray Lorillardisn’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 mid-sixties, and is African American.

Crawford Howardis 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 Lorillardis 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 Lapradeis 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.

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-two and shockingly beautiful. She is African American.

Yvonne Harris,Tootie’s mother, is a former model who has fled Chicago and her marriage. She’s filed for divorce from 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.

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 Franklinis 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 Franklinespecially 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.

Wesley Blackford,“Weevil,” stands in for Shaker in hunt season. He is in his early thirties, handsome and kind, and the hounds love him and vice versa.

Kasmir Barbhaiyamade 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 has 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. The Bancrofts have had their share of joys and sorrows.

Ben Sidellis 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. The DuCharmes are an old family. Margaret could care less.

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

Cindy Chandlerowns Foxglove Farm, one of the Jefferson Hunt’s fixtures. She’s not much in evidence in this volume but, like all landowners, she is important.

Drew Tayloris president of the Taylor Insurance Agency, which he inherited. Drew is a good rider and reliable foxhunter. He spends on whatever he wants: new trucks, trailers, cars, lots of exotic travel destinations. He divorced long ago.