Free Full Cry by Rita Mae Brown Page B

making a lot of money these days, but I don’t think Izzy would go along with that. She covets social events, traveling. Being master would take up too much time for her taste. And there’s you, Xavier; there’s you. As head of that nice big old insurance company, you know everybody, and everybody knows you. Some of us even like you.” He slapped his childhood friend on the back.
    â€œWell,” Xavier put his arm around the smaller man’s shoulders, “I would love to be joint-master. Really, I would, but right now the business is demanding. Insurance has been in a slump since September eleven. You can imagine the hit the huge carriers have been taking. Rates are changing, and that impacts even a small guy like me who deals with those carriers. I try to find my people the best rates, and even I’m appalled. I don’t know where this is headed, but I do know these next couple of years, I’ve got to keep my nose to the grindstone.”
    â€œSorry to hear that. You’d be good.”
    â€œAnd Dee would love it.” He mentioned his wife by her nickname. “Saw our Explorer, so she’s already here and wondering why I’m not at the house. Come on.”
    They walked through the snow, following the line of other hunters.
    â€œCrawford would rile everyone but Jesus, X.” Ronnie called Xavier “X,” as did other old friends. “The pressure financially would be off. Of course, it would be off if Edward or Sybil logged on.”
    â€œEdward is in his midseventies, and he’s glad to pitch in, but he doesn’t want the full-time responsibility. Same for his daughter. Sybil would be good, I think, but her boys are in grade school, and, truth be told, I don’t think she’s recovered from that whole gruesome mess with her ex-husband.”
    â€œShe still loves him.” Ronnie, for all his paying attention to money, did have a romantic streak.
    â€œJesus Christ, I hope not. What a rotter.”
    â€œYep. That leaves Bobby Franklin.”
    They neared the front door, festooned with a sumptuous wreath, bright red berries dotting the dark evergreens.
    Xavier whispered since people were close, “Bobby’s got some money. Their business has been really good this year. He knows hunting. Wife and daughter know hunting. Great family, except for the daughter in prison, but hey, she’s not the first person in America to go haywire on drugs.”
    â€œTrue.” Ronnie felt quite sorry for the Franklins. Cody, their oldest girl, once showed such promise.
    â€œHe and Betty work like dogs down at the press. That’s why they’re successful, but I don’t see how he’d have the time to be a master.”
    The Franklins had weathered the challenge from home printing off computers only because their work was of such high quality. They had invested in a Webb printing press back in the early nineties, which expanded their capabilities, bringing in business throughout the mid-Atlantic region.
    â€œSo we’re back to Crawford?” Ronnie thought Crawford would tone down, and he thought Shaker would come around.
    â€œSister will pull a rabbit out of the hat. You just wait,” Xavier predicted.
    â€œTime’s a flyin’.”
    â€œYou just wait.” Xavier smiled, then focused on Sam Lorillard, holding a glass, whom he could see as the front door swung open. “That sorry sack of shit.”
    Ronnie’s gaze fell on Sam. “He was in the hunt field behind us. Riding groom.”
    â€œYeah, well, I don’t have to like that either, but you know the rules: you hunt with whoever is out there. Doesn’t mean I have to drink with the son of a bitch.”
    â€œHe’s dry now.”
    â€œOh, bullshit. He’ll be back on the sauce before Valentine’s,” Xavier predicted.
    â€œWell, I hope not.”
    â€œI don’t give a rat’s ass. That piece of excrement cost me