‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, just choose one by its name or its colours.’
I glanced down the list of horses in the first race.
‘Criminal Lawyer,’ I said. ‘Number three.’
She grabbed the racecard as if she didn’t believe me, but it was true.
‘That’s got to be a good omen. Let’s stake your shirt!’
In the end we decided on something rather smaller, more like a sock. Ten pounds each way, to be precise, and we cheered madly as Criminal Lawyer made a valiant effort, but finished fifth out of the twelve.
‘Ah well,’ Kate said, ripping up the ticket and tossing the bits away like confetti. ‘Better luck in the next.’
She chose one in the second race, a horse called Happy Night, which did not live up to its name, finishing a poor seventh out of the eight runners.
More confetti.
‘The bookmakers must love people like us,’ I said. ‘Selecting horses solely by their names. If I were a bookie, I’d own a horse called “Sure Thing” or “Guaranteed Winner” and then make sure it was useless. I’d rake it in every time it ran.’
‘I’ll admit it’s not the best method,’ Kate said. ‘We should seriously study the form and go and see the horses to see which one looks the best.’
But how will I know that? I thought. They all looked pretty similar to me — four legs, with a head at one end and a tail at the other.
Nevertheless, we went down in the lift and out towards the parade ring to inspect the runners in the third, and ran straight into Ryan Chadwick coming the other way.
And he wasn’t at all happy to see me.
‘What the bloody hell are you doing here?’ he asked angrily, as if spoiling for a fight.
‘Just enjoying an evening at the races,’ I said lightheartedly, trying to diffuse his anger.
‘I thought you’d be with the police and my damn brother.’ He thrust his face towards mine. ‘I thought you were on my side, not his. I’m the bloody victim here.’
I thought that Zoe’s husband and children might beg to differ.
‘You can tell Declan from me that I’ll wring his bloody neck if he ever comes anywhere near me. I hope he rots in jail. The bastard killed my best horse.’
He was working up a real head of steam so I thought it was prudent not to mention that Declan hadn’t even been charged, let alone convicted.
But Ryan wasn’t finished yet.
‘And you’re no better,’ he hissed, repeatedly poking me in the chest with his right forefinger. ‘Worming your way into my father’s house then stabbing us in the back. You’re nothing but an effing traitor.’
‘Shut up, Mr Chadwick,’ said Kate, coming to my defence. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
He turned from me to her with rage in his eyes. He bunched his fists and I was seriously afraid he was going to hit her.
‘Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?’ he demanded.
‘I’m Janie’s sister,’ Kate said. ‘Now go away and leave us in peace.’
Ryan focused on her face and he was still in enough control to realise that punching the lights out of his yard secretary’s sister might not be the greatest career move, even if he thought verbally abusing the representative of one of his most important owners had been.
He started to turn away, but I grabbed hold of his jacket sleeve and pulled him back.
‘Tell me, Ryan,’ I said calmly. ‘Why did you break Declan’s nose in a Doncaster hotel?’
‘Is that what he told you? Little shit.’
No, I thought, Declan hadn’t told me. I had guessed. But I wasn’t going to say so.
‘Is it true?’ I asked.
‘Yes, it’s true, but I was provoked.’
‘How?’ I asked.
He stared at me for two or three long seconds.
‘Never you mind,’ he said.
He pulled his sleeve out of my grasp and walked briskly away.
‘What was all that about?’ Kate asked as we made our way to the parade ring.
‘It seems that Ryan is unhappy that I am acting as his brother’s solicitor.’
‘He’s more than unhappy if you ask me. I’ve never seen a man so angry.’
‘It was quite funny though,’ I said, laughing.
‘What was?’
‘Watching a man of only nine stone trying to throw his weight around.’
We giggled, probably more from the release of tension that the encounter had produced. Quite funny, but not really. There had been something rather menacing about Ryan’s behaviour, only nine stone or not.
It will all come out. I can’t stand the shame.
What would come out? What was it that no one was talking about?
We finally had a winner in the fifth race but it was a short-priced favourite and the payout was insufficient to make much of a dent in all our previous losses. But we celebrated nevertheless with another round of Prosecco.
‘It isn’t the money that’s important,’ Kate said, ‘it’s the excitement.’
Easy for you to say, I thought, when it’s not your money.
‘Betting on horses is clearly a mug’s game,’ I said. ‘My boss says there’s no such thing as a poor bookmaker.’
‘Boring!’
Hence I loaded our winnings, and more, on a horse called Love Me Forever in the last race, and then waved goodbye to the cash as the damned nag trailed in at the rear of the ten runners.
But I didn’t care.
I’d only chosen that horse so I could scream ‘Come on, Love Me Forever’ at the top of my voice from the grandstand, and mean every word of it.
‘What now?’ I said to Kate. ‘How about dinner?’
‘Lovely. Where?’
‘The Bedford Lodge Hotel.’
‘I doubt we’ll get a table,’ Kate said. ‘Race nights are always busy.’
‘I think we will,’ I said.
I’d taken the precaution of booking one earlier, just in case.
We walked out of the racecourse to where my driver was waiting and my phone rang as we were climbing into the car.
Not again, I thought.
‘Hello?’ I said, answering.
‘Mr Foster?’ said a voice. ‘This is the custody sergeant at Bury St Edmunds. I have Mr Declan Chadwick for you.’
‘Harry,’ he said, coming on the line. ‘They’re releasing me. Something called RUI.’
‘Released under investigation,’ I said.
‘Yes, that’s it. What does it mean?’
‘Exactly what it says. You are being released from custody but the investigation of your possible involvement will go on. The police will probably keep your car, phone and computer until they are satisfied there is no further evidence to be obtained from them. Eventually they will either have to charge you or notify you that the investigation is at an end and that no further action will be taken against you.’
There was a pause while he absorbed the information.
‘It’s a good thing,’ I assured him. ‘It means you are now free to leave the investigation centre.’
‘Can you come and collect me?’ he asked.
‘No, I can’t,’ I said adamantly. I was not having him ruin another dinner with Kate. ‘But I’ll send a car and driver for you. He’ll be with you in about half an hour.’
‘But where shall I go?’ he said miserably. ‘I can’t go home. Not without Arabella there.’
That was his problem, not mine, but I did feel extremely sorry for him.
‘Isn’t there someone you could go and stay with?’ I asked. Not Ryan, I thought. ‘How about your dad? Or Tony?’
From his silence I inferred that neither was a popular choice.
‘How about Chrissie, then?’ I said.
‘But she’s just my secretary.’