‘But you do still believe it?’ Ferth said eventually.
‘Of course.’ He was emphatic. ‘Of course I do.’ Much too emphatic.
‘Then... er... taking one of Hughes’ questions first... How did it come about that Newtonnards was called to the Enquiry?’
‘I was informed that Cranfield had backed Cherry Pie with him.’
‘Yes... but who informed you?’
Gowery didn’t reply.
Ferth’s voice came next, with absolutely no pressure in it.
‘Um... Have you any idea how we managed to show the wrong film of Hughes racing at Reading?’
Gowery was on much surer ground. ‘My fault, I’m afraid. I asked the Secretaries to write off for the film of the last race. Didn’t realise there were seven races. Careless of me, I’ll admit. But of course, as it was the wrong film, it was irrelevant to the case.’
‘Er...’ said Lord Ferth. But he hadn’t yet been ready to argue. He cleared his throat and said, ‘I suppose you thought it would be relevant to see how Hughes had ridden Squelch last time out.’
After another long pause, Gowery said, ‘Yes.’
‘But in the event we didn’t show it’
‘No.’
‘Would we have shown it if, after having sent for it, we found that the Reading race bore out entirely Hughes’ assertion that he rode Squelch in the Lemonfizz in exactly the same way as he always did?’
More silence. Then he said quietly, ‘Yes,’ and he sounded very troubled.
‘Hughes asked at the Enquiry that we should show the right film,’ Ferth said.
‘I’m sure he didn’t.’
‘I’ve been reading the transcript. Norman, I’ve been reading and re-reading that transcript all week-end and frankly, that is why I’m here. Hughes did in fact suggest that we should show the right film, presumably because he knew it would support his case...’
‘Hughes was guilty!’ Gowery broke in vehemently. ‘Hughes was guilty. I had no option but to warn him off.’
Lord Ferth pressed the stop button on the tape recorder.
‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘What you think of that last statement?’
‘I think,’ I said slowly, ‘That he did believe it. Both from that statement and from what I remember of the Enquiry. His certainty that day shook me. He believed me guilty so strongly that he was stone deaf to anything which looked even remotely likely to assault his opinion.’
‘That was your impression?’
‘Overpowering,’ I said.
Lord Ferth took his lower lip between his teeth and shook his head, but I gathered it was at the general situation, not at me. He pressed the start button again. His voice came through, precise, carefully without emotion, gentle as vaseline.
‘Norman, about the composition of the Enquiry... the members of the Disciplinary Committee who sat with you... What guided you to choose Andrew Tring and old Plimborne?’
‘What guided me?’ He sounded astonished at the question. ‘I haven’t any idea.’
‘I wish you’d cast back.’
‘I can’t see that it has any relevance... but let’s see... I suppose I had Tring in my mind anyway, as I’m in the middle of some business negotiations with him. And Plimborne... well, I just saw him snoozing away in the Club. I was talking to him later in the lobby, and I asked him just on the spur of the moment to sit with me. I don’t see the point of your asking.’
‘Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Now... about Charlie West. I can see that of course you would call the rider of the third horse to give evidence. And it is clear from the transcript that you knew what the evidence would be. However, at the preliminary enquiry at Oxford West said nothing at all about Hughes having pulled his horse back. I’ve consulted all three of the Oxford Stewards this morning. They confirm that West did not suggest it at the time. He asserted it, however, at the Enquiry, and you knew what he was going to say, so... er... how did you know?’
More silence.
Ferth’s voice went on a shade anxiously. ‘Norman, if you instructed a Stipendiary Steward to interview West privately and question him further, for heaven’s sake say so. These jockeys stick together. It is perfectly reasonable to believe that West wouldn’t speak up against Hughes to begin with, but might do so if pressed with questions. Did you send a Stipendiary?’
Gower said faintly, ‘No.’
‘Then how did you know what West was going to say?’
Gowery didn’t answer. He said instead, ‘I did instruct a Stipendiary to look up all the races in which Cranfield had run two horses and compile me a list of all the occasions when the lesser-backed had won. And as you know, it is the accepted practice to bring up everything in a jockey’s past history at an Enquiry. It was a perfectly normal procedure.’
‘I’m not saying it wasn’t,’ Ferth’s voice said, puzzled.
Ferth stopped the recorder and raised his eyebrows at me.
‘What d’you make of that?’
‘He’s grabbing for a rock in a quicksand.’
He sighed, pressed the starter again and Gowery’s voice came back.
‘It was all there in black and white... It was quite true... they’d been doing it again and again.’
‘What do you mean, it was quite true? Did someone tell you they’d been doing it again and again?’
More silence. Gowery’s rock was crumbling.
Again Ferth didn’t press him. Instead he said in the same unaccusing way, ‘How about David Oakley?’
‘Who?’
‘David Oakley. The enquiry agent who photographed the money in Hughes’ flat. Who suggested that he should go there?’
No answer.
Ferth said with the first faint note of insistence, ‘Norman, you really must give some explanation. Can’t you see that all this silence just won’t do? We have to have some answers if we are going to squash Hughes’ rumours.’
Gowery reacted with defence in his voice. ‘The evidence against Cranfield and Hughes was collected. What does it matter who collected it?’
‘It matters because Hughes asserts that much of it was false.’
‘No,’ he said fiercely. ‘It was not false.’
‘Norman,’ Ferth said, ‘Is that what you believe... or what you want to believe?’
‘Oh...’ Gowery’s exclamation was more of anguish than surprise. I looked sharply across at Ferth. His dark eyes were steady on my face. His voice went on, softer again. Persuasive.
‘Norman, was there any reason why you wanted Cranfield and Hughes warned off?’
‘No.’ Half a shout. Definitely a lie.
‘Any reason why you should go so far as to manufacture evidence against them, if none existed?’
‘Wykeham!’ He was outraged. ‘How can you say that! You are suggesting... You are suggesting... something so dishonourable...’
Ferth pressed the stop button. ‘Well?’ he said challengingly.
‘That was genuine,’ I said. ‘He didn’t manufacture it himself. But then I never thought he did. I just wanted to know where he got it from.’
Ferth nodded. Pressed the start again.
His voice. ‘My dear Norman, you lay yourself open to such suggestions if you will not say how you came by all the evidence. Do you not see? If you will not explain how you came by it, you cannot be too surprised if you are thought to have procured it yourself.’
‘The evidence was genuine!’ he asserted. A rearguard action.
‘You are still trying to convince yourself that it was.’
‘No! It was.’
‘Then where did it come from?’
Gowery’s back was against the wall. I could see from the remembered emotion twisting Ferth’s face that this had been a saddening and perhaps embarrassing moment.