‘Give me the money.’ She yanked on the envelope, but I held on.
‘You stole my grandfather’s van, didn’t you? With no damage on the van, you had to take it, before the police saw it wasn’t involved in a crash.’
She loosened her grip on the envelope and smiled.
‘Yes. Tell your grandfather that he should watch his mirrors. Then he might know when he’s being followed.’
I had an admission of guilt at last. It wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t everything, but it was a start and enough to get Sergeant David Lucas off my back and on to Jenni’s. But I wanted more.
‘I wasn’t some random victim, was I? You singled me out. Who put you up to this?’
Before I could get an answer, Jenni snatched the envelope from me and bolted for the car park. I chased after her across the pitch. My feet slid on the sodden ground, but I ate into her lead.
Just as I caught up to her, she held up the envelope and screamed, ‘I got it!’
My breath caught in my throat. Jenni had set me up. I expected cops to appear from every corner, but none did. I caught a flash of someone bursting from the coach’s dugout and racing towards the car park. I kept running.
‘Don’t let her get away!’ Dylan yelled.
He was racing across the pitch from the far side, but was too far away to provide any help.
I followed Jenni into the car park, closing on her with every stride. She’d never get to her car in time, but someone already had. It shot back, spitting dirt and stones as it spun ninety degrees. The passenger door flew open and Jenni dived in.
I jumped in front of the car’s path and spread my hands. I stared at the driver and I couldn’t speak. It was Tim Reid.
As surely as shock was on my face, embarrassment was on his. He revved the Fiesta’s engine.
For a second, the pieces failed to fall into place. Then they did.
‘Get out of the car, Tim.’
He lifted the clutch and the car surged forward, stopping at my feet.
‘Go!’ Jenni screamed.
Reid just stared at me, his foot still on the accelerator, the engine screaming.
‘Get out of the car,’ I said again, this time with disappointment in my voice.
Dylan slammed into the side of the Fiesta and yanked open Jenni’s door.
What happened next was a reflex action. I knew what was going to happen before it did, but I was too close to change it. Reid’s foot came off the clutch and the car leapt forward. There was no getting out of the way. The car scooped me up. I rolled up the bonnet and bounced off the windscreen. The world spun for a brief, disorientating moment before I struck the ground on my hip.
Dylan was at my side before I knew which way was up. ‘Christ, you OK?’
‘Yeah.’
Reid hadn’t hit me with any great speed and that had saved me from serious injury.
We both whipped our heads around at the sound of the car’s brakes locking up on the dirt. Two police cars blocked Reid and Jenni’s escape. Sergeant David Lucas emerged from one.
‘Turn off the bloody engine!’ he shouted. ‘You lot have some explaining to do.’
Lucas separated us when we reached the station. I sat alone in an interview room with a cup of now cold coffee. I’d been there for over ninety minutes. I took my long-term neglect as a sign that Lucas wanted everyone else’s account before he got mine. I found that unnerving, but took comfort from the fact that I hadn’t been charged with anything. For the moment, anyway.
Lucas opened the interview-room door just after the two-hour mark. He came in carrying my envelope that contained the blackmail money, my mobile and a video camera. He laid them out on the table between us.
‘Well, you’ve had an interesting morning.’ He picked up the mobile phone. ‘I’m especially impressed by your cut-price James Bond gadgetry.’
I said nothing. No answer was the right one at this point.
‘What I’m not impressed by is your attempts to interfere with an ongoing police investigation and pervert the course of justice.’
I could have said, ‘They started it,’ but I didn’t think Lucas was in the mood to hear that defence.
‘You want to tell me what’s going on?’
‘I didn’t crash into Jenni Oglesby’s car, but I couldn’t prove it. After your investigation got leaked to the media, I knew someone was acting out of spite, so I tracked Jenni down.’
‘I’d really like to know how you did that.’
I ducked the request and kept on talking. ‘I asked what it would take to make her drop the charges. She said fifteen grand. My friend and I recorded the exchange because I knew if I could get her to admit anything, I had her.’
Lucas picked up the video recorder. ‘She had a similar idea. Her video showed you paying her off. Without the sound, she could have inserted any story she liked. Luckily, you were a little smarter. You got audio.’
My arse was saved? I wondered why Lucas was suddenly being so forthcoming after he’d been so closed off. ‘Are you dropping the charges against me?’
‘Yes, but I’m considering bringing others.’
That sounded like a hollow threat to remind me of how lucky I was.
‘It seems these two in our custody were out to discredit you.’
‘Why?’
‘Professional jealousy, by all accounts.’
Professional jealously? Tim Reid being jealous of me made even less sense than Chloe Mercer, who I’d thought was at the root of all this.
‘So this is all over?’
‘For you, yes. For the other two, it’s just beginning.’
‘How did you know about today? Did you follow me?’
Lucas leaned back in his seat, crossed his arms and frowned. ‘Yes, Mr Westlake, we’ve had you under surveillance over a traffic offence because we have that kind of manpower. No, police work led us to today’s conclusion. Your intervention wasn’t necessary. My investigation was centred on Miss Oglesby. Cracks were appearing in her story. I found her claims suspicious.’
‘And today brought it to a head.’
‘Yes, but we would have gotten to the truth in our own time.’
Not before it had well and truly dragged my name through the mud. I didn’t care what Lucas thought. It was over and now I could repair the damage.
‘Who is Jenni Oglesby and how’s she connected to Reid?’
‘She’s his niece. Now, I’ll need a full and frank statement from you.’
I nodded. ‘Could I speak to Tim?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘I just need a minute. I’m not interested in gloating. I just want to understand.’
Lucas mulled my plea over. ‘I’ll ask. You can speak to him if he agrees.’
‘Thanks.’
Lucas left the interview room and returned a minute later. He leaned through the doorway and beckoned to me with a finger. I followed him to another interview room two doors down.
Reid smiled sheepishly at me when Lucas swung the door open.
‘You two have got two minutes and I’m leaving this officer with you.’ He nodded at the officer in the room. ‘Those are my terms. Take ’em or leave ’em.’
I answered by taking a seat opposite Reid. Lucas closed the door.
‘You want to know why,’ he said.
‘Yeah, because I don’t get it, Tim. Why’d you do this? I never did anything to you.’
He leaned back in his seat. ‘You did. You won the shootout. You took my job.’
‘What?’
‘Pit Lane was sounding out teams to partner up with on this Young Driver thing. Rags liked the publicity it would bring and struck a deal. I thought we’d be running a three-car team. I found out after the shootout that my contract wasn’t being renewed. Rags dumped me over a gimmick. Dumped me for you.’
There was acid behind that last remark. It made my skin prickle. It saddened me to see someone I hardly knew have such vehement feelings.