by Joe McNally
‘When?’
‘As soon as you like. Tomorrow, probably. We had a meeting this morning with Chief Constable Bradley, the big boss on Merseyside.’
Prim’s frown came back, ‘Why?’
‘To try and get this whole thing sorted out without you or your father, or Kelman Hines, or…’ I glanced at Mac, ‘maybe even Mister Boffo going to jail.’
Prim edged forward, her red skirt scratchy across the hay, ‘You told the police?’
‘No. I offered the police a deal where they get what they really want and we get what we really want.’
‘We?’ Prim said.
I swung my hand in a semi-circle, ‘All of us. You, the BHA, Dil, and Vita. And Ben and Alice, Mave and me.’
She watched me.
Mac sneezed.
Nobody looked at him.
Prim said, ‘That is some deal, Eddie. What’s the price?’
‘I don’t know yet, but there’ll be a risk for you, and for Vita.’
‘What kind of risk?’
‘We won’t know until you take it. The police want to make sure the risk is as low as possible. That was part of the deal. But it could go wrong.’
‘How wrong?’
‘That’ll depend on how quickly the police can react if things start looking bad.’
She turned to Dil, who swept his fringe and tried to look as though he had masterminded everything. Prim said to me, ‘Will it put my father in danger?’
‘No. It shouldn’t. He can stay in Spain while you and Vita try to pull this off.’
‘Shouldn’t or won’t?’
‘Prim, I don’t do bullshit. You know that. I suppose there’s a hundred to one chance your father might be at risk, but I think he’ll be okay.’
‘Tell me what I need to do.’
‘Vita’s on her way here. Let’s wait for her.’
Prim turned to Dil, ‘You knew Vita was coming?’
He said, ‘Eddie arranged it. He called her.’
Prim said, ‘I’m not moving out of the house!’
Dil shrugged. Prim said, ‘My stuff is staying in the bedroom!’
‘Okay.’ Dil said. ‘I’ll handle Vita.’
I smiled. Vita had handled him, and he knew it. Handled him, then dropped him. Dil was looking at Prim as though Mac and Mave and I weren’t there. He said, ‘I told you it would only be for a short time. She never meant anything to me.’
I stood up and dusted off my trousers, ‘Should we leave you to it?’
Mac got unsteadily to his feet, still holding the tissue to his face. Mave rose on the other side of him. I said to Prim and Dil, ‘We’ll be back tonight, if Mac survives that long.’ I nodded toward the blood stained haybale and said to Prim, ‘DNA. Be careful. If Mac doesn’t make it, they might decide Miss Scarlett did it. In the barn…’ I glanced at Dil, ‘…with a very blunt object.’
76
That night, we met for dinner in a hotel five miles from Dil’s place. I’d always known there’d be no haybarns for Vita Brodie, though it turned out that the possibility of the house being bugged appealed to her. She said, ‘Dil tells me you can arrange to have the house swept for bugs tomorrow?’
‘Bradley will take care of it,’ I said.
Vita said, ‘Since when did you become the boss of everything?’ It was light-hearted and that familiar tone of anticipation was already in Vita’s voice.
‘Since Prim mentioned the house bugging, which gave me the idea for putting the deal together.’
‘The deal with the cops?’ Vita asked.
‘The deal with everyone. I’ve one more man to see at Doncaster tomorrow, who’s the kind of final link in the chain.’
‘The Mister Big?’
‘The good Mister Big. He’ll get us to the bad Mister Big.’
‘The one who nobbled the horses?’
‘Nope. The one I told you about on the phone last night. The Godfather.’
I thought for a moment that Vita was going to rub her hands together. She said, ‘Exciting. But I was told the man had been found who’d duped us with the horses.’
I said, ‘He has been. A guy named Boffo who was sticking speakers in their ears and blasting them with radio playback of howling wolves.’
Vita leant back in her chair and said, ‘Ahh…so that’s how it was done. That’s pretty clever.’ She looked around the table and said, ‘Why didn’t one of us think of that?’
I glanced at the reddening Prim then looked at Vita, ‘One of us did.’
Vita, still smiling, looked around again. I said, ‘Prim, over to you.
To her credit, Prim left nothing out. And Vita said not a word. She just watched Prim reveal everything as though it were some kind of private strip show. When Prim finished, she still had enough pride to hold Vita’s gaze. They watched each other for what seemed a long time, then Vita smiled, wide and full, eyes and all, and said, ‘You go, girl!’
Prim looked puzzled and on the verge of anger, when Vita got up and walked round the table to bend and hug her, ‘I mean it’ she said, and Prim slowly reached to put a hand on her shoulder. Vita straightened and said to Prim, ‘You went to those lengths for Dil Grant? I envy you, Prim. I’ve never felt like that for anyone in my life.’
Prim said, ‘It was stupid. I was stupid.’
Vita clasped Prim’s arm, ‘We’re all stupid. Every single one of us around this table, every person in this restaurant, and in this hotel and out on the sidewalk…we’re all stupid in our own way.’ She turned to us, ‘Gentlemen, anybody want to argue with that?’
Dil looked a bit unsettled. Mac shook his head. Mave raised her hand and said, ‘Guilty!’ I said, ‘Not me!’
Vita still had her hand on Prim’s arm. Prim looked up at her and said, ‘You were a bitch to me.’
Vita’s smile did not dull, ‘I’m a bitch to everyone when it suits me, Prim. A sad way to get your kicks, but there it is.’
Prim said, ‘I’m not moving out of the house…or the bedroom.’
Vita sat down. She said, ‘Don’t rebitch me, darling. You’ve caught me on a good night. You’re welcome to your…man.’
Vita’s tone dropped just enough after the slight pause to rob that final word of its normal meaning. All Dil could do was revert to his lifelong comfort blanket in the fringe-sweep. Prim put her hands on the table and leant aggressively toward Vita, but before she could speak, Dil reached for her shoulder and eased her back into the chair, ‘Enough, now. Enough.’
I said, ‘Dil’s right. From where I’m standing, Prim’s been completely honest and Vita’s been gracious. However it was that we got here, we’re only at halfway. As Vita said, we’ve all made mistakes, but we’ve all got a chance to make up for them by nailing a man the police have been after for thirty years. They can’t catch him. We can.’
Vita applauded, smiling, ‘Inspirational, Edward, if a shade corny. And, speaking of we, where is Ben Searcey?’
‘In Australia, with Alice.’
‘Abandoning you in your time of need,’ Vita said, ‘what happened to the all in this together speech a minute ago?’
‘The good Mister Big I mentioned to you, he wouldn’t go ahead with this plan unless Ben and Alice were safe on the other side of the world.’
Dil, Prim and Vita stared blankly at me. Mac watched them. I said, ‘Maybe I should have told you that first to try and get across how dangerous this guy is.’
Vita said, ‘And how come we don’t qualify for this assisted passage to Fort Sydney, or wherever it is they’ve gone?’
‘First, because this very carefully prepared plan I’ve come up with can’t work without you and Prim.’
‘And second?’ Vita asked.
‘Second is I knew you wouldn’t want to miss this, Vita. It’ll make your juices flow.’
She smiled, ‘Or my blood.’
‘You can’t have one without the other,’ I said.
Vita turned to Prim, ‘Are you up for this?’
Prim said, ‘I�
�ll hold until I hear Eddie’s plan.’
Vita said, ‘Scaredy cat!’
Prim did an eye-roll and a head lift. Vita said, ’What about Dil. Any skin in this game for him?’
‘Not really,’ I said, ‘but that’s just the way the plan panned out. He’d have been all in with us if he needed to, wouldn’t you, Dil?’
‘Sure, I would. Of course.’ But that damn fringe-sweep gave him away again, and Vita nodded and smiled once more. She turned to me, ‘Okay, mastermind, let’s hear the plan.’
I gave them enough to hook them, but not enough to sink us.
77
Next morning, the weather finally turned on us and I watched through the picture window the wind and rain ripping new buds from the trees and battering Ullswater into ragged whitecaps.
Mac came through from the kitchen and stood beside me. He said, ‘Red in tooth and claw.’
‘Me?’
‘Mother Nature.’
I said, ‘Look on the bright side. If it’s like this at Doncaster this afternoon, the poor visibility will help no end in pulling off this stunt.’
‘True.’
‘What time are you meeting Steel?’
‘I’m meeting him at Lime Street at noon.’
‘Whatever he says to you, Mac, don’t bring him to Doncaster. The last thing we need is him taking cold feet on this.’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll drop him at Bradley’s office. He can keep him occupied.’
‘That’s a bad pairing, Mac. If Steel does want to back out, he’ll know Bradley is the only guy he needs to persuade.’
‘Do you seriously think that after yesterday anybody could turn Bradley on this?’
‘True.’
‘You’re just getting edgy.’
‘Probably.’ I slapped his shoulder, ‘I’m going to pack my kitbag. Let’s get this done.’
By the third race at Doncaster the sky had rained itself out and the clouds looked drained and pale. The wind had got bored too, and headed north, firing just the occasional gust from its exhaust, blowing the raindrops from the trees around the paddock.
On my third and final ride, I made sure the horse was given every chance, knowing he hadn’t the ability to finish in the first six. Galloping wearily toward the post with the few remaining stragglers, I froze in my crouch above his withers, head locked, eyes down, as though I had died in the saddle and somehow stayed upright. Ten strides past the post, I tumbled slowly off to lie still on my side in the mud.
I lay in the ambulance room, a drip in my arm, staring at the lights. Mac was beside me, talking to the doctor, ‘What do you think?’
The doctor said, ‘Could have been wasting too much. I’ve seen that before where everything just seizes up after exertion. It’s your body’s way of asking for more liquid than it gets from you simply sucking your toothbrush in the morning.’
Mac smiled. The doc said, ‘We’ll see how the saline goes. If there’s no improvement in an hour, he’ll probably need to spend the night in hospital.’
Mac said, ‘I’ll hang around if you don’t mind. Nigel Steel will want to avoid any bad publicity about jockeys starving themselves. If he’s not up in an hour, I’ll let our PR guys know.’
The doctor said, ‘And here was me thinking you had the poor bastard’s welfare in mind.’
Mac smiled again, ‘He won’t take it personally, will you, Eddie?’
I stared at him, stone-faced.
‘See?’ Mac said. The doctor walked away, shaking his head. I smiled at Mac, who raised his thumb. I heard Monty’s voice from the doorway, ‘Is Eddie all right?’
Mac turned, ‘Come in, Monty. Nice to see you.’ They shook hands. Monty looked worried. Mac said, ’Doc reckons he needs a tad more sustenance before riding.’
‘It takes its toll,’ Monty said, then, to me, ‘How are you?’
I nodded. Mac said, ‘I’ll leave you to it and make a few precautionary calls.’
I said to Monty, ‘Shut the door.’
He did so and dragged a chair across to sit beside me. I told him the plan. He smiled warmly, ‘Even if it doesn’t work, it’s brilliantly conceived. All your idea?’
‘Teamwork. Mave and me.’
‘How about the logistics? Won’t everything need testing?’
‘We’ll do all the testing. Prim will deliver the kit.’
‘How will I know it’s working?’
‘You won’t. Not until afterwards.’
He looked away and his smile gradually faded. I said, ‘All will be well. Believe me.’
He looked at me, ‘It’s a great plan on paper, Eddie, and you seem utterly confident it’s going to work. But it will only take one wrong step and everybody’s life changes forever. Your people need to know this.’
‘They know it. And there’ll be backup.’
‘It’s not me I’m worried about, Eddie, I want you to know that. It’s everyone else.’
‘They’re covered, Monty. The biggest risk is yours. If Ember somehow susses it when you’re in there, we’ll have no way of knowing until he brings you out.’
‘Ha! In a body bag, you mean!’
‘Well, given how clean he likes to keep his nest, you’ll be walking out. You just need to give the agreed signal, and Bradley’s team will be on it in two minutes.’
He reached to shake my hand, ‘I hope your girl can act.’
‘Girls.’
‘He won’t swallow the takeover line, Eddie, too risky. I think Vita can rest easy. Miss Romanic is the one. If she can pull it off with Bruno, he might just do the rest.’
‘All the better, then.’
He nodded. I said, ‘Prim will kick it off tomorrow. Next move should be the day after, but we might need to delay until two days after. Depends on what progress Mave can make. You confident you can make the pass to Prim tomorrow?’
‘So long as she’s expecting it.’
‘She will be. Good luck.’
‘And to you, Eddie. See you on the other side.’
I lay for an hour as the doctor grew increasingly perplexed at my lack of progress. After another set of checks he said, ‘Your obs are fine. How is the vision?’
‘Blurred.’
‘Better or worse than when you came in?’
‘The same.’
‘Headache?’
‘Worse.’
He looked at me, ‘Do you know that this is the first time in my career that a jockey has told me he’s feeling worse?’
I tried to smile. The doctor said, ‘You are definitely going to hospital.’
‘I’ll be all right soon.’
‘Ah, normal service has been resumed! I’ll be back in half an hour.’
Mac stayed with me throughout. As the doc came through the door, I struggled to sit up. Mac tried to help me. The doctor said, ‘What are you doing?’
‘Going home,’ I said.
‘Not on my watch.’
‘I’m fine, Doc.’
‘Half an hour ago you told me your headache was worse. Six weeks’ ago you were in a coma. Two hours ago, your body stopped responding to signals from your brain. You need at least an overnight in hospital.’
Mac said, ‘Doc, he doesn’t want to be away from home, in case they keep him in and it makes things tough for his family.’
I weakly raised a hand to grasp Mac’s arm, ‘Mac!’
‘It had to be said, Eddie. The doctor is right. You need at least twenty-four hours in a fully equipped ward.’
I said, ‘There’s a private hospital in Carlisle. I’ll go there.’
The doctor said, ‘The Regina? At five hundred a night? Fine, I’ll just call your private helicopter to whisk you across, eh?’
Mac said, ‘His partner can easily afford it. He’s not kidding.’
The doctor looked tired. He sighed loud and long and said to Mac, ‘There’s no way I can authorize an ambulance to drive all that way.’
‘I’ll take him,’ Mac said.
‘You must be awfu
l worried about PR right enough, Mister McCarthy.’
Mac smiled and said, ‘I was kidding you earlier. We’re old friends. We go back a long way.’
‘No matter. I can’t hand him into your care, even for an hour’s drive.’
I said, ‘I’ll sign myself out of here. I’ll go with Mac to hospital and spend the night there. I promise.’
‘So long as there’s no comeback on me, Eddie. But I’ll tell you this, if a jockey is volunteering to spend a night in a hospital he is a worried man.’
‘Just getting older and wiser,’ I said.
He said, ‘I’ll get the papers.’
Mac reached for his arm, ‘Will you do me a favour and call The Regina? That’ll make things easier when we get there.’
The doctor checked his watch, and sighed once more, ‘Okay.’
Once clear of the racecourse, Mac pulled over and phoned Nigel Steel. After a minute of trying to guess what Steel was saying, I gave up and laid my head back for the five minutes it took Mac to check everything.
He clipped his seatbelt in again and we headed west once more. I said, ‘No problems?’
‘Not yet. Early days.’
‘Aha! Another vote of confidence!’
Mac smiled and said, ‘Bradley’s confirmed with the CEO at Regina that we’re on our way and gone through his checklist with the guy again. Steel’s organizing the press release for six-forty-seven in the morning and included Blake’s direct number.’
‘Blake?’
‘Sorry, he’s the CEO at Regina.’
‘Blake’s going to have to bring at least one of the doctors in on this, is he not?’
‘Bradley talked him into handling it himself. Blake was in brain surgery in an earlier life.’
‘In brain surgery? As a patient or a practitioner?’
Mac laughed, ‘He was a brain surgeon. And Bradley knows him well, anyway.’
‘Always makes things a bit easier.’
‘It does. Blake says he’ll keep it to himself as long as he can, but he might need to involve one or two staff members.’
‘The more there are, the less I like it.’
‘The less everybody likes it, Eddie, but we can’t micro manage everything. Give the guy some credit. He’s a highly accomplished doctor.’
