By the time I made it back to Lambourn, all three of the ladies were in bed, and the house was in darkness save for a single light left on for me in the kitchen. It was only fair, and I had called from a public phone box at Paddington to tell them not to wait up.
I realized I was hungry.
I looked at the clock hanging above the range. It was ten to eleven, and I’d had nothing to eat since a hurried slice of toast at six o’clock in the morning. All day my stomach had been so wound up with worry that I hadn’t even thought about food. My mother would not have been pleased.
I raided Jan’s fridge and made myself a thick cheese sandwich.
I then sat eating it at the kitchen table, washing it down with a glass of orange juice.
It had been a good day, I decided. I still just had a job and I had finally spoken to Patrick about my concerns. Whether or not he believed me was another matter. But surely he was duty-bound to start an investigation and bring Jessica Winter into the loop, whatever he might think of my cloak-and-dagger tactics.
But would I then be any safer?
If Gregory, or whoever, was trying to kill me in order to prevent an investigation into the fraud being started, then I should be out of danger once it had because killing me then would only reinforce the need for the investigation to continue. Unless, of course, he felt he had nothing more to lose and killed me out of revenge for uncovering his scheme.
Either way, I was going to lie low for a few more days yet.
Tuesday dawned bright and sunny, which matched my temperament. Talking to Patrick had set my mind more at ease, and I really felt I was getting somewhere at last.
In spite of being the final one to bed, I was the first up and downstairs, making myself instant coffee, by the time Jan appeared.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come up on the Downs to watch the horses?” she said. “It’s a beautiful day, for a change.”
I thought about it.
“I can lend you a hat and sunglasses,” she added with a laugh. “As a disguise.”
“OK,” I said. “I’d love to. I’ll just take some tea up to Claudia.”
“There’s plenty of time,” Jan said. “First lot doesn’t pull out until seven-thirty, and even then I give them a good head start. Be ready by about seven forty-five. We have breakfast afterwards.”
I glanced up at the clock. It was only five to seven.
“Right,” I said. “I’ll be ready.”
I took the tea and coffee up to our room and sat on the bed.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” I said to Claudia, gently shaking her shoulder. “Time to wake up.”
She rolled over onto her back and yawned. “What time is it?”
“Seven,” I said. “And it’s a beautiful morning, so I’m going up on the Downs with Jan to watch the horses work.”
“Can I come too?” Claudia asked.
“I’d love you to,” I said. “But how are you feeling?”
“Better every day,” she replied. “I just wish…” She tailed off.
“I know, I know,” I said. “But everything will be just fine. You’ll see.”
I leaned down and gave her a hug and a kiss.
“I do so hope you’re right,” she said.
This cancerous Sword of Damocles seemed to cast a shadow over our every waking moment. We were living in limbo, and as far as I was concerned the sooner she started the chemotherapy, the better. These weeks of doing nothing just seemed to invite the cancer to grow within her.
To my mind, there was nothing more revitalizing to the soul than a bright, sunny spring morning on the gallops. My only sadness was that I was watching the horses work from inside Jan’s Land Rover rather than from the saddle.
God, how I still ached to ride, to sit again astride half a ton of Thoroughbred racehorse, and to gallop once more at full pelt with the wind in my face.
I watched with envy as Jan’s stable staff brought the horses up the hill towards us, side by side in pairs, some racing flat out and others at half or three-quarter pace. Just to hear the sound of their hooves thudding into the turf was enough to give me goose bumps, and to raise my pulse.
How cruel had been my neck injury to rob me of such delight.
But I supposed I shouldn’t be too downhearted. At least my broken neck hadn’t killed me, unlike someone else I could think of.
I didn’t wear Jan’s offered sunglasses, but I did don one of her ex-husband’s old trilbies, with the brim pulled firmly down, and with my coat collar turned up. And I was careful not to get too close to the horses. I could easily recognize some of Jan’s longserving stable staff and I was still wary of them seeing me, if only to prevent DCI Flight from turning up with his handcuffs.
Claudia had no such qualms and walked across the grass to be nearer the horses.
Standing there, I watched her in the sunshine as she shook her hair out of a woolly hat and let it blow free in the wind.
How strange things had been over the previous few weeks. I had thought I was losing her to another man and now I feared losing her to illness. There was no doubt that the cancer had brought us closer together. I loved her more now than ever. I would stay alive for her, I promised myself. And she must live for me.
She turned towards me and waved, her long hair blown in streaks across her face. In spite of it, I could tell she was laughing with joy, living for the moment.
I waved back.
In two or three weeks’ time, all that gorgeous hair would start to fall out, and she would absolutely hate it, but I suppose it was a relatively small price to pay for more life, and more love.
After lunch, I took the car out to call Chief Inspector Tomlinson. In the light of the episode at the Swindon pub, I decided that calling on the run was the best policy, hence I started to dial the chief inspector’s number as I was traveling at seventy miles an hour eastwards along the M4 motorway between Newbury and Reading. But the phone rang in my hand before I had a chance to complete the number.
“Nicholas Foxton,” I said, answering.
“Hello, Mr. Foxton, it’s Ben Roberts.”
“Yes, Ben,” I said. “How can I help?”
“My father has changed his mind. He’d now like to talk to you.”
“Great,” I said. “When and where?”
“He wonders if you would like come to Cheltenham Races tomorrow evening as his guest. It’s the Hunter Chase evening meeting, and he’s hired a private box. He says he would like to talk to you at the end of the evening’s racing.”
“Will you be there?” I asked.
“I will to start with, but I’ll have to leave early to get back to Oxford for a club dinner.”
“Can I get back to you?” I said. “I need to talk to my fiancée.”
“Bring her with you,” he said immediately. “It’s a buffet supper, not a sit-down, so numbers are not a problem. And I’ll be leaving before the pudding, so there’ll be plenty of that left anyway.” He laughed.
I couldn’t help but like Ben Roberts.
“OK,” I said. “I’d love to.”
“One or two?” he asked.
“One definitely, two maybe.”
“I’ll tell my Dad. He’ll be pleased,” he said. “We’ll be there by five o’clock. See you then.”
We hung up.
I wondered if it was sensible to go back to Cheltenham. It was DCI Flight’s home patch, and the racetrack would be full of Gloucestershire policemen. But why should I worry? After all, I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Next I called Chief Inspector Tomlinson.
“Where are you?” the chief inspector asked. “There’s lots of noise on the line.”
“I’m on the motorway,” I said. “And this car isn’t very well sound-insulated.”
“Which motorway?” he asked.
“Does it matter?” I said evasively.
“Are you using a hands-free system?” he asked.
I didn’t answer.
“OK,” he said. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“So what are you going to do about it, arrest me for using a mobile phone whilst driving?”
“No,” he said. “I’ll just try and keep the call short. What do you want?”
“I want a meeting with you and Superintendent Yering,” I said. “And DCI Flight, I suppose, if he wants to be there. As long as he doesn’t arrest me.”
“Where do you want this meeting?”
“That’s up to you,” I said. “But arrange it for Thursday, if you can.”
“What’s the meeting for?” he asked.
“So I can tell you why I think Herb Kovak was killed and why our dead gunman was also trying to kill me.”
“What’s wrong with today?” he said. “Or tomorrow?”
“There’s someone else I want to talk to first.”
“Who?” he said.
“Just someone.”
“I told you to leave the investigating to us,” said the chief inspector sternly.
“I intend to,” I said. “That’s why I want the meeting with you and the superintendent.”
But I also wanted to learn more about the Bulgarian investment before it.
“OK,” he said. “I’ll fix it. How do I contact you?”
“Leave a message on this number or I’ll call you again tomorrow.”
I disconnected.
I left the motorway at the Reading junction, went around the interchange and joined the westbound carriageway to go back towards Newbury.
I called the office, and Mrs. McDowd answered.
“Hello, Mrs. McDowd,” I said. “Mr. Nicholas here. Can I speak to Mr. Patrick, please?”
“You’re a very naughty boy,” she said in her best headmistressy voice. “You mustn’t upset Mr. Gregory so. His heart can’t take it.”
I didn’t reply. As far as I was concerned, the sooner his heart gave out the better.
I waited as she put me through.
“Hello, Nicholas,” said Patrick. “Where are you?”
Why, I wondered, was everyone so obsessed with my whereabouts?
“In Reading,” I said. “Have you spoken to Jessica?”
“Not yet. I’ve been reviewing the file myself this morning. I intend to discuss the matter with Gregory this afternoon.”
“Mind your back,” I said.
“Be serious,” Patrick said.
“I promise you, I am being serious, very serious,” I replied. “If I were you, I’d speak to Jessica first, and then both of you talk to Gregory.”
“I’ll see,” Patrick said.
Patrick and Gregory had been partners for a very long time, and I reckoned that Patrick might need quite a lot of convincing that his friend was up to no good. I suppose I couldn’t really blame him for checking things himself before he brought in the Compliance Officer.
“You might need someone who can read Bulgarian,” I said.
“Leave it to me,” Patrick replied decisively.
“OK,” I said. “I will. But I’ll call you again tomorrow to see how you’re getting on.”
I hung up and glanced in the rearview mirror. There were no signs of any flashing blue lights nor of any eager unmarked police cars. I drove on sedately back to Lambourn.
I want to go home,” my mother said, meeting me in Jan’s kitchen as I walked in from the car.
“And you will,” I said. “Just as soon as I’m sure it’s safe.”
“But I want to go home now.”
“Soon,” I said.
“No!” she stated in determined fashion, putting her hands on her hips. “Now.”
“Why?” I asked.
“We’ve been here long enough,” she said. “And I’m worried about my cat.”
“I didn’t think it was your cat.”
“He’s not, but I’m worried about him nonetheless. And I’ve got a WI meeting tomorrow night and I don’t want to miss it.”
Don’t mess with the Women’s Institute. Tony Blair, for one, had discovered that.
“All right,” I said. “I promise I’ll take you home tomorrow.”
She wasn’t very happy, but, short of ordering herself a taxi, there wasn’t much she could do. Tomorrow would have to do. I’d take her before I went on to the races.
And there was more unrest in the ranks from Claudia.
“I want to go home,” she said when I went up to our bedroom. She was standing by the bed, packing her things in her suitcase.
“Have you been talking to my mother?” I asked.
“Maybe,” she said.
I thought there was no “maybe” about it.
“Darling,” I said, “I’ve arranged a meeting with the police on Thursday to sort everything out. We can go home after it.”
“Why can’t you have this meeting tonight or tomorrow?”
“Because I have to talk to someone first, and I’m seeing them at Cheltenham Races tomorrow evening.”
She stopped packing and sat down on the bed.
“I don’t understand it. If the man who was trying to kill you was himself killed, then why are we still hiding?”
“There may be others,” I said. “And I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks. You’re far too precious to me.”
I sat down on the bed next to her and gave her a hug.
“But I’m bored here,” she said. “And I’ve run out of clean knickers.”
Aha, I thought, the true reason reveals itself.
“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “I’ve promised Mum I’ll take her back to her cottage tomorrow, so why don’t I take us all out to dinner tonight, then we’ll go back to Woodmancote with Mum round lunchtime, and you can either stay there or come with me to the races in the evening. What do you say?”
“I’m not going to the races.”
“OK,” I said, “that’s fine. You can stay at Mum’s cottage.”
“Oh, all right,” she said in a resigned tone. “Where shall we go for dinner tonight?”
“Some nice quiet pub with good food.”
And preferably where I wouldn’t be recognized by any Lambourn locals.
On Jan’s recommendation, we went to the Bear Hotel in Hungerford for a sumptuous dinner in their Brasserie restaurant, washed down with a bottle of fine wine.
“I’ll miss you,” Jan said over coffee. “It’s been great having the house full again. Please can you all come back for Christmas?”
My mother and Claudia toasted her kindness with large snifters of brandy, and it seemed to have done the trick as I drove a happy carload back to Lambourn and to bed.
Will the police still be there?” Claudia asked as I drove the last few miles to Woodmancote.
It was the question I had been wondering about ever since I’d agreed to bring my mother home.
“I don’t care if they are,” my mother said loudly from the backseat. “I’m just so looking forward to being home again.”
“If they are,” I said, “I’ll pretend to be a taxi driver just delivering you two.” I dug in my pocket and gave Claudia a twenty-pound note. “Here. Give me this and I’ll drive away after I’ve unloaded your stuff. Then I’ll call you later from the races.”
“But they might recognize you,” Claudia said.
“I’ll just have to take that chance.”
What I was more worried about was arriving to find the whole place sealed up as a crime scene, with POLICE-DO NOT CROSS tape across the porch and padlocks on the doors.
I needn’t have worried. We arrived to find no tape, no padlocks and no police guard.
The only external signs that anything was different was a new dangling wire that connected the corner of the building to a telegraph pole in the lane-the hasty repair of the cut telephone wire.
My mother let us in through the front door, using her key.
It was all, remarkably, just the same as before, with no visible evidence to show that a ferocious life-or-death struggle had gone on here less than a week previously. However, none of us could resist staring at the foot of the stairwell, at the place where we had last seen the gunman. There was no white chalk outline of a body or any other such comic-book indication of where the man had lain. Indeed, there was nothing at all to signify that anyone had violently died there.
The police had even secured the kitchen window, fixing a piece of plywood over the broken windowpane.
“Fine,” said my mother, trying to show that things were back to normal and that she wasn’t as uneasy as she sounded. “Who’d like a cup of tea?”
“Lovely,” said Claudia, also betraying a nervousness in her voice.
I couldn’t blame them. Being once again in that cottage suddenly brought the memory of the terrifying evening back into vivid focus, and none of us had quite realized the effect it would have.
“What time are you leaving for the races?” Claudia asked.
I looked at my watch. It was just past three o’clock, and the first of the six races was at half past five.
“In about an hour and a half or so,” I said.
“And what time is your WI meeting?” she asked my mother.
“Seven-thirty,” she said. “But I usually go round to Joan’s beforehand. We go to the meetings together.”
“So what time do you leave here?” Claudia asked patiently.
“About six,” she said. “Joan and I usually have a sherry or two before we leave. Gives us a bit of courage for the meeting.” She giggled like a schoolgirl.
“And what time does it end?” Claudia asked.
“I’m usually home by ten, ten-thirty at the very latest.”
“I really don’t fancy being here on my own all evening,” Claudia said. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m coming to the races.”