by Sibel Hodge
‘Well, well, well, Amber Fox.’ Vinnie’s pale eyes drilled into me. ‘I never thought I’d be crossing paths with you again.’
‘I’ve missed you, too, Vinnie. Or should I say VD.’ I gave him my best I’m-not-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolf smile. ‘How’s Lee?’ I tilted my head. ‘Got used to life on the outside now, has he?’
Vinnie did something that could’ve passed for a growl. ‘You’re not worthy to even mention Lee’s name.’
‘That’s funny because I already did.’ I faked a smile so wide that my mouth started aching. OK, probably not a sensible idea to antagonize Vinnie “Hard-Nut” Dawson, but the sensible part of me had just vanished in a puff of smoke. Bad guys tended to bring out the sarcasm in me for some bizarre reason. Maybe I had a secret death wish, I don’t know. Sarcasm was good for putting up a front. If you were frightened or nervous or you just didn’t want to make yourself vulnerable by giving away your feelings, sarcasm was just the ticket.
Vinnie’s eyes narrowed to slits. ‘What are you doing here?’ He pulled out a toffee from his pocket, slowly unwrapped it as he kept his gaze firmly locked on me, and popped it in his mouth. Thuggy took the wrapper off him and held it in his meaty fist. ‘Why is there a cop in your house, Letitia?’ Vinnie chewed as he waited for an answer.
Letitia frowned. ‘A cop? I thought you were here about Levi’s medical insurance.’
‘I am. I used to be a cop,’ I told her.
Vinnie let out a long slow whistle. ‘Not a cop anymore, eh? So you haven’t got any of your little cop mates to back you up now, then? I must remember that.’ He stopped chewing and belted out a throaty cackle.
As if on cue, Thuggy did the same. I wondered if that was part of his job description: Evil throaty cackling must be required at a moment’s notice. Failure to do so will mean termination of employment and/or sudden, agonizing death.
My eyebrows headed north at the cackling. A pack of hyenas had nothing on these two. ‘Has Lee been up to his old tricks again robbing banks?’ OK, it could be a simple coincidence that Carl Thomas’s bank had recently been robbed before he showed up at Levi’s fight in the vicinity of Lee’s cousin, Vinnie. But I didn’t believe in coincidences.
Vinnie abruptly stopped cackling. So did Thuggy.
Addendum to job description: All evil, throaty cackling must cease and desist at a moment’s notice.
‘Any more mention of Lee and you’ll be sorry. I have the memory of an elephant.’ Vinnie tapped his forehead.
I eyed his huge stomach, which was only slightly smaller than the Acropolis. ‘Just the memory of an elephant?’
Vinnie sucked in his stomach and glared at me. ‘Don’t think I’ve forgotten it was you who put him away.’
I pulled a mock horror face. ‘Ooh, I’m scared.’ Actually, my knees were shaking a little bit, but I wasn’t going to let on. Amber Fox rule number one: don’t let elephant-gut criminals intimidate you.
Vinnie gave me a superior smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. ‘You will be. I think you should go now before my friend here takes a shine to you.’ He nodded towards Thuggy.
Thuggy smiled as well. It wasn’t a nice smile, either. It was the kind of smile that let you know he killed people for a living and enjoyed doing it, too.
I made a mental note never to use that kind of smile. It wasn’t very flattering.
I sauntered past Thuggy and Vinnie with a grin on my face. Luckily, they didn’t seem to notice my sauntering skills had gone downhill a bit because of my shaky legs.
This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I said I wanted an exciting distraction.
Be careful what you wish for.
Chapter 3
Dr MacClueless was at the hospital doing a post-op clinic when I arrived. I kid you not, that was his name. I didn’t know if I’d be too happy about a doctor with that name operating on my eye, but apparently, he was the best eye surgeon in the area.
I grabbed a coffee from the waiting room vending machine and sipped.
Yuck.
It tasted like it had been sitting there for about a hundred years. Could you get Legionnaires’ disease from stagnant coffee? I didn’t fancy risking it, so since the brown sludge didn’t pass the Amber Fox taste test, I binned it and stared at the “healthy eating” posters on the wall instead. I knew all about the advantages of eating five portions of fruit and veg a day, but I had trouble with the actual eating part.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to look at them long. I was just reading about how bananas are not actually a fruit, they’re a herb (wow – never knew that!) when Dr MacClueless appeared and shook my hand.
‘I’m due in surgery in ten minutes, so I don’t have long.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘What can I do for you?’
I handed him the consent form Levi had signed. ‘I need to find out about Levi’s eye injury.’
He studied the form for a moment and handed it to the receptionist to take a photocopy. ‘Well, the operation went well. It was performed with laser surgery so the recovery time is much, much quicker. He had a torn retina from the boxing match. It’s not uncommon with boxers to see this type of injury. He should be up and about today, although his eye will be sore for a week or so.’
‘And his vision will be OK?’
Dr MacClueless smiled and nodded. ‘Yes, it should be about ninety-five percent normal.’
‘And when will he be able to fight again?’
‘Oh.’ He gave me a stunned eyebrow raise. ‘Didn’t you know? I’m afraid Levi will never be able to fight again.’
‘I see.’ I wondered if there was a particular reason Levi failed to mention that part. ‘Never?’
He shook his head. ‘Unfortunately not. Once he’s sustained this type of injury, he will always have a weakness there. If he boxes again, the retina could detach, causing further damage, and he could potentially lose his sight. The Boxing Board of Control would never renew his licence with this kind of injury.’ He glanced at his watch again, shifting from one foot to the other. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really must get to the operating theatre.’
‘Thank you, Doctor.’
****
I let myself into the plush Hertford building of Hi-Tec, wound myself around the empty reception, and headed towards the office I shared with Hacker. Since it was Sunday, Hacker and I were the only ones there.
‘Yo,’ Hacker said without looking up, his eyes firmly locked onto a freeze frame of Levi’s fight on one of the screens in front of him.
A vast array of computer equipment, monitors, and other weird electrical stuff beeped and flickered away on his desk. I didn’t know how he managed to work it all – I had trouble operating my oven at the best of times – but he was the most impressive technical whizz kid I’d ever worked with.
Hacker was from Haiti and could do Voodoo. I had a growing list of people I’d like to do a spot of Voodoo on, but he said if you did it, you got it back three times worse. Pity. Hacker had served in Brad’s unit in the SAS as a computer warfare expert.
‘Yo.’ I dumped my rucksack on my desk and sipped a mochaccino. ‘I didn’t know you were already here, otherwise I’d have brought you a sparkling water.’
Hacker and Brad were health freaks. Go figure! I bet they knew a banana was really a herb.
‘It’s cool.’ He tapped away on his keyboard and two plaits sticking out from the top of his head bobbed with every stroke. He had a vast selection of gangsta rapper hoodies and today he wore one with Homeboy scrawled in purple lettering across the front. In fact, if Snoop Dogg had a twin, Hacker would be it.
‘What are you doing?’ I pulled up a chair and sat next him as squiggly graph lines appeared on his screen.
‘I’m trying to separate the audio from the Levi fight to see if I can work out what Carl Thomas is shouting.’
‘Any luck?’ I squinted at the screen so the lines didn’t make my eyes go funny.
‘Not yet. I may need to get a better copy from somewhere. So far, the cr
owd noise is drowning out what he said. Don’t worry, though, I’ll keep working on it.’
‘Can you find out who booked ringside tickets at the fight? Maybe someone sitting there heard it.’ My mind wandered back to the fight as Hacker turned his attention to his keyboard and scrolled through numerous pages. Carl had been standing next to Vinnie and Thuggy. I recognized a couple of other guys with Vinnie from way back. They were all local scumbag lowlifes, so it wasn’t likely they’d tell me much, but there could’ve been a few other people nearby who heard exactly what Carl said.
‘OK, I’ve called up the credit card transactions for the ringside seats.’ Hacker pointed to the screen, which showed the seat allocation for the front row and the surrounding area near where Carl was standing. ‘These five were booked by Vinnie.’
Damn, they were all the ones closest to where Carl had been.
Hacker printed off a page and handed it to me. ‘These are all the others who booked ringside seats.’
I quickly scanned the list and contact details he’d found and stuffed it in my rucksack.
‘When you were in the SAS with Brad did you ever meet Levi’s dad?’ I leaned my elbows on his desk and rested my chin in my hand.
Hacker nodded and pulled up the sleeves of his baggy hoodie. ‘Yes, of course I met EJ. We did a couple of missions together. Why?’
‘Just wondered. Brad said EJ was a good guy and that’s why he promised to help him find out what was going on…’ I trailed off, thinking.
Hacker shrugged. ‘Do you think EJ has got something to do with what happened, then?’
I shook my head. ‘Not at the moment, but I can’t rule out anything. I wouldn’t be a shit-hot investigator if I didn’t consider all angles.’ I grinned at him. ‘So what was EJ like?’
‘He was reliable. A team player. He was an all round good guy. He thought joining the SAS was a way to get him and his family out of poverty.’ Hacker reclined in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. ‘But I think the fact that he was away from his wife and Levi so much took its toll on everyone. He’d send money home to them, but he always felt guilty that he wasn’t playing much of a positive role in Levi’s life when he was growing up. Then, when he was on leave, EJ went home to surprise them all and his wife told him she didn’t want him in her life anymore.’
‘That must’ve been pretty hard for him.’
Hacker nodded. ‘He used to try and see Levi whenever he was on leave, but Levi’s mum made things difficult. EJ was sending money home to her for Levi, but she’d started drinking a lot by then and spent most of the money on alcohol. Then Levi got into boxing and started hanging around with Vinnie, and they became very distant after that.’
‘So, you’re saying Levi didn’t want anything to do with his dad?’
Hacker shrugged. ‘I don’t know whose fault it was. I can see it from both sides. Maybe Levi’s mum played her part in turning Levi against EJ. It was easier for a lot of the other guys in the SAS with no wives or families. EJ was good at his job, but I guess he had to sacrifice a lot for being away for months on end. Maybe if EJ had been around more, Levi would’ve chosen a smarter manager and promoter. EJ still feels guilty about not really being there for him – even now Levi’s won every title fight.’
‘Apart from this one, of course.’ I took a sip of chocolatey coffee.
Hacker nodded. ‘EJ knew about Vinnie being involved in all sorts of criminal things and he didn’t want Levi to be influenced by him. I think it was too late, though. Levi was so under Vinnie’s thumb by then, as soon as he turned seventeen, he left home and moved into a flash apartment that Vinnie set up for him.’
‘Well, you know what teenagers are like. They don’t listen to a word their parents say at that age.’ I shook my head to myself. I’d been no different. If my parents had said the sky was blue, I’d have argued for days that it was pink. ‘His trainer, Terry, seemed like a nice guy. I think he looks on Levi as a son.’
‘Good job Levi had Terry in his corner then. At least someone is looking out for him.’
‘Hmm,’ I said, wondering again where all the money had gone from Levi’s fights. The nature or nurture question popped into my head. Had Levi deliberately thrown the fight because he’d fallen in with the wrong crowd, i.e. Vinnie, or had he always had it in him to do something so dishonest and no amount of positive influence by his dad could’ve helped? Or, more importantly, was there another reason that a successful sportsman would risk his career with the possibility of being found out? I wondered if there was anything EJ could’ve done to stop him spiralling down the path he’d chosen for his life.
Hacker sat forward and resumed keyboard-tapping duties. ‘What have you found out?’
Brad silently snuck up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder. ‘Yes, what have you found out, Foxy?’ he drawled out my name, making it sound husky and sexy.
‘Agh!’ I jumped half a mile in the air and spilt my mochaccino down my T-Shirt. I glared at him. ‘Don’t do that! I hate it when you sneak up on me.’ I think he was actually a stealth bomber in a past life.
Brad grinned. ‘You love it.’
I rolled my eyes at him and wiped at the wet patch with my hand. I seemed to have a habit of mochaccino spillages. ‘Do you want to know what I’ve found out, or not?’
Brad pulled up a chair and fixed his eyes on me.
‘Do you want the good news or the bad news?’ I said.
‘Start with the bad news,’ Brad said.
‘I ran into Vinnie Dawson and pissed him off a tad.’ I smirked, leaning back in my chair.
Brad’s face drained of colour. ‘Exactly how did you piss him off?’ He sounded a tad pissed off himself.
‘I mentioned his cousin, Lee, and it still seems to be a sore point that I put Lee away.’ I shrugged.
‘Don’t mess around with someone like Vinnie Dawson. He’s bad news.’ Concern clouded Brad’s eyes, and his forehead wrinkled into a frown.
‘OK,’ I said, wondering when that had ever stopped me before.
‘What’s the good news?’ Hacker stopped tapping and swung his chair around to face me.
I shrugged. ‘There isn’t any. In fact, it gets worse. I think EJ was right.’ I paused for a mochaccino hit. ‘There was something going on with Levi. His trainer, Terry, confirmed it, but he doesn’t know exactly what. He thinks it’s to do with the contract Levi signed with Vinnie.’
‘Go on,’ Brad said.
‘Now this is the really bad part…Terry thinks that Levi was supposed to intentionally throw the fight.’ I raised my eyebrows for emphasis.
‘Well I know that EJ won’t be happy about that.’ Brad let out a slow whistle. ‘So that’s it? The Carl Thomas distraction was staged to make Levi throw the fight?’
‘Well that’s how it looks at the moment, but there’s still something about it that doesn’t feel right to me.’ I glanced at Brad. ‘You said it yourself – there are easier ways to throw a fight than get distracted and risk an injury like a torn retina. The doctor says Levi will never fight again because of the injury, although Levi omitted to tell me that part. That’s a hell of a risk for Levi to have taken if it meant blowing his career. Also, anyone going through the recording of the fight would notice Carl’s distraction straight away and start questioning whether it was a fix.’ I turned my attention to Hacker. ‘Can you check out betting patterns on the fight? I want to know if there were any huge bets made for Levi to be knocked out in the sixth round and who made them.’
‘Sure.’ Hacker got to work on the keyboard, his fingers a blur.
‘Illegal sports betting is a massive industry now,’ Brad said. ‘There have been plenty of betting scandals and investigations into match fixing over the years.’
‘And Lee just happens to have a betting shop. Coincidence number one.’ I held up a finger.
‘There’s huge money in it,’ Brad went on. ‘Especially when you’ve got someone as influential throughout the boxing world as Vinnie Da
wson in control of promoting the fights.’
‘Well, that’s just it.’ I threw my empty cup into the bin. ‘Where’s all the money gone from Levi’s fights? Levi and Letitia aren’t exactly living the high life in style, and I’m betting that it’s got to do with the contract Levi signed with Vinnie.’
Brad ran a hand over his hair and stretched out his rather yummy toned legs. ‘You know, EJ always regretted that he wasn’t around much when he was growing up. He tried to warn Levi about Vinnie’s dodgy background, and how he could get sucked into it as well, but Levi wouldn’t listen to him. EJ suspected that Levi signed some ridiculous contract with Vinnie just so he could turn professional, but it was too late by then. Levi would never tell his dad what was in the contract and they became estranged after that. Levi hasn’t really spoken to his dad for a long time.’
‘That’s sad,’ I said, thinking how close I was to my family. You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family and all that. ‘Letitia thinks Levi is having an affair. I don’t know yet if that’s got anything to do with this, although I suspect not. She wasn’t too happy to talk to me about it.’
‘I suppose she doesn’t want it splashed all over the press. Understandable, really.’ Brad shrugged.
‘Also, Terry said that Levi had been acting strange. Lately, he’s been saying that he wants to own up to his responsibilities and make things right,’ I said. ‘Terry didn’t know what he meant by that.’
Brad tapped his lips, mulling it over. ‘Maybe it was to do with this affair.’
‘Maybe. Maybe not.’ I tilted my head and filled them in on the rest of my morning’s revelations. ‘I can’t shake the feeling that Lee has got something to do with this, too. Levi said he didn’t know Carl Thomas or hear what he was shouting, but something sure spooked him.’