by Sibel Hodge
‘In what way?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know exactly. I think he made some stupid decisions. Levi won the title fight. He knocked his opponent out two minutes into the first round and Vinnie held a huge party for him afterwards. There were hundreds of people there, and I guess Levi was on top of the world. It was something he’d dreamed about constantly since he was a kid.’
‘You were at this party?’
Ricky paused for a moment. ‘Yes.’
‘When was it?’
‘It was February the fourteenth, four years ago. I remember because my girlfriend wanted me to take her out for a romantic meal, but I wanted to help Levi celebrate. I didn’t get to celebrate much with him, though. By the time I got there he’d already had way too much to drink.’
‘Is that unusual for an athlete? Drinking?’
‘It was for Levi. He was wasted that night. I guess the excitement got the better of him because he was so dedicated to keeping fit, the only time I ever saw him drink was after he won a fight to celebrate,’ he said. ‘Anyway, after that I heard rumours that Levi had signed another contract with Vinnie, and this one wasn’t anywhere near as good as the first one.’
I gnawed on my lip, taking everything in and thinking. ‘Do you know what was in the second one?’
Ricky shook his head. ‘I never saw much of Levi after the night of the party, so I don’t know for certain. I just heard it on the boxing grapevine.’
‘Is it unusual for a boxer to sign a new contract after he’s won a title fight?’
‘It’s not unusual. The unusual thing is that after he won the fight, he should’ve been more of a hot property. His worth should’ve gone up, and he should’ve been able to negotiate an even better contract, not a worse one. He must’ve been crazy.’
Yeah, either crazy or Vinnie was threatening him or blackmailing him into signing a new one. All Levi had wanted was to be heavyweight champion of the world. But at what cost?
Be careful what you wish for.
Chapter 6
I left the gym and steered my car in the direction of Levi’s house. Maybe what was in his contract with Vinnie was the key to this whole thing, but, as yet, I didn’t have a clue what that could be. Anyone with half a brain knew that Vinnie was bad news. The only thing Vinnie was interested in was Vinnie. I could understand Levi being a hungry young boxer, dying to get a shot at a title fight, but if he was such a hot property once he’d won the world title, like Ricky had said, why would he sign a contract that was less favourable than the original one?
Letitia swung the door open again. Same unkempt look, minus the glass of brandy.
She sighed before I’d even said anything. ‘You again.’ She looked about as pleased to see me as she would if a suicide bomber turned up on her doorstep. She let out a loud sigh. ‘I suppose you want to see Levi.’ She pulled the door open and jerked her head inside.
‘How are you?’ I asked. It wasn’t really a question. I could tell by her red-rimmed eyes and unsteady feet how she was, and it wasn’t good.
She avoided my eyes, and my question, and instead, pointed up the stairs. ‘You know the way.’ She stumbled off into the kitchen, and I heard her opening cupboards and the clink of glass.
I bounded up the stairs to Levi’s room. I knocked on the door and said, ‘Hello,’ before he told me to come in.
He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The eye patch was gone now, although the cut around his eye was still red and swollen and the eye was bloodshot. This time he was dressed in joggers and a sweatshirt.
‘Hi. How are you feeling?’ I pulled out the stool from the aged dressing table and sat down – a subtle message that this time I wasn’t going anywhere until I got some answers.
Levi shuffled into a sitting position. He didn’t look too pleased to see me again. An occupational hazard, I guess.
‘Not too bad. I thought I answered everything yesterday.’ He kept his gaze as steady on me as he could with a sore eye, but there was a small quiver in the corner of his lips.
‘Well, that would depend on your definition of “everything”.’ I raised a doubtful eyebrow at him and stared him down. I could win a staring contest any day.
He looked away first. What did I tell you?
I folded my arms. ‘Somehow you have a connection to Carl Thomas and Kinghorn Thomas Bank, which just so happened to be robbed recently. Funny that, because I don’t believe in coincidences. And you are just the king of coincidences at the moment. I think you know exactly what Carl was shouting at you at the fight.’
Levi’s gaze fell to the floor.
‘He found out something about you, didn’t he? Something bad that happened. And Vinnie knows what it is, too, doesn’t he? Whatever this thing is, Vinnie found out and blackmailed you into signing a contract that wasn’t in your best interests.’
Levi’s face took on a haunted look then. He was scared, but not as scared as he’d been when Carl was shouting. ‘My contract’s not that bad. You have to take what you can get when you’re starting out.’
‘But you weren’t just starting out. You already had a contract with Vinnie when you won your first world title fight four years ago. You signed another one after that, and the new one was even worse than the first. Why?’
He looked up at me, eyes ablaze. ‘Don’t you come in here thinking you know everything about me or the boxing industry.’ A minute spray of spit landed on his lips. ‘It’s a hard industry to succeed in. You don’t understand. It’s complicated. If you have the wrong promoter, it can delay your chances of getting a shot at a title fight. They control the industry. Not me.’
‘So you’re saying you just did what you had to for your career? You weren’t being blackmailed into signing a new contract?’ I waited for an answer.
He narrowed his eyes slightly. ‘That’s right.’
But I wasn’t convinced at all. That was lie number two he’d just told me.
‘OK,’ I said in a tone that implied I didn’t believe him in the slightest. ‘Why did you agree to throw the fight in the eighth round?’
That caught him by surprise. His jaw dropped, and he glanced at the door. If he was thinking of running, I wouldn’t mind trying out my Amber Fox rugby tackle special on him. Actually, on second thought, maybe not. He was a hell of a lot bigger than me, and he could hit harder.
‘I wasn’t going to throw the fight.’
Lie number three. I’d better stop counting now before I ended up with no fingers left to count.
‘If I was supposed to go down in the eighth round, why did I go down in the sixth?’ He was sending me mixed signals. His shoulders tensed with anger, but his eyes pleaded with me not to go any further with this.
Too late. When I get my teeth stuck into a case, I’m a Fox with a bone. ‘Because of Carl distracting you. Whatever he said was enough to scare you.’
He shook his head and breathed deeply. ‘Are you going to tell the British Boxing Board? They’ll investigate me.’
‘Not yet,’ I said. I figured that a Boxing Board investigation was probably the least of his worries. It wasn’t like he could fight again anyway with the damage to his eye, and I suspected that was going to be punishment enough for him agreeing to throw the fight.
No, there was something far more important going on with Levi. And if boxing was his life, and he agreed to risk it all by committing the ultimate unsporting act, then it must be something huge. What did that leave? Some kind of problem with money, family, or friends. People described Levi as a good guy and a family man, but from what I’d seen, his wife was desperately unhappy, and a good guy would never intentionally give up a career he loved and embarrass his sport. So what was it?
I sighed. ‘Look, I can help you, Levi. Whatever it is, I want to help.’
He didn’t speak for a long time, and I thought he hadn’t heard me. A long time later his voice dropped to a whisper. ‘No one can help me.’
‘Where’s all the money gone from the fight
s?’ I asked.
His shoulders gave a defeated shrug and he slumped like a balloon that had just had all the air let out. ‘I’m not a flash person. I’ve got money invested in things. And I’m not paid as much as you’d think.’
Twenty million for a fight seemed pretty much to me. Which led me back to the dodgy contract that he wouldn’t elaborate on, so I tried a different direction. ‘Did you have anything to do with the safety deposit box robbery at Kinghorn Thomas?’
He gasped. ‘I’m a boxer, not a bank robber. How could I rob a bank?’
‘With the help of Vinnie’s cousin, Lee. He’s got previous for it.’
‘I’ve got an alibi for the time of that robbery.’
Interesting that he knew exactly when the robbery was. I waited for him to tell me his so-called alibi.
‘I was at a health farm for the weekend in Scotland. That’s where I always train before my fights.’
Hmm. If that was true, it threw my little scenario out the window then. He couldn’t drive two-hundred and sixty odd miles up there and back again without someone noticing.
‘Did you know that Carl Thomas was murdered after he turned up at the fight?’
Levi carried on staring out the window. His face was in profile, so I couldn’t study him properly to see if he was going to tell me another lie.
‘No.’ His voice came out barely a whisper.
‘Why didn’t you tell me the doctor said you’d never be able to fight again?’
His shoulders sagged. ‘I don’t want the whole world to know that yet. I haven’t come to terms with it myself. Please don’t tell anyone.’ His tone sounded pleading and desperate.
‘Fair enough. I can understand that,’ I said. ‘Have you got kids?’ I hadn’t noticed any pictures of children or toys hanging around. But if Vinnie had been threatening Levi about his kids, then I could possibly understand him caving in to a bad contract.
‘No.’ He looked up at me with watery, sad eyes. ‘We wanted to, but Letitia couldn’t have them.’
That part I did believe. There was no hesitation there. His voice was sincere, and not a flicker of a lie on his face. He couldn’t fake that kind of sadness.
‘Do you and Letitia have a good relationship?’
He nodded.
‘She thinks you’re having an affair.’
‘I’d never have an affair.’
‘Just like you’d never throw a fight?’ I raised my eyebrows. ‘What were you referring to when you said you wanted to “make things right” and “live up to your responsibilities”?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t remember saying that.’
I stared him down again until he looked away and gazed back out of the window. ‘Why did you take out life insurance a few weeks ago? I hate to point this out, but it seems like you’re worth more dead than alive.’ I glanced around the sparse room.
‘It’s not a crime to take out life insurance.’ He was back to defensive again.
‘Was Vinnie feeding sporting tip-offs to Edward Kinghorn and Carl Thomas so they could bet big money on a sure thing?’
‘I don’t know anything about that.’ He turned to look at me again.
‘It’s weird, you know,’ I said. ‘Vinnie had a safety deposit box at Kinghorn Thomas. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?’
His eye started twitching, only a slight twitch, mind you, but it was enough to tell me he already knew that.
‘What was in it?’ I asked.
‘I don’t have a clue. You’d have to ask Vinnie that.’ He touched the corner of his eye, massaging it.
I stood up. ‘Don’t worry. I will.’ I nodded to him. ‘You get better soon now.’ I clicked the door shut and headed downstairs.
Letitia was pouring a hefty glug of brandy in a tumbler. At this rate, she’d be causing a local brandy shortage single-handedly.
She turned, caught my eye, and shrugged. ‘I know what you’re thinking.’
‘Look, Letitia, whatever is going on with you and Levi, I want to help.’
She blew a forceful breath through her nose. ‘That’s what they all say. That’s what Vinnie always said. And look at us now. You just want to manipulate Levi like all the rest.’
I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, staring deep into her eyes. ‘You can trust me. But I can’t help you unless you tell me what the problem is.’
A tear rolled from her eyes and streaked down her cheek. She stared at me, weighing up what I’d just said. She wiped her cheek with the heel of her hand and took a sip of brandy. She wiggled the glass at me. ‘Do you want one?’
It was a bit early in the day for me, but I agreed to try and set her at ease. I sat down at the kitchen table as she poured me a shot. Waiting until she’d sat down too, I asked her, ‘What does Levi think about your drinking problem?’ I eyed her brandy glass.
‘It’s not a problem. I can stop anytime I want.’ She cupped the glass protectively and her shoulders slumped. ‘He hates it. He’s never touched a drop since the night he got flat-out drunk when he won his first title fight four years ago.’
‘Do you know what’s in Levi’s contract with Vinnie?’
‘Not exactly. I know we don’t get paid hardly anything from Levi’s fights.’ She let out a bitter laugh. ‘Look at this place. We should be living the life of luxury.’ She took a long gulp of brandy, swirled it around in her mouth as if savouring the kick and swallowed. ‘Levi does all the hard work and look what we’ve got to show for it.’
‘So why did he sign it?’ I took a sip of brandy and felt the burning liquid sear my throat. Don’t get me wrong, I liked a drink, but it was far too early for super-strength spirits.
‘I don’t know. He said it was the only way. He said Vinnie had the power to make or break his career. I guess he was young and stupid.’
I doubted very much that Levi was stupid. He didn’t seem at all stupid to me. More like scared.
‘Do you think Vinnie blackmailed him into signing it?’ I said.
Her mouth formed into an angry pucker. ‘Blackmail him about what?’ She looked around the room again. ‘What you see is what you get. We don’t have any skeletons in our cupboards.’
‘Do you really think Levi is having an affair? He say’s he’d never do that to you.’
She took a swig of brandy. ‘I don’t know, but something’s going on with him lately. He’s been sneaking out of the house a lot and lying to me. He tells me he’s going to the gym, but when I ring to speak to him there, he’s never even been in. Maybe you can find out.’ She grabbed my arm, clutching it with a strength that belied her fragility.
I quickly debated whether to tell her that Levi had agreed to throw his fight, then I decided equally as quickly not to. She was depressed enough without finding out that her husband was a cheat in the ring as well as possibly in the bedroom.
‘Do you know Carl Thomas or Edward Kinghorn?’ I asked.
She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.
I stood up and delved into my rucksack for a business card. ‘Here.’ I handed it to her. ‘If you need anything, just ring me.’ I stood and left her there, staring into the remnants of her glass.
I got in my car parked half way down the road and called Romeo.
‘Hey, Amber.’ His voice was tense. Strained.
‘Hey, any leads on Carl Thomas’s murder?’
‘Not yet. I’m kind of rushed off my feet. Did you want something special?’
I didn’t know if that was a hint or not, but judging by the tone of his harassed voice, I doubted it. But the fact that he wanted to get me off the line still kind of rattled me a bit. ‘Levi Carter said he was at a health farm in Scotland at the time of the Kinghorn Thomas robbery. Can you check it out for me?’
‘Sure. Anything else?’
‘I’m pretty convinced Vinnie and his cronies were betting big on Levi losing the fight in the eighth round. None of the bets were placed through Lee’s bookies, so I’m
thinking they were definitely involved. If it was genuine betting going on, Bet-it would’ve had some of them, too. Vinnie should be due for another investigation into illegal sports betting. With Janice Skipper out the way this time, hopefully you can get something on him that actually sticks.’
‘Thanks. And by the way, no corpses have turned up without noses.’
‘OK, thanks.’
I’d just hung up when I saw Levi hurrying out his front door with a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead. He glanced quickly up and down the road, and I slouched down in my seat. Satisfied with what he saw, he ducked into his garage, emerging a few seconds later in a black Aston Martin.
Is that where the money was going? Maybe Levi had a weakness for luxury cars, but if so, where were the rest of them? Did he have a fleet of expensive cars hiding somewhere?
I fired up the engine, ready to follow him as he reversed at speed down the drive, narrowly missing an oncoming Mini.
My stomach gurgled loudly as I tailed behind him. God, I was starving. I was just thinking about ordering a juicy chicken burger and large fries, heavy on the mayo, when he crunched to a stop on the driveway of an expensive mews style house.
I drove past the house and clocked the address. 50 Swallow Mews. I pulled up a few houses away, killed the engine, and grabbed my camera from my rucksack.
Hang on a sec. I know that address. Where’ve I heard that recently?
Levi jumped out of his car, glancing nervously around. He rang the doorbell and fidgeted with the peak of the baseball cap.
I zoomed in on him, finger poised over the button, trying to wrack my brains when it suddenly came to me. This was one of the houses that Mum said had been broken into recently. The amount of coincidences stacking up on the case now was beyond bizarre.
A blonde woman in her early thirties opened the door. She wore a tight fitting dress and her hair was styled in a sleek ponytail. Her eyes lit up when she saw him and a smile widened on her face. Levi kissed her on the cheek before she pulled him inside.