by Joe McNally
Mave said, ‘I think we should tell Alice.’
I delayed my answer long enough to be courteous to Mave’s suggestion, then said, ‘That might not be the best thing for her just now.’
Mave looked at me for a moment or two, then said, ’So, are we to deceive her, too?’
I hesitated.
Prim finally covered her face, and wept.
54
Mave showed no indecision in crossing the room to console Prim, who was trying to suppress her sobbing. Not waking Alice would be in Prim’s mind, but the more she tried to stifle the sound, the more guttural and broken the sobbing became.
Mave put an arm around Prim, pulling her head down on to her shoulder, and that broke the dam and Prim moaned and howled eliminating any chance of planning how we were going to tell Alice.
A minute later, she appeared in the doorway, pushing tousled hair back behind those springy ears, and I saw again that children’s home expression: assessing the situation, trying to figure out where the threat lay and how best to tackle it.
I said, ‘Come in, Alice. Prim’s just had some bad news…family news.’
Alice came in and closed the door. She wore pale blue pyjamas and white fluffy socks that sparkled, even in the dim light. She went to the other side of Prim, and she too put an arm around her, and Prim’s howling hit that note of desolation which said that she might as well be in the desert, a thousand miles from the closest comfort.
I went to the window and watched the inevitable play out as the first of the yard’s dogs barked, setting off the others in a firecracker string of noise. My glance moved to the window of Dil’s bedroom, and I found myself counting silently…at 12 the light came on and at 14, Dil’s wild-haired head and shoulders loomed into the yellow-lit window frame.
The circus was well and truly rolling.
Twenty minutes later we were in Dil’s kitchen. The story had been told in the cottage, its details steadily chiselling at the closeness that had formed around Prim.
Dil had suggested we move. His face told me he was reformulating his Prim-plan and that it was now very much advantage, Mister Grant.
Alice had said little. Reading her face was way harder than reading Dil’s. In the cottage, when I’d been telling Dil and Alice what had happened, Prim had pleaded with Alice to accept that Ben’s disappearance had nothing to do with her. But Alice had remained silent.
Now, seated around this long pine table, Prim turned her haggard face once more to Alice, ‘Please tell me you believe me! I would never hurt your father! I have no idea where he is!’
Alice, emotionless, said, ‘I believe you,’ and Prim’s head went down and she tried to find more tears, but they’d dried up, and she covered her face with her hands and moaned long and low.
Dil said, ’Why don’t you go upstairs and lie down?’
It was more a directive than a question and Prim’s timid response of rising silently and walking toward the hallway laid bare their relationship as it had really been and always would be, in spite of her small rebellions. I looked around the others to see their responses: Mave sat straight-faced and unblinking. Alice seemed cool…her mind working. Dil looked triumphant. Yes, Prim had betrayed him, but for reasons that would boost his ego. He knew his worries about the next runaway horse were over. And there’d be no further desertions by Prim: she owed him now, forever.
He looked at us, careful not to let the smile in his eyes spread.
‘What now?’ Alice said, looking at each of us in turn, and seeming effortlessly more mature than Dil, seated alongside her.
I said, ‘If we’re accepting that your Dad’s disappearance has nothing to do with Prim and her scheme, then we’re back to square one.’
Alice said, ‘Do you believe her?’
‘Yes. I think she’s telling the truth of what she knows. I’m not convinced about her father, or about Kelman Hines. Her father collected almost two million from laying Spalpeen at Cheltenham. How easily would you give up that source?’ That brought a sudden thought of how stupid I’d been. I turned to Dil, ‘Will you go and see if Prim has her phone?’
Mave said, ‘I’ve got her phone,’ and she took it from the pocket of her jacket, showing no emotion. I smiled at her. She did that cheeks-shrug that I saw from time to time, the one that meant “What else could I do?” And although we’d had no chance to speak privately, it told me that Mave’s suspicions echoed mine.
I said to Dil, ‘Is there a phone in your room she could use?’
‘I think mine is still up there,’ he rose, ‘I’ll go and check.’
Alice said, ‘How can we find out what her father knows?’
Mave said, ‘If Prim will cooperate, I could get into his PC very quickly.’
‘Do you think she will?’ Alice asked.
Mave said, ‘I think she probably will. She seems like she’d bet her life that he’s not guilty…not with your dad, at least.’
I said, ‘If she won’t cooperate, that would be an admission that she’s got doubts about it, so we might as well find out.’
Dil came back, waving his phone and smiling. He put it on the table and said, ‘I’m going to pour a large brandy for Prim, see if it will get her off to sleep. Anyone want a drink?’
I got up, ‘Not for me, but I’ll walk through with you. Mave?’
‘No, thanks.’ she said.
I looked at Alice, ‘Coke?’
‘No, thanks.’
I followed Dil across the hall and into the room where his ‘bar’ sat, an old piece of maplewood, recovered, he had claimed from a Yukon saloon. A silk replica of the Canadian flag was pinned to the bar front.
Dil poured whiskey for himself and gestured at me with the neck of the bottle, ‘No, thanks,’ I said.
He filled the glass with soda and drank the lot, big Adam’s apple bobbing, strong and regular as a heartbeat.
He put the empty glass down, ’Aaahhh! Sounds stupid, but it feels almost like a celebration drink.’ He gripped the brandy bottle and tipped it, then stopped. He picked up the heavy crystal tumbler and took a cloth and polished it in a manner so careful it seemed seductive. I said, ‘Dil, can you forget about your plans for the remainder of the night, just for now? We’ve got a lot to work out.’
‘What plans?’ But he reddened as he protested and it took nothing more than a raised eyebrow from me for him to nod once and put the glass down.
‘Pour me a whiskey,’ I said.
He did, and another for himself. He pushed the glass toward me, ‘Ice is in the kitchen.’ He wanted away, back to the safety of numbers. I said, ‘It’s fine. Come and sit down.’
We sat by the leaded window overlooking the dark cobbled yard, quiet again now the dogs were asleep.
Dil settled across from me and looked out, and drank a mouthful and swallowed with relish and said, ‘Jesus…I can plan again…at last.’
‘You think so? What are you going to tell Vita?’
‘I’ll think of something.’
‘And do you think this something will allow for keeping Prim out of prison?’
He waved that prospect away with his free hand, ’Vita’s satisfaction will come from saying “I told you so”.’
‘Dil, Vita will gut her. She will stand her up in a courtroom and she’ll pay to fill the press gallery and she will break your woman apart piece by piece. All those eyes that were on Prim’s swinging hips at Uttoxeter that day, Vita will want to see focused on the tearing down and the public shaming. It will be all she can do not to lick her lips as she watches.’
He smiled, swept his fringe and said, ‘At first, maybe. I’ll talk her round.’
‘How?’
‘I’ll figure it out, okay? It’s not your concern. why are you so worried about Prim, she almost got you killed?’
‘Because she did something stupid for what she thought was a good reason. Not for money, not to hurt me or anyone else, well, physically, at least, but to try and keep you…and, even as I say it, I find i
t hard to believe.’
He smiled and raised his glass, ‘Well, cheers, my friend. I love you too!’
‘Dil! Postpone the fucking party, will you? Ten days ago I had the chief constable of Merseyside and the head honcho in the BHA asking what I knew about these wild horses. What do you suggest we tell them? The guys who got conned out of a whack of money over Spalpeen are going to want a posse of Spanish fucking donkeys to ride up that cliff face and pin Prim’s old man to the wall. And, apart from all that, where is Ben Searcey?’
‘Well, if Prim’s right, he’s not tied up with this, so that’s a relief, at least.’
‘A relief for you. What about Ben? What about Alice?’
Dil held his glass low and leant forward, ‘Eddie, don’t take this the wrong way, but, as you just said, there’s plenty other stuff for me to work out before I get around to Ben Searcey.’
‘Ben is working for Vita and you. You employed him.’
‘But the job’s done, now, ain’t it?’ he swallowed the rest of his drink.
I watched him, believing he was winding me up. But there was no telltale smile, just a shrug to dislodge from his shoulders all responsibility for the safety of Ben Searcey.
‘You serious?’ I said.
The shrug again, ‘First things first,’ he said.
I got to my feet, ‘I’m done with you, Dil.’
He looked up, did the fringe-sweep and said, ‘You’re overreacting, as ever.’
‘Go and bring Prim down. Mave needs her to help us check out her father’s involvement.’
‘Eddie, she’s not well enough.’
‘She’s well enough for you to be planning to shag her all night. Go and get her.’
He glared at me, leaving the fringe alone this time, ‘Don’t talk to me like that in my own house.’
I bent forward until my face was a foot from his, ‘Go and fucking get her or I’ll go!’
55
Alice came with us when we left Dil’s place. Also with us was the knowledge that there was nothing on Valentino Romanic’s PC to suggest he or Kelman Hines had any involvement in the disappearance of Alice’s Dad.
In the car we considered our next move. I said, ‘Prim’s father might simply have been smart enough to keep all the sensitive stuff offline.’
‘What about the panicky emails with Hines?’ Mave said.
I shrugged, ‘Double bluff?’
‘Didn’t read like that to me,’ Mave said.
I said ‘I don’t think I’d be happy writing Senor Romanic out of this until I see him face to face and ask him the questions?’
‘What questions?’ Alice said, leaning forward through the gap in the front seats. Mave said, ‘Alice, put your seatbelt on, will you? When we find your Dad, we want you in good condition.’
Alice slid back and clipped in, asking again ‘Eddie, what questions do you think need to be asked?’
‘I don’t know, Alice, I just meant that I want to see his face, watch for his reactions.’
Alice said, ‘But we’d lose a couple of days if you had to go to Spain.’
‘We could all go…the three of us,’ I said.
Mave said, ‘I think Alice is right, Eddie. Put together Prim’s denials and what was on his PC, well, I don’t think they’ve got Ben.’
‘I don’t think they have, either, but it doesn’t sit right with me just leaving it at this. Not with a guy who’s had it away with all that money.’
Mave said, ‘Call Mac. Let him deal with it. Or the chief constable who was so keen to implicate you in all this. You’re going to have to tell them anyway.’
‘But what about Prim?’ I said.
Mave said, ‘It’s not just Prim, though. If she’d done all this alone, maybe you could have swung something for her. All she wanted was the horses stopped. She didn’t want a penny from it. It’s her father who’s the criminal, the old Gypsy King. Let Prim take her chances with the police. She’ll be okay.’
I glanced in the mirror to catch Alice’s eye, ‘Alice?’
‘Prim will be all right. I wouldn’t worry about her. But this gypsy thing seems strange now, to me, anyway. Do you think that man who called could have been trying to push us onto Prim’s Dad somehow?’
I glanced at Mave. She held my gaze for a moment then raised an eyebrow. I said, ‘That would mean two things. First, the Spanish connection, if you want to call Prim’s side that, is telling the truth. They don’t have your Dad. Second, whoever is holding your Dad knows about the Spanish connection. It could be that your Dad had sussed out the Spanish connection on the night he disappeared, but that means we’d have to swallow a hell of a coincidence.’ I turned to Mave, ‘What do you think?’
‘It’s not impossible, I suppose. Maybe Ben had put everything together and maybe he tried to trade the information with whoever took him. If he told them what was happening, they could bet on any future races, or maybe they could blackmail the Spanish connection, as you call it.’
Alice said, ‘But the main thing they’d want to do is throw us off their trail and onto Prim’s. So what reason would they have for kidnapping Dad?’
I said, ‘I wonder if it’s a combination and your Dad just got very unlucky.’ I glanced again in the rearview mirror at her, ‘Remember your Dad was going into betting shops, following DJ’s guys?’
‘He did that quite a lot,’ Alice said.
‘Did he ever say anything about them putting money on horses?’
‘He said it was the machines, the FOBTs, they call them. You can put a hundred in, or five hundred or whatever, and then play just ten pounds’ worth and cash out, and it prints a slip with the amount, which is obviously an official piece of paper. Dad reckoned they were just doing that to clean the money.’
‘Do you keep a diary?’ I asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Would you have put in it that your Dad had tracked someone to a bookie’s that day?’
‘Not every time, but probably some of the time. I’ve got it with me.’
‘The diary?’
‘It’s in my bag.’
‘When we get home, will you check it and give me those dates?’
’Sure. What are you thinking, that they might have been betting on those wild horses on the day they ran?’
‘They wouldn’t have been betting them if they were in on this, but they might well have been betting something else in the race. And their bets would be anonymous. No need for usernames or passwords or bank accounts.’
‘But they were DJ’s yobs,’ Alice said, ‘how would he get to know about the horses?’
‘Alice, DJ will be working for somebody else. There’ll be some Mister Big somewhere, probably with no criminal record because he employs kids like DJ to make sure they are the ones who end up in court.’
‘He’s only interested in girls, young girls, I can tell you that for a fact.’
‘Do you know any of these girls who have actually, well, gone with him? Someone who might be able to tell us something more about what he’s doing?’
‘I know a few of them, but I’m not exactly their best friend. They usually spit at me.’
‘When DJ followed you home from the Blue Anchor did he say anything?’
‘Nothing. He was just trying to scare us.’
I said, ‘There’s got to be some connection there, though. Your Dad disappears and DJ is suddenly back on the scene.’
Alice said, ‘Can’t you find out what Bruno said to DJ to warn him off? Why would he think that the warning didn’t apply anymore when Dad went missing?’
‘Good question. I’ll call Monty in the morning.’
Over the final few miles, climbing up the valley toward the farm, I grew more and more optimistic that the Deadwood connection was now the likeliest solution.
But when we reached home, Alice’s diary closed the book on the betting side. Of the eleven entries with dates of betting shop visits, none was within three days of a bolting horse.
Mave settled
Alice in the one guest room we had in the cottage. Most visitors slept in the much bigger farmhouse, but we wanted her close by.
Alice’s bedroom was next to ours, so there’d be no discussions in the dark for fear of being overheard. I waited in The Snug where the walls would soundproof our conversation. Mave came in.
‘How is she?’ I asked.
‘Settled, calm…I can see her eyes working through options. She’s a remarkable kid.’
‘Did she say anything about Prim?’
‘Not a word, why’
‘I know how close she’d got to her. I just didn’t expect her to shrug off the deception.’
‘Alice has had more disappointments than you and me put together. She’ll be a pro by now at handling them.’
‘Looks like it.’
I yawned, and groaned and said, ‘I feel as though I’ve been awake for a week.’
‘Well, we’d better get to bed. It’s nearly six.’
I looked at my watch, ’I ought to just stay up for another hour and call Mac and Monty.’
‘What difference will it make? Ring them at ten. Are you just going to leave Mac to deal with Prim and her father, and Hines?’
I sighed, massaging my face, ‘I don’t know…I think, well…we could probably still keep Prim out of it. Just tell Mac it was her father who was behind it.’
‘Which is fine until old Valentino then starts saying it was a labour of love for his only daughter, his princess.’
I hung my head, ‘Jeez…’
Mave ruffled my hair, ‘Come on. Your brain’s useless when you’re this tired.’ She offered her hand and I took it and followed her to bed.
56
A hot shower ending with a forced minute below a very cold shower blasted me awake as it always does. Mave was already up and at her desk.
‘Morning,’ she said.
‘Is it? I don’t know what end of the day I’m at.’
‘You seldom do.’
‘Is Alice okay?’
‘Still asleep, or, at least, her eyes were closed. You making coffee?’
‘I am.’