Chapter 3

It wasn’t far from the track to the turning, and I stopped at the gate and reached behind me, finding the button in my bag, under a lot of money. I pressed the button and the gate opened. I drove slowly to the house, now surrounded by Rollers, Bentleys, and big Mercedes. I parked the Aston, and we got out.

“Do you think we can put the money in the boot, I feel a bit vulnerable with it in my bag?”

“Sure thing, there’s a button to press.”

When the boot was opened, I took my lippie out of the bag, along with a couple of tissues, and placed the bag inside. He took a big wad of notes from his pockets, pulled up a bit of the carpet and put them under it, patting the carpet down. As he pulled the boot lid down, he looked across it and smiled.

“You really are a lucky charm, you know. What I’ve won will fund a small event, without me needing to outlay anything. I can still claim the amount on expenses. I’m so very glad we met, Debbie.”

We held hands as we went to the house. The door was open and there was the sound of music playing, along with the hubbub of party chatter. We found the source of the sounds in a big room where there must have been fifty people drinking and talking. Dee saw us come in.

“Debbie, darling. What a day. Did you put anything on Dumluk?”

“We both did, thank you. It was a wonderful result. Does this mean that you’ll get more horses accepted for top meetings?

“It certainly does. They’ve already accepted another of ours for the big meeting next week. It’s the British Champions Day and we have a runner in one of the Group Two races. Dumluk is already pencilled in for the Victoria Cup meeting next year. It’s so exciting!”

Just then we heard a man call out “Bertie, my man! Just the person I need to speak to”. It was the lead singer of a band that was in the charts, and he grabbed Bertie and pulled him towards a quieter corner of the room, leaving Dee alone with me.

“Did anything else happen?”

“Yes, it did. Stan gave me another tip for the fifth and it won. The thing is that I saw him with another lad at Honest Joes’ stand, a red-headed lad about the same age. I saw that boy talking to a guy who I later saw heading for Joes’ to lay a bet on. I wonder if he was also being spoken to or if it was because I was there with Bertie. Stan waited until I was alone to talk to me.”

“Red-headed lad, you say. He’s a friend of Stan. They often come as a team if you’re after labouring. Don’t laugh, but his name is Oliver. I’ve seen them do dialogue from the old comedy films. I still can’t see either of them as killers.”

She escorted me around, and I met several pop stars, most of them either having a house in the estate or had a band member with a house here. There was also a magazine editor, a couple of judges, and several partners from Davids’ office, most of them having shares in the racehorses. Bertie caught up with me as the food was being announced.

“Can we leave after we eat? I need to absorb something big. You really have been my lucky charm, today!”

“All right with me. It’s been a big day, so far.”

We stood with the others and grazed on an alarming quantity of very expensive nibbles. I didn’t think I would eat much after our lunch, but these small mouthfuls were to die for. I stayed off the alcohol and just had lemonade or soda water, with Bertie having a couple of drinks.

When the feeding time was over, we found David and Dee to thank them for the invitation and to take our leave. We both got hugs from Dee, while I got one from David. He whispered in my ear that Dee had told him the latest, and to look out for myself. He shook hands with Bertie, and they exchanged business cards, with Bertie saying that he might have some work that needed a good lawyer.

We rescued our winnings from the boot, and I put the gate opener in my pocket. In the car, I started it, and we went quietly to the gate and out onto the road. Having been this way before, I didn’t need any directions to find my way back to London. Bertie was deep in thought until we were in the slower traffic, then he spoke about what was on his mind.

“You saw the guy who grabbed me when we got there. He is the singer in a band that’s in the charts.”

“I knew that. There were a couple of other members of the band there, one of them has a house on the estate.”

“He wants me to be the organiser of a tour that the band is talking about. They have become fed up with their usual promotor charging high prices for the shows and booking them into second rate venues. They want me to organise good places that we can fill at lower prices, but with the bigger numbers to make up the turnover. They have a new album and a killer single that will be released in the new year, with the tour to promote it.”

“That sounds like a lot of work.”

“It will be, and I’ll have to start working on it from Monday, if I have any chance to book the venues. He gave me a list of his preferred locations; it will be up to me to link the venues to the dates that achieves the brief. I’ve done smaller tours, but this will be humungous. He told me the name of the support act and they’re almost as big as they are.”

“So, you have three months to get it off the ground?”

“That’s almost not long enough, but I’m going to give it my best shot. Today has been great, with enough winnings to get things moving on a job that I didn’t have before we got there. I will need to see David to get some paperwork written up. Then we’ll organise a meeting between me and their manager.”

“I wish you the best of luck, Bertie, dear. You deserve it. How much of the country will the tour taking in, I might be able to get to it.”

“It’s countries, my sweet. Countries. The big markets in Europe, and if that goes well, he wants to tour the Southern Hemisphere. I’ll have enough frequent flyer points for a good holiday after that. Unfortunately, what it means that there’ll be no race meetings for me until it’s all wound up. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Bertie, it means that we can stay awake tonight for as long as we can. I brought earplugs if you go to sleep before me, and I’ll make you breakfast in the morning. Who knows when we can get together again, but our time has been memorable.”

When we got to Canary Wharf, we parked the Aston and I transferred my bag to the Mercedes, making sure I had enough make-up in my pockets for the morning. We kissed as we went up in the lift, kissed as we entered his bedroom, kissed as we undressed each other, and kissed as he made passionate love to me. After that, we cuddled and kissed some more before he was good enough for a second go. I think that after that, we both fell asleep at the same time.

In the morning, the sun was well up when we surfaced, did our business, and showered together. I did make him breakfast from the meagre supplies he had in stock, and then we kissed for the last time when I left him, with a code to get out of the garage in my hand.

When I got home, I wrote a report for the police to find, should they need to search my flat. I counted out my winnings. I now had close to twenty-two thousand pounds for my piggie bank. If the other victims had been able to win that amount of money, I was sure that they would trust Stan, or Oliver, with their lives. I still couldn’t figure out the final act.

I rang Dee and gave her a report on what I had discovered, in more detail. She told me that she would courier a ticket and another pass for the following week at Ascot, with it being a big meeting, the British Champions Meet. I would need an outfit to suit, something classy if I was going to enter the Fashions in the Field.

I rang Susan at Oulton Broad and asked her if she had managed to get her stock into any shops. She told me that the original order that Clement had organised was out in twenty stores, with the nearest one to me in Chelmsford. I asked about the newer items, and she said that they were being distributed this week, and if I wanted to pick from them, she would contact the Chelmsford shop to allow me to look at the shipment before it was put on display.

She told me that the new items would be two thousand pounds if I wanted one, but there may be some older stock still there for about a thousand. I thanked her for her help and made a note of the shop. We then spoke for a while as she told me how she was getting on. The old farmhouse was now gone, with a modern shed going up in its place, with one half for storing picked strawberries and the other side for the fashion shipment.

I can’t say that I had ever spent a thousand on an outfit before, let alone two thousand. I had the cash to do it now, so was determined that I would look my best at Ascot on the weekend. I filled a bath with smelly water and soaked in it until nearly midday. When I was dry and dressed in jogging gear, I took the Mercedes into the city, parked on the Embankment, and walked to a restaurant that I knew would be open for the tourists.

After a good meal, I walked it off along the riverside, just taking in the sights and sounds, and the smells, of the river. As I walked, I thought about the case, still wondering how it would pan out. Back in the car, I went to Soho, parking near a small park and strolling around. All my life, Soho had been a draw to me. I would love to live her, among the nightlife, the whores, the restaurants, and the general vibe of the place.

With the money I now had, I nearly had enough to rent somewhere. I looked into real estate windows, not that there are many in Soho, and just enjoyed being able to walk the streets, making note of all the places I would be able to eat in should I be able to find somewhere.

I had a lovely afternoon getting acquainted with all the streets and leaving before the nightlife clientele arrived. I was thinking about Bertie. Many would say that he was a good catch, but, for me, it wouldn’t work. Yes, we had a good time together and he was very good in bed, but I could never play second fiddle to a successful man. If my plans worked, I would have moved and the phone number he had for me would not work by the time he finished with his big tour.

I did the usual sort of work during the week, and took Friday off, heading for Chelmsford early in the morning. When I got to the shop, I was shown through to the back to see the new stock. It took me a half an hour to find a classic dress with a slim skirt that would make it difficult to run in. It was just over the knee, and the bodice was a cross-over that would show off my attributes. When I told them that I was going to wear it at Ascot, the next day, they got me to put it on, then took pictures of me in it.

I allowed them to use the pictures as advertising and they gave me a discount, with a bit extra off for cash when I pulled it out of my bag. I left with a dress that only cost sixteen hundred. Only!

It was a silvery fabric, with sparkles, which would be more than elegant and could be used for good evenings, later on. Back in Islington, I went to my appointment to see Debbie and she gave me a full nail job to suit the dress colour. I bought another blonde wig, not too long to not be something that would be natural compared with the previous one, and she styled it to again match what I was aiming for.

Saturday morning, I was up with the birds and breakfasted. Today, I was going to immerse myself in the wonders of Ascot. In a silver shoulder bag, I had put aside two thousand as my top limit, hoping to bring back more. Today I would look like I’m ripe for the picking, to see if Stan takes the bait.

When I went down to the Mercedes, I got a wolf whistle from the guy who live in the ground floor flat. The silver dress, silver stockings, silver shoes, and the blonde locks were working as required. I arrived at Ascot a bit earlier than my other visits and used the pass and ticket that Dee had sent, along with another list of tips. I was confident as I strode towards the food outlets.

I got a seat in the restaurant and was joined by Dee and David. We had a pleasant lunch, which I insisted that I pay for, and then they went off to the Members, while I went down to the Fashions in the Field marquee, signing myself in, once more, as Debbie Wigzell. This being the third Saturday in a row that I had been here, I was able to pick the best place to look at the bookies section without being obvious, so watch the interaction between Joe, Stan, and Oliver for a while.

My tip didn’t work out for the first, but Joe had given me a smile when he took my money. I was standing near the rails, with a glass of champagne in my hand, and my winning voucher from the Fashions event in my bag, when Stan came up to me.

“You look fabulous, today, Debbie. Do you want a chance to improve your life?”

“That would be nice, Stan, what do you suggest.”

“I suggest that, today, you go and see Honest Joe and ask for his special two race bet. He will put your money on his best pick in the first, then put your winnings on his best pick for the second race. You won’t know the horses he picked until you go back to see if you’ve won. The races he will work on are the third and the fifth.”

“What do you get out of this, Stan?”

“Me? I get to make a pretty woman happy. I get to make Joe happy as he can take what you win off of his taxable earnings. It’s a win all round. Are you up for it?”

“All right, I’ll give it a go.”

“Good girl! You’d better go and see him; the third race is almost ready to be called to the staging yard.”

I went to see Joe, as directed, putting a hundred on the tip that Dee had given me, and another hundred on Joes’ special bet. I went and sat in the stands, watching things unfold. My horse in the second won at seven to one, so I was now seven hundred up. The winning horse in the third was at ten to one, so, if that was the horse I was on, I now had a thousand riding on the fifth.

That’s when I got the light bulb moment. Joe didn’t need to have a bet already written. He was the bookie. He could just write a ticket, back timed, after the fifth, and pretend that I had been lucky. I would go home with a lot of money and trust whatever I was told when we got to Epsom. I guess that I would be told to try his special bet there, this one covering more races in the meet.

With a bet of a hundred, that could end up as tens of thousands by the end of the day. That amount would be worth killing for, with Joe getting the bulk of his money back, in untraceable cash, and the two boys getting a nice bonus. If the other man was being pushed in the same direction, it could be a windfall of up to a quarter of a million pounds.

I made sure to look out for Mauve Man, without seeing him. Carrot Top stayed close to Joe and Stan grabbed him a few times to go off to bring back, or take away, money. By the look of the weight in Carrot Tops’ pocket, he was packing a pistol.

I waited until the fifth had been run and cleared before I went to see Joe. The boys had been off as the race was running, which made me certain that the fix was in. The whole thing rotated around a good knowledge of the horses and their history. The rest was totally dependent on sleight of hand, the old magic trick. When I went to see Joe and give him my betting slips, he took me to one side and counted out seven hundred for my own bet, then counted out fifty thousand for the special bet, the winner in the fifth being at fifty to one.

“There you go, lucky lady. Will we be seeing you again?”

“I might not come here in winter, but I’m told that the big meeting at Epsom Downs at the end of May is worth going to.”

“Wonderful, I look forward to seeing you there. I’ll have a good look at the horses at that meeting. I might be in a position to offer you a special bet with more races than today.”

“Doesn’t that make it very difficult to predict?”

“Not for this man, lady. If I was able to bet, I would be better off than I am now. But then, I wouldn’t get the input from my contacts that I now enjoy.”

I walked out of the meeting with my mind in a whirl. Here I was, nearly fifty-one thousand more in my bag than when I had arrived. I didn’t wait to see Dees’ horse in the last race, and just got in the Mercedes to go home. There, I put the money with the other winnings, deep in my wardrobe, and undressed. Back in jogging gear, I rang the local pizza place and ordered one to be delivered. When it arrived, I gave the boy a note and told him to keep the change.

Monday morning, I rang Dee to see how she got on. Her horse hadn’t won but was a credible fourth in a classy field. I asked if I could come over as I wanted to talk to David. She told me to come over as soon as I liked as they were going to lunch on the leftovers from their party last night. I went and had a shower and dressed in my PI outfit with a straight skirt instead of the leather jeans.

When I got there, I was welcomed in and taken to the big room, where there was a lot of nibbles with gauze over them. We sat at a table, getting up to replenish our plates as needed. Over the meal, I told David what had happened yesterday, and what I had been told by Honest Joe. He sat back and thought for a while.

“It’s damned clever, I give them that. So far, Joe has only crossed the line with back-timed betting slips. The stewards would only tell him that he’s being stupid for giving his money away, and the tax man would fine him for false accounting. What do you think happens next?”

“I think that the mark is told to lay a ‘mystery’ bet on with Joe. It could be any number of races, even the whole card, depending on the likely winners. If they’re all favourites, it would take a big bet to end up with a high enough amount to kill for. There will need to be a few roughies in the mix for it to multiply. Then the two boys cull the mark and subdue her, splitting her winnings before taking her away for disposal.”

“Yes, Epsom is perfect for something like that. They could ask if she wants to see the horses. There are stables across the road where anything can happen. Most of the horses would have gone and it would only be those from the last race being hosed down. I’ve seen Stan driving a white Transit in the past. The body could be stored in that for a few days until they’re clear to go.”

“They only need to cosh the victim and drop her headfirst so that the landing removes all trace of a previous head knock. What is odd, this time, is that they are grooming two of us for the hit. The other guy has been given the original tip, but I haven’t seen him at the bigger races. He may only be able to attend the smaller events. What’s coming up?”

“There’s two events in November, both smaller ones. One early in the month and one near the end. That gives plenty of time to carry on the indoctrination if he attends. In the new year, the big Ascot meeting is the Victoria cup, in May, and the Epsom meeting is the Betfred Stakes, at the end of May.”

“That gives me the November meetings to go as Maxine and see if the other guy is there and is approached.”

“Actually, Maxine, I think that your next thing is to take this to the police. The information that you were given, along with what you have found out, is enough for them to lay on a surveillance operation, to see if they can gather positive evidence before the main event. If they can get a sound recording of the three talking about what they plan to do, it will be enough to take them in and put their vehicles through forensics testing. There may be traces of the previous victims.”

“What about the money that I’ve won?”

“That’s yours, free and clear. Anything you win while helping the police would remain yours as well. If it can be proved that Joe has falsified his records, with recorded evidence, the tax man will have a field day. A lot can be done before May, with their bank records looked at to see if there are regular cash deposits. I expect that Joe will have a second account which he puts the windfalls in.”

“So, you want me to lay it on the line?”

“Yes, that will keep you safe. I will set up a meeting, in my office. I know a few well-placed policemen. This will involve two forces, the one covering Ascot and the Surrey one for Epsom, so it will need someone further up the chain to call the shots. I’ll tell you when it is if you can come and tell your story.”

I thanked them for the delicious lunch and gave him the card from the detective sergeant at Islington. As I drove home, I pondered on the situation. If my winnings were considered legally obtained, there should be no problem in me banking them. I would do that on Monday, so that it’s safe. What happens after that would depend on what David was able to do with his friend on the force.

At home, I counted out seventy thousand and put it in a shopping bag, ready to go to the bank. I put the bulk of the rest into my lucky bag on the mantlepiece, and the remainder in my usual bag. Monday was going to be for me. The bank was to be first, Harrods with my vouchers second, and a rest day after that, looking up real estate in Soho afterwards.

Marianne Gregory © 2024