Bloodline

‘I think you’ll get a good run for your money,’ said Austin. ‘And I’d like to say how sorry I am that Clare will not be riding him today. I can’t believe she’s gone. She’s a great loss to our sport.’

‘Thirty seconds.’

‘Thank you very much, Austin,’ I said. ‘I think we all miss her. I know I certainly do.’

‘Twenty seconds.’

‘And good luck to you this afternoon with Tortola Beach.’

‘Ten seconds, nine, eight...’

I turned to face camera two as the countdown continued in my ears. ‘I hope you will join us this afternoon for seven races here on Channel 4 from both Newmarket and Ascot, as well as a special bonus, the Two-Year-Old Trophy from Redcar. And it all starts at one fifty-five. See you then. Bye-bye.’

‘...two, one, shut-up,’ said the production assistant on the talk-back just as the red light on the camera in front of me went out and the programme credits appeared on the screen.

‘Well done, everybody,’ said Lisa. ‘A bit disjointed but we had no choice. Mark, tell that bloody Austin Reynolds to get a new car. With a name like that you’d think he’d know something about cars.’

‘Will do,’ I replied. ‘Austin. Lisa, the producer says thank you so much for coming. She’s still down in the production van.’ And I could hear her laughing in my ear over the talk-back.

An audio technician came over and relieved me of my microphone and earpiece, and then he removed Austin’s microphone as well. One should always assume a microphone was live — a lesson that some politicians never seemed to learn.

Austin started to get up but I asked him to stay with me just for a minute or two. So we sat next to each other on the sofa, while the rest of the crew began dismantling the lights and packing away the cameras and other equipment around us.

‘How often did Clare ride for you?’ I asked.

‘Oh, quite often,’ Austin replied. ‘When she was up at the northern tracks and not riding for Geoff Grubb. These days, I tend to run most of mine on the Yorkshire circuits as many of my owners are from there. I always liked Clare to ride my horses if she could. She rode lots of winners for me.’

‘Yes,’ I said quietly. ‘But how often did she stop them winning for you?’

15

‘What did you say?’ Austin Reynolds said.

‘I asked how often Clare stopped horses for you.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Oh, yes, I think you do,’ I said.

I had watched him intently as the VT of the race had been shown and there had been a distinct smirk of satisfaction on his face.

I was in no doubt whatsoever that Austin Reynolds had known exactly what would happen to Tortola Beach in that race at Doncaster, and that he had been delighted by the outcome.

‘Did you lay Tortola Beach to lose?’ I asked.

‘No. I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said, but he looked worried and sweat had appeared on his brow.

I thought back to what had been written on that white envelope in Clare’s desk: AS AGREED, A.

Had the ‘A’ stood for Austin?

‘And did you pay Clare two thousand pounds for stopping him?’

That shocked him. I could tell from his eyes.

It had been a bit of a guess on my part but I had clearly hit the bull’s-eye.

‘You can’t prove anything,’ he hissed.

‘You think so, do you?’ I said. ‘I wonder if the police can get fingerprints from twenty-pound notes. Or DNA from the stuck-down white envelope they were handed over in.’

He went quite pale.

‘And were you also sleeping with her?’

‘What?’

‘Were you having an affair with my sister?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I wasn’t.’

I was tempted to believe him on this point. He had been genuinely surprised by the question and I didn’t really think that he was Clare’s type, in spite of the fact that she tended to fall for older men. But Austin Reynolds was very much older, some twenty-five years older, and he didn’t much give the impression of being a great Lothario.

‘What are you going to do now?’ Austin asked miserably.

‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘At least, nothing just yet.’

‘So what should I do?’ he said.

‘Whatever you like,’ I said. ‘Running all your horses to win might be a good start.’

He looked at me with uncertainty in his eyes, mixed with a touch of hate and contempt.

‘But what about the money?’ he asked.

‘What about it? You surely don’t want it back?’

‘Not that money,’ he said. ‘The other money.’

‘What other money?’

‘Look, stop playing games with me.’ I thought he was close to tears. ‘I’m talking about the ten thousand you’ve asked for.’

‘I haven’t asked you for anything,’ I said. ‘I was aware that Clare had purposely stopped Tortola Beach from winning but I only realized that you also knew when I watched you looking at the race just now.’

‘Oh, God,’ Austin said. ‘Then who is it?’

‘Who is what?’ I asked.

‘Who is blackmailing me?’