Bloodline

I sat there thinking about Austin Reynolds and what he had said about being blackmailed. Someone else must have known about his involvement with the race fixing.

Had it been Toby Woodley? Was that why he’d been killed?

Where, I wondered, had Austin Reynolds been at nine o’clock last Wednesday evening? Could he have been in the car park at Kempton races, murdering Toby to save having to pay his blackmail demands?

But that didn’t make any sense. Not half an hour ago, when I’d confronted him, Austin had clearly thought that it must have been me who was blackmailing him. So why would he think that if he’d believed Toby was responsible, and to the point of murdering him?

No. There had to be a fourth party involved. At least. And that was assuming Toby’s death had indeed been something to do with the race-fixing story in the first place, something that was by no means certain.

I used my mobile to call Detective Chief Inspector Perry at ten o’clock, as he’d requested.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.

‘Tired,’ I said. ‘I didn’t get to bed until four, and I was up again at six thirty.’

‘I heard from the hospital that they sent you home. Where are you now?’

‘Newmarket racecourse,’ I said. ‘I’m working here and will be for the rest of the day.’

‘Doing what?’ he asked.

‘I present the racing on television. We’re covering Newmarket this afternoon.’

‘Is that why you asked me last night if I followed racing?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I thought you might have seen me if you did.’

‘Sorry, no.’ He didn’t sound very sorry. ‘Is your voice better?’

‘It’s a lot better now than last night, thank you.’ But I was glad I wasn’t commentating. ‘Did you find any fingerprints in my car?’

‘Masses of them,’ he said. ‘We now have to find out if any of them belong to our strangler. We’ll do a computerized criminal records comparison first, but we may need to eliminate anyone who’s recently been in the back of your car.’

I thought about Nicholas and Brendan, and also the paramedic. All three of them had been in the back after the attack, to say nothing of the firemen who’d cut off the car roof.

‘How about the rope?’

‘A search of the area revealed nothing. He must have taken it with him. Maybe it was a scarf or something.’

‘You said you wanted a witness statement,’ I said.

‘Yes, please,’ he replied. ‘I’ll send my sergeant over to take it now.’

‘How long will it take?’ I asked.

‘That depends, Mr Shillingford, on how much you have to say.’

‘How much do you want me to say?’

‘Everything that is relevant. Especially what you can remember after going out to your car.’

‘I have a production meeting here at eleven o’clock and I’m going to be pretty busy after that until we go off-air at four twenty. Can’t I just write out a statement rather than have your sergeant take it down? I could do it now on my laptop and e-mail it to you.’

‘Could you print it out and sign it? And also have your signature witnessed? My sergeant will then collect it in about an hour.’

‘No problem,’ I said. ‘I’ll leave it in the racecourse office.’

‘Right. Do that. If I need anything further I’ll leave a message on this number.’

‘What about my car?’ I said. ‘What happens to that now?’

‘The forensic boys are still going over it. They’re apparently now looking for material fibres.’

I laughed. ‘I don’t think the inside of that car has been cleaned out since I’ve had it, and that’s about eight years. There must be handfuls of material fibres present, and dog hairs, sweet papers and God knows what else.’

‘Forensics will bag everything just in case it’s needed later.’

‘Then what?’ I asked.

‘I suppose it’s then yours to take away, but it’s rather badly bashed in at the front and it has no roof. I saw it this morning in the compound. It would cost more to repair than a car of that age is worth, and you know what insurance companies are like, it would be better for them to write it off completely.’

But not, of course, better for me. I would end up with a paltry sum from the insurers and no car. I sighed. Was it time to get a new car as well as a new house? How about a new girlfriend?

Next I called the number that Emily had given me at the party. She answered at the second ring.

‘I thought you might be asleep,’ I said.

‘I should be,’ she replied.

‘Did you watch the show?’

‘I only saw the last bit of it. I now wish I’d stayed with you instead of coming back here with Angela. But I think she was glad I didn’t.’

‘And how are all the sweet young things this morning?’

‘Hungover, mostly. The party may have ended prematurely, thanks to you, but if Angela thought that had stopped them drinking, she was much mistaken. They must have had bottles stashed away somewhere. Half of them are still incapable of walking properly.’

‘That’s because of their high heels.’

She laughed. I liked that.

‘What are you doing for the rest of the day?’ I asked.

‘What would you like me to do?’

‘How about coming to the races?’

‘Love to,’ she said.

I was suddenly very excited.