Felix Francis - Crisis

Kate came to the hotel after her work as I was busy looking up some things on the internet.

We sat at one of the garden tables in the warm late-afternoon sunshine, having first a cup of tea, quickly followed by a glass each of chilled white wine.

‘So, have you solved the mystery?’ she asked.

‘I may have,’ I said.

She rubbed her hands together excitedly. ‘Do tell.’

I looked around us. There were people at some of the other garden tables.

‘Not here,’ I said. ‘Later. In private.’

She seemed disappointed and leaned closer towards me.

‘Just speak quietly. No one else will hear.’

But before I could say anything, my phone rang. It was Declan and he was in something of a panic.

‘Harry,’ he said. ‘We’ve had a bit of a disaster. One of the Sheikh’s fillies has got cast in her box.’

‘Cast?’

‘Stuck down with its legs under it and jammed into the base of the wall. It’s rare but it happens sometimes. Just one of those things.’

‘So what’s the disaster?’ I asked.

‘Horses tend to panic and they lash out with any leg they can still move. The filly has done this and I fear she’s broken her fetlock.’

‘How bad is that?’

‘It could be terminal,’ he said. ‘I’ve sent for the vet and put the knacker on standby.’

Just what the Sheikh didn’t need after two deaths already.

‘Could you come and see?’ Declan said.

‘Do I have to?’ I asked.

‘I think so, yes,’ he said. ‘It will have to be your decision to put her down or not.’

‘Won’t the vet decide?’

‘Maybe, but I’d prefer it if you were here to listen to what he has to say. He may be able to set the fetlock and put it in plaster. Even if she couldn’t race, she could still be a brood mare in time. Her breeding’s not bad.’

‘All right,’ I said reluctantly. ‘I’ll be there shortly.’

‘Thanks.’

He hung up.

‘Problems?’ Kate said.

‘One of the Sheikh’s horses has got cast in its box and has apparently broken a fetlock.’

I wasn’t quite sure what a fetlock was but it had to be somewhere on its leg.

‘Oh dear,’ Kate said. ‘That’s awful. It happened to a young colt in one of our boxes a couple of years ago.’

‘What happened to it?’ I asked.

‘It had to be euthanised. We were all very upset in the office.’

‘I’d better get on over to Declan’s. Will you wait for me here?’

‘Can’t I come with you?’

‘No.’ I said it rather more sharply than I had meant to.

‘Why not?’ she sounded pained.

‘I don’t want it to upset you again if the horse has to be put down.’

‘Well, at least let me drive you there,’ she said. ‘I’ll wait outside in the car.’

I smiled at her. ‘That would be great. I’ll just get my jacket. I’d better be smart if I’m representing Sheikh Karim.’

Kate drove me round to Hamilton Road in her Mini.

‘It’ll soon be warm enough to have the top down,’ Kate said. ‘I love the summer.’

‘Park on the road,’ I said.

Kate looked at me.

‘I’ll walk through to the yard.’

Kate pulled up near the yard entrance and I climbed out of the Mini but leaned down to talk to her through the open window.

‘Stay here,’ I said. ‘Lock the car doors and don’t come in under any circumstances. If I’m not back in thirty minutes, call the police.’

She suddenly looked very frightened. ‘Why?’

I smiled at her. ‘Just a precaution,’ I said. ‘Last time I went into a Chadwick yard I ended up being shut in a stable with a mad horse. I’m not keen on repeating the performance.’

‘Then don’t go in,’ she said with a degree of panic in her voice.

‘I’m sure it’ll be fine,’ I said.

She wasn’t much reassured.

‘Please let me come with you.’ She was pleading now.

‘No,’ I said resolutely. ‘Promise me you will stay right here.’

She said nothing.

‘Promise me,’ I said again, quite sternly.

‘All right,’ she replied. ‘I promise, but I don’t like it.’

‘I won’t be long. Back before you know it.’ I smiled at her again but she was far too worried to smile back.

I walked in through the yard entrance but, as another precaution, I dialled DCI Eastwood’s mobile number. He answered at the second ring.

‘Hello, Chief Inspector,’ I said. ‘I may have some information that might be helpful to you in the case.’

‘What sort of information?’ he asked.

‘I’d rather not talk about it at the moment. I’m just arriving at Declan Chadwick’s stable yard. He tells me that one of Sheikh Karim’s horses has been injured and might need to be put down.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

‘But if you hold on I could speak to you later.’

I explained what I wanted.

‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I’ll be here.’

I put my phone carefully into the breast pocket of my jacket and walked into the yard.

Declan was waiting for me.

‘Ah, there you are, Harry,’ he said. ‘This way.’

He walked off and I followed.

‘Is the vet here?’ I asked.

‘Not yet. He’s on his way. I’ve left one of the lads with the horse.’

I looked around. Everywhere was quiet.

‘Have evening stables finished?’ I asked.

‘Always done by six o’clock. Impossible to get staff to stay any later these days. But I go around again after, just to check.’

‘To make sure none are down and cast?’ I asked.

He glanced at me. ‘Exactly.’

We walked on.

‘Oh, by the way,’ I said. ‘I have some good news for you. The police tell me that they have CCTV footage of Zoe catching the train at Newmarket on Sunday afternoon.’

‘That is good news,’ Declan said. ‘I told you so.’

We came to one of the stables where the door was wide open.

‘In here,’ Declan said, standing to one side to allow me to go in first.

There was no mad horse waiting for me inside. Indeed, there was no horse at all, nor any of the stable lads.

Only the Chadwick men, en masse.

Oliver, Ryan and Tony, with Declan coming in behind me and pulling the door shut.

‘What’s this?’ I said with a laugh. ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral?’

None of the four laughed back.

They all seemed quite pleased with themselves that I had walked so tamely into their little trap.

‘I was brought here by a friend,’ I said. ‘She’s waiting for me. The police are also aware that I’m here. It might be difficult to explain away another dead body found in a Chadwick stable. Even if you do set it on fire.’

‘Dead body?’ Oliver said. ‘But we’re not here to kill you.’

‘Then why are you here?’ I asked crossly, going on the offensive. ‘I’ve been lied to. Again. Why is that, Declan? Why did you string me some cock-and-bull story about a horse breaking a fetlock? You, of all people.’

‘We didn’t think you’d come otherwise.’

‘All right,’ I said. ‘So I’m here now. What the hell do you want?’

There was a slight pause as if they hadn’t expected me to be so forthright.

It was Oliver who broke the silence. ‘We want you to leave Newmarket tonight and never come back.’

I stared at him.

‘Well, that isn’t going to happen.’

‘I told you talking to him would be no good,’ Ryan said.

‘So what did you say, Ryan?’ I asked. ‘Perhaps you thought it would be better to break my nose, like you did to Declan.’

‘Shut up,’ Ryan said, taking a stride towards me. And, for the first time, I noticed he was holding something, a riding whip that he now pointed straight at me. Perhaps it wasn’t my nose that he was after, but he was wrong if he thought that the threat of being whipped would stop me.