‘Oh, yes, I think it is my business, especially if you are defrauding other users of the exchange. Have they not worked it out yet?’

‘Worked out what?’

‘That you are laying horses that you know for certain won’t win, something which is, by the way, explicitly against the Rules of Racing if the horse is ridden by a jockey you represent, and the penalty is disqualification from racing for up to ten years.’

I was taking a bit of a punt myself at this point. I had no actual evidence that he was betting against, or laying, the dead-cert losers, but I reckoned he wouldn’t have been able to resist having just a small earner on an exchange every time he had arranged one to lose, even if it wasn’t his main killing.

‘You’re talkin’ nonsense,’ he said, but a distinct shallowing of his breath and a slight tremor in his right foot indicated that I had hit the bull’s-eye.

‘Am I? Well, in that case I’m sure you won’t mind if I ask Betfair to check their records for certain races.’

‘Which races?’ He was, at last, getting a bit flustered.

‘Two at Catterick last Tuesday for a start. Plantagenet King and Night Shadow. Both started favourite and both failed to win. Did you lay them both to lose, Anton? The betting exchange records will show it conclusively.’

He went on staring at me for quite a long time, maybe ten or fifteen seconds, while the cogs in his brain turned over.

‘What do you want?’ he asked finally.

‘I want you and your goons to leave me and my family alone. And if anything happens to me, like my sudden death, or if there is an unexplained fire at my house, then I have instructed my solicitor to refute any suggestions of suicide and to give the package he holds for me to the relevant authorities. The package contains everything I know about your dubious activities and names you specifically as the chief suspect.’

‘Is that all you want?’ he asked.

‘That’s all for now.’

But I’d be back. He could certainly bet on that as a sure thing.

CHAPTER

24

‘WAS THAT WHAT you wanted?’ Chico asked after Valance had scuttled away, out of the steam and back to the changing room.

‘Not really.’ I removed my iPhone from my shorts pocket and switched off the recording. ‘He never said anything remotely incriminating. Nothing that could be of any use as evidence. That’s if this thing is still working after all this heat and damp.’ I wiped some moisture off the screen and put the phone back in my pocket.

‘How about you?’ I asked. ‘Everything go okay?’