‘And did Valance just stand by and watch while the other two did all this?’ I waved my hand at the lines of ketchup on his bed.

‘Stand by and watch? Don’t make me laugh. He bloody directed it. He told them exactly what to do. He kept saying, very calmly, that it was a real shame they had to smash the place up and hurt me, but it was my own fault. He said that if I’d done what I was told, I’d have been left alone. He also told me that, because I had twice disregarded his instructions, he had to do something to me that I’d remember, so that in future I would know what to expect if I defied him again.’

‘And will you?’ I asked.

‘Will I what?’

‘Defy him again?’

He looked up at me, wincing slightly from the pain in his shoulder.

‘Too bloody right I will.’

I smiled at him. He was clearly a boy after my own heart.

CHAPTER

34

I DECIDED TO WAIT with Marcus in his room until Chico called. The last thing I wanted to do was walk straight into the three I had seen leaving here or, worse still, call Chico’s phone when he was secretly watching them.

I managed to get Marcus up off the floor, and he sat on the arm of his armchair while I fashioned a towel into a makeshift sling. He grimaced as I ran my finger along the skin above the bone and I could feel the break move due to the pressure I applied. As far as I could tell, the bone seemed to be lined up in the correct place, with the broken ends touching, but he would probably need an X-ray in hospital to confirm it.

I had broken my collarbones on several occasions during my own riding career—three times on one side and two on the other. It was a common injury for jockeys, mostly as a result of one instinctively putting out a hand when falling from a horse. Unless it was a very serious break, say with bits of the bone sticking out through the skin, there was not much the medics would do except put your arm in a sling and wait for nature to do its stuff.

While Marcus sat there feeling sorry for himself, I did my best to pick up some of the smashed glass and crockery from the floor.

‘Doris is going to be livid about her carpet,’ he said. ‘And God knows what Mr Kline will say when he finds out I can’t ride.’

‘Tell him that you hadn’t realised anything was wrong after your fall from Jahaz Bar until you got home and your shoulder started hurting.’