‘And how about Harry Asquith? Is he under arrest?’

‘He is helping us with our enquiries.’

I laughed. ‘And what does that mean exactly?’

He smiled. ‘He is trying to explain how his family has kept possession of a Boer War officer’s sidearm for more than the past hundred and twenty years.’

‘So you now know that it is definitely his?’

‘Oh, yes. It seems that Mr Asquith has not been very discreet to his family about his ownership of the weapon. He told his wife that he was allowed to have it because it was an antique firearm manufactured before 1919.’

‘And was he allowed to have it?’

‘Not without a firearms certificate, which he hasn’t got.’

‘He tried to kill me with it.’

‘Yes. Tell me about that.’

I went through the details of all that had happened in the castle—my escape from the storeroom, the manhunt through the ruins, and the way that Chico and I had turned the tables from hunted to hunters. I stressed that Chico had only used appropriate force to neutralise Valance.

‘And why, exactly, were you in that storeroom in the first place?’

What did I say? I would have to give him some details.

‘I thought I was going there simply to have a chat to Asquith and Valance about certain things in horse racing. I have my suspicions that they have been trying to manipulate some of the results.’

He would have known that from listening to the recording, but he seemed far less interested in the details of any race fixing than in the violent goings-on, both in the castle and at number 42 Leyburn Road.

‘Tell me about Marcus Capes,’ said the chief inspector.

‘What about him?’

‘How is he involved in this?’

‘He’s a young conditional jockey who Valance has attempted to blackmail into losing races.’

‘So why did he need to go to hospital?’

‘Because he wouldn’t do what they told him to, so Valance broke his collarbone with a baseball bat, or rather his two goons did.’

‘Goons?’

I explained how Valance had two hired musclemen to do his dirty work. I also told him about the two occasions I had come across them, at Catterick races and at my home, and that he could check with Thames Valley Police about the second.

‘Chico Barnes has a picture of their car, including the registration number. He watched them leave Middleham before we went to the castle. And their phone number is in Valance’s phone.’

He wrote it all down.

‘Thank you, Mr Halley. Is there anything else you would like to tell me?’

‘I don’t think so,’ I said.

Jimmy Shilstone and Simon Paulson would have to take their chances.

CHAPTER

39