‘Even if prebooked jockeys are being threatened by the agent into not turning up to ride a horse because the trainer won’t pay the premium?’

He had looked up at me sharply. ‘Have you any evidence of that?’

I did have evidence, but I was wary of giving it to him. If I knew the BHA, and I did, they would go after the jockeys first, rather than the agents.

‘Nothing concrete,’ I’d said vaguely. ‘But perhaps the Authority should issue a notice to all jockeys’ agents reminding them that, in order to keep their licences, there is a requirement for them to be considered as a fit and proper person, and that would be inconsistent with them extorting money from trainers.’

He had nodded. ‘I’ll discuss it with the chairman.’

It was the best I could hope for.

I had purposely not mentioned anything to Toby about Jimmy Shilstone’s or Simon Paulson’s involvement in any wrongdoing.

Jimmy, meanwhile, hadn’t exactly helped the situation by having had a sudden attack of a guilty conscience. He had turned himself in to the police for having had sex with a minor, only for them to find out from the Passport Office that Valance had doctored the copy of the girl’s passport, changing the 1 at the end of her birth year to a 4.

The girl had been telling the truth. She had, indeed, been eighteen.

As there had been no complaint, and no crime, the police had simply told Jimmy to go away and stop wasting their time. I hadn’t heard what his girlfriend had said—that’s if she had even known.

Between her trips to Fryslân, Marina and I had discussed our future.

We had even been to look at two houses for sale in Gerrards Cross—close enough to London for an easy commute but not so close that they were prohibitively expensive—but both of us had slightly baulked at the prospect of moving somewhere that felt so urban and constrictive after the expansive green spaces of Nutwell village and West Oxfordshire.

‘We’ll just have to make it work,’ Marina had said. ‘I will commute each day from Banbury, if that’s the only solution.’

I wasn’t sure if it was the only solution, but I felt it was a much better plan than her spending half of each week staying with Samantha, with her constantly encouraging Marina to leave Sid.

Dutch law states that the funeral must be held between thirty-six hours and five days after a death.

In our case it was four days.

Elmo came again from New York, and we all gathered at the crematorium in Groningen, not far from Marina’s parents’ house.