break for luncheon. He was annoyed to see Marcus Johnson heading in his direction.
‘Stop right there!’ he ordered, holding up a palm. ‘I’ve told you a hundred times, Marcus. I’m not giving you any advice.’
‘You don’t need to, Hamilton. I’ve got some for you.’
‘Oh?’
‘This is personal,’ said Johnson.
‘How personal?’
‘It concerns Kitty. We need to talk in private.’
‘What’s going on?’
‘I can’t tell you here.’
Fido got up from his chair and the two men left the refreshment room. They found a quiet corner behind the grandstand. Johnson’s face was grim. His normal ebullience had deserted him.
‘Before we go any further,’ he said, ‘I must tell you that Kitty doesn’t know I’m here. In fact, she begged me not to talk to you.’
‘Why not?’
‘You’ll soon understand why.’
‘Is she in trouble of some kind?’ asked Fido.
‘A small problem has arisen, Hamilton.’
‘Problem?’
‘It goes by the name of Lord Hendry,’ said Johnson. ‘I’m sure that you’re aware he once took an interest in Kitty.’
‘In my eyes,’ said the other, ‘it added to her attraction – not that she needed any additional appeal, mark you. I rather relished the idea of snatching her away from Lord Hendry. I can’t wait to dangle Kitty in front of him. It will be the first of two humiliations for the old goat.’
‘What’s the other one?’
‘Having to watch Odysseus being beaten by Merry Legs.’
‘Any other time,’ said Johnson with a half-smile, ‘I’d seize on that as reliable advice about where to place my bets. As it is, Kitty’s welfare comes first.’
‘Why – what’s happened to her?’
Johnson told him about his visit to the house the previous day and how he had sensed that his half-sister was trying to hide something from him. Once he had forced the truth out of her, she had gone on to explain the circumstances of the assault in more detail. He passed them on to Hamilton Fido. Simmering with fury throughout, the bookmaker at last erupted.
‘He actually struck Kitty?’ he said in horror.
‘Across the side of her head with his cane,’ replied Johnson.
‘The bastard!’
‘He went there to bully her into going to the police and ended up attacking her. Apparently, it was the mention of your name that really set him off. Lord Hendry went berserk.’
‘My first instinct was to charge off to confront him but I thought that you ought to know what was going on.’
‘Thank you, Marcus – I’m very grateful.’
‘Lord Hendry’s assault was utterly unforgivable.’
‘Cruel, undeserved and unbecoming a gentleman.’
‘Kitty said that the pain was excruciating.’
‘The old fool will pay for this!’ said Fido.
‘There’s only one thing to decide,’ said Johnson solemnly.
‘Is there?’
‘Who challenges him to a duel first – you or me?’
Brian Dowd had brought a number of horses from Ireland with him and he had moved all of them to the racecourse over the weekend. Robert Colbeck and Victor Leeming found him at the stables allocated to him. He gave them a cheery welcome.
‘The two of you have come this time, have you?’ he said.
‘I didn’t want to get shot at by Seamus,’ joked Leeming, ‘so I made the inspector come with me in order to draw his fire.’
‘Oh, Seamus won’t bother you.’
‘It looks as if you got here safely, Mr Dowd,’ said Colbeck.
‘Yes, the journey was entirely without incident, I’m glad to say. Limerick Lad and the rest of my horses are all safely locked up.’
‘You might consider looking to your own safety, sir.’
‘Why is that, Inspector?’
‘Because you may get an unwelcome visitor,’ said Colbeck. ‘When we left Alfred Stenton a while ago, he was breathing fire through his nostrils.’
Dowd cackled. ‘That’s nothing new for Alfred!’
‘He blames you for what happened at his stables.’
Colbeck went on to tell him about the poisoned water that killed Sidney and how the trainer had immediately identified Dowd as the likely culprit. The Irishman was offended.
‘Accuse me, did he?’ he said indignantly. ‘I haven’t been anywhere near his stables and I certainly didn’t try to get his horse poisoned. Jesus – that’s a terrible crime, to be sure! Horses are wonderful animals. I’d never let one of them suffer like that.’
‘That’s what we told Mr Stenton, sir.’
‘Alfred wants to watch that loud mouth of his.’
‘You and he have often tussled in the past, I believe.’
‘I’ve taken on every trainer in England,’ boasted Dowd, ‘and, as often as not, I’ve put them to shame. When he was a two-year-old, Limerick Lad won the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster. Merry Legs, trained by Alfred Stenton, came in fourth. My horse went on to win the Criterion Stakes at Newmarket and Merry Legs was three lengths behind him. That’s why he’s throwing these foul accusations at me, Inspector. It’s pure spite.’
‘He still reckons that his filly will win the Derby,’ said Leeming.
‘You need three things to do that, Sergeant – the best horse, the best jockey and the best trainer. I have the first two of those things and I happen to be the third.’
‘Thing could still go wrong, sir.’
‘Yes,’ said Colbeck. ‘I watched the Derby one year and a horse ran amok at the start, unsaddling his jockey and causing mayhem among the other runners.’
‘Tim Maguire knows how to keep Limerick Lad out of trouble.’
‘Is there no horse in the field that you fear?’
‘None.’
‘What about Odysseus?’
‘The odds have shortened on the favourite,’ said Leeming. ‘Lord Hendry is so convinced that he’ll win that he’s had Odysseus’s portrait painted. We saw it hanging on the wall of his library.’
Dowd grinned. ‘Then he’ll soon have to take it down,’ he said. ‘As luck happens, I chanced to meet Lord Hendry myself. He’s as bad as Alfred Stenton – he accused me of trying to injure his horse. The nerve of it!’ he went on. ‘I
‘Have any more approaches been made to your jockey?’
‘I’ll say they have, Sergeant Leeming. Two ruffians called on Tim the other night to cudgel him out of the race. We saw them off with a shotgun. I keep my leading jockey well guarded.’
‘Why didn’t you report the attack to us?’ asked Colbeck.
‘We took care of it ourselves.’
‘A serious crime might have been committed. A record should be made of that, Mr Dowd. As soon as there
