Be Careful What You Wish For (10 page)

‘Damn.’ I picked up a pen and doodled on my pad. ‘Did you know that Carl and Deborah were in the middle of a messy divorce?’

‘Yes. But I didn’t really think it had a bearing on the bank robbery.’

‘Probably not.’ I carried on doodling. ‘And if Carl died, his estate went to his niece, Amy, not Deborah.’

‘I’ve already checked out that angle. Amy has a rock solid alibi. The pathologist who did the autopsy on Carl said he died late on Saturday night. Amy had been staying with a friend from university from Friday night until we spoke to her today. The friend’s parents backed her up. She’s been there studying the whole time.’

‘Double damn. That’s another theory out the window.’ I tapped my pen against my lips. ‘So Carl was killed shortly after he turned up at the fight, then.’

‘Yes. And speaking of alibis, Lee has one for the time of the robbery, too,’ Romeo said. ‘I found out he was away in Spain for the weekend when the robbery took place.’

‘Very convenient. It doesn’t mean he didn’t mastermind the whole thing, though.’

‘No. But we’re no further forward on the case. I’m still waiting for forensics and tech to come up with anything useful.’

‘So you haven’t found anything suspicious from the bank’s computers yet?’ I glanced up at Hacker who’d just sat down. I wasn’t about to tell Romeo that Hacker was looking into that, too. I was betting Hacker would get that information before the police tech guys did.

‘Not yet.’

‘Did you know Carl had five million pounds in an offshore account in South Africa?’ I went into doodling overdrive.

‘No.’

Hmm. Tech guys nil, Hacker one. ‘You saw the passport and suitcase at his house. I think he was probably fleeing.’

‘Too late now, though,’ Romeo said.

‘Do you know what was in the safety deposit boxes that were broken into?’

‘We had a bit of a late start finding out who owned the boxes to begin with. We had to get a court order in the end to force the bank to tell us. They were spouting off about client confidentiality and all that rubbish.’

‘No surprise there,’ I said. ‘I bet there was a whole heap of dodgy stuff in those boxes.’

‘I finally got the list through from the bank this morning,’ Romeo said. ‘We’ve managed to check out a handful of box owners, but most of them said there was nothing in there of any value and refused to tell us what they had hidden in them.’

‘Triple damn.’ Well, that wasn’t going to stop me trying with my list. I waited for Romeo to tell me about Vinnie’s safety box. He didn’t, and I wondered what else he was keeping from me in this investigation. Obviously, our usual information swapping system was waning since we weren’t discussing it in the bedroom any more. ‘Has anyone been found dead with a missing nose?’ I asked casually.

‘A what?’ he practically shrieked at me.

‘You know – the thing on the front of your face that you smell with.’

There was a silence, and I imagined him staring at the ceiling before trusting himself to speak. ‘What have you got yourself into now?’

‘Not much, really. I just got sent a nose in the post.’

There was a pause that went on so long I thought he’d hung up. ‘Sometimes I don’t get you at all,’ he said.

I didn’t know if he meant that in a good way or a bad way, but I suspected it was the latter. It wasn’t exactly my fault, though, was it? I mean, it wasn’t like I’d
asked
someone to send me a nose. I could think of much nicer presents. A holiday home in Hawaii perhaps, or, failing that, a lifetime’s supply of chocolate.

‘I’ll look into it. And, Amber – I know I say this every time – but be careful.’ Then he hung up.

I glanced down at the pad I’d been doodling on and realized it was full of hearts. What did that mean? Did hearts really mean hearts if you doodled them absent-mindedly, or were they really a code for something else?

 I ripped off the sheet of paper and threw it in the bin.

Hacker eyed me over the desk. ‘Problem?’

I rolled my eyes. ‘When is my life not a problem?’

‘I found out about the other big bets placed on the Levi fight.’

‘Great.’

‘Well, not so great. None of the names check out. Apart from Edward Kinghorn’s bets, none of the others placed were from real people. None of them actually existed.’

I chewed on my lip. ‘Hmm. Have they all been claimed?’

Hacker nodded.

‘Where were the bets placed?’

‘All over the country. I’ve double-checked and none were placed at Bet-it.’ Hacker smiled – a flash of white and gold.

‘I think it’s pretty safe to say they were all done on behalf of Vinnie and his cronies then. Vinnie wouldn’t put bets on at Lee’s bookies if he knew he was getting a massive payout and Lee would be out of pocket.’ I raised an eyebrow and grabbed my rucksack. ‘I’m going to see Ricky Jackson. He might have heard what Carl Thomas was shouting at Levi.’

****

Ricky Jackson was having a massage at his gym when I tracked him down. I only had to wait a few minutes before he appeared from a side room, dressed in shorts and trainers with a towel draped around his neck. Everything I knew about boxing could be written on a gnat’s eyelid, but even I could see he wasn’t a match for Levi. From what I’d seen of Ricky so far, he didn’t look as fit, his punches weren’t as powerful, and he didn’t look as good in satin shorts.

I wondered if he knew Levi was going to throw the fight and that’s why Ricky decided to go head-to-head with him. I suspected he would’ve got his ass whooped in any other circumstances.

Ricky’s trainer handed him a bottle of water. He took it and had a quick glug before walking towards me.

‘Hi, Ricky. I’m Amber from Levi’s insurance company. Can I ask you a few questions about the fight on Saturday?’

 ‘Sure.’ Ricky wiped at his forehead with the towel.

‘Did you see the guy who turned up outside the ring, shouting at Levi?’

‘No. I was too busy trying to get Levi with a right hook. I heard a commotion, but…’ he shrugged, ‘I’ve been trained not to let anything outside of the ring distract me. When I get inside the ring, I’ve got my tunnel vision thing going on.’

Exactly. So what was so important that it distracted Levi? ‘You didn’t hear what the guy said, then?’

He stopped rubbing and hung onto the edges of the towel. ‘No. I didn’t hear a thing.’

‘Did you know Levi was supposed to throw the fight?’ I kept my eyes locked on his face, ready for any telltale sign that he was lying.

Ricky’s jaw fell open. ‘What?’ He shook his head in an angry gesture. ‘No way. I won it fair and square. Levi was slightly up on points before he went down, but I would’ve knocked him out eventually. No. I don’t believe it. This is a joke, right?’ Either Ricky was an Oscar winning actor in his spare time or it had come as a big shock to him.

‘No. I wish it was,’ I said.

His facial muscles hardened and he walked away. ‘You’re crazy.’

‘It’s true, Ricky,’ I said to his back.

He stopped and spun around. ‘So, you’re really trying to say I won by accident? That shouting thing was staged so I’d be able to knock him out?’ Ricky’s voice got louder and his eyes widened. ‘Well, what the…’ He trailed off, thinking. ‘No. I don’t get it. Levi is probably the best boxer I know. He hasn’t been heavyweight champion for four years for nothing. Why would he do that? He’s only twenty-four. He’s got tons more fights left in him. Why risk getting caught intentionally throwing a fight and being banned for life?’

‘That’s what I’m trying to find out. But the thing is…Levi was supposed to throw it in the eighth round, not the sixth.’

Ricky’s forehead scrunched up. ‘So why did he go down in the sixth? You’ve got to be wrong about this. Levi would never throw a fight. And I can’t believe I didn’t win it fairly.’

‘I’m thinking that the distraction caused by Carl Thomas shouting wasn’t planned at all. It was very real, and it caused Levi to lose his concentration.’ I paused, giving this some thought. ‘What do you know about Levi?’

‘I can’t take this in. I’m in shock.’ He sighed. ‘Levi’s a great guy. He’s honest, reliable, dedicated to boxing, and he’s a family man. I just…can’t believe he’d intentionally throw a fight.’

‘Why not? Everyone has their price, don’t they?’

‘Not Levi. Boxing was his life. If there was even a sniff that he’d been acting improperly, the British Boxing Board would’ve pulled his license to fight.’ Levi sat down on a weight bench and glanced up at me. ‘I used to train with Levi back when we were kids. I tell you, he had so much determination to be world heavyweight champ. It’s all he ever wanted. Whatever his reason for throwing that fight, if he did, it must’ve been pretty important.’

‘Has Levi ever spoken to you about the contract he has with Vinnie Dawson?’ I asked.

‘As far as I knew, Levi signed a great deal with Vinnie. Levi should’ve been made for life if he carried on winning.’

I tilted my head and thought about what he’d just said. Something didn’t make sense, because Terry seemed to think Levi signed a contract that wasn’t in his favour. And if that was the case, where had all the money gone? ‘His trainer thinks that Levi was manipulated into signing a dodgy contract.’

A light bulb seemed to click on behind Ricky’s eyes. ‘Oh, yes. That’s right.’ Ricky nodded to himself. ‘I think that was afterwards.’

‘After what?’

‘I haven’t spoken to Levi properly in years. We were close friends when we were younger. He turned pro right around the same time as me, and we kind of lost touch after that.’ He glanced around the gym. Two fighters sparred in the ring. You could feel the heat and tension coming off them a mile away. Ricky watched them work while he talked. ‘You don’t have much spare time when you’re trying to stay on top of your game. After Levi signed the original contract with Vinnie, he got his first shot at the heavyweight title. But after he won, Levi seemed to change.’

‘In what way?’

He shrugged. ‘I don’t know exactly. I think he made some stupid decisions. Levi won the title fight. He knocked his opponent out two minutes into the first round and Vinnie held a huge party for him afterwards. There were hundreds of people there, and I guess Levi was on top of the world. It was something he’d dreamed about constantly since he was a kid.’

‘You were at this party?’

Ricky paused for a moment. ‘Yes.’

‘When was it?’

‘It was February the fourteenth, four years ago. I remember because my girlfriend wanted me to take her out for a romantic meal, but I wanted to help Levi celebrate. I didn’t get to celebrate much with him, though. By the time I got there he’d already had way too much to drink.’

‘Is that unusual for an athlete? Drinking?’

‘It was for Levi. He was wasted that night. I guess the excitement got the better of him because he was so dedicated to keeping fit, the only time I ever saw him drink was after he won a fight to celebrate,’ he said. ‘Anyway, after that I heard rumours that Levi had signed another contract with Vinnie, and this one wasn’t anywhere near as good as the first one.’

I gnawed on my lip, taking everything in and thinking. ‘Do you know what was in the second one?’

Ricky shook his head. ‘I never saw much of Levi after the night of the party, so I don’t know for certain. I just heard it on the boxing grapevine.’

‘Is it unusual for a boxer to sign a new contract after he’s won a title fight?’

‘It’s not unusual. The unusual thing is that after he won the fight, he should’ve been more of a hot property. His worth should’ve gone up, and he should’ve been able to negotiate an even better contract, not a worse one. He must’ve been crazy.’

 Yeah, either crazy or Vinnie was threatening him or blackmailing him into signing a new one. All Levi had wanted was to be heavyweight champion of the world. But at what cost?

Be careful what you wish for.

Chapter 6

I left the gym and steered my car in the direction of Levi’s house. Maybe what was in his contract with Vinnie was the key to this whole thing, but, as yet, I didn’t have a clue what that could be. Anyone with half a brain knew that Vinnie was bad news. The only thing Vinnie was interested in was Vinnie. I could understand Levi being a hungry young boxer, dying to get a shot at a title fight, but if he was such a hot property once he’d won the world title, like Ricky had said, why would he sign a contract that was less favourable than the original one?

Letitia swung the door open again. Same unkempt look, minus the glass of brandy.

She sighed before I’d even said anything. ‘You again.’ She looked about as pleased to see me as she would if a suicide bomber turned up on her doorstep. She let out a loud sigh. ‘I suppose you want to see Levi.’ She pulled the door open and jerked her head inside.

‘How are you?’ I asked. It wasn’t really a question. I could tell by her red-rimmed eyes and unsteady feet how she was, and it wasn’t good.

She avoided my eyes, and my question, and instead, pointed up the stairs. ‘You know the way.’ She stumbled off into the kitchen, and I heard her opening cupboards and the clink of glass.

I bounded up the stairs to Levi’s room. I knocked on the door and said, ‘Hello,’ before he told me to come in.

He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The eye patch was gone now, although the cut around his eye was still red and swollen and the eye was bloodshot. This time he was dressed in joggers and a sweatshirt.

‘Hi. How are you feeling?’ I pulled out the stool from the aged dressing table and sat down – a subtle message that this time I wasn’t going anywhere until I got some answers.

Levi shuffled into a sitting position. He didn’t look too pleased to see me again. An occupational hazard, I guess.

‘Not too bad. I thought I answered everything yesterday.’ He kept his gaze as steady on me as he could with a sore eye, but there was a small quiver in the corner of his lips.

‘Well, that would depend on your definition of “everything”.’ I raised a doubtful eyebrow at him and stared him down. I could win a staring contest any day.

He looked away first. What did I tell you?

I folded my arms. ‘Somehow you have a connection to Carl Thomas and Kinghorn Thomas Bank, which just so happened to be robbed recently. Funny that, because I don’t believe in coincidences. And you are just the king of coincidences at the moment. I think you know exactly what Carl was shouting at you at the fight.’

Levi’s gaze fell to the floor.

‘He found out something about you, didn’t he? Something bad that happened. And Vinnie knows what it is, too, doesn’t he? Whatever this thing is, Vinnie found out and blackmailed you into signing a contract that wasn’t in your best interests.’

Levi’s face took on a haunted look then. He was scared, but not as scared as he’d been when Carl was shouting. ‘My contract’s not that bad. You have to take what you can get when you’re starting out.’

‘But you weren’t just starting out. You already had a contract with Vinnie when you won your first world title fight four years ago. You signed another one after that, and the new one was even worse than the first. Why?’

He looked up at me, eyes ablaze. ‘Don’t you come in here thinking you know everything about me or the boxing industry.’ A minute spray of spit landed on his lips. ‘It’s a hard industry to succeed in. You don’t understand. It’s complicated. If you have the wrong promoter, it can delay your chances of getting a shot at a title fight. They control the industry. Not me.’

‘So you’re saying you just did what you had to for your career? You weren’t being blackmailed into signing a new contract?’ I waited for an answer.

He narrowed his eyes slightly. ‘That’s right.’

But I wasn’t convinced at all. That was lie number two he’d just told me.

‘OK,’ I said in a tone that implied I didn’t believe him in the slightest. ‘Why did you agree to throw the fight in the eighth round?’

That caught him by surprise. His jaw dropped, and he glanced at the door. If he was thinking of running, I wouldn’t mind trying out my Amber Fox rugby tackle special on him. Actually, on second thought, maybe not. He was a hell of a lot bigger than me, and he could hit harder.

‘I wasn’t going to throw the fight.’

Lie number three. I’d better stop counting now before I ended up with no fingers left to count.

‘If I was supposed to go down in the eighth round, why did I go down in the sixth?’ He was sending me mixed signals. His shoulders tensed with anger, but his eyes pleaded with me not to go any further with this.

Too late. When I get my teeth stuck into a case, I’m a Fox with a bone. ‘Because of Carl distracting you. Whatever he said was enough to scare you.’

He shook his head and breathed deeply. ‘Are you going to tell the British Boxing Board? They’ll investigate me.’

‘Not yet,’ I said. I figured that a Boxing Board investigation was probably the least of his worries. It wasn’t like he could fight again anyway with the damage to his eye, and I suspected that was going to be punishment enough for him agreeing to throw the fight.

No, there was something far more important going on with Levi. And if boxing was his life, and he agreed to risk it all by committing the ultimate unsporting act, then it must be something huge. What did that leave? Some kind of problem with money, family, or friends. People described Levi as a good guy and a family man, but from what I’d seen, his wife was desperately unhappy, and a good guy would never intentionally give up a career he loved and embarrass his sport. So what was it?

I sighed. ‘Look, I can help you, Levi. Whatever it is, I want to help.’

He didn’t speak for a long time, and I thought he hadn’t heard me. A long time later his voice dropped to a whisper. ‘No one can help me.’

‘Where’s all the money gone from the fights?’ I asked.

His shoulders gave a defeated shrug and he slumped like a balloon that had just had all the air let out. ‘I’m not a flash person. I’ve got money invested in things. And I’m not paid as much as you’d think.’

Twenty million for a fight seemed pretty much to me. Which led me back to the dodgy contract that he wouldn’t elaborate on, so I tried a different direction. ‘Did you have anything to do with the safety deposit box robbery at Kinghorn Thomas?’

He gasped. ‘I’m a boxer, not a bank robber. How could I rob a bank?’

‘With the help of Vinnie’s cousin, Lee. He’s got previous for it.’

‘I’ve got an alibi for the time of that robbery.’

Interesting that he knew exactly when the robbery was. I waited for him to tell me his so-called alibi.

‘I was at a health farm for the weekend in Scotland. That’s where I always train before my fights.’

 Hmm. If that was true, it threw my little scenario out the window then. He couldn’t drive two-hundred and sixty odd miles up there and back again without someone noticing.

‘Did you know that Carl Thomas was murdered after he turned up at the fight?’

Levi carried on staring out the window. His face was in profile, so I couldn’t study him properly to see if he was going to tell me another lie.

‘No.’ His voice came out barely a whisper.

‘Why didn’t you tell me the doctor said you’d never be able to fight again?’

His shoulders sagged. ‘I don’t want the whole world to know that yet. I haven’t come to terms with it myself. Please don’t tell anyone.’ His tone sounded pleading and desperate.

‘Fair enough. I can understand that,’ I said. ‘Have you got kids?’ I hadn’t noticed any pictures of children or toys hanging around. But if Vinnie had been threatening Levi about his kids, then I could possibly understand him caving in to a bad contract.

‘No.’ He looked up at me with watery, sad eyes. ‘We wanted to, but Letitia couldn’t have them.’

That part I did believe. There was no hesitation there. His voice was sincere, and not a flicker of a lie on his face. He couldn’t fake that kind of sadness.

‘Do you and Letitia have a good relationship?’

He nodded.

‘She thinks you’re having an affair.’

‘I’d never have an affair.’

‘Just like you’d never throw a fight?’ I raised my eyebrows. ‘What were you referring to when you said you wanted to “make things right” and “live up to your responsibilities”?’

He shrugged. ‘I don’t remember saying that.’

I stared him down again until he looked away and gazed back out of the window. ‘Why did you take out life insurance a few weeks ago? I hate to point this out, but it seems like you’re worth more dead than alive.’ I glanced around the sparse room.

‘It’s not a crime to take out life insurance.’ He was back to defensive again.

‘Was Vinnie feeding sporting tip-offs to Edward Kinghorn and Carl Thomas so they could bet big money on a sure thing?’

‘I don’t know anything about that.’ He turned to look at me again.

 ‘It’s weird, you know,’ I said. ‘Vinnie had a safety deposit box at Kinghorn Thomas. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?’

His eye started twitching, only a slight twitch, mind you, but it was enough to tell me he already knew that.

‘What was in it?’ I asked.

‘I don’t have a clue. You’d have to ask Vinnie that.’ He touched the corner of his eye, massaging it.

I stood up. ‘Don’t worry. I will.’ I nodded to him. ‘You get better soon now.’ I clicked the door shut and headed downstairs.

 Letitia was pouring a hefty glug of brandy in a tumbler. At this rate, she’d be causing a local brandy shortage single-handedly.

She turned, caught my eye, and shrugged. ‘I know what you’re thinking.’

‘Look, Letitia, whatever is going on with you and Levi, I want to help.’

She blew a forceful breath through her nose. ‘That’s what they all say. That’s what Vinnie always said. And look at us now. You just want to manipulate Levi like all the rest.’

I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, staring deep into her eyes. ‘You can trust me. But I can’t help you unless you tell me what the problem is.’

A tear rolled from her eyes and streaked down her cheek. She stared at me, weighing up what I’d just said. She wiped her cheek with the heel of her hand and took a sip of brandy. She wiggled the glass at me. ‘Do you want one?’

It was a bit early in the day for me, but I agreed to try and set her at ease. I sat down at the kitchen table as she poured me a shot. Waiting until she’d sat down too, I asked her, ‘What does Levi think about your drinking problem?’ I eyed her brandy glass.

‘It’s not a problem. I can stop anytime I want.’ She cupped the glass protectively and her shoulders slumped. ‘He hates it. He’s never touched a drop since the night he got flat-out drunk when he won his first title fight four years ago.’

‘Do you know what’s in Levi’s contract with Vinnie?’

‘Not exactly. I know we don’t get paid hardly anything from Levi’s fights.’ She let out a bitter laugh. ‘Look at this place. We should be living the life of luxury.’ She took a long gulp of brandy, swirled it around in her mouth as if savouring the kick and swallowed. ‘Levi does all the hard work and look what we’ve got to show for it.’

‘So why did he sign it?’ I took a sip of brandy and felt the burning liquid sear my throat. Don’t get me wrong, I liked a drink, but it was far too early for super-strength spirits.

‘I don’t know. He said it was the only way. He said Vinnie had the power to make or break his career. I guess he was young and stupid.’

I doubted very much that Levi was stupid. He didn’t seem at all stupid to me. More like scared.

‘Do you think Vinnie blackmailed him into signing it?’ I said.

Her mouth formed into an angry pucker. ‘Blackmail him about what?’ She looked around the room again. ‘What you see is what you get. We don’t have any skeletons in our cupboards.’

‘Do you really think Levi is having an affair? He say’s he’d never do that to you.’

She took a swig of brandy. ‘I don’t know, but something’s going on with him lately. He’s been sneaking out of the house a lot and lying to me. He tells me he’s going to the gym, but when I ring to speak to him there, he’s never even been in. Maybe you can find out.’ She grabbed my arm, clutching it with a strength that belied her fragility.