I was at the point of running when another voice came from behind me.

“Hello, Teddy Talbot. You all right?” I turned and breathed a huge sigh of relief. The big man from the betting ring was staggering up the parking lot towards me, together with his band of brothers. “You in need of some help?” he said, only slightly slurring his words.

I turned back to the two bullyboys.

“That would be great,” I said. “I think these two men are just leaving.”

I stared straight at them, and, finally, they decided to give up and go. Luca and I stood surrounded by the cavalry, and we watched as the two men walked across to a black BMW 4× 4 and drove away through the archway and out onto the London Road. I made a mental note of the number plate.

“Were those boys troubling you?” asked my mate, the large guy.

“Some people will do anything to get their losses back from a bookie,” I said somewhat flippantly. “But, thanks to your lot, they didn’t manage it today.”

“You mean those two were trying to rob you,” said another of the group.

“They certainly were,” I said, but not quite in the way I’d made out.

“You should have said so. I’m a policeman.”

He produced his warrant card from his pocket, and I read it: PC Nicholas Boucher, Northamptonshire Constabulary. Off duty, I presumed, in multicolored tropical shirt, baggy shorts and flip-flops.

“I got their car registration,” I said.

“Good,” said PC Boucher. “Now, what exactly did they say to you? Did they demand their money back?”

“Well, no,” I said. “They hadn’t quite, and you guys turning up must have frightened them away before they had a chance to. And I’m only assuming that’s what they wanted. It wouldn’t have been the first time.”

“Oh,” he said, rather disappointed. His case was evaporating before his eyes.“Not much I can do if they hadn’t actually demanded any money from you. But did they threaten you?”

“They looked quite threatening to me,” I said.

“We can’t exactly arrest people for just looking threatening, now can we?” he said ironically.

“No,” I said. “I suppose I can see that. But I’d love to know who they were so I can watch out and avoid them in the future.”

“What was their vehicle registration?” he asked.

I gave it to him.

“No promises,” he said. “It’s against the rules, really.”

He took his mobile phone from his pocket and called a number.

“Jack,” he said into the phone. “Nick Boucher here. Can you do a vehicle check? Registration victor-kilo-five-five-zulu november-victor.” He waited for a while. “Yes,” he said. Then he listened again. “Thanks,” he said finally, and hung up.

“Sorry. That vehicle is registered to a company, not to an individual, so it won’t really help you.”

“Which company?” I asked him.

“Something called HRF Holdings Limited,” he said. “Ever heard of them?”

“No,” I said. I looked at Luca, who said nothing but shrugged his shoulders. “Thanks anyway.”

“Are you guys going to be all right from now on?” said PC Boucher. “I’ve got to get this bunch of drunks home. I’m the designated driver.”

“Yes,” I said. “Thanks.”

“See you next time, Teddy,” said the big guy, staggering a little and giving me a wave. I watched his group lurch over to a white minibus and fall into it. The passengers all waved enthusiastically at me through the windows as poor, sober PC Boucher drove them away. I waved back at them, laughing.

“HRF Holdings,” said Luca. “Do we know them?”

“Not by that name,” I said.

“What, then?” he asked.

“I believe HRF Holdings Limited is a parent company,” I said. “And I think I know one of its children.”

It took me less than an hour to get home, including a few extra trips around the roundabouts to ensure that I wasn’t being followed by a certain black BMW 4× 4 containing a couple of heavies.

I couldn’t see anyone following me, but they wouldn’t have actually needed to. I was sure that whoever their “boss” might be, he would have been able to find out where I lived with ease if he’d wanted to. My name and address were on the electoral rolls, for a start, and I hadn’t bothered to tick the box to keep that information secret.

Consequently, I drove up and down Station Road a couple of times to see if the BMW was parked up somewhere awaiting my arrival. There was no sign of it, but I couldn’t check every street in Kenilworth.

I parked the car in the space in front of the house and made it safely, unchallenged, to my front door.

“Hello,” said Sophie, coming to meet me. “Had a good time?”

“Very,” I said. “I always like Towcester, especially the evening meetings.”

“Hiya,” said Alice, coming out of the kitchen with a glass of white wine in each hand. She gave one of them to Sophie with a smile. I wasn’t sure that drinking alcohol was necessarily a good idea on top of her medication, but I wasn’t going to say so. For now, it was far more important that the truce between the sisters was still holding firm.

They had been out in Alice’s car when I had left for the races, and I thought they might have been to see their parents in spite of telling me that they were off to Leamington Spa for the shopping. However, there was no sign of the agitation that Sophie normally displayed after such a visit, so I wasn’t certain. And I wasn’t going to ask. We went into the kitchen.

“Have you had a good day?” I asked them.

“Lovely,” Sophie said without elaborating.

“So what time did you get back?”

“About seven.”

“Have you eaten?” I looked at my watch, it was now past ten.

“We have,” said Sophie. “But I’ve kept some for you. I know you’re always hungry when you get home after an evening meeting.”

I suppose it was true, but it didn’t mean I always had something to eat. During the past five months, I had more often than not had a stiff shot of Scotch and gone straight to bed.

“And we’ve been at the crisps and dip,” said Alice with a giggle.

And the white wine, I thought, though, to be fair, Sophie seemed pretty sober even if Alice was obviously quite tipsy.

“Do you know anything about a rucksack?” Sophie asked casually as she stood at the cooker reheating my supper.

“What?” I said sharply,

“A rucksack,” she said again. “A man came here. Said he wanted to collect a rucksack. He said you knew about it.”

“What sort of rucksack?” I said, rather flustered.

“A black-and-red rucksack,” she said. “The man told us you were looking after it for him. He was quite persistent, I can tell you. I don’t think he liked it much when I told him I knew nothing about it.”

Oh God, I thought.

“So you didn’t give it to him?” I asked her.

“No, of course not,” she said. “I didn’t even know we had a black-and-red rucksack. Where is it?”

“In the cupboard under the stairs,” I said. “Did the man try and get into the house?”

“No,” she said, slightly perturbed by the question. “Why would he?”

“I just wondered, that’s all,” I said. “So tell me, what happened?”

“I told him to go away and come back when you were at home.”

“We then locked the house up tight, opened a bottle and waited for you to get back,” said Alice with a smile. They were both remarkably calm about the man’s visit. Probably because they didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation. But why would they?

“When was this?” I asked.

“Round eight o’clock,” Sophie said.

“Can you describe the man?” I said to both of them.

“He was rather creepy,” said Alice.

“In what way was he creepy?” I asked.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “He just was. And he was wearing his hood up, and a scarf. Now, I reckon you’ve got to be up to no good to be doing that on a night as hot as this.”

“Could you see his eyes?” I asked. “Were they set rather close together?”

“Yes,” said Alice, throwing a hand up in the air almost excitedly. “That’s it. That’s exactly why I thought he was creepy.”