Dead Heat - By Dick Francis & Felix Francis Page 0,53

to have, mine or theirs.’

‘Maybe someone is jealous of your success,’ said Caroline.

‘I’ve thought of that too, but I can’t think who. It just doesn’t make any sense.’ I took a sip of my wine. ‘I have another wild theory but it sounds so daft.’

‘Try me,’ she said, leaning forward and giving my heart another lurch. Keep your eyes up, I told myself.

‘I have begun to wonder if the poisoning at the dinner and the bombing of the racecourse are in some way linked,’ I said. ‘I know it sounds stupid, but I am simply searching for anything that might explain why anyone would purposely poison more than two hundred and fifty people.’

‘How do you mean, they are linked?’ she asked.

‘Well,’ I said, ‘and I may be crazy, but suppose the dinner was poisoned so that someone wouldn’t be at the races on the Saturday afternoon so they wouldn’t get blown up by the bomb.’

‘Why does that make you crazy?’ she said. ‘Sounds eminently sensible to me.’

‘But it would mean that, contrary to all accepted opinion, the bomb hit the target it was meant to. It would mean it was not aimed at the Arab prince, and all the newspapers are wrong.’

‘Why does it mean that?’ she said.

‘Because if someone was prepared to poison the food the night before the bombing, they surely would know by then that the occupants of the box to be bombed had been changed several days earlier. Also, I don’t think that anyone who was at the dinner would have been scheduled to be in the prince’s box as the newspapers say that his entire entourage flew in on the morning of the race. However, seven people who were meant to be in the bombed box for lunch didn’t turn up on the day, and I know for a fact that at least three of those were missing due to being poisoned the night before.’

‘Wow!’ she said. ‘Who else have you told this to?’

‘No one,’ I said. ‘I wouldn’t know who to tell. Anyway, I would be afraid they would laugh at me.’

‘But why would they?’

‘Haven’t you read the papers?’ I said. ‘The reports all week have been about the Middle East connection. Even the television reports assume that the prince was the real target.’

‘Perhaps they have some information you don’t,’ she said. ‘The security services must have something.’

‘Maybe,’ I said. ‘But according to the Sunday Times, no group has yet claimed responsibility.’

‘But would they if the attempt failed?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said.

Our main courses arrived and we chatted for a while about more mundane subjects such as our families, our schools and our favourite films and music. Without actually asking her outright, I deduced that she didn’t have a current boyfriend, let alone the six-foot-six body-builder I had feared would eat me for breakfast. It seemed that, just like being a chef, playing the viola every evening did not assist in the search for romance.

‘I’m sorry to say it,’ she said, ‘but most of the orchestral musicians I’ve met are pretty boring, not really my type.’

‘What is your type?’ I asked her.

‘Aha,’ she said. ‘Now, that is a good question.’

Indeed it may have been, but, as she failed to give me an answer, I changed the subject. ‘Is the lamb good?’ I asked her.

‘Delicious,’ she said. ‘Would you like a taste?’

We swapped mouthfuls on forks, her lamb and my fish. As we did, I looked closely at her face. She had bright blue eyes, high cheekbones and a longish thin nose above a broad mouth and square-shaped jaw. Maybe she wasn’t a classic beauty but she looked pretty good to me.

‘What are you staring at?’ she said. ‘Have I got morel sauce down my chin?’ She wiped her face with her napkin.

‘No,’ I said, laughing. ‘I was just taking a close look at this person who is suing me so that I will recognize her in court.’ I smiled at her but she didn’t really smile back.

‘Yes, that now seems rather a shame.’

‘You could just drop the suit,’ I suggested.

‘It’s my agent who’s insisting on suing you. He doesn’t like not getting his commission.’

‘Does he get a share of everything you earn?’

‘Absolutely,’ she said. ‘He gets 15 per cent.’

‘Wow,’ I said. ‘Money for old rope.’

‘Oh no, he deserves it,’ she said. ‘He negotiated my contract with the RPO for a start, and he got me much more money than many agents would have managed. Also I do solo work when I’m not playing with