Sharp Turn - Marianne Delacourt [63]
As Google opened on the screen, Bok called back.
‘And?’ he said.
‘And what?’
‘Oh, how nice . . . you’re still alive,’ he said in an exasperated tone.
I’d clean forgotten that I’d hung up on him. ‘Sorry. Look, I’ve just found that someone’s tried to force the window open on my flat. The one with the vine all over it. Hoo was up on the ledge chewing the wood and I saw the marks.’
‘Oh.’ He dropped the sarcastic tone immediately. ‘You want some company?’
‘Yes, please. I’ve got a job to do at the Gallery in Northbridge tonight. Don’t fancy going up there by myself right now.’
‘What time shall I pick you up?’
‘I love you,’ I said. ‘Ten would be good. We can talk about it all then. I’ve got some things to do right now.’
‘Promise?’
‘Promise.’
Ten o’clock left me a good few hours to do some mulling. I opened my Ignatius job file and jotted down some more notes.
To my thinking, Team Riley led the race on suspects. The conflicts between them and Moto-Sane were hard to ignore. Bolo clearly couldn’t tolerate Robert Riley (and I didn’t blame him), but then there was the argument between the mechanics, Clem and Dave (not to mention the problem that Sally, Lu Red’s girlfriend, was causing within the Moto-Sane team).
I searched the Motorcycling WA site and went back over the results for the season so far. According to their stats, Lu Red had won the first two races by a large margin. Race three had been a Did Not Race for him, and since then each race had been much closer. The DNR had been in August. That date rang a faint bell for me, so I jotted it down in my file, wondering why his lap time had dropped off so markedly after it.
I moved on to Team Chesley. An hour later, I hadn’t come up with anything much about Shakes, Hardwick or Frank Farina, besides an unverified article that Shakes had unsuccessfully tried to buy Hardwick out at one stage.
Frank Farina looked clean of any dirt other than a few groupie message boards where girls boasted of sleeping with him. Farina was a player, no doubt, but no worse than any other rider from what I could see. Even if Team Chesley had internal problems, I somehow doubted it would be motivation for them to sabotage Bolo. Shakes’ odd reaction about his partner had to be about something else.
I got out of bed and put on my slippers. Time to beard the dragon in her lair.
Dad was washing up with Cass, while Joanna was sitting at the table with a glass of wine, sorting a bag full of buttons into piles.
‘Evening all,’ I said, staring at her progress.
She saw my expression. ‘There’s a button expo at the showgrounds on Sunday. I’m donating my collection for fundraising.’
‘Oh.’ What else was there to say?
‘There’s some lemon chicken in the refrigerator if you’re hungry.’
I licked my lips and helped myself, reheating it with some leftover rice.
Dad was explaining the intricacies of golf to Cass, so I seated myself next to Joanna.
‘Mum, you know George Shakes, don’t you?’
She raised her head. ‘Georgie Porgie Pudding and Pie. Lord, yes. I went to school with him. He used to eat too much even then.’
I smiled. It was such a Joanna comment. ‘I believe he went into partnership with his brother-in-law.’
‘Frosty, the old sourpuss. Yes, that’s right. Why do you ask?’
‘It’s . . . err . . . a job I’m working on looking into some unexplained incidents at Wanneroo Raceway.’
‘Wanneroo. That’s where all that greenhouse-unfriendly car racing goes on?’
OMG. Joanna had discovered global warming. ‘And motorbike racing,’ I said.
‘Well, I don’t know anything about that, but I do know that Frosty has just left his wife of thirty-five years for a man.’
‘The wife being George’s sister?’
‘Indeed. Poor Sonia. They have five children. It’s a scandal of epic proportions.’
I thought about suggesting that it was hardly a scandal, and that it was probably a good thing that Frosty had finally admitted his true sexuality – and then mentally slapped myself. This was my mother I was talking to. Champion of the Conservative.
Instead, I thanked her, told her the