the damp, uneven surface.
âNick, right?â
âYeah.â
âAidy Westlake. I hope Rags didnât hurt you too much.â
Ronson rubbed at his wrists where the tape had burned them. âIâve had worse.â
I pulled up next to his car. âWho sent you â Russell Townsend?â
Ronson sneered at me. âThanks for the ride, but thatâs as far as my gratitude stretches.â
He reached for the door and I hit the central locking button, locking us in.
He whirled on me. âYou want to take your shot at me? Give it a go and weâll see how far you get.â
I raised my hands in surrender. âI just want to know why youâre here. It doesnât go any further.â
I unlocked the doors. Ronson made no move to leave.
âYou found Jason?â
I nodded.
âDid you see who did it?â
âNo, but I think I heard the killer running away.â
âDid Jason say anything to you?â
âHey, Iâm the one questioning you. Not the other way around. Now, who sent you?â
âNo one sent me. I came on my own.â
âWhy?â
âWhy do you think? I want to know which one of you fuckers killed Jason.â
âYou think one of us did it?â
âStands to reason, doesnât it? Jason was killed next to your transporter.â
âYeah, but what was he doing hanging around our truck in the first place â spying, stealing?â
âFuck you. Jason wasnât like that. Not everyone is a cheat.â
âWhatâs that supposed to mean?â
âTake a look at your team. Thereâs something very wrong there.â Ronson pointed at the Ragged Racing fleet of transporters and support vehicles heading towards the exit. âWhatâs wrong with that picture?â
I shrugged.
âSponsorship.â
âWeâve got sponsorship.â
âNot enough to explain the amount your team is spending.â
âHow do you know?â
âYou lot have just rented Snetterton to yourself for the day and you do it all the time. Every square inch of your cars should be covered with sponsorsâ logos to cover those running costs, so something bent is going on.â
Ronson had a point. The surface of a racecar was advertising real estate. Some locations were better than others and to get into those good neighbourhoods, you had to pay. Getting your companyâs name or product splashed down the side of the car cost more than it did on the back bumper.
I watched Raggedâs transporters go by with the outline of the cars painted on the sides. Ragsâ major sponsor was a menâs antiperspirant. Their sponsorship cash got them the rear door and quarter panel, boot lid and bumper.
Pit Lane
magazine had the front bumper and the Honda symbol covered the bonnet. I guessed that there was around a hundred thousand pounds in unused ad space on each car. Compared to the rest of the field, Ragged Racing looked like the poor relation. Ronson was right. The team shouldnât have been in a position to be so lavish with its spending.
âBut the team is factory backed now. Honda is giving us the cars for free and donating technical support, so the budget is low.â
âBut Rags has been spending big money for years with no major sponsor underwriting him.â
âSo what? Heâs spending big. What has that got to do with anything?
âItâs a sign that Ragged Racing is bent.â
âBent how?â
Ronson was silent. I took that to mean he didnât know.
âWhat did Jason suspect?â
âI donât know. He never gave me any details, but he thought something wasnât right. Our whole team does.â
âBecause Honda switched support from you to us?â
âHey, fuck you.â
âNo, fuck you. You havenât told me anything that doesnât sound like petty, professional jealousy.â
âYeah, believe what you want.â
Ronson
Madison Smartt Bell
Connie Brockway
Noelle August
Kirsten Osbourne
Violet Duke
Wendy Sparrow
Karin Harlow
Zoe Chant
Jane Charles
Adite Banerjie