Read Online Time to Pay by Lyndon Stacey - Free Book Online Page B

and casserole dishes through the dishwasher last night, after the police had gone. Absolutely everything; but still it doesn’t feel clean.’
    â€˜Oh, God! You poor thing! That must be terrible.’ Pippa put her hand over Tilly’s and she responded with an apologetic smile.
    â€˜I’m sorry. It sounds horribly melodramatic, but it’s just how I feel. I suppose it’s partly because it’s come at such an awful time . . .’
    â€˜And the police don’t have any clues?’
    â€˜No, except they know the thieves were still in the house at quarter to twelve because they broke a carriage clock that was one of Mum and Dad’s wedding presents, and it stopped at quarter to twelve.’
    â€˜More coffee, anyone?’ Giles asked, getting to his feet. ‘Tilly?’
    â€˜I should really be going,’ she said. ‘There’s so much to do.’
    â€˜Oh, go on. Ten minutes either way won’t make a lot of difference,’ Pippa said.
    Tilly pulled a face, weakening. ‘OK, thanks. Actually, it’s nice to get away for a while. I know that probably sounds awful, but it’s just so
intense
at the moment. Sometimes I just feel like I want to scream!’
    â€˜What’s happening with the horses?’ Gideonenquired. ‘Will you be able to carry on training them?’
    â€˜Well – yes, for the moment, but I can’t, long-term, because I haven’t got a licence. I mean, I can still train the point-to-pointers, but most of our horses are running under rules now. That’s where the money is – obviously. I shall have to apply to the Jockey Club to see if I can take over Damien’s licence. I’ve already made enquiries and there shouldn’t be a problem, but God knows how long it’ll take. Most of the owners have said they’ll hang on for a bit, but they won’t wait for ever. And then there’s the sponsors – we’re not sure whether Skyglaze will continue to support us without Damien. It was his name that carried the deal, you see.’
    â€˜But surely they can’t pull out now?’ Pippa put in. ‘You’ve got a contract, haven’t you?’
    Tilly shook her head, sadly.
    â€˜It was a two-year contract and unfortunately it’s due for renewal in a couple of months. Damien was just starting negotiations, but of course everything’s up in the air now.’
    â€˜Oh, that’s really bad luck!’ Pippa said.
    Tilly shrugged. ‘Yes, well, I suppose you can’t blame them, really. It’s business, after all, and Damien was the high-profile one.’
    â€˜So what about Nero?’ Gideon asked. ‘Will you keep him?’
    â€˜Well, I’d like to, if we can get him straightened out. As you know, he actually belongs – belonged – to Damien, and he was convinced he’d be brilliant one day, if we could just get to the bottom of his problems.’
    â€˜Gideon says he came from the Radcliffe Trust,’ Pippa said. ‘I thought that was where racehorses went to when they’d
finished
racing, or weren’t good enough. I didn’t realise you could actually get them from there.’
    â€˜No, well normally you wouldn’t, but Nero was different. He’s very well bred and should have had a decent career on the flat, but there’s just no way he was ever going to go in the starting stalls. Until Gideon started working with him, it was a major operation just to get him into a horsebox, but he’s improving all the time. Damien had an incredible eye for a horse and he had this grand scheme to buy difficult horses for a song, train them on until they started to win, then sell shares to a syndicate. That way he’d still get to train them but someone else would pay the bills. Nero was the first one. Damien was very keen to help the Radcliffe Trust – in fact he’d promised them a percentage of anything Nero