A Day at the Races (12 page)

“Is that what you call it I, would say I am quite drunk?” Said Vera.

“I am going to get a room here for the night, so if you are interested you can join me.”

They both whispered amongst themselves for a couple of minutes, as Moxie got up to go and pay the bar bill.

“Ok we have decided we will take you up on your offer, but remember you mustn’t take advantage of us, we are both innocent girls and we don’t normally do this kind of thing.”

Yeah right thought Moxie, innocent my arse, probably had more pricks than a second hand dartboard.

Moxie walked out of the bar to the reception, there was only the night porter on duty.

“Can I help you Sir?”

“Yes I want a double room for the night, preferably one with two double beds.” The Porter looked him up and down.

“How many guests are there staying tonight?”

“Just myself, my wife and my sister, that’s why I want the second bed.”

The Porter repeated.

“You, your wife and sister,” with a slight emphasis on wife and sister eyeing him disapprovingly.

“That’s right, do you have a room?” he checked the register.

“The only room we have left with two queen size beds, is our Majestic Suite and that will cost you two hundred and fifty pounds for the night, but you could always try the Rose & Crown, they do bed and breakfast.”

He hadn’t given Moxie time to reply, he stood back with a smirk on his face, obviously expecting him to turn it down.

Moxie looked at him thinking what an arsehole, this hotel was known as a knocking shop, a casual spot for reps and their girlfriends when they were out on the road.

“Right I will take it.”

The Porter was slightly miffed, but gave him a registration card to fill out.

“The Majestic Suite is on the sixth floor, the lift is around the corner. That will be two hundred and fifty in advance please.”

Moxie pulled out a wad of notes, and paid the money across the counter, this didn’t go unnoticed by the two girls. He then went back into the bar, purchased a couple of bottles of champagne, and then took the two girls up to his room.

* * *

Fisher was the first one to return to Skippers at around 7.00 p.m. and he drove the van into the rear of the old complex. He parked the van inside the warehouse, and walked across to the canteen with a large holdall containing all the coats and cash. Shortly afterwards, Maurice and Ian arrived and parked their car in front of reception.

“Are you first one back Dad?” asked Maurice.

“Yes I only hope that the others are not too late, but it could be a while, so I suggest we send out for a Chinese if they are open and have a game of cards to pass the time.”

Ian duly organised the food, whilst they settled down to play poker for the next hour.

It was 8.45 p.m. when Mike arrived back.

“Just drive the van around the back and park inside the warehouse, put the contents of the box into this bag and I will lock it away in the safe.” said Fisher.

“Who has arrived back so far?” Mike asked.

“Only us so far.” said Fisher.

“No sign of Moxie?”

“Not as yet but you know what he’s like, he will probably be the last.”

“Jesus Wetherby isn’t that far, he could have walked it by now.”

Just then they heard a van pull into the yard.

“Its probably him now.” said Fisher. “Ill go and see. No it’s Kenny I have his holdall and coats and have sent him around the back to park up, but he is looking for a lift home are you going that way Mike?”

“OK no problem, but we had better get going because Brenda will be getting worried. I will see you in the morning Fisher, you are not going to stay here all night are you?”

“No we are just going to give it another half an hour and hope that they all pitch up, but you did say depending on traffic if they felt they had to stay over to do so.”

“I know Fisher but there is only Frank, Derek and their crews plus Linton and his crew and of course Moxie, and I thought he would surely have been back by now.”

Just as Mike was about to leave, Frank arrived back and parked his van in the old warehouse, then gave the contents of the days exploits to Fisher.

“Any problems Frank?”

“No it went like a dream, I don’t know how you boys have done, but I’d say we have made a bloody fortune. By the time Granville got back to the van he could hardly walk, he was like a plank.

I must say Kenny made a great job with the overcoats, we virtually had to lift Granville into the back of the van because his pockets where stuffed solid. He had already made two trips back to the van to unload his winnings. He was afraid to make another trip, so he had had to resort to filling his trouser pockets. He looked ridiculous when we took his overcoat off as he looked like an obese bloke with bulges everywhere. But you couldn’t tell with the way the coat disguised his figure, it took him about ten minutes to empty every orifice he had notes stuffed in.”

“That’s great, I am glad it all went well, I am going to shoot off now I have to drop Kenny off on the way home, I’ll see you all about noon tomorrow, good night.”

Shortly afterwards there was a phone call for Fisher.

“Fisher its Linton here, just thought I would let you know we wont make it back this evening, so we have decided to stay over in the Holiday Inn. We will leave first thing in the morning, and we should be back by lunchtime.”

“That’s great Linton, thanks for letting me know, I will tell Mike so he wont be worried.”

“OK Fisher thanks, I don’t know how well you did but we had a great day, but Jesus it’s a long drive we are all wrecked at this stage. Is everyone back yet?”

“Not quite, we are still waiting on Moxie and Derek, but we are just going to give it another hour before we wrap up tonight, anyway Linton get a nice meal and a good nights rest and we will see you tomorrow.”

Derek was the next to arrive and parked his van in the warehouse and shortly after that his brother Tony arrived to give him a lift home.

“OK Fisher here is our holdall and coats we are off now, I don’t know about you but we had a great day and have a serious amount of cash and it all went like a dream.”

“Yes that’s the general feeling, everyone is accounted for now apart from Moxie, but we are not going to wait all night for him.”

Fisher bid Derek goodnight, he and his two sons waited another half an hour for the scarlet pimpernel to show, and when he didn’t they decided to lock up for the night.

Chapter 15

˜

The strong sunlight coming through a gap in the curtains directly onto Moxie’s face woke him from his deep inebriated sleep. Opening one eye first looking up at the ceiling, then his second eye trying to focus on the light fitting hanging down. Slowly he looked around the room trying to gather his thoughts and figure out where he was.

He had a massive hangover, he felt terrible and his mouth tasted like the bottom of a birdcage.

Eventually, he focused both his eyes on the clock on the bedside table, it showed 9.30 a.m. Then it slowly began to come back to him, he remembered the events of the previous evening and vaguely remembered, he had gone to bed with the two girls.

He turned over but there was no one in the bed. He scrambled out of the bed and checked the bathroom, but they had gone. He had one merciful hangover and clutching his head, he ran over to the window to see if he could see his van, but it wasn’t visible. Then he checked his jacket for his wallet, but it was gone as well as his keys for the van.

“Oh Jesus, those bastard women what have they done to me?”

He got dressed as quickly as possible, all the time feeling as if he was going to throw up, and he moved as quickly as his delicate condition would allow him to move downstairs to reception.

He dashed into the breakfast room and scanned the various tables, but there was no sign of the girls. As he got back to reception, he spotted the night porter who he had dealt with the previous evening, and he was just going off duty.

“Can you tell me where the two girls I was with last night are?”

“You mean your wife and your sister?” he said sarcastically.

“You know full well that was not my wife, so cut the shit, they have stolen my money and probably gone with my wheels as well. I paid you for the room in advance didn’t I?”

“Yes you did, wasn’t it a good thing that you did, seeing as it appears you have been conned by a couple of slappers using the oldest trick in the book?”

“You would know all about that kind of thing working in a dump like this, anyway I don’t need a fucking lecture from you, all I need is a taxi right away.”

The Porter started to feel uncomfortable, this could be serious and not the kind of publicity the hotel needed.

“OK sir I will see what I can do.”

The taxi arrived within five minutes and Moxie jumped in.

“Look I am looking for a white Ford van that has been stolen from the hotel. I spent the night with these two girls, and when I woke up they were gone so was my wallet and keys.”

“Why don’t you call the police?”

“Look I will deal with it my way, first the van wasn’t mine I only borrowed it from a friend for the weekend, so I don’t even know what the registration is so the police wouldn’t be much use.

Head for the M62, I think they said they lived in Bury, so if we head in that direction we might find them.”

Moxie sat in front of the cab and kept looking ahead to see if could spot the van. He couldn’t figure out how the hell had they been able to slip away without him knowing, after all they had as much as him to drink if not more.

Then it dawned on him they hadn’t drunk all the booze that he bought them, they just put on a good act that they were drunk.

As they got onto the M62 and headed towards Manchester, Moxie was searching the traffic ahead as well as traffic going in the opposite direction towards Leeds. A few times he thought he saw the van, but it wasn’t them and they couldn’t see it anywhere.

After a long silence the taxi driver spoke.

“Sounds like you were really done over last night, how the hell did you manage that?”

“It’s a case of sex and drink are not a good mixture, never let your dick overrule your brain, especially when you have had a lot to drink.”

The taxi driver nodded agreement.

“Where did you meet up with them?”

“I picked them up on the way home from Wetherby racecourse, much to my regret.”

“So you didn’t get held up with all the rumpus that went on there last evening then?”

Moxie looked at him with concern on his face.

“What rumpus was that?”

“Oh the police swooped in force just after the last race, you must have just missed it. My brother in law Greg works as a clerk for Gorman Brothers one of the biggest bookies in Yorkshire, he writes down all the bets placed and the odds given at the time, and so on.

When he hadn’t come home by eight thirty last night, his wife Dorothy who is actually my sister rang in an absolute panic, as she was afraid something might had happened to him, because he was robbed once before when he was leaving a race meeting. My wife Sophie asked her to come over to stay at our place, but to leave him a note in case he showed up.”

By now, Moxie was shaking with fear and trepidation, this was not good news it seemed like the operation had not gone as planned.

“What was it all about?” He asked with a distinct tremble in his voice.

“Well he arrived home just after midnight and called us to see if his wife was with us.

He told us the police were very tight lipped about what had happened, but apparently they sealed off the racecourse, and then searched all the vehicles before they allowed them to leave.

They interviewed all the people still on the course. They were looking for a bunch of blokes, involved in an incident involving money, but they didn’t elaborate on what.”

By now, Moxie was sweating profusely and in an absolute blind panic, he could see the prison gates closing behind him.

“They say the blokes got away in an old dark coloured car, possibly a Mark X Jaguar and a light coloured van, but that’s all the information he was given.”

His heart sank, it just got worse he needed to get to a phone and call Mike. What would he say about the missing van, for all he knew they could have pulled the van over by now and the proverbial would really hit the fan, but that didn’t matter now he had to speak with Mike and find out what was going on.

He tried not appear nervous or concerned, but he had to find a telephone at the soonest opportunity to talk to Mike about this latest development.

Suddenly….. He saw the van going in the opposite direction towards Leeds.

“That’s them…… that’s them can you turn around as quick as you can and follow them?”

“Are you joking, the next turnoff is for Rochdale, they will be long gone by the time I turn around, are you sure it was them?”

“Positive it was them all right two women driven a white Ford Transit one blonde one brunette, that cant be a coincidence.”

The taxi driver put his foot down and sped down the motorway to the next turnoff, he did a quick exit at the Rochdale junction, then back on the M62 heading towards Leeds.

“Can you put your foot down, we need to catch up to them?”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a police car stuck up my arse and I have no intention of getting a ticket for you or anyone else.”

Moxie was getting as tense as hell. What would Mike and the rest of the group think if they knew what a cock up he had made of things.

Just then the police car following them, put on their blues and twos and raced past them, undertaking on the hard shoulder.

“Could be an accident further up, I can see the traffic starting to back up,” said the taxi driver.

“Hope it’s not my van or I will be in deep shit.”

He told the driver to go into the inside and follow the police car.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes there is another ton in it for you if you can catch that van.”

The taxi driver waited until the police car had disappeared into the distance, and then duly obliged and started to undertake on the hard shoulder.