The Edge [antikvár]

CHAPTER ONE I was following Derry Welfram at a race meeting when he dropped to the ground and lay face down in the mud in the light rain. Several people walked straight past him, thinking that he was drunk. I knew that he wasn't drunk, because I'd been following him all afternoon — and, in fact, for some days. However, I didn't go up to see what was wrong or to try to help him: I didn't want anyone to see me with Welfram. It was soon clear that this was not jiist, an unconscious IP ' drunk. A doctor came out of the race track building, turned Welfram over, did some tests and started to hit him hard on the chest. He carried on at this for a while, but eventually gave up. An ambulance arrived and took Welfram's body away. , I headed for the bar: that was where the gossip would be. I moved around the room, hstening, and it wasn't long before I overheard a woman ask her husband whether he'd heard about that man who died of a heart attack earlier. - i/w d-''- 'L It was a ipity," I thought, that Welfram had died - not because anyone would miss him, but because it put me and my boss. Brigadier Valentine Catto, back to where we started. The mves"tigation had got nowhere so far. My name is Tor Kelsey. I work for the Jockey Club* as a kind of policeman — or some would say as a spy. The horse-racing world is attractive to criminals, and our job is to catch * A jockey rides horses in races. The Jockey Club looks after the interests of horse-racing. 7