Free Be Careful What You Wish For by Sibel Hodge Page B

lot to go on. It could mean anything.’ Romeo sat back and rested his arm along the back of the booth, tapping it absent-mindedly.
    ‘It could, but I think it means Carl knew something about Levi that both Levi and Vinnie didn’t want him to know.’
    ‘Well that would make sense seeing as Carl is now dead.’
    I stared into my empty cup, wishing it was a crystal ball, wondering what it was that Carl knew. ‘Maybe it has to do with this contract that Levi signed with Vinnie. Terry said that Levi signed it when he was young and hungry to be heavyweight champion of the world. He thinks Levi was easily manipulated into signing it. I mean, it makes sense. If you’re just starting out as a professional fighter, you would be more willing to take an unfavourable deal that perhaps wasn’t really in your best interests, wouldn’t you? You hear about it a lot with sportsmen and artists who later go on to sue their managers.’ I paused. ‘But what if there was some other reason for signing it?’
    ‘OK, I’ll go with that scenario.’ Romeo nodded. ‘Let’s say Levi signed a bad contract because Vinnie was threatening him. Vinnie’s not exactly known for his softly-softly approach in getting what he wants. If someone stands in the way of what he wants, he’ll either get rid of them or threaten to get rid of them. Maybe Carl found out Vinnie had threatened Levi or his family if he didn’t sign this contract and he wanted to confront Levi about it?’
    ‘But that doesn’t make sense. If Vinnie threatened Levi into signing it, why didn’t Carl confront Vinnie? Because Levi would be the innocent party in it all,’ I said. ‘No, I’m thinking that Vinnie blackmailed Levi into signing it. And whatever he was blackmailing him about, Carl found out about it and tried to confront Levi at the fight.’ I thought back to what Hacker told me Carl had said. ‘Carl shouted “I know what you…”. That fits, doesn’t it?’
    ‘Why do it at the fight, though? Why couldn’t it wait?’
    I stared out the window, people-watching and trying to get my head around this. ‘I don’t know. Whatever it was Carl discovered must’ve been pretty important for him to confront Levi straight away.’
    Romeo tilted his head. ‘What’s Levi like?’
    ‘I don’t really know yet. The only thing I know for certain is that he lied to me about not hearing Carl shouting at him. Terry thinks he’s a great guy, but if he’s prepared to throw his fights, maybe he’s not so great after all.’
    ‘He could’ve agreed to throw the fight for the same reason he agreed to sign a dodgy contract,’ Romeo said.
    ‘Blackmail by Vinnie.’ I nodded. ‘Another strange thing is that Levi took out a life insurance policy a couple of weeks ago.’
    ‘Two weeks before the fight? How much was the policy worth?’
    ‘A million pounds,’ I said. ‘Strange, huh? Maybe he knew Carl was going to find out whatever he found out and was trying to prepare for it.’
    Romeo looked distracted for a moment, considering this. ‘But a million pound life insurance policy isn’t a lot of money for a world class boxer. Levi’s purse for the fights should’ve run into millions each time. It’s a relatively small amount compared to his earning power.’
    ‘Exactly. Levi’s hardly living the life of someone who earns that amount of money. Maybe the one million policy was all he could afford.’ I rubbed at my forehead. It had been a long day and I had brain ache. ‘Did you know that Ashcombe House was broken into shortly before the robbery at Carl’s bank?’
    Romeo sat forward, concentrating on me. ‘No.’ I could see his mind chugging away at this little revelation.
    ‘I went to see Carl’s wife, Deborah. Apparently, Carl moved out of the marital home a while ago. Hacker looked into their insurance details and discovered they didn’t make a claim for the break-in. Deborah said nothing was stolen, there was just damage to the back door.’
    ‘Neither of