‘Then why go out with him?’
‘I had to. For Dad.’
Bobby blinked at her. ‘For Dad? But Dad can’t stand him.’
Lilian sighed again. ‘All right, I’ll tell you the whole story. Perhaps I should have told you before, but I wanted to deal with this myself. You have all the Dad worry these days.’
‘Deal with what?’
‘I had a telephone call at my digs from Tony a few weeks ago. He wanted to talk to me about a story he’d been working on. Exposing illegal meat raffles at country shows in the Dales.’
‘Yes, he told me about it. Don said Tony pulled the story because he was worried it was a libel risk.’
‘It wouldn’t have been a libel risk,’ Lilian murmured. ‘Every word of it was true, and he had more than enough evidence to back it up. Dates, details, even names.’
‘Did he tell you the names?’
She nodded. ‘Peter Dixon, for one. He was the ringleader.’
‘Pete!’
‘Yes, Pete.’
‘I saw him,’ Bobby said slowly. ‘I think I saw him at it, at Kiltford Show. A man gave him ten bob in exchange for a piece of paper – I suppose it was a raffle ticket. But when I confronted him about it, he told me he was just running a book on the prizewinning animals. How did Tony know you knew Pete?’
‘He didn’t, but he knew I knew one of the other racketeers involved. Pete had a partner, Bobby.’
Bobby stared at her. ‘Not… Dad?’
‘Yes. They were in it together – them and a handful of local farmers who reared the pigs.’
Bobby shook her head. ‘No.Dad wouldn’t be so stupid, surely. A fine for poaching is one thing, but he could go to prison for selling rationed meat. The Ministry is really cracking down on the black market.’
‘I know. And with his other problems, a prison sentence could well kill him.’
‘Did you tell Tony that?’
‘I didn’t need to. He’d already decided to pull the story,’ Lilian said. ‘That was why he rang me: to tell me he wouldn’t want to get Dad into trouble so he was going to destroy it. And he hinted that since I was coming home for Bowling Tide, it might be nice if I met him for a drink and thanked him in person. Tonight was the third time we’ve been out together since I started my leave.’
‘You mean the dirty sod has beenblackmailingyou into going out with him?’ Bobby shook her head in disgust. ‘I’ll bloody kill him!’
‘It wasn’t like that. He genuinely pulled the story as a favour, I think – for both of us, not just me. He’s your friend more than mine, after all. He never suggested destroying the evidence was dependent on me going out with him, but I did feel like I ought to repay the favour.’
‘I bet I know exactly how Tony thinks you can repay the favour,’ Bobby said darkly. ‘Given that he is my friend and you’re really only a passing acquaintance, one might have thought he’d contact me about it. He set this whole thing up to get to you, Lil. He’s always been keen on you.’
‘I suppose you’re right. Still, he’s harmless enough. He just wants a bonny girl on his arm to show off for Tide week, that’s all.’ She smiled. ‘Actually, I’ve grown rather attached to him since he took care of me at the show. Not in any romantic way – he’s not the sort of man I’d ever fall in love with – but he is a lot of fun. He makes me laugh.’
‘I knew I never should have left you with him,’ Bobby muttered. ‘Taking advantage of your injury to worm his way into your affections, just so he could spring a trick like this on you.’
‘He really isn’t as bad as you make out. He was very sweet that day, taking care of the damsel in distress.’
‘Huh. Has he tried anything on with you? I bet he has.’
‘Nothing I can’t handle.’ Lilian gave her a squeeze. ‘It’s fine, Bobby. Dad’s safe, the story’s pulled and I’ve repaid Tony’s favour. There’s going to be no more illegal meat raffling – at least, none that Dad’s going to be involved in. Your big sister’s made it all go away and there’s nothing you need to worry yourself about.’
‘This was what you spoke to Dad about earlier?’
‘That’s right. I was very gentle about it so as not to humiliate him. I told him I knew what had been going on and that he’d come closer than he knew to being exposed, so if I were him, I’d turn it in before the law showed up on his doorstep. I didn’t tell him who my source was though. He saw the sense of it, once I’d emphasised the fines and sentences that are being handed down for black-market profiteering nowadays. I mean, some of the newspapers talk about it as if it’s tantamount to treason.’
