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‘So this guy really did bet his house?’
Penn nodded.
‘He wasn’t coerced or threatened or…?’
‘It doesn’t work like that. Seriously, Stace, you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff I’ve read. Poker legend Johnny Moss made a bet he could beat a man who had never lost a fight in his life. From his hospital bed Moss explained that he just couldn’t turn down odds of fifteen to one. Then there’s this guy named Brian Zembic, famous for bizarre wagers, who accepted a one-hundred-thousand-dollar bet that he wouldn’t get breast implants and keep them for a year.’
‘Okay, now I know you’re taking the piss.’
Penn shook his head. ‘He liked them so much he kept them for years.’
‘That’s just plain weird. And it’s one thing to make a bet that affects you alone, but to bet the house his wife and child lived in?’
‘Similar thing happened in Uganda. A guy placed a bet with his neighbour on an Arsenal versus Man United game. The Arsenal man lost and was evicted from his home along with his three wives and five children. It’s like some kind of fever.’
‘So, now you’re saying that your John Doe, who died of natural causes, bet his home on a football match and lost, made his family homeless and deserted them in shame, but he didn’t actually lose?’
‘Exactly.’
‘And you know this how?’
‘The goalie threw the game.’
Stacey waited.
Penn said nothing.
‘Your proof?’ she prompted.
‘I watched the game.’
Stacey sat back in her chair. ‘You’d best get ready to have your ass kicked when the boss gets back from Worcester.’
‘What’s in Worcester?’
‘Father George’s boss, but don’t try and distract me. What part of being a police officer did you actually remember today?’ she asked.
He wasn’t even listening as he messed with something on his phone.
He slid it across to her. ‘Take a look.’
She watched the clip and then looked at him.
‘Penn, how into football are you?’
‘Prefer rugby but…’
‘So just how qualified are you to judge?’ she asked, ready to slide the phone back. Looked to her like he’d been on a fool’s errand for most of the day.
‘Watch it again and slow it down,’ he insisted.
‘Jeez, are you determined to waste my time as well as your own?’
‘If I’m wrong I’ll go see what Betty’s giving away in the canteen.’
She said nothing. For once she had no interest in Betty’s end-of-day bargains, but if she told Penn that, he’d know immediately that there was something wrong.
‘Oh,’ she said, watching the slowed-down version, which revealed an awkwardness, a delay, a loss of fluidity in the rhythm of the game.
