Nothing To Lose Read online

  “Three weeks?”

  “Yes. I’ve lost about fifteen grand altogether, in three weeks.”

  “Fucking hell Lee!”

  “I went down the bank at dinner to try and get a loan, but I need Liv to sign for it because she’s on the mortgage.”

  “And what did you want the loan for?”

  “For these materials. The woman I’m working for gave it me in good faith, to buy the stuff I need for her extension. I can’t believe I’ve blown the lot. Lost it. Every penny.” Lee lifted his hand to his face and took a huge intake of breath before exhaling loudly.

  Joanna was about to speak but Lee kept going. “It started when Gaz, one of the lads I was working with asked to pop in the bookies one dinner-time. We were only going to the chippy, but he said come and have a go on the machine. He put three quid in and won a hundred quid.”

  “Did he?”

  “Yes, so I had a go, put a fiver in and won. Not as much as him, it was about thirty quid or summat. But I loved it, it was proper exciting and we had a good laugh about it. Gaz said he always wins, best he’d got was a grand for a two quid bet. Anyway, we went round to the chippy, got our lunch and went back to the site. I was thinking about it all afternoon, it proper gave me a buzz.”

  “I bet it did! But they bookies always win in the end. Everyone knows that Lee.”

  “Well, I’m finding that out now. I went back that night, after work. Put the thirty quid that I won back in, came close to winning five hundred quid a couple of times. But anyway, I just thought, right, I’ve lost my winnings, time to go home. But the buzz I got, honestly, I can’t tell you what it felt like. I felt alive, this daft little ball was bouncing around on the computer screen, and the roulette thing was slowing down and the screen was flashing with all the amounts I’d win if it stayed in that slot. It would say five hundred, then one hundred, then twenty-five, then a grand. It was proper exciting. I put another twenty quid in, I couldn’t resist it.”

  “Aw Lee, that’s how they suck you in, mate!”

  “Yes, but I won a hundred quid!”

  Joanna could tell that Lee’s mood was lightening, he was getting stimulated, just by recalling the event.

  “I went home with my hundred quid, absolutely buzzing. It wasn’t the money, it’s not like a hundred quid was a life changing amount, it was just the thrill of the game. I decided on the way home I was going to get a shower and take Liv out for a meal. I was planning it all, a surprise at The Olive Branch, you know the little Turkish place in town.”

  “Yeah…”

  “Anyway. When I got in, Liv was out, she’d left a note saying she was round at Lucy’s next door and my tea was in the microwave. I got out of my shitty work stuff and showered and had my tea, still buzzing about the casino game. Honestly, it’s… I can’t describe it. It’s… you feel alive!”

  Joanna was concerned that Lee was talking affectionately about this game, when he should be furious with it, and himself. She remained silent, encouraging him to carry on with his story.

  “Next thing I knew, I’d downloaded the app on my phone and put my card details in. I lost a few times, but I worked out that I was still a tenner up, I’d lost the thirty quid, then twenty quid, but the hundred gave me a profit of forty-five, so I just thought, fuck it.”

  “Lee!”

  “I won a grand!”

  “Bloody hell!”

  “I know. The buzz was even better then, God, I swear down I’ve never known a better feeling than that moment in my whole life. It sort of spins around for ages at the end and the ball moves from one slot to another, and then, right at the end, it landed in the grand slot. It was amazing.”

  “So, what happened then? Did you carry on? Or stop?”

  “Stopped. I was chuffed to bits! I withdrew the grand from my online wallet and put it in my account. It was when I took Liv down to London for our romantic weekend.”

  “Oh, right! I thought it was weird that you did that out of the blue!”

  “I know! Had the best weekend ever, posh food in the Shard, no expense spared! Still spent an extra seven hundred quid down there like, but it was a brilliant weekend.”

  “So, something good came from it?” Joanna was trying to stay positive but all the while she was trying to work out her brother’s mind-set. He was clearly in bits about the problems he now faced. But his voice was filled with enthusiasm for the game which had got him into all this trouble. It was a worrying contradiction.

  “Yeah, something definitely good came out of it. And also, I was a bit worried about how quickly I’d got the bug, so I thought, it’s been a laugh, but I need to stop it, quit while I’m in front.”

  “And presumably you didn’t?”

  “Yeah, I did Joanna. Honest to God, swear down. I deleted the app off my phone, and next time Gaz asked me to go down the bookies, I just said no, just told him what I wanted from the chippy. I wanted to go with him, like I say, it gave me a really strange buzz! But I said no I’m not doing it again, after I’d won the grand, and he stopped asking me after that. But about a week after, I started getting these e-mails from the bookies. I was just sat at home watching telly with Liv and I heard my phone go. I had a look and it was an e-mail from Spin Win. It had the graphic of the roulette wheel, and it was flashing saying ‘free £50 bet.”

  “You’re joking?”

  “No. I got dead excited again, could feel my heart-beat racing. But I just thought it was stupid so I deleted the e-mail and forgot about it.”

  “Good for you Lee. No, that’s really good.”

  “A couple of days later, same thing happened, it was about eight o’clock at night. Liv was at her mate’s house and I was watching some shit on telly. This e-mail was offering a free credit of a hundred quid. To get it, all I had to do was reinstall the app and upload my card details.”

  “And you did?”

  “No. Swear on my life. I thought, it’s a con this, why would they give me a hundred quid, but they need my bank details? I deleted it, but that excitement was there again, I was thinking about it for ages afterwards.” Lee started tapping his hand against the steering wheel. “Couple of days later, same e-mail pops up, offering me three hundred quid credit!”

  “And did you delete it?”

  “No.” Lee’s face suddenly dropped again. “That’s when everything started to go tits up. I took the three hundred quid credit and started playing, and I won a couple of fifty quids. I was so close to a grand a few times, and I was proper excited again, I mean, proper excited. It wasn’t even my money I was playing with, so I wasn’t arsed if I won or lost really. Anyway, I came close to big money a few times, almost got ten grand, but it popped out at the last second and fell in the twenty-five quid slot. I was absolutely gutted!”

  “Lee, mate, this is how they get you!”

  “I know, fuck me Joanna, I definitely know. Within an hour of taking the free credits, I’d spent a hundred quid of my own money.”

  “Oh shit.”

  “Anyway, that hundred quid turned into two hundred. I didn’t even think about it. It was the game, that was all I was thinking of, the game, and how much I was going to win. I ended up spending another hundred quid, so they had their three hundred quid back. I never thought about it at the time, but the next day when I was at work, I was proper fuming about it. Seriously pissed off with myself. I couldn’t get it out of my head, that I’d blown three ton on a fucking computer game!”

  Joanna rested her hand on Lee’s arm. She thought he was a complete prick for doing this, but she could understand how he’d fallen into the trap.

  “All day long I was just thinking, I need to finish work, get home, win that three hundred back before Liv finds out, then delete the app, block the e-mail address, and learn a good lesson from it all. So, I started off with twenty quid, won back fifty. I thought I’d spin that fifty, try and get it to five hundred. Didn’t happen. Lost it all, the twenty, then the fifty. So like a dick, I put another twenty on. Then an
other. I finished up losing another hundred and forty quid.” A coldness had returned to Lee’s voice. “So, I was four-hundred and forty quid down now. I had nothing left in my current account. And here’s where I fucked up. Instead of just accepting my loss, and putting it all behind me, I transferred two hundred quid out of my savings, and put that on.”

  Tears were forming in Joanna’s eyes, as she listened to her brother’s depressing story. She really felt for him, and to a certain extent, she understood how he had got himself into this mess. He had been played by the betting company, and he’d fallen for it, hook, line and sinker.

  “You put two hundred on? In one go?”

  “Yeah. I was sure I was due a win, I’d never gone this long without one, so I thought if I put the two-ton on, the least I’d take back was a grand. And then I’d be done.”

  “But you didn’t?”

  “No, it bounced out of the twenty-five grand slot and into zero at the last second.” Lee did a fake, humourless laugh and started tapping the steering wheel again. “Next morning, I was getting ready for work and I was feeling really pissed off with myself. I kicked off at Liv for no reason, just because I was in a mood. She looked dead upset, but I just stormed out. I couldn’t believe I’d now lost six hundred and forty quid. I was so gutted, it was all I could think about. I’m at work, snapping at the other lads, just being a total dick all day. I just wanted my money back now. I wasn’t interested in the buzz of the game, I was past that stage now. I just wanted the money back. So, guess what I did?”

  Joanna nodded slowly as she looked at the side of Lee’s face. “I think I can guess, mate.”

  “You can’t. You can’t guess this. I took five hundred out of my savings, transferred it into my online wallet. I won! Five grand!”

  “Aw for fuck’s sake Lee!” Joanna sensed what was coming, and she was dreading hearing it.

  “I was buzzing. Really, really buzzing. These pricks had tried to have me over, and I’d had the last laugh, I’d absolutely skanked them! That’s what I was thinking. I transferred four grand back into my bank, and left a grand in my wallet. I had a good feeling now, I was up, well up on what I’d lost. I felt like I’d beaten them. So that grand I had left in my wallet, I put it on! Almost won fifty grand! The buzz was mad, oh God, I’m telling you now Joanna, you’ve never felt anything like it! It was like a million orgasms at once!”

  “Lee!”

  “I know, sorry. But it’s impossible to describe. Anyway, I transferred the four-grand back. Don’t ask me why, because I swear to God, I do not know the answer. I’ve played it over in my head a hundred times. Why didn’t I just leave one grand in the bank, and transfer the three? I know, I’ve been over it and over it. But anyway, for reasons that I can’t understand, I played with the four grand, one bet, convinced I’d be getting a hundred grand back. And it landed on zero.” Lee’s voice had been getting excited again, as he described the big money stakes. But as his story reached its conclusion, the tempo of his voice had slowed dramatically.

  Joanna didn’t know what to say. A very heavy silence filled the gap which had been plugged by Lee’s sorry tale. The only sound between them was the wind blowing against the side of Lee’s van, high up on the moors.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “It’s ten past seven, you’re listening to Talk Radio UK, I’m Alex Cooling and our hot topic of discussion is the news this morning that a group calling itself “Odds on Revenge” has claimed responsibility for the spate of attacks on betting shops in the north west of England. The announcement came during the night through a series of Tweets sent to Manchester City Police, and the group’s primary message was the announcement that they were not responsible for the fire-bomb attack in Denton two nights ago, which left two children and their father dead, and has left their mother in a critical condition in hospital. We are still waiting to hear the reaction to these Tweets from the police. Our crime correspondent, Becky Willis has this report.”

  “At twenty-five minutes past two this morning, a new Twitter account was set up, with the name Odds on Revenge. Just three minutes later, the account began sending a series of six tweets to the Manchester City Police Twitter account, the first one of which read, ‘Dear MCP, we are very shocked, angry and saddened by the tragic fire in Denton. This cowardly and evil act against an innocent family is unforgivable.’ Two minutes later, a second Tweet was sent, which read, ‘We are a peaceful group of many hundreds, protesting against the unscrupulous, depraved and totally irresponsible activities of the gambling companies who are making billions of pounds each year through the shameless exploitation of their customers.’ A third Tweet was sent two minutes later, at two-thirty-two. It read, ‘We are a nation-wide group who have come together to highlight the malevolent activities of gambling companies, and to force a change in government legislation around gambling.’ All of these tweets appear to have been written prior to their publication, as the gap between each one ranged between one and three minutes. The fourth Tweet was sent at two-thirty-two am. ‘We are keen to admit our activities with the first four betting shop attacks, where we deliberately caused damage to those shops in order to disrupt their business. We plan many more similar attacks.’ The fifth tweet was sent three minutes later, and it stated, ‘We are quite prepared to accept the punishments for our actions if and when we are caught by the authorities. However, we will not accept responsibility for the tragic incident in Denton. This was awful crime was in no way connected with us, or our campaign.’ The final tweet was sent one minute later and it stated, ‘we are confident that investigators will find that our attacks and the attack in Denton were carried out by different people. It had nothing to do with us. RIP to the Ozols. We hope you catch the bastards responsible.’

  “Well, that was quite an announcement, Becky!”

  “That’s right Alex. The individuals responsible for this extraordinary communication with the police are taking a huge risk in publishing these Tweets, and looking through the social media pages this morning, I am seeing that the public appear quite split on whether the group Odds on Revenge are making a genuine announcement about the attack in Denton, or, as some are commenting on Twitter this morning, this is nothing more than a stunt to divert the investigating officers attention away. It’s certainly an interesting development in this troubling story.”

  “No news as yet from Manchester City Police?”

  “Well, not really. Their press office have released a statement saying that they are looking into this matter and that a more detailed response will follow in due course.”

  “This is a very unique situation though, Becky, the fact that people like ourselves are discussing these Tweets, possibly before the investigating officers have even arrived at work!”

  “That’s right Alex, but there is a lot of hope that the publication of these Tweets will help the police to find the people who are behind this group. It is certainly a very unorthodox situation, where criminals are communicating directly with the police on a social media platform.”

  “Interesting. We do however know that social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook don’t exactly have a good track record in helping the police.”

  “Yes, that’s a very good point Alex. Even the Government have failed to convince social media companies to assist the authorities in criminal investigations. There is a possibility that the people behind the Odds on Revenge account have realised that this loop-hole exists, and that they could, perhaps, remain anonymous behind the Twitter account name. One thing that we do know is that it is extremely simple to sign up for a Twitter account, all you would need is an e-mail address and you can literally write whatever you like, to whomever you like, within a matter of minutes. One thing which has been a surprise this morning is that the account remains active and has not been deleted. It has already attracted over ten thousand followers, and the six tweets have been shared over twenty thousand times.”

  “You mean that you’d have expected the account to ha
ve been deleted?”

  “Absolutely. The longer that it remains live, the greater the chance of the police locating the information they need to find the people responsible. If this group have delivered the message they wanted, then there is no logical reason to have left this account live.”

  “Unless of course, they want to tell us something else?”

  “Well, that’s a very strong possibility. The public of Great Britain are just waking up to this news, so I’m sure that if there is going to be another Tweet from this group, it will be coming very soon, and then the account will be deactivated.”

  “Very interesting developments in this story this morning Becky, thank you.”

  *****

  “This is Sunrise on Sky News and following on from the story we’ve been bringing you about the Odds on Revenge group, which has admitted responsibility for four out of the five bookmakers shop attacks in Manchester, I’m joined by Rhian McFarlain, our Consumer Affairs correspondent. Good morning Rhian.”

  “Good Morning Sophie.”

  “Tell me, Rhian, have we ever heard of this group before?”

  “Well, short answer. No. The first that anybody appears to have heard of Odds on Revenge was in the middle of the night, when they sent those six Tweets to Manchester Police.”

  “Quite. And they seem quite sure about what they are about, don’t they? In their Tweets, they talk about campaigning against the book-makers, and the government. Fill us in on what you think these statements refer to please, Rhian.”

  “Sure, well, there’s not a massive amount of information within those six short messages. But one thing that we can gather is that this is a group who have decided to try and disrupt the activities of British bookmakers, by smashing up four of their shops.”

  “And they are of course denying any involvement in the fifth attack, which killed three people and has seriously injured a fourth?”

  “Yes, well that’s what these Tweets are predominantly about. This group are admitting that they did smash those four shops up and make a less than subtle hint that they intend to smash up others, too. But it is very clear that they want the police, and I’d assume the public too, to understand that they are not responsible for the attack in Denton, which as you say had very tragic consequences.”