Verbatim

by Andrew Hill

“There’s lots of photographs of him in here when we were children. I kept this album. I found it in the dustbin, my mum or dad must have put it there in a moment of depression so I rescued it before the bin men had a chance to collect it. That’s why the cover’s in a bit of a state.”

  She leafs through the pages then speaks, “Would a photograph of him in his teens be all right? I think he’s around seventeen.”

  “That will do fine,” said Sally, “when I get back into the office I will scan it into a computer then I can return this original to you.”

  “I never told my parents that I kept it, it would only have upset them. Several times I nearly told them and showed it to them but I never quite had the courage. It’s interesting to note that my parents never moved house even though they had the money to move to a better part of the city. I thought it was because they’d lived here so long they couldn’t face moving away but I’m not so sure now, maybe they stayed here because they secretly, even perhaps subconsciously, wanted Grant to be able to find them if he came back.”

  That was the first time she’d called him by his name rather than ‘him’. She just rambled on and Sally just let her talk and talk. Talking to a complete stranger can be quite therapeutic and from the private eye’s viewpoint much can be learned.

  Grant’s sister continued, “When they died I inherited this house and came back to live here with my husband. We couldn’t afford to buy you see, and rented a flat near the city centre but it was very run-down.

  Sally could have stayed and listened all afternoon but thought it was time to leave Grant’s sister to get on with her life so at that point Sally left the Webster family home and returned to her car to make the phone call which I have just related.

  Within a matter of a few hours a scanned copy of that photograph was in Jim Salter’s inbox. This on its own was of no great value as Jim had never seen Grant. The only sensible course of action open to Salter is to forward a copy to Josh which is precisely what he does, immediately he phones Josh to tell him to expect it.

  Josh was so nervous when he tried to access the photograph on his smart phone his fingers kept missing the keys but finally the image of a youngster who was probably in his late teens at the time appeared. He looks a great deal younger than the man Josh knows as Gordon Grant but it is unmistakably the same man. Josh immediately texts Jim Salter with this information.

  It is surely now only a matter of time before Jim Salter will be able to present Josh with a complete dossier of Gordon Grant, at least, that is what Josh is hoping. He is now presented with the dilemma of whether to tell his mother and show her the photograph of the man he now knows to be Grant Webster. He chooses not to follow that course of action immediately. Josh knows nothing adverse about Grant’s character, Jim Salter did told tell Josh right away about the prison sentence telling him only that his family had lost contact with him and knew nothing of his current whereabouts or whatever became of him. You may ask why Jim Salter has held back this vital clue, his reason was that many young men end up in prison for a short time but then become decent enough people and that it was hard for them to admit to someone they love that many years ago they had, as they say, done time. Jim, however, has second thoughts and informs Josh about Grant’s first, and as far as Jim knows only, time in prison.

  Josh thinks it would be a good idea if he went to Hull and asks Jim Salter for the address of the Webster family but Jim is not happy about that and declines to give the information.

  It did not take long for Salter to find confirmation of Grant’s first prison sentence.

  Despite Jim Salter’s advice to Josh not to go to Hull, which is probably because he regards amateur sleuths as causing more trouble than they’re worth, Josh is giving it some serious thought. He tells Susan what Salter had found out about Grant.

  “I don’t think you should go all the way up there. I don’t see what good it would do, you’re not likely to find out anything that the private investigators haven’t found out,” she says.

  “That maybe so,” says Josh.

  “In any case you don’t have the time, when would you go you can’t cancel lessons or concerts,” says Susan.

  Josh thought for a moment before speaking, “Do you think I should tell my mum, she has a right to know?”

  “Not yet. That private detective fellow is quite right. His prison sentence was a very long time ago and maybe he isn’t quite brave enough to tell her yet. It can’t be that easy and you’ve no reason to believe that he’s been in prison since then or that he has been a regular criminal throughout his life have you? She asks.

  Josh’s reply is in the negative.

  “Let it rest, at least give him time to tell your mother himself.”

  “How much time should I give him, a week, a month, three months a year? How much time?” says Josh.

  “I don’t know, you have to decide that for yourself, in the meantime you have a lesson to give in an hour and a half so prepare for it.” Despite saying all this, Susan is more concerned than she appeared.

  “All right you’ve made your point but next time I see him when my mum’s not around I shall ask him straight out to confirm what we suspect and that he is the same man as in the photograph, as if it isn’t obvious,” says Josh. He thinks for a few moments then says, “I could stop any marriage at the ceremony. They have to ask if anyone present has a good reason why they shouldn’t get married. Well, if he’s said nothing about it I shall have a good reason. And if Jim Salter has found out any more about him I would have an even better reason.” And with that Josh went through to his private music room to prepare for the lesson.

  Susan sat on the armchair in their living room contemplating the situation. Her difficulty is that she can see both sides and believes that her partner’s mother has the right to chose and Josh simply doesn’t like the idea of a man he doesn’t really care much for taking over the role of his father but she too believes that Grant should tell Carol the full truth of his past. Though Susan has no inclination of the full extent of that past.

  There are no such concerns for Carol, who by now is approaching the climax of her next ‘Genevieve Mystery’ novel which, as you may remember, she plans to be the last. This presented her with a difficulty, if she truly wants it to be the last one then what does she do about Genevieve, does she kill her off or does she leave the door open so that she can, at a later time, write another mystery involving her?

  That might be an interesting dilemma for Carol but I don’t think we need to involve ourselves in it. Carol’s real dilemma involves a real person not a fictional creation. When and how does she inform Josh that Grant has proposed to her and that she’s very close in her own mind to accepting that proposal. In any event, she feels Grant should be the first to know and although she is a little nervous this is only natural and any doubts that she has are only those doubts anyone may have about spending the rest of their life with a particular person and have nothing to do with Grant’s past which Carol knows nothing about other than what Grant himself has told her.

  Now that Carol has made what she sees as a legitimate attempt after all these years to discover the truth about the death of Rob, she feels as though the path is now fully clear, or at least as clear as it ever will be, for her to continue her life afresh. The more that she thinks about Grant, the more she realises that he is the man.

  I can only hope and pray that the marriage never takes place and that Grant will eventually be taken to a secure mental hospital which, when one considers what he has done in the past along with his mental state then and now, is the only fit place for him.

  * * *

  For the third night in a row, Grant suddenly sits bolt upright in his bed waking from his nightmare but this time it is different he is in a real cold sweat, his whole body shaking, alarmingly, this time after running down his victim, he carries on driving and leaves the car abandoned close to an apar
tment block that he recognises, he knows precisely where it is in real life. He enters the block takes off his women’s clothes wraps them in a paper bag and leaves the apartment block throwing the bag of clothes into a dustbin elsewhere.

  Never before has his nightmare been so vivid, he has to find out whether what he was dreaming actually did happen. After a few minutes Grant manages to take control of himself. He lays back on his bed but there is no possibility of returning to sleep. He rises agitated, walks aimlessly around his flat, restless, confused, afraid. He puts on outside clothes and steps into the street. He doesn’t look at the clock or his watch he has no idea what the time is but the sun is not up and it is pitch dark there are very few vehicles on the road. Grant walks briskly in the first direction he thinks of, he can’t walk slowly or amble he is far too agitated. He walks to the apartment block from his dream and when he sees it he becomes convinced this is the right place, the place he walked into dressed as a woman and out dressed as himself seventeen years earlier after killing Rob. He continues to walk not really being aware of the direction. By the time he reaches home the sun is up and the traffic is busier.

  It is a Thursday morning so no need for him to go to work. Tired and desperate he manages to make himself a coffee but doesn’t drink it, rather, he goes into his bedroom and collapses on the bed and falls asleep.

  It is early afternoon when Grant wakes from a dreamless sleep and decides to make his way to the office of the local newspaper to see back issues from around seventeen years previous. They are all on microfiche, Grant begins his search. But where should he start, seventeen years ago? Supposing he starts the day after the story was published in the paper he’d be wasting his time wouldn’t he? But this is no problem for Grant because for some reason a particular date is in his mind, he doesn’t know why, but he goes straight to that date and there it is, the story of a road accident that had occurred the previous afternoon. Everything is as it is in his dream. He carries on looking through the newspaper for subsequent days and finds a second article. The car had been found abandoned in exactly the same place as he abandons the car in his dream.

  Grant leaves the office of the local paper in a deeply disturbed state which is so obvious that a member of staff asks him, “Are you alright sir?” A question which receives no response from the deeply troubled Grant who makes his way to the park where he first spoke to Carol. It is a chilly day and it soon begins to rain but this does not disturb Grant who just sits on the very bench getting wetter and wetter. Because of the rain no one is about save for Grant which is perhaps fortunate as he suddenly came to a realisation; he stands and yells at the top of his voice, nothing coherent, just a scream. One or two people in the distance turn and see him but do nothing except a mumble under their breath calling him some sort of idiot. Grant sits down again as the rain pours down. More and more of his real past comes back to him, he remembers writing Dead Letter Perfect, he remembers the argument he had with Phil Johnson all those years ago, he remembers the hatred that he had for Carol, he remembers the incident at the book signing and even remembers meeting her in the café along Shaftsbury Avenue, he remembers the heavy breathing phone calls and most of all, most frighteningly, he remembers the wilful murder of Rob. Grant begins to shake with disbelief and fear. He begins to see Carol in a new light or should I say the rekindling of an old light.

  Obtaining a gun of any sort is not something that most of us would know how to do, I certainly do not. But now Grant is fully cognisant of his past he certainly does know, which is why he has gone to a former haunt of his in the East End of London. He exits from a dingy room in the back of the dingy shop via a dingy back entrance into an even dingier alley carrying a briefcase. Inside this briefcase, which you would normally expect to contain paper, there is a quite small but powerful pistol which can shoot a magazine of fifteen rounds without reloading. It doesn’t take much imagination to think what Grant now intends to do with it. If there has been any doubt in your mind that the Grant Webster we knew earlier had been replaced by Gordon Grant any such doubts must surely have been removed.

  * * *

  Josh has been rehearsing a Brahms symphony with the London Philharmonia when he feels the vibration from his mobile phone indicating the arrival of a text message. As soon as he is able he checks the message from Jim Salter asking Josh to come personally to his office at the earliest possible opportunity.

  By the time Josh has sorted himself out after the rehearsal and made the journey to Ealing almost an hour and a half has passed. Josh is now sitting in front of Jim Salter awaiting the news. Jim Salter and his operatives certainly know their job. Josh was given a complete rundown as to the true identity and true past of the man he had first known as Gordon Grant.

  Any doubts that his mother must be told were now completely gone. He must drive to Oxford now, this minute, which is what he does so hurriedly in fact that it didn’t occur to him to phone Susan and tell her.

  Josh drives and drives ever more erratically but no police officer notices so there is no car chase to report. On his mind through the hectic drive is the name of ‘Grant Webster’, where has he heard that name before? The answer wouldn’t come to his mind.

  On arriving at Oxford Josh drives straight round to Didcot Road but there is no sign of his mother and the house is locked up. He immediately decides to drive round to Grant’s flat but found the same situation, or at least no one answers the doorbell and he can’t get in or check around to see whether there is anyone at home or not. He takes his mobile phone from his pocket and discovers several texts from Susan who is clearly concerned that he hasn’t come home and hasn’t texted her. He thinks that he had better phone her up and put that omission right but he is very sketchy:

  “Susan, I’m in Oxford, something’s come up and I must speak to my mother now, I’ll explain it all later.” And with that he terminates the call and calls his mother but to his horror his mother’s mobile phone is switched off. And Josh feels there is nothing more he can do now apart from scour Oxford in search of her. He leaves his car parked on a yellow line; this is not a deliberate act of his he just has more important things on his mind than worrying about yellow lines. He visits the library and looks on every floor but there is no sign of his mother, he goes to the café that she favours, once more there was no sign of her, he goes to various bookshops but still he cannot see her. He even goes to the supermarket though he knows it is not her normal shopping day, he is clearly clutching at straws but still he is unable to discover the whereabouts of his mother. He tries telephoning her again but her mobile phone is still switched off. He remembers that it is matinee day at the Oxford Playhouse so he hurries there, he has to wait for it to end but when the audience comes out there is no sign of his mother.

  He was at a complete loss as to where to look next and decided to think things over as calmly as he could and went into the nearest public house and did what he rarely does during the day and ordered a pint.

  While Josh sits in the bar contemplating what to do next he takes advantage of the lull in his frantic search and picks up his mobile phone and selects Susan from the drop down list. She soon answers. Josh tells her that he is in Oxford searching for his mother he then tells Susan the whole story as told to him by Jim Salter.

  While this was going on, Carol’s car, containing herself and Grant pulls up into the drive at Didcot Road. She and Grant had met up earlier in the day, Grant is now back at his charming best but this time it is not because he is unaware of his past this was because he wants to get into Carol’s house alone with her. Soon they are in her kitchen and Carol is making coffee.

  Grant spoke, “I’ve never asked you this before, where did you get the idea for Dead Letter Perfect?”

  “I don’t really know,” Carol informs him.

  “I wrote a novel once you know.”

  “Really, you haven’t told me that before. Was it ever published?”

 
Grant evaded the question. Once the coffee is made Carol and Grant adjourn to the lounge. Carol sits on the settee expecting Grant to sit next to her but he purposely sits on the armchair facing her, Carol wonders why but says nothing. Grant continues, “I only ever had two copies of it, I touted them around various publishers without any success.”

  “I’d like to read it,” says Carol.

  Once more Grant evaded the truth by stating a different truth. “Unfortunately both of my copies have long since vanished, lost over the decades.”

  Carol enquires as to its title. Grant does not answer that question but goes on to say that when a copy came back from one of the publishers he had sent it to, Johnson Books, they had sent the wrong manuscript back to him by mistake.

  “Johnson Books,” said Carol, “I sent mine off to them as well but they rejected it.”

  “I know. The novel they returned to me was Dead Letter Perfect,” said Grant. He goes on, “I can’t prove that to you because that copy has been lost also over the years.”

  Carol wondered how he could have known but said, “And you’ve said nothing about that since we met.”

  “No.”

  “Did you ever get your original manuscript back?”

  “No, but I did get my novel back.”

  “I don’t understand, how could you have got your novel back if you didn’t get the manuscript back?”

  Grant remains silent for a few moments and when he finally speaks his manner changes, he isn’t menacing but he is being quite serious, “It was your novel, I mean it was your manuscript.”

  “I don’t understand this at all. Are you saying that you had written Dead Letter Perfect?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is this some sort of joke?”

  “It’s not a joke, I’m being quite serious. I wrote Dead Letter Perfect.” His tone of voice is still not menacing but serious and business-like. He continues, “My proposal of marriage to you is withdrawn. Instead I think we should come to a business arrangement, purely a business one. I will let you continue to take all the credit for writing Dead Letter Perfect but you must give me a fifty per cent of all the income you receive from the novel from here on in and fifty thousand pounds to compensate me for the income that I have lost so far through your plagiarism and theft of copyright.”