Come Clean (1989)

by Bill James

  ‘I do, I do,’ Ember cried, ‘and I –’

  ‘Benny thinks of others, and others, like you, Ralphy, ought to think of him, same way. Look, he wants us all to go to the funeral, so there’s a fine turn-out for this old fart,’ Macey went on. ‘I mean, that’s how some would regard her, this teacher. All right, we need a little team there, anyway, because Leo and his lot could be parading, too. This is Leo’s teacher as well. But it’s not just in case of trouble Benny asked us to go, that’s the point – it’s a tribute to this fine old lady schoolie. You see what I mean about the kind of grand person you’ve hurt by being so inconsiderate, Ralph?’ Macey still sounded very calm.

  Ember said: ‘Not for the world, I wouldn’t –’

  ‘Always looked up to the educated kind,’ Loxton said. ‘Books, fair copies, historical depth, parsing, all that. So, what they there talking to you about, Ralphy, them two gorillas? Which way’s it all pointing? We got a legitimate interest in these matters, you got to admit. So, all right, you didn’t call them, we accept that, don’t we, Phil, so what they there for, what they asking you?’

  ‘It’s routine, Benny,’ Ralph replied. He tried to relax a little and turned back to look directly at Loxton. ‘They’ve been up before. I know the drill now. They have a squint at the membership list in case there’s someone they want to lean on. Simple as that. If you ask me, they’re out on a long booze-up, moving through all the clubs, taking a couple of free drinks every time, throwing their weight about for the sake of it. They call it showing the flag, an echo of the Empire. That’s how they see themselves, arrogant pair.’

  ‘Nothing about that little incident?’ Macey asked.

  ‘Nothing at all.’

  ‘Anybody go out to the yard, Ralphy?’ Macey said.

  ‘The yard?’

  Loxton, watching him, saw what looked like Ralph trying to work out how much they knew. What he had to keep in his poor, panicky brain was that there had been a tip from somewhere about these police calling, so what they said and did up at the Monty could be known, too. Ralphy probably been through all this sort of questioning and covering with the police already. Stress all ways. No wonder he looked like a day in the life of a nervous breakdown.

  ‘That builder’s rubble thing, the skip,’ Macey went on. ‘Any interest in that? You see the way my mind is going, do you? If you didn’t call them, it could be Sarah Iles said something to her husband, regardless. You was supposed to have made her silent, but you might not of done a very good job there, Ralph. And if she mentioned that skip one of them might want to see It. I mean, it don’t matter because there’s nothing there and never was – would we be so stupid and obvious? – but if they’re interested in it it’s because they been told something, isn’t it? Or could be.’

  In a while, Ralph replied, ‘Well, yes, I think one of them went out to the yard. Iles. It’s a thing about the licence, fire doors, all that. They always do it. It’s nothing, Benny.’

  ‘They mention the skip?’ Macey asked.

  ‘No interest at all,’ Ralph replied. ‘Not a word. Why should they? I’m telling you, Benny, it’s a social call, a free-loaders’ call, dressed up as a routine inspection.’

  Loxton, speaking very gently, said: ‘My trouble, listening to you, Ralphy, to put it frank but not impolite, I hope, my trouble is, this sounds like a parcel of outright fucking balls. Lies from the word go.’

  Ember sat frozen forward, sitting on the edge of the sofa, his head still twisted around to keep an eye on the two by the door, not able to talk for a moment, his breath gone. Briefly then, Loxton feared Ralph might have a stroke.

  ‘You lie to us because you want to stay out of it, don’t you, Ralph?’ Loxton said. ‘You’re the poor sod in the middle, yes, lying to everyone I shouldn’t wonder, police, us, your aunty, trying anything for the quiet life. The way you always been, the way nearly all the world is.’

  ‘Our tipster says this Iles went and had a good look in that rubbish container, Ralphy,’ Macey told him. Sharpness was into his voice now. ‘We got someone hanging around constant, inspecting your place, since the incident, well, what you’d expect.’

  ‘Benny, I don’t know,’ Ralph replied. ‘I assumed it was just the usual quick look-over.’

  ‘Do you get the point, though, Ralphy?’ Loxton replied. ‘The skip itself don’t matter. But if he’s interested in the skip it must be because his wife told him something. If she told him what she thought about the skip, she’ve told him all the rest, and we can expect a lot of difficulty. We don’t want no difficulty just now, because we got something of considerable importance in view. Let’s leave it at that. This is apart from the trouble Phil could have and Norman, they was both up there that night, as you know. And any trouble that comes to them comes to me eventual. I’m the governor. Whatever they’re doing they’re doing because I told them.’

  ‘They mention any names?’ Macey asked.

  ‘Only the past, mayors from way back, that sort of thing. Never your name, Benny, or Phil, or Norman or Bobby. Nothing like that, I swear it.’

  ‘Aston?’ Loxton asked.

  ‘Ian Aston? No. Why should they?’

  ‘Because he was there, twat.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Any other name?’ Loxton asked. Had they spoken about Justin Paynter? Well, he couldn’t give the name to Ralph, in case they hadn’t.

  ‘No names at all.’

  Bobby said: ‘He’s telling us nothing, chief.’

  ‘No, he’s telling us nothing, I can’t argue.’ Loxton replied.

  Ralph slewed himself further around on the sofa to look at Bobby: ‘How can I tell you anything if there’s nothing to tell?’

  Now Loxton thought he sounded as if he might weep.

  ‘You touch my heart,’ Bobby said.

  ‘We all think you’re lying like a lawyer, Ralphy,’ Loxton told him, ‘that’s the tragedy.’

  Ralph whispered: ‘No, no, Benny. Everything totally straight.’

  Macey said: ‘Benny, I don’t see we can let him go after this. We give him a reasonable chance to speak, and he offers us nothing but shit, it’s obvious.’ He started to shout. ‘Look, he’s a peril, not just to me and Norman, but to the whole thing, you know what I mean? He’s a witness. He saw the totality, nearly. Well, we thought that didn’t matter because he was Ralphy and Ralphy never wanted no trouble from anywhere, so eyes shut, mouth shut, real brilliant discretion. Now, he’s talking to police, though. Where are we, Benny? He got to be dealt with, no escape.’

  Loxton held up a hand to silence him and tried to speak coolly. ‘I don’t get into spots where there’s no escape.’

  Macey said: ‘Yes, but –’

  ‘Let me make the decisions, will you, Phil?’

  ‘Of course, Benny, but –’

  ‘That’s settled then,’ Loxton said. Macey could try to run away with things now and then. He had to learn. ‘You see what difficulty I’m in, Ralphy? Listen, you can turn and face me. They’re not going to touch you, I guarantee. But I got to see things from all points of view, their point of view, my own, yours, Ralphy. Yes, I got pressures. Now, why you lie I can’t be sure – if it’s just to keep clear, or if it’s worse. We could find out with a little effort, I know. What I got to bear in mind, this is my home, Alma upstairs having a nap, pictures on the wall of great people, really great, not them jumped-up jerks at the city hall, and one of a great cathedral in France – I don’t want ugly acts here. Well, obvious, we could take you somewhere else and see what we could shake out of your turn-up, but I don’t think so, not at this moment. As I see it, there’s a bargain to be arranged in this situation.’

  Immediately, Ralph was interested, eager, pathetic really. Them who give him that name, Panicking, had it right after all. ‘A bargain? Yes?’

  ‘A trade-off,’ Loxton told him.

  ‘What fucking trade-off ?’ Macey asked. ‘What he got to offer?’

  Loxton again held up his hand and would have liked
to tell Macey not to get excited because when he did his false teeth slipped half off their anchor, but he held back. Macey had to be kept happy and safe, or as near as possible. ‘I’ll tell you what I think, Ralphy. I don’t think you called them two police and I don’t think Mrs Iles been talking to her husband. Your sort, you don’t call police, like you said. It don’t matter how worried you was, you wouldn’t. Good. So, that’s one point. And the other one, I’ve seen Mrs Iles chatting to lover-boy, Aston, and the way she was, she’s not going to do something that would break up that carry-on. What she lives for is that love situation, the way women do, I’d give odds.

  ‘So, where do that leave us? Like this: them police know something, but they got it from outside. They have their sources. I can make a guess. We get tips about where their information comes from, oh, yes. Enough said. So, anyway, I don’t worry very much about Mrs Iles, not at the moment. It could change, but that’s how it is now. What worries me the most is this guy Aston. He’s the one who could really hurt us. He got no loyalties that one. He’s in the buying and selling game, yes? He wouldn’t care where he traded information. Not to the police, he’s not going to do that, no. Well, he wouldn’t get any price, for one thing. But if he goes digging around that incident at your club, going for background, he could come up with an identification of . . . of the central figure. Then he goes and does a bit more digging, and maybe this central figure been talking to friends, and suddenly Aston got some useful, valuable material, material to do with our plans which he could sell so easy to one of our business rivals. You see what I’m saying, Ralphy?’

  ‘Indeed, yes,’ Ralph said. ‘Sort of industrial espionage.’

  ‘You could call it. We got a really confidential project, and the important thing is it stays that way until a certain date. If anything leaks, anything at all, it’s finished. I’d tell you about it, Ralph, but it’s so confidential.’

  ‘That’s all right, Benny. I understand the ways of business, don’t I?’

  ‘Well, of course you do, Ralph. Aren’t you a businessman yourself? You can see Aston might really make a mess of things, if he did some good digging and then some good dealing.’

  ‘It’s obvious,’ Ralph said.

  ‘I was confident you’d see it,’ Loxton told him. ‘Now, you know Aston pretty well, Ralphy, yes?’

  ‘Not all that well.’

  ‘But a regular at the Monty and so on?’

  ‘Yes. I suppose in that way, I know him.’

  ‘And maybe you’ve seen some of his friends, contacts, not just women, people who might know where he would hide. People who might even give him a place to hole up.’

  ‘Not sure about that, Benny.’

  ‘You see, I want you to find him for us, Ralphy, really get to work on it. Do it discreet, if you can, but find him. And do it fast. Ask around, go to his haunts, all that. No good up at his place, we been there, and he was already on a runner. But he won’t be far away, I’m pretty sure. He’s the sort to smell a profit in this situation and he can’t resist. With your help we tried to make sure nothing leaked from them two, Mrs Iles and Aston, but we can’t be sure it worked, and Ralphy, we got to be sure.’

  ‘It’s tricky, Benny.’ As Loxton had suggested, Ember was facing him square-on now. There was not much colour left in his face.

  ‘When you find him, Ralphy, just call Phil. We don’t ask you to deal with Aston, nothing like that. No need to involve yourself. Just find him and come on the phone right away. All right? We’ll give you numbers and you’ll get us on one of them.’

  Macey said: ‘Yes, Ralph, just stick with him, out of sight, till we get there, in case he moves. You must be able to update us. That’ll be neat.’

  ‘I can try, Benny,’ Ralph said.

  Loxton explained quietly: ‘The thing is, you find him and that will show very, very obvious that you don’t want to do us damage, Ralph, something which is in doubt for the moment, especially with Phil, because of them police. But if you locate him for us, it says so clear that you’re trying to help, and then I can tell Phil to lay off you, I can tell him that entirely reasonable then, can’t I? You will be what’s called proving yourself. That’ll be great and I’ll be as pleased as pleased, believe me. But, Ralphy, you fail to come up with where this boy is, so we can talk to him, I’m going to have trouble convincing Phil you’re not a big peril as long as you’re alive. That’s a fact. You see what I’m getting at, Ralph? You understand that Phil can be a bit difficult? I got to accommodate him, and I want to accommodate you, because of knowing you so long. Phil don’t go for all that, but never mind, it means something, yes. But you got to prove to all of us it means something, Ralph. And I know that you will. I can feel it.’ Loxton stood up and walked across to Ralph and shook his hand. Christ, it felt like a warm fish, but he had really wanted to do that: Ralph wasn’t such a bad old toss, and he needed a bit of friendship and warmth. He was suffering.

  At the graveside, Loxton stood with Macey, Norman and Bobby close, and felt very glad he had come. There were not many other mourners present. Someone like Miss Binns, unmarried and pretty old, probably had only a few relatives and friends, and the teachers of today would not remember her, though Marl View school was still there. Leo and Daphne, with their sons and a few of their people, had also come out to the cemetery and were on the other side of the grave, Daphne, in a long, dark coat and a hat and veil, holding on to Leo’s arm and leaning into him, as if she was really upset. Loxton knew Daphne used to visit Miss Binns right up until she died, taking fruit and magazines. She always had a real heart, Daphne. But it was a bit sad and a bit crazy, really, that about ten of the thin little crowd watching Miss Binns’ coffin go down were here because of these old pupils who had turned the wrong way in life. Or that’s how she would regard it, anyhow. That might have hurt her bad if she had known. Probably she would have hoped a lot of her old pupils would have come. But although giving education was a great job, it did not make you box-office, alive or dead.

  The minister threw some soil down and said about being sure we didn’t bring anything into the world and would not be taking anything out. What a fucking useless thought. Amazing what some people got paid for. It was what you had in between that counted, and this bleating minister knew it. He wouldn’t be going home in nothing, but a nice new Vauxhall, and he wouldn’t be having nothing for his tea, either.

  Loxton threw a handful of earth, too, and so Leo had to do the same.

  As they all moved away, back to the vehicles, Leo said: ‘Grand to see you, Benny, even though the occasion is so painful.’

  ‘Yes, me too, Leo. Daphne, I’m happy you were here.’

  ‘Where’s Alma?’ Leo asked.

  ‘Well, she didn’t know Miss Binns. This is private to the three of us, yes? I brought the boys just to make the numbers up.’

  ‘Yes, the same,’ Leo said. ‘A tribute to a fine lady.’

  ‘It’s been upsetting, and yet somehow nice to think of times gone by,’ Loxton remarked.

  ‘Strange to say it, but this has been a good day,’ Leo replied. He had on a black homburg hat and with his big, bony, mean nose looked like a middle-grade debt collector. And that was not far out. He did a lot of collecting, but above middle grade, a long way above.

  Gerald and Lay-waste Tony stayed very near him and a couple of their other people were with Daphne behind. What they think, that Leo or her was going to get wiped out in a cemetery, with harmless old ducks and a minister nearby and the casket of Miss Binns herself still there, uncovered, only a few yards away? But if you was monsters yourself you thought everybody else behaved like monsters. They had not even heard of decorum.

  ‘Uplifting,’ Loxton said. He meant it. Earlier, the funeral service had been in a big old Baptist chapel up near Grant’s Hill, quite a nice part. Loxton had felt glad it was not just a hymn and a couple of words from a vicar at the crem. That sort of funeral never seemed to him right, just the least that was decent, as if everybody wanted t
he dead one gone as fast as could be managed. It lacked. If you were having a funeral, have a funeral, with some time given, and a good service, plus tender memories of the deceased referred to. The minister did well there, and he had really tried to find out something about Miss Binns’ life and say something that added up. Of course, there would always be certain people who could not have a funeral, such as troops killed in war or sailors at sea or Justin, and that was very regrettable, but not avoidable, really.

  In the chapel he had taken a place at the far end of a pew, against the wall, with Macey next to him and Norman and Bobby immediately behind. Phil was carrying something, and Bobby. Loxton had calculated it would be all right. He could see Leo and Daphne up nearer the front of the chapel, with Gerald alongside them and Lay-waste and a couple of their other people behind.

  Although Loxton felt good about the service, it would have been even better in a proper church. Cassocks, stained glass, marble plaques going back to deaths hundreds of years ago, and here endeth the second lesson, all that always excited him, and he loved those big, shining brass stands, like wings on a stalk, for holding the Bible. You got a great sense of top-grade, holy bullshit in a real church, nonsense polished up with true care and talent.

  ‘Benny, I really feel a part of my life has gone with Miss Binns,’ Daphne said. He saw that, under the thick veil, she was near to crying.

  ‘Don’t upset yourself, Daph,’ Loxton said. She was a friend, whatever, and it hurt him to see her grieving about the past: no point in that. They all stopped near a group of neglected graves where most of the headstones had tilted or fallen and where the ancient jars and flower holders lay abandoned, some broken. It was getting hard to read what was chiselled on the stones because the letters had taken so much weather. If you wanted to be remembered you needed to do something special and get your picture in city hall, or a monument. Miss Binns was remembered today, but would it last? And then Leo and Daphne: they could not count on a great future. It really was a pity about Daphne, she felt things deep. That was womanly, warm.