The Late Greats

by Nick Quantrill

  I parked up as closely as possible to the house. It looked just like any other in the area. The front garden was neat and tidy, the furniture in the house modern and recently purchased. They were doing ok for themselves, a model of good order. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was a distinct contrast to their son’s life as a famous musician.

  The Taskers greeted me like an old friend, even though we hadn’t seen each other in decades. It was the nature of the city. It might be sprawling, but the static population meant you were never far away from people you knew. You couldn’t hide. They fussed around, offering tea. I waved the offers away, wanting to get down to business. It was late and I didn’t like the situation I was getting myself into. Looking around the room, there were no photographs of Greg or the band.

  ‘Thank you for agreeing to help us, Joe’ Kath said to me.

  I turned to Major, who was looking at the floor. He wasn’t going to be much help. ‘With all due respect, I don’t really know what I’m doing here’ I said to her.

  ‘I’d assumed Kane had told you all the details’ she said.

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘Kane said you can find Greg’ Keith said. ‘We trust him. We know how close he is to Greg. If he says you can help find him, we have to believe him.’

  ‘You should think about talking to the police’ I said. ‘I’m just one man. I don’t have the back-up they have.’

  ‘Do you remember when your brother went missing?’

  I nodded. I vaguely remembered something, but not the details.

  ‘You were only little, five or six, which would have made your Niall about nine. You’d been playing football on the local field with some other kids, but you wandered off with your mates. Your parents thought you were still with Niall, so when only you returned home, they were frantic. Me and your dad got some other blokes together and we searched the area for him. We stayed out for hours, then I found Niall on the drain, just sat there, throwing stones into the water. He was too scared to go home in case he was in trouble.’ Keith shrugged. ‘It happens, but sometimes all you need is a bit of help.’

  I got the point, but said nothing.

  He continued. ‘It’s been a difficult decision to make, but it could do more harm than good at the moment. It would cause a lot of trouble for the band and Greg wouldn’t want that. We know what he’s like. We’re sure he’s just taken off for a few days, but we need to know he’s safe. That’s all. When he comes back, the band can get on with things. If the press find out, they’ll be talking about him for all the wrong reasons. It’d ruin things before they’ve even started. I know he wouldn’t want that.’

  I understood what he was saying, but I wasn’t convinced. ‘The police have ways of dealing with these things. They’ll be discreet’ I said.

  He glanced at Major before shaking his head. ‘We’re not prepared to take the chance.’

  It was crazy. ‘The police have got more chance than I have of finding Greg’ I said. ‘He could be anywhere.’

  They were adamant. This was why Major had dragged me away from my meal with Julia. He wanted me to hear it from them.

  We left the house and went back to my car. I’d said I’d do my best for them. I stared out of the window towards the house. Keith Tasker hadn’t been too subtle in reminding me of a debt my family owed.

  Major stared straight ahead. ‘We can’t go to the police. Once you’re famous, you have no privacy. Everything’s fair game and you can’t control it. You can’t stop your family being caught in the crossfire and they don’t need the media on their doorstep. We can take care of it for them. We’re not going to the police, PI. It complicates things.’ He knew I wasn’t buying it. He turned to face me. ‘Look, if we go to the police now, it could ruin the whole plan, and you heard his parents, nobody wants to do that.’

  ‘Julia knows Greg is missing.’ I explained what she knew and how she’d found it out.

  ‘Fuck’s sake, PI, I thought you were a professional?’

  He looked like he was going to say something more, but stopped himself. I ignored his comment. I knew there was nothing I could have done differently.

  He passed me a note. ‘I need to go there.’

  I read the address. City centre. I knew the area. ‘Why?’

  ‘Just do as you’re told, PI.’

  He was beginning to annoy me. I wasn’t his lapdog. ‘Why?’

  ‘It’s Greg’s flat’ he said.

  ‘Did they give you a key?’ I hadn’t seen them do so.

  ‘They haven’t got one.’

  I knew where this was heading. ‘How are you going to get in?’ I asked him.

  ‘Just drive, alright?’

  I repeated the question.

  ‘Look, if Greg was doing anything stupid, I need to know.’

  ‘And what might that include?’

  ‘Stop being a cunt, PI. We both know what we’re talking about. If the police were to find anything in there, it’d destroy his parents. We’re doing this for them. Now, you either drive me there or you walk away from the job and your payday.’

  I glanced back at the house again and made my decision. They were worried for their son and I could help them. Everything else was secondary. I drove.

  Tasker lived in a new build flat close to the New Theatre, right in the heart of the city centre. The area was quiet. We’d argued during the course of the drive. Breaking in was a bad idea. I made my position clear to Major: I wanted to help, but I wasn’t going in the flat. I wouldn’t cross that line. If we were caught, I wouldn’t be able to work again. And nor would Sarah and Don. I parked up and switched the engine off. Settled in to wait whilst Major did whatever he needed to do. If there was one aspect of my job I’d happily change, it was the sitting around in a car, watching and waiting. I sat for twenty minutes and only saw one lonely drunk stagger past. Nobody else passed until Major walked back towards the car. He opened the passenger door and eased back in.

  I turned towards him. ‘Well?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Nothing?’

  ‘It’s clean. The police can look around it if they want.’ He laughed. ‘Feels good to break the law, doesn’t it, PI?’

  I started the car up and pulled away. I was ready to call it a night.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ‘You did what?’ Don said to me.

  It was too early in the day to be arguing and I was tired. Unable to sleep, I’d sat in my front room and watched the sunrise. The walls were thin, so I’d put my headphones on and listened to music until it was time for work. I walked back to my desk with my drink. ‘I shouldn’t have done it’ I said. It was the best I could offer.

  ‘You should have gone to the police and put a stop to it. You’ve done your best, but you can’t do it all by yourself. This isn’t what we do here.’

  I shook my head. ‘They don’t want the police involved. They’ve made their decision. It’s not what Greg would want, so I think we’ve got to respect their wishes on this.’ I felt for them. I could see both sides of the argument, but I wanted to help them to the best of my ability. I’d been thinking about what Keith Tasker had said to me the previous night. He’d helped my family when asked. I had to repay the favour. It was that simple.

  Don picked up the morning’s post and rifled through the pile, throwing my letters onto my desk. ‘It doesn’t mean you can go around breaking into people’s flats’ he said. ‘It’s against the law. We’ll be shut down and then we’ll all have nothing. Everything we’ve worked for would be gone.’

  I understood that, but at least I was getting paid for my troubles. ‘The main thing is we find him’ I said. I passed him one of the bills I’d found in the pile. ‘And then we might be able to pay this.’

  I glanced at my mobile, but there had been no calls so far this morning. I called Major again. Straight to voicemail.

  Don looked at his watch and stood up. ‘I’m going out. I’ll be on my mobile.’

  I watched him leave. Don
had every right to be angry. I wasn’t comfortable with the way Major had forced this upon me, either. He had expected me to go along with things without so much as a murmur of dissent. He might be paying for my services but it didn’t mean he owned me and I’d blindly follow his instructions. I had to decide how far I was willing to go with this.

  The buzzer to the office went. I looked into the camera and saw Julia. I realised I’d not spoken to her since I’d left her in the restaurant. Shit. I met her at the door.

  ‘You were supposed to call me’ she said, walking straight past me.

  I said I was sorry.

  She walked right up to me, inches away from my face. ‘You’re been very naughty, Joe, and to make it up to me, you best have a very, very good story for me.’

  I smiled and took a step back, tried to think.

  She followed me across the room. ‘I know you’re holding out on me.’

  ‘Of course I’m not.’

  ‘Good. Because that’s not what we agreed, is it?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Is Kane cool with the situation?’

  ‘Not really.’

  Julia shrugged. ‘He’ll deal with it. Has Greg turned up yet?’

  ‘I’ve not heard from Kane today.’

  She laughed. ‘I bet you’ve been ringing him all morning.’

  ‘Not at all.’

  ‘Liar.’

  I walked back to my desk, wanting her questions to stop.

  ‘I need a story’ she said to me. ‘Have you told him I know Greg is missing?’

  I nodded. ‘It didn’t go down well.’

  ‘He’ll have to deal with it.’

  ‘He’s got a lot on his plate.’ I wasn’t sure why I was defending him.

  ‘He needs to have a think about his priorities.’

  I understood. She was probably stretching her brief as far as possible. If another paper got the story first, she’d be in serious trouble.

  ‘Where is he, Joe?’

  ‘I don’t know’ I said. ‘If I knew, I’d tell you. In fact, if I knew, he’d be back here by now.’

  ‘Not good enough.’

  ‘I thought you weren’t going to file the story?’

  Julia leaned in close to me. ‘Don’t be so naive, Joe.’

  ‘How am I naive?’ I felt like a parrot. It seemed whenever she invaded my personal space, I had nothing sensible to say.

  She walked away from me, towards the window. ‘Tell me why Sarah doesn’t like me.’

  ‘She does like you.’ It sounded ridiculous as soon as I said it. ‘She didn’t want us taking this job on, that’s all.’ And neither did her father, I thought.

  Julia shook her head. ‘It doesn’t matter, but don’t forget you’re relying on my goodwill here, Joe, and it can’t last forever. Whatever’s going on, you’re in the loop, so I suggest you talk to Kane and sort it out. Otherwise I’ll have to speak to him on the record, and I can’t imagine he’ll like that very much.’

  With Julia’s words of warning still ringing in my ears, I tried Major’s mobile again. Straight to voicemail. Enough was enough. I grabbed my coat and headed across the city centre to his office. His temporary base in Hull was a ten minute walk away in The World Trade Centre, a high class office block overlooking the city’s marina. I’d had clients in the past who were based in the building. Bad memories.

  The receptionist tried to block my entry, but I wasn’t going to be stopped. I walked straight into his office. Major was on the telephone. The office was a mess; empty mugs weighed down piles of paperwork, leaving little of the desk visible. I couldn’t believe he’d only just arrived in town. I walked across the room and opened the blinds. He finished his call. ‘I said I wasn’t seeing anyone today, PI. You can’t just barge in here when you feel like it. I employ you. You might want to remember that.’

  I took a deep breath and sat down opposite him.

  He looked up at me. ‘There’s no word.’

  ‘Nothing?’

  ‘No.’

  Major yawned and rang through for more coffee. ‘It’ll be fine. Don’t worry; we’ll find him.’

  I didn’t share his enthusiasm. Things don’t just work out. You have to make them happen and we didn’t possess the tools to do that. Tasker hadn’t made contact and he wasn’t answering his mobile. We had nothing. And that was being positive. I didn’t want to think how fragile his mental state might be. ‘I’ve spoken to Don. It’s time to call the police’ I said.

  ‘Fuck Don. Can’t you make your own decisions? You saw his parents. We’ve agreed, we don’t want the police involved.’

  ‘The reunion’s not worth that much, surely?’

  ‘You were there. You spoke to them. They know how important it is and they don’t want to spoil it for Greg. Keep looking for him. He’ll turn up and then we put this behind us and move on. Alright, PI?’

  This was getting out of hand. I’d seen the state Tasker’s parents were in and I wanted to help them, but this wasn’t the way. As well as talking to people, I’d been on the Internet trying to track him down, but nothing. He might be famous, but it seemed if you were determined enough, you could hide away. All you needed was cash, so you didn’t leave an electronic trail, and somewhere to lie low. He walked me over to the window and we looked out across the marina. When the weather’s good and the yachts are on the move, it’s a beautiful sight. It makes a nonsense of the city’s reputation. Today wasn’t one of those days.

  ‘What’s the score with Julia?’ he asked me.

  ‘I’m keeping her at bay.’ I didn’t offer any more than that.

  ‘Good. I don’t need her making the situation worse.’

  ‘She’s all over the story and starting to run out of patience.’

  Major didn’t seem bothered by this. ‘Is she flirting with you?’ he asked me.

  ‘Why would she do that?’

  ‘Come on, PI. We’re both men of the world.’

  ‘I’m just trying to do my job.’

  ‘Of course you are.’ Major smiled at me. ‘She’s an attractive woman, though. I wouldn’t blame you, but don’t let her get too close.’ He tapped his head. ‘She’s got issues. Just be careful, that’s my advice. Fuck her and then get rid. And make sure you don’t go in for any pillow talk.’

  Thirty minutes later and I was back at my desk in the empty office. I hadn’t liked the way Major had spoken about me and Julia. Truth was, I liked her more than I was comfortable admitting. She was attractive, intelligent and good company; what wasn’t to like? My thinking was interrupted by Lorraine Harrison appearing at the door. I invited her in.

  ‘Do you mind?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course not.’ I told her to sit down. Her appearance wasn’t a huge surprise to me. As soon as her husband had returned home, she’d stopped talking. I asked if there was something I could do for her.

  ‘I need to speak to you’ she said. ‘Away from Julia and everyone else. I don’t trust her. And nor should you.’

  I waited for her to continue.

  ‘Can we speak in confidence?’ she asked me.

  I told her we could.

  ‘Have you found Greg yet?’

  ‘Not yet.’

  ‘He’s just gone away for a few days, I’m sure.’

  ‘Does he have any favourite places? Anywhere I could check?’

  She shook her head. ‘Not really. It doesn’t make sense. I know he was nervous about the band’s comeback, but he was also really excited about it all. He had all kinds of plans for what he was going to do once the band had finished their tour. He wanted to get out of his studio and do things, make his own music again.’ She paused and took a deep breath. ‘He hasn’t killed himself. I know he hasn’t.’

  ‘I’m sorry to be blunt, but he’s tried it before.’

  ‘That was years ago. He’s changed since then.’

  I asked her the question I wanted to ask back at her house. ‘Are you having an affair with Greg?’

  She started
to cry.

  I rummaged in my drawer for some tissues. Sarah usually kept us stocked up. She was good with the small details. Finding them, I passed them over to her and let her clean herself up. Admitting the affair seemed to lift a weight from her shoulders.

  ‘I know it’s hard for you’ I said, ‘but I need to ask you some questions about Greg, ok? When did you last see him?’

  ‘I haven’t seen Greg for a few weeks’ she said. ‘He was getting himself ready for the rehearsals. We’d speak on the phone regularly, but that was all.’

  ‘When did you last speak to him?’

  ‘About a week ago.’

  I nodded. It didn’t tell me anything new about his movements over the last couple of days. ‘Has he mentioned any problems he might be having?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Any problems with his family?’

  ‘No.’

  I was getting nowhere. ‘I’m sorry to be so brutal, Lorraine, but does your husband know about your relationship with Greg?’

  She shook her head. ‘He mustn’t know. Please don’t tell him.’

  I told her I had no reason to speak to him. Not at the moment. If they didn’t speak it was their business. Sometimes it’s easier to say nothing. But I know how it eats you up and eventually it boils over. ‘Have you considered telling him about you and Greg?’ I said.

  ‘If he knew he’d throw me out. He wouldn’t be able to forgive me, however much he loves Jay. Neither of us can afford to divorce. He doesn’t earn much from his job and neither do I.’ she shrugged. ‘We just muddle along the best we can.’

  I wasn’t sure what to say.

  Lorraine continued. ‘Greg doesn’t love Siobhan, you know. He deserves better than her. Most people don’t know him, but I do. He’s not the wild rock star people think he is. He’s made a huge effort to sort himself out.’

  ‘I understand’ I said. I wasn’t entirely convinced, but I thought I got it.