Loss gd-3

by Tony Black

  I pulled the blue-grey cloth over the corpse and stepped back. Leaning onto the table, I felt my breathing return to normal. I wiped at my eyes as I heard the door opening behind me.

  Fitz brought in a cup of coffee. ‘You okay, mate?’ I noticed he avoided eye contact, sparing me the embarrassment of admitting to that crime against manliness — crying.

  ‘I’m fine.’ I took the coffee. ‘Can we get out of here?’

  ‘Sure, I mean, of course.’

  We went through to the adjoining office and I sparked up another Marlboro, offered one to Fitz. The coffee tasted like the standard watered-down office fare, the styrofoam cup giving it the tick of authentic vending machine.

  Fitz spoke: ‘I called in a car. Laurel and Hardy are out at Balerno, a break-in, some bastard’s Christmas ruined.’

  I shot him a glower. ‘I can sympathise.’

  ‘Ah, now, I’m sorry… I wasn’t thinking. Look, I’ve called you first, Gus… thought you might want to break it to his wife. I’m being a bit fast and loose with the procedure but, well, rules are made to be bent at times like this.’

  I nodded my head. ‘I’ll do it.’

  ‘Okay, as ye say… we’ll need to, likes as not, talk to her, ’tis Jayne I believe… But we can do that later.’

  I clawed an ashtray from him, flicked the cigarette filter with my thumbnail. ‘What the fuck happened, Fitz?’

  He sipped his coffee, swallowed. ‘Don’t ye be worrying about that now. Get home to Debs and get yerself a bit rest.’

  I shook my head. The very thought set a bomb off in my gut. ‘No chance.’

  Fitz gave a nervous cough into his fist. ‘I’m just suggesting you take it a bit easy for now, till you get over the shock. It’s a terrible, terrible shock you’ve just had, Gus.’

  I stubbed my tab. It was barely smoked past the halfway mark and it snapped in two before I could get the tip extinguished. I left it smouldering, said, ‘Now listen up, Fitz, my brother is lying on a fucking slab because some bastard put a bullet in him — do you think I’m going to go home and make a nice mug of Horlicks, try to get some kip? Fuck that! I’ll be tearing down this shithole of a city till I find who put him there and then… then God save them.’

  Fitz showed me his palms, waved me calm. I turned away from him, paced the room. I felt like a caged beast. I was ready to run into the street and start interrogating the first person I put eyes on. My anger was off the dial.

  ‘You have to leave this to the force,’ said Fitz.

  I almost laughed at the suggestion. ‘You can’t be serious.’

  A sigh, followed by a sharp intake of breath: ‘I’m only saying, you can’t go taking matters into your own hands, Dury. That would be… counterproductive.’

  ‘You what?’

  ‘We want to find his killer… Let the investigation run its course.’

  ‘Spare me the corporate speak, eh.’

  Fitz moved behind the desk, picked up the phone to enquire about the car, blasted someone on the switchboard, told them to get their finger out their arse. I watched him put out his tab, extinguish mine too, then take another sip from his hip flask. He looked on edge, nervy. Didn’t want to be asked for any more favours.

  ‘What can you tell me?’ I said.

  He snapped, ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Come on, this is me you’re talking to.’

  ‘You’re a fucking hack, Dury… I can’t tell you a bloody thing.’

  I leaned on the desk, hovered over him. ‘Fitz, that’s my brother through there. I know you don’t need reminding of that.’

  He looked away, gnawed on his lower lip.

  I went on, pushed his buttons — ones I knew worked: ‘Fitz, you have family.’

  He drew back his gaze, drumming his fingers on the black folder in front of him. ‘Just what do you want to know?’

  I lowered my tone, kept it businesslike. ‘What have you got?’

  Fitz opened the folder. His face was impassive as he scanned the contents. ‘We have very little to go on; it’s early days.’

  ‘Well, let me know what you have.’

  He spoke slowly: ‘We found him on the Meadows. A single bullet wound. His wallet was empty… Looks like a mugging gone wrong.’

  ‘That’s it?’

  ‘Pretty much.’

  ‘Who alerted you?’

  He went back to the folder, ‘Anonymous caller.’

  ‘Male or female?’

  Another sigh. ‘Male.’

  ‘Age?’

  ‘I don’t know… We haven’t even interviewed anyone yet.’

  I wasn’t for easing up any. ‘Do you have the shooter?’

  ‘No, no weapon.’

  ‘Any witness statements, forensics, clues?’

  Fitz slammed the file shut, said, ‘Look, Dury, I know it’s your brother lying there, but I can’t magic up a case-solved stamp out of thin air. We want the killer as much as you.’

  ‘No you don’t.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘No one wants this fucker as much as me, Fitz.’ I started to fasten my Crombie.

  ‘Now where are you going?’

  ‘Home.’

  ‘Wait for the car, man… It’s four-below outside.’

  ‘I need to cool down anyway.’

  ‘You’ll feckin’ freeze, man — are ye mental?’

  There was only one answer to that. I pulled up my collar. Fitz stood as I opened the door. I said, ‘Don’t want you to think I’d try pulling any favours on this, Fitz.’

  ‘Dury…’

  ‘No, I gave you your get-out. We’re quits.’

  ‘Dury, would ye ever just listen? Please, man, leave it to us.’

  I put a serious eye on him. ‘My brother’s been murdered, Fitz… I’m not letting anyone else settle that score.’

  Chapter 3

  I set off for home. The snow had started to settle and the streets felt slippy underfoot. I toyed with the idea of a night bus, but I didn’t want to be around anyone else; I wondered how I would react to seeing Debs.

  My brother had a family, a wife and daughter. Just how do you tell a teenage girl her father has been murdered? It would wreck her. They would both want for nothing: Michael had his own business, was set up as they say, but that was little consolation. I looked up the street. Flats above the shops were kitted out with Christmas trees and little fairy lights. A glowing sleigh, waving Santa inside, shone down from a window. I couldn’t look at it.

  The snow grew heavier, great mounds of it gathering on the street. I started to shiver. Felt the quarter-bottle of Grouse in my pocket. It hung there like an invitation to an alternative Christmas. Go on, down it! Block out the whole lot, wake up some other time. Sometime when the hurt has passed.

  I held the bottleneck tight, knew I had more reason than ever to stay sober.

  Memories of my brother flashed into my mind, but I tried to drown them. There would be a time to remember him, but now wasn’t it. Now was the time to stay focused, to keep my thoughts straight. A roar was building in the pit of my gut that would see me through, but as I reached my own doorstep my heartbeat ramped.

  I got inside the flat and kicked the snow off my Docs, brushing the sleeves of my jacket. My hands felt numb with cold as I fitted the key on its hook. The dog jumped up, clawed at me.

  ‘Get down, boy… come on, calm down.’

  Debs spoke: ‘He’s been sitting at that door like Greyfriars Bobby since you left.’ She was in her dressing gown; I guessed she had been since I left.

  ‘You stayed up.’

  She came towards me, leaned on the wall. ‘I didn’t know if I was going to have to come down and bail you out or what.’

  ‘No danger of that.’ I brushed past her, went to hang up my Crombie.

  ‘Gus… what’s up?’

  ‘Go back to bed… You’ll be wrecked in the morning.’

  She followed me through to the living room. ‘I won’t get any sleep after that call. What’s going o
n?’

  I moved to the kitchenette, opened the fridge, took out a can of Coke. ‘You better go and sit down.’

  I kept my voice calm, laid it all out. Debs took the news as I expected; I put my arms round her as she started to sob. ‘Gus, I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I was thinking the worst, but not this.’

  I knew what she meant. She’d thought I was in trouble with the police again — we were still at a fragile stage in our reconciliation. I said, ‘It’s okay.’

  ‘I only saw Jayne and Alice last week… Gus, they’ll be in bits.’

  ‘I know.’

  She pushed away. ‘Your mother, Gus… Oh my God, what about her?’

  I felt a kick to my heart at the thought of more pain for my mother, after all she’d been through; it didn’t seem so long since my father’s death. I tried to calm Debs down, stroked her hair, made her take a seat; she only started to sob harder. I went into the bedroom to grab some tissues. She said, ‘I just can’t believe this. I mean, why? It just doesn’t make sense. What did the police say?’

  I tutted. ‘Mugging… it’s the default solution. And utter shite.’

  Debs scrunched up the tissue, I went to get her another. When I returned she looked puzzled. ‘What the hell was he doing in the Meadows at night?’

  I stood up, turned away from her. I didn’t want Debs to see the anger I felt rising on my face.

  ‘Gus…’

  ‘There’s a lot of unanswered questions.’ I turned round, caught her look of utter stupefaction, her mouth twisted on the verge of tears once more. I knelt down before her, said, ‘Someone must’ve had a reason to put that bullet into Michael.’

  I wanted her to throw her arms around me, show me support, but she didn’t. Debs jumped out of the chair and let out a wail: ‘No. No. That’s not what I want to hear. No, Gus…’ I watched her eyes light up, their whites huge above the redness caused by her tears. ‘You promised me there’d be no more of this.’

  ‘Debs…’

  She was hysterical, ranting, screaming at me, ‘I’m not going to watch you get yourself killed too!’

  ‘Debs…’

  ‘No… you promised!’ She lowered her head and held her face in her hands.

  I touched the back of her neck. She cut my hand away.

  The intensity of Debs’s reaction wasn’t unexpected. I knew where she was coming from, sympathised even. The last thing I wanted was for this to come between us, but then I didn’t want any of this.

  In recent months I had found a route back to normality, something Michael always managed to locate with little or no effort. I didn’t want to lose it, though I felt my new-found happiness starting to buckle now. Debs had got up early and locked herself in the bathroom. I heard her snivelling inside, but left her be. I wanted her to understand I couldn’t just let my brother’s murder go, but now wasn’t the time to tell her.

  I tweaked the dog’s ear, then put on my Crombie. The car keys hung by the door. The rank smell in the stair had got worse — I held my breath again on the way down. Outside the street looked whitewashed by snow. It was too early for footprints, or to see the roads turned to slush. Everywhere lay silent and still beneath the pure-white blanket. I felt the cold seize me, go for my chest. I fastened my coat and raised the collar.

  As I trudged down towards the car the grey sky suddenly turned to a black mass. A vast group of starlings swirled into view, cutting treacherous angles as they darted in first one, then another direction. I watched the darkness form and dissemble then re-form again. Nature amazed me; I felt sure I was of its lowest order.

  The windscreen of Debs’s Punto was frozen over. I cleared it with the scraper, but then the engine refused to turn over. Automatic choke chugged a bit; when it bit, the tyres spun on the road. I dropped into second to give more traction to the hill start. Got a break at the lights and took a steady pace on the quiet roads all the way to the Grange.

  My brother and his family stayed in Edinburgh’s millionaires’ row. A house round here was said to have set you back the best part of three mill until recently. After the banks crashed and demand plummeted, it wiped a third off the valuation. As I reached their home, I checked for any signs of movement. I rolled down the car window and sparked up a Marlboro. Got about two drags in when I saw a bloke appear from round the side of the house, dragging a wheelie bin behind him. He looked about six-two, early twenties, with a shaved head and broad shoulders. He clocked me sitting in the motor and frowned. I got out.

  ‘I can help you?’ He had an Eastern European accent. We had so many in the city now that it was hardly worth noting.

  ‘Who the fuck are you?’ I said.

  ‘What?’

  I nodded to the house. ‘That’s my brother’s place… What are you doing there?’

  He scrunched his brow at me and turned away. I followed him up the path, saw he had a bit of a limp. He turned back to look at me twice in quick succession before he speeded to a hop, got to the gate and slammed it behind him.

  I tried the handle — it held fast. ‘Hey, open up.’ I banged on the gate, yelled at him, ‘Get back here.’

  As I stared through the slats, Jayne appeared in her dressing gown. She hovered on the back step for a moment, then bawled: ‘Who’s there?’

  I set her right: ‘Jayne… Jayne. It’s me — Gus.’

  She dipped her head, ran down the path and opened the gate. ‘Gus, what are you doing here?’

  Now I wondered if I should have left this to Fitz, fought the urge to hug her, smiled. ‘I think we should go inside.’

  The kitchen was vast. A huge oak table in the corner overflowed with plates and cups. The stranger was emptying the dishwasher. I squinted, nodded in his direction.

  Jayne said, ‘That’s Vilem… He’s our lodger.’

  The bloke barely acknowledged me, save a slight once-over in my direction. His manner noised me up. ‘You’ve got a lodger… Since when?’

  Jayne sat down at the table, took a cigarette from a pack of Consulate menthols, lit it. She hadn’t smoked for years, since Alice was born. ‘In case you haven’t noticed, these are straitened times, Gus.’

  Sitting in this house, in this area, it was the last thing I expected to hear. Vilem clattered the dishwasher closed, flicked a switch and gave me one more long stare before limping out the door. I kept my tone low. ‘A lodger, Jayne. Are you in that much strife?’

  She peered over a cloud of grey smoke, didn’t look like answering the question. ‘We’re just helping Vilem out — he works at the factory… Nice as it is to see you, Gus, I don’t think you’ve come over here to talk about the state of our finances.’

  My mind hazed over. I knew why I was there, but had I dreamt it all? I felt my heart slump with the thought of Michael. I tried to lock down my emotions. I took out a chair, sat opposite Jayne. ‘Where’s Alice?’

  ‘Bed — a late night.’

  ‘Doesn’t she have school to go to?’

  Jayne laughed; sharp radial lines creased the sides of her eyes. I hadn’t seen them before. Age was catching up with all of us. ‘School and Alice are not, shall we say, getting along right now.’ She went to the sink to flick off her ash, checked the cupboard, said, ‘Bugger it, he’s washed all the ashtrays.’

  She returned with a saucer in her hand. I looked at her with my mouth open, desperately trying to summon words, any words. How did I break this to her? She seemed to be on edge as it was. I felt my neck seize with tension. The Grouse bottle in my pocket pressed on my hip. ‘Jayne, I have some news for you and, well, I think you might want to wake Alice.’

  ‘What news?’

  My mouth dried over. I touched the back of my teeth with my tongue — it made an embarrassing clacking noise. ‘I, eh…’

  ‘Well, come on then.’

  I opened the top button on my Crombie, then the others. ‘God, it’s so hot in here.’

  ‘What is it you have to tell me, Gus?’

  I felt my brow lifting, my jaw clench. I did
n’t want to utter the words. But there was nothing I could do to lessen the blow: she had to know.

  ‘Last night I got a call from the police…’

  ‘Police.’

  I nodded. ‘They took me down to the station. Michael had been in some kind of a confrontation.’

  Jayne stalled with the cigarette midway to her mouth. ‘Confrontation? Oh, my God, he didn’t come home… I thought he’d stayed at the office.’

  I started up again; my lips trembled over the words. ‘The police thought it might be better you hearing it from me. I’m sorry, Jayne, but… There was a gun fired and Michael was shot.’

  She remained perfectly still. ‘Shot…’ She stood up — she actually smiled, like this was all a joke. ‘Where is he?’

  I went round to her side of the table and put my hands on her shoulders. ‘Come on, Jayne… sit down.’ I placed her in the seat. Her face was immobile. ‘I’m sorry, I wish I didn’t have to tell you this but… he’s gone.’

  All blood drained from her features. She jerked away from me. ‘Gone?’

  ‘Jayne, I’m sorry… Michael’s been murdered.’

  Her eyes remained fixed on the middle distance, somewhere behind me, beyond the oak table. I tried to read her, then came a clatter of noise from behind us; her eyes sprang to life.

  I turned to see Alice running out the back door.

  ‘Alice! Alice!’ wailed Jayne. She jumped up to see out the window, then squeezed her face in her hands. ‘Oh, God, she heard every word…’

  I watched as Jayne took off after Alice. She didn’t get far, but wouldn’t have made any kind of escape anyway, thanks to the footprints she was leaving in the snow. Jayne chased her to the edge of the street, where they both fell to the ground. They wrestled for a brief moment before Alice grabbed out to her mother and they held each other. As they started to sob, I looked away.