Alexis nodded as she took notes. She was famous for it. Claimed it came from some mystical mountain mine. Me, I reckon it came from Pilkington Glass at St Helens. She gave me an apologetic grin. Sorry about this but How did you feel?
Sick. Can we talk about something else?
What, like Cliff Jacksons marital problems?
Hes got marital problems?
Alexis nodded, a grim little smile on her face. In spades. His wifes run off with another bloke.
What took her so long?
She probably couldnt find the key to the handcuffs. The best bit, though, is who shes run off with. Alexis paused for effect. I rotated my wrist in the classic get on with it gesture. His oldest lads in his second year at Liverpool University. His wifes only run off with the lads best mate.
Youre kidding!
Would I lie to you?
How long have you been sitting on this? I demanded.
I only found out this morning. I was trying to get a comment from Jackson and he was going totally ballistic. I know one of his DCs from way back, so I cornered her and asked why Jackson was being even more of a pain than usual and she told me. So dont expect any favors.
Ill bear that in mind. I grinned. Couldnt happen to a nicer bloke, though. By the way, did you get anywhere in tracking down who was the source of your story about me minding Gloria?
Alexis savored her last mouthful of smoke and regretfully crushed the stub in the ashtray. One of those things. Every Friday, the news credits book goes up to accounts so the payments can be processed. It doesnt come back till Monday morning. I was too late getting to it yesterday. Sorry.
Ill just have to possess my soul in patience, I complained.
So who was Dorotheas last appointment with? Which member of the Northerners cast was the last person to see her alive?
Youll have to ask Jackson that one. I didnt have much hope that Id be able to keep Glorias name out of the papers, but the longer I could, the better for her. Any chance I can pillage the library? I could use some background on Dorothea.
You digging into this, then?
I shrugged. If hes not made an arrest overnight, the chances are Jacksons stuck. Which means hell be wasting time making my
I could see from her eyes that Alexis didnt believe a word of it, but she knew better than to try to push me in a direction I didnt want to travel. Youll tell me when youre ready, she said. Come on, Ill sort you out.
Ten minutes later, I was beginning to wish I hadnt asked. A stack of manila files six inches deep contained the Chronicles archive on Dorothea Dawson, newly returned from the news reporters who had been writing the background feature for that days paper. Another two ten-inch stacks contained the last years cuttings about Northerners.
I tore a hole in the lid on the carton of coffee Id brought up from the canteen, took the cap off my pen and began to explore Dorothea Dawsons past.
Id got as far as her early TV appearances when Alexis burst in, a fresh cigarette clamped between her teeth. The librarian shouted, Crush that ash, shit-for-brains! Alexis ignored him and grabbed my arm, hustling me out into the corridor.
Wheres the fire? What the hells going on, Alexis?
Your mate Dennis has just been arrested for murder.
I understood each of the words. But together they made no sense. They think Dennis killed Dorothea Dawson? I asked uncomprehendingly.
Who said anything about Dorothea?
Alexis, just explain in words of one syllable. Please?
Some villain called Pit Bull Kelly was found dead early doors in one of the underground units in the Arndale. The place was empty, but apparently it had been squatted. According to my contact, they had a tip-off that itd been Dennis whod been using the place, and when they checked his fingerprints with records, they found them all over the place. So theyve arrested him.
I still couldnt get my head round it. Dennis was a hard man, no stranger to violence. But for a long time, hed not lifted a hand in anger to anyone. The crimes hed committed had all been
I still couldnt get my head round it. Dennis was a hard man, no stranger to violence. But for a long time, hed not lifted a hand in anger to anyone. The crimes hed committed had all been
Calm down, KB, Alexis said pointlessly as I passed her.
I dont want to be calm, I shouted over my shoulder. Sometimes I get fed up with calm. I half ran down the corridor and, too wound up to wait for the lift, started down the stairs. I could hear Alexiss feet pounding down behind me. Hes not a killer, Alexis, I shouted up at her. He loves his wife, he loves his daughter too much. He wouldnt do this to them.
Her footsteps stopped. I could hear her gasping for breath. Phone me, she managed to get out.
I didnt bother to reply. I was too agitated. Alexis would forgive me, I knew that. Specifically, shed forgive me when she got the inside story. At the bottom of the stairwell, I pushed open the door to the car park and got into my car. My breath was coming in deep gulps and my hands were shaking. I realized it was probably delayed shock from the night before kicking in as soon as my defenses were down. I was close to Dennis, but not that close, I told myself.
When my pulse was back within the normal range, I took my phone out and dialled the number of Ruth Hunters moby. If being hated by the police and the judiciary is a measure of success in criminal defense work, Ruth must be one of the best solicitors in the North West. Behind her back, they call her firm Hunter, Killer & Co. A big woman in every sense of the word, she sails into court in her bespoke tailoring like an outsize catwalk queen and rips the Crown Prosecution case to rags. If she didnt have clients, I suspect shed do it anyway, just for the hell of it. She drives Officer Dibble wild by turning up to cop shops in the middle of the night in her millionaire husbands Bentley Mulsanne turbo. She can park that car in streets where my Rover would be stripped to the chassis in ten minutes and know itll be there unscathed when she comes
Ruth Hunter, the voice said briskly.
Its Kate. I heard about Dennis.
What took you so long? she asked drily. Its at least three hours since they lifted him.
Are they charging him?
I cant talk now as Im sure youll appreciate.
That meant she was in a police station, probably with a custody sergeant breathing down her neck. When can we talk?
Your office, three oclock.
Ill be there. Should I go and see his wife?
Id leave it for now. Maybe tomorrow. Things are a little volatile at the moment. Ill see you later. The line went dead.
I could imagine. Most of the contents of the glass cupboard were probably in bits. Debbies never had a problem expressing her emotions and Dennis was on his final warning following the twelvemonth stretch hed recently done. Shed told him then, one more serious nicking and shed file for divorce. Shed probably started shredding his suits by now, unless she was saving that for when they charged him.
The clock said half past eleven. I couldnt face sitting in the Chronicle library for another three hours, and I didnt want to kick my heels at home. Its ironic. I spend half my life complaining that I never have time to do my washing or ironing, then when I get a couple of hours to myself, Im too wound up to do anything constructive. I needed to find something that would make me feel like I was being effective. Then I remembered Cassandra Cliff. Cassie had once been one of the household names among the stars of Northerners. Then some creepy hack had left no stone unturned to find the slug who revealed that years before shed been cast as Maggie Grimshaw, the bitch goddess gossip queen of Northerners, Cassie had been Kevin.
In the teeth of the hurricane of publicity, NPTV pointed out that they had an equal opportunities policy that protected transsexuals and that Cassies job was safe with them. They were using safe with that particular meaning Margaret Thatcher inaugurated when
She didnt run weeping into the wilderness. She sold the inside story of life on Northerners to the highest bidder, and there were no holds barred. Cassie never featured in any of the shows regular anniversary celebrations, but I suspected that didnt keep her awake at night. Shed chosen not to be bitter and instead of frittering away the money she made from her exposé, she set up a shop, magazine and social organization for transvestites and transsexuals.
Cassie had been a key source for Alexis for years, and wed met following the death of a transvestite lawyer Id been investigating. Id met her a couple of times since then, most recently at Alexis and Chriss housewarming party. I knew she still kept in touch with a couple of people from Northerners. She might well know things Gloria didnt. More to the point, she might well tell me things Gloria wouldnt.
Energized by the thought of action, I started the car and headed for Oldham. Cassies shop, Trances, was in one of those weary side streets just off the main town center where some businesses survive against all the odds and the rest sink without trace, simply failing to raise the metal shutters one morning with no advance warning. There was little traffic and fewer pedestrians that afternoon; the wet snow that was melting away in Manchester was making half-hearted attempts at lying in Oldham, and ripples of slush were spreading across the pavements under the lash of a bitter wind. Anyone with any sense was sitting in front of the fire watching a black-and-white Bette Davis movie.
The interior of Trances never seemed to change. There were racks of dresses in large sizes, big hair on wig stands, open shelves of shoes so big I could have got both feet in one without a struggle, racks of garish magazines that no one was ever going to read on the tram. The key giveaway that this was the land of the truly different was the display case of foam and silicone prostheses breasts, hips, buttocks. The assistant serving behind the counter took one look at me and I could see her
Have you an appointment?
I shook my head. I was passing.
Are you a journalist? Because if you are, youre wasting your time. Shes got nothing to say to anybody about Northerners, she said, her Adams apple bobbing uncontrollably.