‘You had your own best interests at heart.’
‘Maybe. And as it happens, Johnny was so out of it by the time Tom and Andy were buried that it mattered little who else was there.’ She paused. ‘But by then, Jackie Price was back in Scotland with a little nest egg courtesy of Johnny. Not that he ever knew about it, of course. Then, when Tom’s will was read, she was left enough to take care of her and the kid for a long time.’ She grimaced. ‘Turns out he did care for her after all.’
Alex shook her head to clear it. It was getting difficult to sort out the important stuff from the detail. ‘There’s something you haven’t told me.’ Nicci raised an eyebrow. ‘What did happen after Johnny left Tom’s house that night?’
Nicci shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’
‘You must.’
‘I was too busy trying to keep everything together. I never asked.’
‘You never asked?’ Alex was incredulous. ‘But that could have sorted everything out once and for all. Did it never occur to you, for example, that Jackie Price might have killed Tom Watson? She must have been pretty angry after what she had just learned. Maybe she pushed him out of the window. Maybe he jumped or tripped and she saw.’ She ran her hand through her hair. ‘Christ, Nicci, you could have saved Johnny from years and years of heartache. You could have stopped him from getting into drugs the way he did.’ Alex was on her feet and pacing. ‘Did you care so little for him that you didn’t even try to find out what happened? Did you make a conscious decision to let him suffer?’
Nicci was angry. ‘Johnny did just exactly what he wanted to do, same as always. He was like a spoilt brat, always getting his own way. This time, he wanted to be a drunk and a junkie, so that’s what he became. He made his own choices, Alex. Don’t blame me for the fuck-up your new boyfriend is.’
‘You fucking witch. He died because of you and you don’t even care.’
‘He didn’t stay dead though, did he? Not like Tom.’
‘It’ll have shortened his life, though. All that abuse has to have had some effect. Even if only for his kids’ sake, don’t you care?’ Alex was close to tears, sheer frustration getting the better of her.
‘No. I don’t fucking care. It’ll do Chrissie good to see he’s only human. He pushed me away when we could have patched things up and made it good again. We could have had another child. It didn’t have to end there. But no, Johnny fucking Burns decides he’s too good for me, like he’s Mister Perfect or something, and I’m out on my ear. Divorce me and take the girls? There was no way I would let that happen.’ Nicci stood up and walked over to the sideboard, refilled her glass from the decanter. ‘He played right into my hands when he went back on drugs. He was always so weak, fell apart at the slightest thing. It turned out to be really easy to take his kids from him.’
‘You evil cow.’ Alex had a thought. ‘How come he got back into drugs anyway, Nicci? He’d never been a big user and he’d been clean for ages.’
‘He took Tom from me,’ Nicci seethed. ‘I was left with nothing.’ Alex sensed there was more to come, bit her tongue. ‘Benny Rutherford came round to see how he was coping. He must have given him some stuff, I don’t know what it was. I rang him after I’d spoken to Jackie, I said Johnny wanted some more and could he arrange it. Next thing I know, some guy turns up at the house. That was that. A regular supply of whatever he wanted. Johnny always was a pushover.’ She sipped from the glass.
Alex’s head was spinning, she could hardly take it all in. She wanted to throttle Nicci, look in her eyes as she choked the life out of her. She bit back the anger; she needed one more thing from her. ‘Where’s Jackie now?’ she asked.
Nicci shrugged. ‘How the hell should I know? I haven’t spoken to her in years.’
‘Where was she the last time you had an address for her?’
‘Scotland.’
‘I want that address, and her parents’ address.’
‘No chance.’
‘Get them for me.’
Nicci put the glass down on the sideboard, clenched her fists. ‘Get out of my house and go back to your loser boyfriend. You’re the one sleeping with a heartless killer. Leave me alone.’
Alex lost it. She launched herself at Nicci, sending an end table and the things on it flying as she dived at her, put her up against the wall by her throat. Nicci was terrified, her eyes large in her face. Alex spoke quietly. ‘Johnny isn’t a killer.’ Nicci swallowed hard, managed to shake her head. ‘And you are going to get me those addresses. Now. Okay?’
Nicci nodded. Alex let her go. Nicci was shaking as she rummaged through her handbag and handed her address book to Alex. ‘They’re in there,’ she said in a small voice. Alex flipped through, found what she wanted, and quickly copied the details into a notebook.
‘I’ll be back if I can’t find them. See what else you might know.’
‘You’re mad.’ Nicci’s voice shook. She never took her eyes off Alex.
‘Maybe. But at least I’m not a heartless, evil cow. You disgust me.’ Alex turned on her heel and walked out. Once in her car, she couldn’t stop her hands shaking and she broke down in tears. It took her a good five minutes to pull herself together sufficiently to drive away. On the way back to Johnny’s, she wondered at what she had done. It was completely out of character.
Still
, she thought,
it’s about time someone fought Johnny’s corner instead of just using him for what they can get
.
Chapter 91
When Alex got back to Johnny’s house, there was no sign of him or his car.
Just as well
, she thought. She needed some time to pull herself together. Her leg ached where she’d crashed into Nicci’s table. It was already stiffening up and would no doubt bruise as well. Probably the least of her worries. She felt drained after her encounter with Nicci, could hardly believe Johnny had once been married to the woman. She splashed cold water on her face, patted it dry and wandered into the sitting room. She had to think things through, get them straight in her head.
Alex’s first priority was to trace Jackie Price and to go and see her, talk to her. Persuade her to tell what she knew. She wondered if Jackie had killed Tom Watson, either deliberately or accidentally. She wondered if she knew where the lost tapes were, then cursed as she realised she hadn’t asked Nicci about them. It would be just like her to have them stashed somewhere. Alex was unsure how much she should tell Johnny. Then again, it was odds on that Nicci would mention her visit to him, so she would be better off coming clean about that, and the follow-on was to tell him she was looking for Jackie Price.
Alex booted up her laptop and got online. She called up the BT site as she flipped to the addresses in her notebook. It would be interesting to see if either was listed under ‘Price’ with a phone number. She hit lucky with the parents’ address, copied down the number. They lived on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Alex reckoned she could combine a flying visit to the north east with a trip to Scotland. The Edinburgh leg of the trip would be about a three hour drive each way, she could get there and back in a day, but it was about five hours from Johnny’s house to her flat. Realistically it would mean two nights away. She checked the route online and was mulling things over when she heard Johnny calling her name.
Still undecided, she went to meet him. ‘Hi,’ she called. ‘Where did you get off to?’
‘George and Dragon. Thought I’d better show Gerry and Elaine that I could still behave properly.’ He kissed her. ‘No need to ask where you’ve been, though.’ Alex feigned innocence. Johnny waved his mobile. ‘I’ve had Nicci on the phone. You lit a fire under her and no mistake. What on earth did you do?’
Alex ran her hands through her hair. ‘I just asked her a few questions … I … hell, I need a drink.’
Clearly amused, Johnny put his arm around her. ‘Come on then, let’s get organised. Then you can tell me all about it.’ They went through into the kitchen and Johnny opened a bottle of Merlot, and poured for them both. He looked quizzically at Alex, raised an eyebrow. ‘You scared the shit out of her, babe.’ Then he grinned. ‘Now how did a nice girl like you manage to do that to the bitch queen from hell?’
‘She just wound me up so much, I lost it. Told her a few home truths.’ Alex gave Johnny a potted version of what had happened. She made no reference to Benny, or to Nicci’s role in encouraging him to arrange a regular supplier for Johnny. She said that Nicci had come up with an old address for Jackie Price, and that she planned to try to find her to see if she knew anything that could help. She didn’t tell him about Jackie being there the night Tom died, or about the baby. Alex didn’t entirely know why she’d held back; just some cockeyed notion about protecting Johnny. He would have to know more eventually, but she didn’t want to get his hopes up in case it all came to nothing.
‘Nicci wasn’t always like that, you know,’ he was saying. ‘She used to be very different, quite sweet, really.’ He shook his head. ‘That whole business with Tom messed her up pretty bad.’ He flicked a glance at Alex. ‘And I don’t suppose I helped.’
‘You can’t blame yourself for what she is now. You split up years ago, if it was just you, she’d be over it.’
‘Maybe. I always felt that she was looking for something, although I never really knew what. Judging by the husbands she’s got through, she hasn’t found it yet.’
‘Forget about her.’ Alex made her mind up; she took Johnny’s hand. ‘I’m going to head north tomorrow, see Isabel and Carol. Then, on Thursday, I’ll go up to Edinburgh and try to see Jackie Price. I’ll be home the day after.’
Chapter 92
Two days later, Alex set off just after seven in the morning, aiming to get to Edinburgh around ten o’clock. The day before she had made the drive up to the north-east and visited Isabel, then had dinner with Robert. During the meal, Alex found herself telling him about her planned trip to Edinburgh. She didn’t give any details about Johnny’s involvement in the scenario, just said she was trying to find the woman who had been Tom Watson’s girlfriend at the time of his death.
‘So you’ve got two addresses, both from way back, and one phone number, all in Edinburgh?’
‘That’s right.’
‘And none of these people know you from Adam?’
‘Correct again.’
‘But, supposing they’re even there, you think you can get them to talk to you about something that happened nearly twenty years ago that they probably think is over and done with and would likely rather forget?’
‘That’s about the size of it.’
‘Jesus.’ He chewed on a piece of naan bread. ‘It’s not boring, your job, is it?’
Alex laughed. ‘It has its moments.’
‘Tell you what. Come back to ours on the way to your place. I’ve got an A-Z of Edinburgh from when I was at uni. It might come in useful.
***
In Edinburgh and armed with Robert’s A-Z, Alex intended to locate and cruise past both Jackie’s and her parents’ houses. She had debated calling ahead and speaking to the parents, assuming they were still at the number she had, but had rejected the idea. She would be much more difficult to ignore or to lie to if she was there in person.
Alex cruised past the parents’ house first, a Victorian terrace in a quiet street. She parked at the end of the road and walked back. A short path led up to the panelled front door, which bore a number but no name. No clue as to whether the Prices were still in residence.
Back in the car, she headed to the other address, which turned out to be a small, semi-detached house, freshly painted and with a well-kept garden. Again, there were no clues as to who might live there.
Alex sat in her car, acutely aware of her complete lack of a plan. She wasn’t used to all this cloak and dagger stuff, she felt out of her depth. But she needed to find Jackie Price and sitting in her car wasn’t going to get the job done. Mentally she flipped a coin; this house or the terrace. This one won; she got out of her car.
Alex keyed herself up on the walk to the door.
Remember why you’re doing this,
she counselled herself,
just keep your goal in mind
.
If she’s got nothing to hide, she’ll talk to you. If she’s evasive, try to persuade her.
Of course, she had no threat to hold over Jackie Price like she had over Nicci. She hoped she wouldn’t need one.
Alex rang the bell and heard it sound throughout the house. She waited. Nothing. Waited some more. Rang the bell again. No answer.
‘Hi.’ Alex turned to see a man locking up his car and heading up the path to the house next door. ‘You looking for Jackie and young Tom?’ he asked, as he got closer.
Alex nodded. ‘Yes, I was in the area, so I thought I’d drop by.’
‘School holidays. Tom will be out with his mates, Jackie should be back around two-ish. She works shifts.’
‘Great, thanks. I’ll call back later.’
‘Shall I tell her you called if I see her first?’
Alex smiled conspiratorially. ‘Let’s not spoil the surprise.’
He smiled back. ‘Fair enough. See you later.’
She went back to her car and drove far enough to be out of sight, then pulled over. It certainly sounded like the right house, the right people. Tom must be Jackie’s son, who would be sixteen now. It was all too much for coincidence. It had to be them. She looked at her watch: just coming up to eleven. So, a little over three hours to kill. She drove into the city centre, parked up in the multi-storey near Princes Street Gardens. She would have a coffee, wander round the shops, kill some time. She debated ringing Johnny, would have loved to hear his voice, but decided against it.
Three hours took a lot of killing that afternoon. Not a problem she’d ever had in Edinburgh before or expected to have again, but it was a strange situation. Nerves threatened to overwhelm her. A couple of times she got panicky over actually facing Jackie Price. This was the woman who could tell her categorically, she was sure, what had happened the night Tom Watson died. There was a great deal at stake.
***
By two o’clock, Alex was waiting in her car at the top of the street where Jackie Price lived. She was trying to wait another ten or fifteen minutes before she went to the house, but time had slowed to a crawl and the hands on her watch stubbornly refused to move. Alex found herself wishing she still smoked; the time she wanted to wait was about the time it would have taken her to roll a cigarette and smoke it. A fly landed on the windscreen and pottered about before taking off again. The song on the radio progressed note by note, an endless three minute rush that teased her mind, her sense of time. A cat lay in wait behind a bush in a garden, eventually emerging to pounce on an empty crisp packet.
Is that what Bones hunts these days
, she wondered,
crisp packets and chocolate wrappers
? He certainly only seemed to understand food that came out of pouches and cans, unlike the cats she remembered from her childhood. Maybe the birds would take over, start hunting the cats. She shook off the nonsense and looked at her watch. Almost time to go. Too fidgety to wait any longer, Alex decided to leave her car where it was and walk to the house.