As she approached, she could immediately see that there were signs of occupancy. Washing blew on the line, windows were opened to let in fresh air on the warm day, and a new red mini was parked out front. The rear-view mirror was festooned with charms and chains. Alex took some deep breaths as she approached, tried to slow her racing heart by an act of will. Her hand was shaking as she raised it to the doorbell. At this rate, Jackie Price would take one look at her and slam the door. She got herself together and rang the bell.
The woman who answered the door was undoubtedly Jackie Price. She was older than the images Alex had seen, but matched the description once you had allowed for that. Jackie Price looked her up and down. She didn’t smile or say hello. Instead, she opened with: ‘You must be Alex.’
‘How do you know?’ The wind had been taken completely out of Alex’s sails.
‘Nicci Burns, as was. She rang my mum and got my number from her. We had quite a chat.’
Shit, shit, shit. Why didn’t I tear the page out of Nicci’s address book?
‘You’ll know I want to talk about Tom Watson and Johnny Burns, then.’ Alex brazened it out. ‘Can I come in?’
Jackie Price laughed. ‘After you attacked Nicci in her own home? I don’t think so, hen, do you?’ She started to close the door.
‘No, wait.’ Alex put her hand out to keep the door open.
‘Get off or I’ll call the police.’ The voice was cold and hard, the eyes flinty.
Shocked, Alex took her hand from the door. ‘But I only want to talk to you. Where’s the harm?’
‘Goodbye. Don’t come back.’ The door closed firmly and Alex was left standing on the step, feeling foolish. In all the scenarios she had run through in her mind, this hadn’t featured. It had never occurred to her that she wouldn’t even get through the door.
Fuck!
There was nothing to do but go back to the car. She walked down the path and was about to step out into the street when she came to an abrupt halt. She hadn’t come this far to be dismissed so easily. Turning on her heel, she strode back to the house and rang the bell again. Nothing. She banged on the door, shouted through the letterbox.
‘Jackie. Jackie, please just give me five minutes. That’s all I’m asking, Jackie. For Johnny’s sake, if nothing else.’ Jackie Price appeared at the window. She had the telephone handset in her hand. As Alex watched, she deliberately dialled ‘99’ and raised an eyebrow, her finger over the key, ready to punch it again. The challenge was clear. Alex could see she meant business, wasn’t bluffing. She held up her hands in a gesture of surrender and backed off.
***
That night, back at her flat, Alex reflected on the events of the day. She cursed her foolishness in leaving Nicci the means to contact the Prices, she should have seen it coming and prevented it from happening.
With regard to Jackie Price, she still needed somehow to persuade her to talk about the night Tom Watson died. Alex turned it round in her mind, but no matter which way she looked at it, it all came back to the same thing. She needed to get Johnny to go to Edinburgh. He was the only person who might be able to persuade Jackie Price to tell what she knew.
Chapter 93
Next day, Alex got back to Johnny’s house by early afternoon; she rang him when she was almost home and he was waiting for her with an open bottle of wine. She had told him on the phone the previous evening that she had struck out with regard to Jackie Price. She had yet to broach the subject of Johnny accompanying her to Edinburgh. They chatted while they drank the wine, then Alex suggested they went for a walk. ‘I’ve spent so much time in my car recently that I feel like I’m starting to seize up.’
The weather was warm but overcast. They grabbed a rug and headed off on their usual route towards the river, ending up under their tree. Johnny sat with his back to the trunk and Alex lay with her head resting on his lap.
‘I’m sorry it didn’t work out, Alex,’ he said. ‘I know how hard you tried.’
‘Bloody Nicci. I could kill her.’
He snorted. ‘Join the club. I’ve felt like that for quite a long time now.’ He stroked her neck. ‘She said you’d threatened to tell Becky about Tom. Did you mean it?’
Alex sighed. ‘No. It’s not for me to tell her and I’d never be so cruel.’ She looked up at Johnny. ‘How do you feel about her not knowing?’
‘I think she should be told. I’ve said as much to Nicci on many an occasion. I love Becky like she was my own and nothing will ever change that. Of course, she’s not so keen on me, but I sometimes wonder if that’s because she senses that something isn’t quite right.’ Johnny was quiet, thoughtful. ‘She’s going to have to be told soon, though,’ he said eventually.
‘How come?’
‘Because Tom left money to her in his will. It’s held in trust until she’s twenty-one. That’s next November. A year and a bit.’
‘And Nicci still won’t tell her? What the hell is she going to do next year?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t know how she’s kept it a secret from her until now. Although it’s my name on her birth certificate, I suppose that’s helped cover it up. I need to talk to Nicci about this again soon, that much is clear. Becky deserves to know who her father is. The longer it’s left, the worse it will be.’
He was interrupted by the rain. It fell lightly at first, as they gathered up the blanket and started to head back to the house, but then started to pelt down. By the time they got indoors they were soaked through and giggling, their clothes stuck to their bodies, hair plastered to their heads. They headed straight up to the bedroom, peeled their wet clothes off in the en suite bathroom. Johnny towelled Alex’s hair for her, then dried his own. ‘Why don’t you run us a bath,’ he said, wrapping a towel around his waist, ‘and I’ll go down for a bottle of something.’
Why not?
thought Alex. It sounded like a nice way to spend what was left of the afternoon.
***
Later that evening, over dinner, Alex broached the subject of Johnny accompanying her to Edinburgh.
‘I don’t know, Alex. What good do you think it will do having me there? I’ve always thought that Jackie disappeared because Tom told her about Nicci and Becky. If that’s right, I’m hardly likely to be her favourite person, am I? Seeing me will bring it all back.’
‘You and she got on okay, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, we were good mates.’
Alex was banking on Jackie Price being like most of the other women she had met and having a soft spot for Johnny. ‘Well then, I reckon it’s worth a try. It’s our only hope, to be honest.’
‘But what is she likely to know anyway? It’s a long shot at best.’
Alex took a deep breath. ‘Not as long a shot as you might think.’ She took Johnny’s hand. ‘Do you remember telling me that you thought you’d seen her car that night?’ He nodded. ‘Well, you were right. She was there.’
‘What?’ He pushed his hair out of his eyes. ‘How long have you known this?’
‘Nicci told me.’
‘Nicci? How could she know?’
‘Johnny, I’m sorry. She’s known for years. Jackie Price got in touch with her just after Tom died.’
Johnny was bewildered. ‘For fuck’s sake, Alex. Do you know what you’re saying about her? That she let me believe I caused Tom’s death when I could have got to the bottom of this seventeen fucking years ago.’
Johnny got to his feet and started to pace. Alex went to him and tried to hold him. He couldn’t stand still, kept moving. ‘What exactly does Nicci know?’
Alex shrugged. ‘Not much. She knows Jackie was there, but she’s never asked her what she saw, or what she knows about what happened. Jackie told her that you were in the house and that you and Tom fought, that’s as much as Nicci got out of her.’
‘Fucking hell.’ He looked shocked. ‘She did this on purpose, didn’t she?’ He sat down suddenly. ‘Did she do it so she could take my girls away from me? Is that why she didn’t tell me about this at the time? She screwed me royally and I fell for it. What a fucking fool.’
‘Johnny, do you think there’s a chance Jackie could have hurt Tom?’
‘What? I shouldn’t think so, she was half his size.’
‘You don’t have to be all that big to push someone out of a window. And she did vanish afterwards.’
‘What are you saying? That Jackie ran away because she’d killed Tom? I can’t see it, to be honest.’ He ran his hand through his hair. ‘Let’s go tomorrow to see her. I need to know what happened.’
Chapter 94
On Saturday, the two of them set out for Alex’s flat in her car. She had persuaded Johnny to go only that far that day, and to go on up to Edinburgh on the Sunday. It made the trip more manageable, meant they could get to Jackie Price’s house earlier and be less tired. She felt that they might well need their wits about them. She also felt that Sunday was a better day to visit.
They decided to lie low that night. Neither of them was in the best frame of mind to go visiting, and Alex certainly didn’t want Johnny meeting people for the first time when he was so agitated.
Next morning they were on the road for half past seven. They didn’t want to get there ridiculously early; it was Sunday morning, after all. They made good time on their journey, got to Edinburgh for ten-thirty. As they pulled into Jackie Price’s street, Alex could see her outside washing the red mini she had noticed when she was last there.
This is it
, she thought,
shit or bust
.
Alex pulled in behind the mini. Jackie Price recognised her and was about to go back inside the house when Johnny got out of the car. ‘Jackie.’ He smiled at her. ‘Been a long time.’ Alex held her breath. Jackie Price hesitated, but when Johnny held his arms out to her, she stepped into them and hugged him. Johnny held her close and when they broke apart, they both had tears in their eyes. Alex got out of the car and locked it, tried to be unobtrusive. She didn’t want to intrude and spoil the mood. Johnny held his hand out to her and she walked to his side. He put his arm around her waist. ‘You’ve met Alex, haven’t you?’ Alex smiled apologetically. Jackie Price nodded. ‘We’re together. Don’t believe everything Nicci says about her.’
Finally, Jackie Price spoke. ‘Come on in. I don’t know about you two, but I need a drink.’
Jackie led them to the back of the house and they went into the kitchen. She put the kettle on to boil and motioned them to take a seat. ‘Tea? Coffee? Something stronger?’
‘Coffee would be great,’ said Johnny and Alex nodded agreement.
While they waited for the kettle to boil, Jackie sat next to Johnny at the scrubbed pine table. She brushed his hair away from his forehead, took his face in her hands and looked into his eyes. ‘I can hardly believe it’s you,’ she said eventually. ‘It’s been such a long time.’
Johnny took her hands in his and held them. ‘You look well, Jackie. How have you been?’
‘Oh, you know. It was rough at first, but you get used to things. I moved back up here to be with my folks, and then I got this place. I’ve got a reasonable job, I’m doing okay.’
Johnny checked her left hand. ‘No wedding ring.’
‘Och, Tom was a tough act to follow, you know? I’ve never married. I’ve had a few relationships over the years, but nothing you could call serious. What about you?’
‘What have you heard?’
‘Just the tabloid fodder, really. Drugs and women.’
Johnny dropped his eyes. ‘That just about sums it up. Until I met Alex, anyway.’ He flicked a glance at Alex, gave her a smile, then looked back at Jackie Price. ‘Do you believe in absolution, Jackie? Forgiveness and fresh starts?’
The kettle boiled and Jackie stood up to make the coffee. She mulled Johnny’s questions over as she did so, not sure what she believed. Not sure what to tell him. She put the steaming mugs on a tray and added a plate of biscuits, and said to Johnny and Alex: ‘Come on, let’s go through, we’ll be more comfortable’. She led them into a cosy living room, put the tray down on a coffee table. Alex and Johnny sat together on the sofa and Jackie took an armchair at right angles to them.
‘In answer to your question, I don’t know.’ She studied her nails. ‘I’d like to believe in absolution. It’s a comforting idea.’
‘There are things I need to know, if I’m to have a shot at a new start.’
She nodded. ‘And you think I can tell you.’
‘I know that, when I last saw Tom, you were there in the house. Even though I didn’t know it.’
‘It was a strange time, Johnny. There was a lot going on.’
‘Please, Jackie, tell me what happened.’
Chapter 95
1986
As Jackie nosed her car to the kerb, she saw Tom slam the front door and head off down the street, head bowed, hands in pockets. He hadn’t seen her, so that was good; she wanted to surprise him and now she could get into the house without him knowing, run upstairs and snuggle up in his big, comfortable bed.
Tom had just bought a new mobile phone, the first one Jackie had seen. He complained that it was so big and heavy, if he put it in his jacket pocket, it pulled it out of shape. What with that and the fact that you had to stand still to make most calls unless you wanted to risk walking out of coverage and hearing your call vanish into a black hole, it was stretching things a bit to call it ‘mobile’, but miraculously, if somewhat pointlessly, it worked in the house. Jackie planned to use the phone by the bed to ring him on it and spring her surprise. She hugged herself, thinking of her secret, soon to be shared.
Jackie was daydreaming about her future with Tom when she heard the front door slam. The day was so hot that she had thrown back the quilt and was lying under the cool cotton sheet, the window open in the hope of a breeze. She sat up, smiling to herself, and reached for the phone, then stopped when she realised she could hear voices. Tom wasn’t alone. She put her head on one side and listened, realised Johnny was with him. Surely not for long, though. The tour started tomorrow, he’d want to be home with Nicci and the girls.
As Jackie waited, it dawned on her that the men were arguing. She had never known Tom and Johnny have a serious disagreement. Curious, she slipped out of bed and shut the window, cracked the bedroom door open a fraction so she could hear more clearly.