‘I was going to call you’ she said.
I asked why.
‘Gary Bilton wants to talk to us. Now.’
I drove to the police station and waited for Julia. I wondered if I should tell her about Jay Harrison, but decided to sit on the information for now. I wanted to tell her, but it was an explosive story. Other people had a right to know first. I leaned on the bonnet of my car and watched DI Robinson push his way through the remaining reporters, heading towards the exit. I noted the media crowd had started to thin.
‘Now then’ I shouted to him. I waved to make sure he didn’t miss me.
He changed direction, walked across to me. ‘Mr Geraghty. I understand you’ve had a spot of bother at your office?’
I wondered how he knew. ‘Nothing serious’ I said.
He stepped closer to me. ‘You should be careful.’
‘I’m fine.’
He turned away from me. ‘Well, best of luck. If you’ll excuse me, some of us have proper work to be getting on with.’
I saw Julia walk out of the station, stuffing papers into her bag. ‘Best of luck to you, as well’ I shouted after Robinson.
‘What have you been up to?’ Julia asked me, as we pulled away.
I told her as we drove across the city, before changing the subject and asking her about the press conference.
’There was nothing new, really’ she said, then she pointed. ‘Down there.’ I turned the car around and parked outside the house she was indicating.
‘Are you alright?’ I asked.
She looked at me and nodded. ‘I’m fine.’
‘Right.’
We got out of the car, knocked on Gary Bilton’s front door.
‘At least he’s moved since I was last in Hull’ Julia said, as we stood and waited.
He eventually opened the door. He looked terrible. His left eye was closed, his mouth swollen. Someone had given him a proper going over. But you could see he was in better shape than his brother. Maybe five years younger.
‘Nice to see you, Julia’ he said. ‘It’s been a long time.’
She ignored him. He let us into his house. We followed him into his front room. I unplugged his Xbox and turned the television off. The curtains were still closed, the room smelt stale.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’
I pointed to the big cardboard box in the corner. ‘New television?’ I told him to sit down. ‘You wanted us to come here. You can talk to us properly.’
‘Who did this to you?’ Julia asked him.
‘If I knew, I wouldn’t be talking to you about it, would I?’
‘What happened?’ I said.
‘Jumped as I walked home from the pub. Some bloke appeared out of nowhere and asked me what time it was. I went to have a look and he cracked me one. The next thing I knew, him and his mate had picked me up and thrown me into the boot of their car.’
‘What did they look like?’ I asked.
‘How would I know? I didn’t get a proper look. The bloke who spoke to me had a cap pulled right down over his face. They weren’t local.’
‘Where did they take you?’ Julia asked, ignoring me.
He turned his head to look properly at her. ‘I was in the boot of their car. I’ve no idea.’
‘What about when they got you out?’
‘No idea.’
‘You didn’t recognise the area?’
‘No. It was the middle of nowhere.’
I turned to Julia. ‘We’re wasting our time.’
‘What did they do to you?’ Julia asked, turning back to Bilton.
‘What do you think happened?’ He held his left hand out for us to look at. ‘They didn’t take me out for a nice meal.’
I looked away. I didn’t want to see.
‘They used me as an ashtray’ he said. ‘Is that enough detail for you?’
‘Have you been to the hospital?’ Julia asked.
He shook his head. ‘Don’t be stupid.’
‘You could have some internal damage.’ She looked at me for confirmation. ‘We’ll take you.’
I shook my head. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I wasn’t sure if Julia saw me out of the corner of her eye.
‘I’m not going anywhere’ he said.
‘What did they want?’ I asked.
‘They wanted their money’ he said to me.
‘Right.’ I walked over to the window. The estate was quiet, like it was asleep. I didn’t like it. It made me feel uneasy. I turned back and shrugged, no idea what he was talking about. ‘Give it to them. It’s nothing to do with us.’
He pointed at me. ‘It’s everything to do with you.’
I walked towards him. ‘Say that again?’
Julia told me to be quiet and turned to Bilton. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘They said they were owed money and they were going to collect.’
Julia looked at me. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. I got it. Mistaken identity.
He smiled at me through his broken face. ‘That’s right. You were supposed to lead them to my brother. But they got me instead.’
I told Julia to call Major as I drove. She did as I asked and told him we’d made a breakthrough. Nothing more than that. He told her where he was eating. It was the same fish restaurant as last time. I told Julia I’d got the address and headed straight there. We found him eating by himself in the corner. I sat down opposite him. ‘You’re lucky I don’t knock you out in here’ I said to him. ‘So everyone sees.’
‘I don’t follow you, PI’ he said. I was willing to credit him for being a good actor. He was unmoved.
‘Trevor Bilton’s brother has been given a good kicking.’
I could see him doing the calculations. He eventually shrugged. ‘I’ll get you both a drink.’
‘I don’t want a drink off you’ I said. ‘I assume you don’t want to do this in public?’ I stood up. ‘Outside.’
Major told the waiter he’d be back shortly. We walked out and got into my car. Major was in the back, me and Julia in the front. I eyeballed him using the rear-view mirror and told him about Gary Bilton’s injuries, describing them in detail, right down to the cigarette burns. ‘Somebody wanted to hurt him badly’ I said. ‘But they got the wrong brother.’
‘I’m not with you’ he said.
I smiled at him. ‘You’re with friends now. You don’t have to lie.’
‘I’ve no need to lie to you, PI.’
‘Try again’ I said. I held his stare. ‘I told you about Trevor Bilton, remember?’
He nodded. ‘So what?’
I took my eyes off him and turned to Julia. ‘His brother said the beating was my fault, didn’t he?’
She agreed with me.
I searched for Major’s eyes again in the mirror. ‘He also told us I led them to his door.’ I turned around. ‘Remember I told you I was being followed? I mentioned it to the police and I asked Whittle. Neither of them knew anything about it and I believed them. Why would they need to follow me?’ I pointed at him. ‘You know exactly what I’m talking about. You said Greg was involved with some bad people and you wanted them off your back. You told them Trevor Bilton was the man they needed to speak to.’ I looked at Major again. ‘You know who they are.’
We sat in silence for a few moments. I never took my eyes off Major I’d locked the car doors to make sure he wouldn’t leave until I was satisfied I’d heard the truth. ‘Why did you do it?’
‘I didn’t have a choice.
‘You can do better than that.’
He flashed with anger. ‘Who the fuck do you think you are?’ He jabbed his finger at Julia. ‘You bring a journalist along with you and expect me to answer your questions? Have a word with yourself, PI.’
I shrugged it off. ‘I’m the man who has the police on speed-dial. This is off the record for now, but it can soon become on the record. Do I make myself clear?’
Julia nodded. ‘I can have it ready for tomorrow’s paper.’ She knew how to play along.
‘Look, you don’t know what you’re messing with, alright? These are bad people, seriously bad fucking people.’
‘So why are they chasing you?’ I already knew the answer, but held out some small hope he’d surprise me.
‘I owe them money.’
Of course he did. Drugs. Hence the disappearing act. It wasn’t just business taking him away from Hull. ‘Couldn’t you borrow some?’
‘Who from?’
‘You tell me.’
‘There’s no one’ he said. ‘Don’t you think that option has crossed my mind?’
I let it go. ‘Who are these people?’
‘The less you know, the better.
‘Too late’ I said.
‘These aren’t the kind of idiots you have running around in this shithole. I was using their stuff and they said it wasn’t a problem sticking it on the tab. You know how it is, the money started to mount up and I couldn’t pay them. I thought they were my mates, but as you find out in this business, no cunt’s your mate.’
‘What are they doing up here?’ I asked.
‘My secretary told them where I was.’
I got it. Hide in the most visible and obvious of places. Hull would be the last place people would think to look for him at the moment.
He smiled at me. ‘What can you do? I didn’t have a better plan. I just need to set things up with the band and then I’ll get them their money.’
‘So you decided to put Trevor Bilton in the frame, tell them he stole your money?’ I did the calculation. He’d told them I was tracking the guy who’d ripped him off. ‘They bought that?’
‘They were prepared to give me the benefit of the doubt. I can still open doors for people. I’m still a face in London. I know a lot of people who want to buy what they’re selling.’
‘You’re a face?’
‘Fuck off, PI. You wouldn’t understand. I had to tell them I’d been ripped off.’ Major leaned forward, putting his head between mine and Julia’s. ‘Come on. You’re not really saying you give a shit about Bilton and his brother? Fair enough, it’s a bit unfortunate, but Trevor Bilton is a fucking scumbag. Greg told me all about him.’
‘It’s not the point’ I said.
Major slumped backwards. ‘They’re going to come back for me.’
I couldn’t resist smiling. ‘Good.’
Julia took a call on her mobile. She turned to me. ‘We’ve got to go.’
I unlocked the doors and told him not to choke on his meal.
I fed the parking meter and looked up at the imposing concrete monstrosity which stood in front of me. Hull Royal Infirmary was a place that had brought me only misery in my life. I stuck the ticket on my windscreen and caught Julia up. She was looking at the list of wards on the wall next to the lifts. The area was congested, so we took the stairs. Heading straight onto the ward, I saw who I was looking for. Carly Priestley looked up at me.
‘How are you doing?’ I said.
‘What are you doing here?’ She looked at Julia. ‘Who’s this?’
‘She’s with me.’ I explained who she was. ‘Her colleague rang us after he took the call. You can’t keep a secret in this city.’
Carly said nothing. I dug out some change from my pocket and asked Julia to get the coffees. I waited for her to leave. ‘I just want the truth, like you do.’
‘Try telling it to him’ she said, pointing to her husband, lying in the bed asleep, hands bandaged up.
Carly passed me the note Priestley had left in his recording studio. I read it and passed it back to her. I looked at him and wondered if it was a serious attempt to kill himself or a cry for help.
‘When did you find him?’ I asked. It can’t have been long after I’d seen him. Another thing on my conscience.
‘When I came home from work. The ambulance people told me it wasn’t as bad as it looked. Apparently, if you slash your wrists in a certain direction, it’s not so dangerous.’
I nodded. It still sounded like a gamble. ‘He said he couldn’t take it anymore?’
‘The press and the police have been all over him and it’s getting worse and worse. He couldn’t take their continuous questioning, repeating themselves over and over. It wasn’t fair on him.’
‘It’s a high profile case.’ I walked over to the corner of the room and picked up a chair. I put it down next to her at Priestley’s bedside. ‘You can’t control it, I’m afraid.’ Priestley was a suspect for Tasker’s murder. I assumed she didn’t know her husband’s true feelings, or anything about Lorraine Harrison. I certainly wasn’t going to enlighten her. This was hardly the time or the place for it.
‘I can’t believe they’re saying such things. He didn’t kill anyone’ she said to me.
We sat in silence for a few moments, both looking at her husband, listening to the rhythm of the hospital machinery. I knew I was at least partly responsible. I hadn’t stopped asking him questions, either.
‘I should have put my foot down about the band’ she said. ‘I knew it was going to be more trouble than it was worth.’ She shook her head. ‘I shouldn’t have let Kane Major anywhere near him.’
I couldn’t disagree. He was the catalyst for all this. Julia returned with the coffees. I changed my mind, stood up and told her we were leaving before passing Carly my mobile number. ‘Stay in touch’ I said.
I told Julia we shouldn’t be there. We were intruding. Her hotel was less than ten minutes from the hospital, an easy drive late at night with little traffic on the roads. I pulled up at the entrance.
‘Thanks, Joe’ she said.
‘Not a problem.’
She started to get out of the car. ‘Do you think it was a cry for help?’
‘I hope so’ I said. I was weighing up how much slack to cut Priestley. He was still a legitimate suspect for Tasker’s murder. It could easily be an act of guilt. ‘Tell me you’re not going to write the story?’ I said to her. ‘At least let him get home first. Let him have a bit of dignity.’
She turned away from me. ‘I don’t have a choice, Joe.’
I needed a drink. I decided to leave my car at Queens for the night. It’d been a long day and things were weighing heavily on me. I tried to rationalise it by remembering Major had manipulated me for his own purposes. He’d been the one who baited the trap. No wonder the people following me hadn’t made a move. They thought I’d eventually lead them to their money. They’d professionally worked Gary Bilton over, so I knew I was messing with serious people. It was obvious they wouldn’t stop until they got what they wanted. I thought about the way Major had used his influence to keep them at bay. It made me sick.
I finished my second pint and decided to call it a night. I couldn’t shake the image of Priestley’s bandaged wrists, either. I’d played my part in pushing him to it. Things were getting out of control. I needed to keep a grip on things and drinking wouldn’t help. I walked back to my flat, head down, hands in my pockets. As I was about to turn down the path that led to the front-door, I saw a figure hunched down, close to the ground floor window. I altered my path and went straight past. Pure instinct. The extra seconds I’d bought myself might save me from a good beating.