‘So why did they attack you?’ he asked me. ‘You gave them what they wanted. You led them here.’
‘They want their money.’
‘I’ve spoken to Trevor again. He hasn’t got it.’ He shrugged. ‘He’s my brother. He wouldn’t lie to me. And I certainly haven’t got their money. I’m always skint. Like I said, I’ll be out of work once the funding for this place runs out.’
I caught his eye, made sure I had his attention. ‘I need to know what you know’ I said. ‘If I have to work with you and your brother to sort this mess out, I’ll do that.’ I paused. ‘And if I can sort this mess out, you might live to tell the tale.’
‘We haven’t done anything. They’ll have to get the message.’
‘They won’t’ I said. ‘They’re going to come back for you and your brother. I can guarantee it.’ I thought about what Julia had said. I owed the brothers, however distasteful I found it. ‘The police have tried to warn me off, but it’s gone too far for that. These people aren’t playing at being gangsters, these are the real deal.’ I let him digest what I’d said. It was sinking in. He knew he and his brother were in serious trouble.
‘What do you want from me?’ he said.
I made sure he was looking at me. ‘I need your help.’ I told him to ring his brother.
We went back to his office and waited. I watched him check his emails and file some paperwork. It didn’t take long for Trevor Bilton to arrive.
He nodded to his brother. Turned to speak to me. ‘I thought we’d said our piece to each other.’
I smiled at him. ‘It’s not that simple, is it?’ I glanced at Gary Bilton. ‘Things have changed.’
‘Nothing we can’t handle ourselves.’
‘You’ll be next’ I said to him.
Trevor quietened down, taking on board what I was saying. Both me and his brother were walking advertisements for what was in store for him. I asked him if he’d ever met Kane Major.
He found a chair and sat down with is. ‘The cunt wouldn’t be walking if I had done’ he said.
‘What about Greg Tasker?’ I said.
‘What’s he got to do with this?’
‘I need to know.’
‘Through his girlfriend’ he said eventually. He looked to his brother and then back to me. ‘I thought you wanted to know about Major? Why are you asking me about fucking Tasker?’
‘I don’t care if you were dealing, or it was someone else doing it for you. I’m not interested in any of that stuff’ I said. ‘If Gary can live with it, so can I. It’s none of my business, alright? Just tell me about Tasker.’
I watched him weigh things up. He eventually spoke. ‘He sometimes came along with his bird, but more recently he’d started coming by himself.’
Siobhan hadn’t told me the truth. ‘Who was he buying for?’ I asked.
‘Didn’t ask.’
‘Was he using his own money?’
‘How would I know?’
‘Was it a regular thing?’
He smiled. ‘I don’t think he could take the pressure of the band starting up again. Needed a bit of medicinal help.’
I wanted to wipe the smirk off his face, but carried on. ‘Did he ever mention Major?’
‘No.’
‘Right.’ I turned the possibilities over in my mind for a moment.
‘You’re thinking these people killed Tasker?’ Gary Bilton said to me.
‘It’s a thought’ I said. I wasn’t convinced, but it was possible. An argument. A punch. It could happen. I’d definitely struck a nerve. Trevor Bilton was experiencing being on the wrong end of things for a change. All the misery he’d brought people like Betty Page was being paid back with interest. I wasn’t upset by that. It doesn’t matter how big you think you are, there’s always someone bigger.
‘What can you do to help to us?’ Gary Bilton said.
I stood up, wanting to get back to the office and think. ‘I’ll do what I can’ I said.
I’d agreed to meet Julia for a quick lunch. I was pleased we were getting back to being on something approaching an even keel. The Priestley story had broken, so time was limited for both of us. She’d offered to buy the sandwiches and I left the office to meet her a short walk away in the grounds of the Museum Quarter on High Street. The jewel in the crown was the restored house of William Wilberforce, which stood as a monument to the man’s role in abolishing slavery. I made my way through the parties of school children and headed towards where Julia was sitting on a bench, waiting for me.
‘What happened to your face?’ she said before I’d even managed to sit down next to her. I tried to angle myself away from her so she wouldn’t see the worst of it.
‘Someone wanted a word.’
‘Who?’
I told her about being followed. I told her how it was linked to the break-in at the office.
She passed me my sandwich. ‘Why didn’t you tell me, Joe?’
I bit into my sandwich and shrugged. ‘I didn’t want to worry you’ I said. What I didn’t say was that I didn’t trust her with the information. We sat and ate in silence. I watched the school party being shepherded into the Transport Museum by their teacher. We stood up and walked out of the grounds. ‘I spoke to the Bilton brothers earlier’ I said.
‘What did they say?’
‘Let’s say we’ve come to an understanding.’
She seemed to accept it, asked me if I’d spoken to Major.
‘He’s keeping a low profile’ I said. His mobile was switched off, but he’d keep for now. ‘I had a word with DI Robinson as well’ I said.
‘What did he say?’
I repeated what he’d told me, explaining that he was probably embarrassed by the fact he wasn’t calling the shots here. It sounded like the London mob were being tracked by more powerful people. Robinson would have to swallow it down and do as he was told. ‘What have you got planned for the afternoon?’ I asked her.
‘Work.’
I didn’t ask anything more. I didn’t want to know. Rightly or wrongly, Priestley would be in the headlines. Julia would have to work out for herself how far she was willing to go with things. As I watched her walk away, I suspected I knew the answer.
You’re depressed. Kane wants you back in the band, but it’s over for you. You know it, he knows it and Priestley knows it. Your girlfriend leaves you. You’re a mess. Your friends aren’t really your friends. You can see that now. You have nothing and no one. You stay in your flat in London because it’s the easiest option. This way you don’t have to see people. This way you don’t have to answer their questions. Priestley makes no attempt to contact you. Kane tells you Priestley has bought an old farm property outside of Hull. You hate the fact he’s happy. You know what it is – self pity. You try to convince yourself that you’re a free man again, that your life is still in front of you, not behind you. You can’t cope. You overdose. It’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. You call your ex-girlfriend, tell her what you’ve done. She calls Kane. You’re taken to hospital. You’re taken to rehab. You start to sort your life out.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I still
had unfinished business with Siobhan. Walking up to the boutique, I wasn’t surprised to see a closing down sign in the window. She didn’t look pleased to see me. The place was quiet. I closed the door behind me, flicked the sign over and told her we needed to talk. I didn’t want us disturbed.
‘Moving on?’ I asked her.
‘It’s the right time’ she said. She looked at my face. ‘What happened to you?’
I told her I’d had a disagreement with someone. Nothing more than that. I looked around. Already a lot of the stock had been sold. ‘I need to speak to you about Trevor Bilton again.’
‘I told you everything I know.’
I found a chair next to the till and passed it to her. She sat down. ‘Have you been back to see him?’
She said she hadn’t. ‘I told you. I just needed something to get through this. I’ve stopped now.’
‘Pleased to hear it.’ I moved us on. ‘What about Greg’s involvement with Bilton?’
‘He didn’t have any.’
‘Don’t lie to me, Siobhan’ I said. ‘I know he was in far deeper than you told me.’
She nodded, like she’d made her mind up. ‘I dragged him into it. It’s my fault. No one else’s.’
I found another chair and sat down next to her. ‘Tell me about it.’
‘I knew how hard it had been for Greg to get clean, but it was me. I was buying the stuff. I hate myself for it, I really do. We’d even moved away from London so he was out of temptation’s way and I let him down. Moving back here was supposed to be a fresh start. It was a chance for us both to get things back on a positive footing. It was probably harder for him than me, truth be told, because he could blend into the background a bit more in London. It wasn’t so easy for him here. Too many people knew him’ she continued. ‘He deserved much better than me. I let him down.’
‘He was big enough to make his own decisions’ I said. ‘You can’t take all the blame.’
‘But he didn’t need me to make it worse for him.’
‘He started to visit Bilton with you?’
‘After a while. I got Bilton’s name through a friend who comes in here. At first, Greg just let me get on with it. It was stupid.’
‘He wasn’t impressed?’
She laughed. ‘He was always more interested in Lorraine.’
‘Did he want to start using again?’
‘He told me I didn’t need to worry about him. He could handle it.’
‘Why did he want the money from your till?’ I asked.
‘I didn’t ask. He wouldn’t tell me. He never told me what he was up to.’
She turned away from me. We both knew. ‘Kane was involved?’ I said.
‘I don’t know.’
‘Didn’t you ask?’
‘He wouldn’t talk to me.’
‘Why didn’t you say something?’ I asked. ‘People would have wanted to help you.’
She snorted. ‘Who would? His parents?’
I realised I didn’t have the answer.
‘I didn’t say anything because I was trying to protect him’ she said. ‘I know how much he hated the way the band had finished. How it’d all fallen apart. He carried the guilt over it. He knew he’d behaved badly, especially towards Priestley. The least I could do for him was help keep his reputation intact. He didn’t deserve any of this hanging over him.’
I needed to speak to Tasker’s parents. I hadn’t spoken to them for a while and I didn’t want them to think I wasn’t keeping them up to date. I called Kath Tasker. She told me she was in Pearson Park, trying to get some peace and quiet. It was picturesque, Victorian, and despite it being on the doorstep of my flat, I rarely made the effort to visit. I found Kath sat on a bench next to the pond. I sat down next to her. There was a family feeding the ducks. A small group of men kicked a football about between them. Otherwise she was right, at this time of day, the park was quiet.
‘Keith’s at work’ she said to me.
I must have looked surprised. She told me she wasn’t complaining. ‘It’ll do him good to get back to some sort of normal routine.’
I didn’t know if she was right or not. Everybody has different ways of dealing with grief.
‘I’m sorry I wasn’t available when you last called’ she said.
I waved her apologies away. ‘I spoke to Keith. It’s not a problem.’
‘What can I do for you?’ she asked.
‘I wanted to let you know I’m still working on things.’
She nodded. ‘That’s good to hear.’
I smiled. ‘I’m getting there, I hope.’
She threw some bread crusts at the ducks. ‘I’m well aware Greg was no angel. I know we’re old and out of touch, but we know what people in his position get up to. I know he was no different. It was difficult for us, but we loved him.’ She stopped and looked at me. ‘You’ve heard all of this before.’
I told her to continue. It was interesting to get her perspective on things.
‘To be honest, Greg was a selfish man’ she said. ‘I don’t know whether it was the band or not, but he’d never call and he very rarely made the effort to see us. Everything was on his terms. To me, it doesn’t matter whether you’re in a famous rock band or you work in an office. There’s always a telephone, and it’s not a huge effort, is it?
‘Is that why you don’t have photographs up of him and the band?’
‘I suppose it is. It’s not how I want to remember him. Keith was always more forgiving, but I wish Greg had just led a normal life. There’s no shame in that, is there?’
I was surprised by her attitude. I’d always assumed if I had children, I wouldn’t mind what they did with their lives, so long as they were happy. But then again, I wasn’t sure how happy Greg had been. I also had to think about Jay. Should I tell her that she had a grandson? It wasn’t something to be thinking about at this moment in time.
‘Are the media still bothering you?’ I asked her.
‘I’ve unplugged the telephone and I ignore them at the door. They’ll get the message eventually.’
‘I can imagine it’s difficult.’
‘I’d like to speak to the journalist you know, please. I’ve spoken to Keith about it. It’s what I want to do.’
I watched a child throw some bread into the pond. I told her I’d sort it.
‘So how are thing progressing?’ she asked me.
‘I’ve got a few leads to follow up.’ I didn’t want to tell her the police had warned me off. I also didn’t want to be pointing the finger at anyone yet. ‘The police are working hard’ I said. ‘They’re doing a thorough job.’
She looked like she wanted to say something. But she didn’t. I promised her I was doing my best.
‘We both appreciate it’ she said. She offered me money again, but I told her it was covered.
‘I don’t think Greg knew what he wanted from life. It pains me to say it to you, it really does. He was my son, but in so many ways, he was a stranger to me.’
‘He had Siobhan’ I said, hoping to offer her some comfort.
‘To be frank with you, I’m not convinced she wasn’t part of the problem. We never thought it’d last, but they were obviously fond enough of each other to stay together. I suppose we should be grateful she brought our son some happiness.’
‘Do you like her?’ I asked.
She shook her head. ‘She was wrong for Greg. I never understood it, really. You’d think they’d want different things from life, wouldn’t you? It’s only natural, given the age gap, but Keith is much more laid back than me and always said we should let people get on with living their lives. I never liked the woman. I never trusted her.’