The Late Greats (26 page)

‘You were arguing about Lorraine?’ I said.

He nodded. ‘Greg had been baiting me about her, right from the first rehearsal. I don’t know why. I wasn’t going to say anything. I wasn’t going to rock the boat. The plan was to put the past behind us and be professional about things. All the other stuff was years ago. I just wanted to get the band up and running again with the minimum of fuss.’

‘Why did Greg do it?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know, I really don’t. He was in my face from the start, telling me he was going to get her back and nobody was going to stop him this time. I tried to tell him I didn’t have a problem with that. Why would I? I’ve made my decision. This is what I am now.’

He was talking about Carly. His sense of loyalty was admirable. Looking at him lying there, I remembered her telling me how he’d turned his life around. Yet he remained so fragile. I wondered if the reunion would have been worth it for him. Or for Tasker. I assumed not. ‘It was a bit extreme, wasn’t it?’ I said. I didn’t know how to phrase it any more tactfully. ‘Slashing your wrists.’

Priestley smiled. ‘I was being stupid. I don’t know, put it down to having a bad day, maybe. A cry for help. I felt like I’d had enough, you know? It was just too easy to do. I was lucky Carly found me when she did. Could have been a lot worse.’

‘That’s an understatement.’ History repeating itself. First Tasker, then Priestley.

‘I know about Jay’ he said. ‘Greg told me. It wasn’t a massive surprise.’

‘Why didn’t you say anything?’

‘It’s none of my business.’ He took a moment before continuing. ‘It wouldn’t be fair on Lorraine.’ He asked me to make him a drink.

I found the kettle and made the coffee. It was better stuff than I was used to in the office. I passed him his mug and sat back down. ‘What does Carly have to say?’

‘She wasn’t best impressed.’

‘Stands to reason.’

‘Tore a strip off me earlier.’

‘At least she cares.’

‘She’d be better off without me.’

‘I’m hardly the person you should be talking to about it, but for what’s worth, she’d let you know if it was the case.’ I was thinking about Julia, and how she’d cooled towards me. Had I been a port in a storm while she was back in the city? It was probably for the best, but it seemed I was as clueless as Priestley when it came to this sort of thing. ‘What are you going to do next?’ I asked him.

‘I’ve no idea. I’ve made my bed. I’ve got to lie in it now.’

I nodded. ‘Siobhan told me Greg felt guilty over the way the band finished. I don’t think he hated you. Not at all.’

‘I didn’t kill him’ he said to me. ‘I wish I could make you and the police believe me.’

DI Robinson had been in touch. Priestley was still a suspect, despite everything. ‘Why don’t you give us an alibi?’

He laughed again. ‘I can’t give you what I don’t have. I was out walking, like I do pretty much every other night. It’s what I do to get away from people. That’s the point of it.’ He looked at me and shook his head. ‘Close the door on your way out, please.’

I drove back towards Hull, stopping once I had the signal back on my mobile. I rang Julia. ‘I really don’t understand why Priestley got involved in the reunion’ I said.

Julia considered the question. ‘He was always the serious one. One last chance to right some wrongs, maybe?’

‘Maybe.’ He’d willingly reopened old wounds. New Holland’s reunion had brought him back into contact with Lorraine Harrison, and that was before Tasker and Major were factored into the equation. ‘He must really want to set the record straight’ I said.

‘That’s Steve for you.’

I told her Don was back in Hull. Especially to see me.

‘You must be honoured.’

‘He’s not best pleased I’ve put his daughter in danger.’

‘She’s a big girl.’

‘I don’t think he quite sees it that way.’

‘I suppose not.’

‘Do you miss her?’ Julia asked me.

‘Sarah?’

‘Who else?’

I thought about it for a moment. ‘More than I thought I would.’ It was the truth.

‘Sounds like you’ve got some thinking to do.’

I knew where to go next. I wanted to speak to Tasker’s studio engineer again. I tried the number Julia had for him. No answer. I took a chance and drove to Tasker’s studio. The door was open, so I walked straight in. Like the last time, he was hunched over the vast mixing desk, headphones on. His face was a mess, too. This time I decided not to startle him. I moved slowly around the room, so he would eventually see me out of the corner of his eye. I still made him jump.

‘You’ve had a visit?’ I said.

‘What do you want?’ he said to me.

‘I need to talk to you.’

‘Doesn’t mean I want to talk to you. I’ve got work to do. Nobody else is going to do it now, are they?’

I pointed to his face. ‘Who did that to you?’ He said nothing. I spoke again. ‘Is that why you were so reluctant to speak to us before?’

‘I’m not a grass.’

‘Nobody’s saying you are.’

‘I wish I’d kept my mouth shut now.’

But the money helped, I thought. ‘I can help you’ I said. I told him I’d seen Greg Tasker’s dead body, too.

He nodded. He got the point. ‘They told me to keep my mouth shut’ he said. ‘They said if I spoke to anyone, they’d come back.’

He was clearly scared. I moved closer to him. Cranked up the pressure. ‘You saw more than you told us, didn’t you?’

‘So what?’

‘If you don’t help me, they’ll come back’ I said to him. ‘These people never stop. If you speak to me, I can help you.’

Rusting stood up and paced the room. I said nothing, letting him figure it out for himself.

‘What did they say to you?’ he asked me.

‘Not a lot’ I said. I didn’t want to give him too much. I wanted him to tell me what he knew.

He stopped and turned to face me. ‘What do you expect me to do? I’m not taking another kicking. It’s not my problem.’ I watched him fumble in his pockets for a cigarette. He lit up before offering me one.

I shook my head. ‘You’re alright.’

He took a drag and turned back to the window. ‘Fuck’s sake. You try and do the right thing and look what happens.’

‘You can’t always control these things’ I said.

‘You’re telling me.’ He walked back towards me and sat down. ‘I suppose it comes with the territory for you, but I was scared. They didn’t hold back.’

I took a photograph out of my pocket. He’d seen the men. He’d told me that much during my visit with Julia. ‘Was this one of the men?’

Rusting looked, nodded and turned away from me again.

I left the studio feeling more certain of what I knew. It was time to start bringing things to a head. Julia had called me, but I ignored her message, instead heading back to the city centre, parking my car and walking to Major’s office. The receptionist was busy taking a call as I walked into the building. I didn’t give her the chance to stop me. I headed straight for the stairs and walked into Major’s office. He was on the phone, laughing. Taking him by surprise, I took the phone out of his hand, disconnected the call.

‘What the fuck are you doing, PI?’

‘We’re going to talk’ I said.

He looked me up and down and smiled. ‘Someone’s given you a good kicking, haven’t they?’

I wanted to wipe the smile off his face. I thought I’d gotten a glimpse of the real man during our last conversation. That was a distant memory already. ‘It was your friends from London. And you’re next on their list.’ That quietened him down. He knew as well as I did what they were capable of.

He took the hint and gave me his full attention. ‘What do you know?’

‘Plenty.’ I sat down on the sofa.

‘Have you sorted it out?’ he asked.

I ignored him. ‘I’m going first with the questions.’

He nodded. ‘Fair enough. I hope you treat Julia better than that, you know what I mean?’

He knew how to push my buttons. I felt my hands bunch into fists. I took a deep breath and relaxed. ‘I spoke to Lorraine Harrison earlier.’

‘Like a bad fucking smell, isn’t she? Did she want you to indulge more of her fantasies?’

‘You made Greg dump her when the band first went down to London.’

Major looked at me, a little surprised. He definitely wasn’t expecting that. He stood up, collected his mobile off his desk. ‘Shall we go for a drink, PI?’

I shook my head. ‘Sit down and tell me about Greg and Lorraine.’

‘What’s there to tell?’ He shrugged. ‘She used to hang around at the band’s gigs. I could never get rid of her. And then Greg started to fuck her, which made it a thousand times worse. After that, we definitely couldn’t get rid of her.’

‘Why did it bother you so much? Surely it was Greg’s business?’

‘Not if it affected the band.’

‘Did it affect them?’

‘What you’ve got to understand, PI, is that image is everything in this game. Once the band started to get somewhere, the last thing we needed was girlfriends leeching along for the ride. I wanted them to be young, free and fucking anything that moved.’ He smiled. ‘Better for business that way.’

‘But what did Greg want?’ I said.

‘He wanted what was best for the band.’

‘I don’t think he did.’

Major laughed. ‘What the fuck do you think he wanted?’

‘Lorraine was pregnant when you left the city.’

He nodded. ‘You’re good at maths, PI.’

‘It’s what Greg and Priestley were fighting over in the rehearsal room, wasn’t it? Why did you leak the story to the newspaper?’

‘Why do you think I sold the story? I needed some quick money. Besides, it’s all good for the band. It gets people talking about them again, which is what we all wanted. I kept it vague. No one cares.’

I wasn’t having it. ‘But they were really arguing about Lorraine.’

‘She was carrying Greg’s baby when he left Hull. I told her to get rid of it.’

That stopped me. I didn’t think he could surprise me, but he really was one heartless bastard. ‘What did she say when you told her that?’

‘She wouldn’t take the money, but she agreed to stay away from Greg. It was for the best.’

‘But she couldn’t stay away, could she?’

‘Seemingly not. ‘

‘And Priestley had always carried a torch for her?’

‘Fuck knows why.’ He shrugged. ‘Always wanted what Greg had.’

‘Greg was pushing him in the rehearsal room, reminding him of the fact.’

‘Priestley was sticking his nose in, telling Greg he should do the decent thing and leave Lorraine alone, let her get on with her life.’

‘Only Greg wanted her back, didn’t he? He wanted to leave Siobhan and start again.’

‘He wasn’t thinking straight. She had nothing to offer him.’

‘Apart from his son.’

Major went quiet, opened his drawer and produced a bottle of whiskey. He waved it at me. I shook my head. I wasn’t drinking with him again. He poured a drink, saluted me with his glass.

‘Did you force Greg back into drugs?’ I asked.

Major laughed. ‘Do you seriously think I had to force him to do anything? He was looking for an escape from the drab fucking existence he’d made for himself back up here.’

‘He was clean until you showed up.’

‘People like Greg are never clean. He was waiting for the trigger, that’s all. If it wasn’t me, it would have been something else. It’s in his blood, PI.’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Believe what you like.’

‘And you made him pick up your debts?’ I leaned towards him. ‘How low is that?’ Major looked like he wanted to punch me. I was hoping he might try his luck.

‘He wanted to help me. It’s what mates do’ he said.

‘You made him take the money from the boutique?’

Major laughed. ‘What’s your problem with that? It was his money anyway. He was entitled to it.’

‘Doesn’t really work like that, does it?’

‘Fuck you, PI. Who do you think you’re talking to?’

‘Someone who’d rip his mate off for a quick fix’ I said. I stood up and walked across to the window. He’d gone silent. I’d scored a hit at last.

‘What you’ve got to understand, PI, is people like Greg want you to make decisions for them’ he eventually said. ‘They’re not capable of doing it. They need people like me to take care of this stuff for them.’

I watched him pour himself another generous measure. ‘It’s what I’m good at doing’ he said.

‘What about Priestley?’ I said.

Major slugged the whiskey back and looked at me. ‘What about him?’

‘He needed your help. What did you do for him? What did you ever do for him?’

He said nothing to that, reached for the bottle again.

‘He’s out of hospital.’

‘Pleased to hear it.’ He threw another drink back.

I pointed at his glass. ‘You should ease off that stuff.’

‘Are you my fucking mother?’

‘You can have that advice for free.’

‘Fuck you.’

He stood up and walked towards the door. I was too quick for him and blocked his escape route. ‘Sit down. We’re not done yet.’

He was eyeballing me again. ‘Try it’ I said. ‘Please.’ I could smell the alcohol on his breath. He walked back to his desk. Not so brave.

‘What was it with you and Greg?’ I said. I saw him looking at the bottle of whiskey. I was too quick for him again. Grabbed it and held it away from him. ‘You was jealous of Priestley.’

He laughed. ‘Why would I be jealous of him?’

I wasn’t drinking. I could see things more clearly then he could. ‘Because they were the band. They were the ones with the special bond. I’m sure you’re very good at what you do, but you’re not the talent, are you? They were the ones writing the songs and going out on stage in front of the fans. That’s where the special bond was.’ I’d silenced him. I felt a twinge of pity, but chased it quickly away. I’d hit the nail on the head. He looked beaten. He shrugged and asked for the whiskey back. I gave it to him and walked back to the sofa and sat down. I watched him slug down another generous measure. ‘Why did you really hire me?’ I asked. ‘You knew people were going to be looking for you up here, didn’t you?’

He saluted me with the glass. ‘I needed back-up, not that you’ve gone out of your way to look after me. I thought your lot liked to look after their clients.’