The Late Greats (7 page)

‘There were wider considerations’ I said. ‘We had a lot to weigh up and think about. Greg often disappeared. We didn’t think it was a problem.’

Robinson turned to face him. ‘Wider considerations? Surprise me, Mr Geraghty.’

‘We agreed it was best for the band if his disappearance was kept low-key.’

‘Who agreed?’

‘Me, Major, the family.’

‘Bad publicity?’

‘Something like that.’

‘I’ve just been hearing about the band’s reunion, and although I don’t really know anything about them at the moment, I’ll be looking into it. Your reputation precedes you, however, and I’ll tell you this for nothing: I don’t think we’re going to get along.’

Robinson was now standing directly in front of me, ensuring I had to look up at him. ‘What’s going to happen now is you’re going to go to the station and give a statement to my little helpers. And you’re not going to leave a single detail out. If you do, I’ll be coming back for you. I promise I’ll make your life a misery. I know you work for Don Ridley, and I’ve got a lot of time for the man, but when I’ve finished with you, you’ll wish you were a Charted Accountant rather than a Private Investigator.’

DI Robinson’s team took their time taking a statement from me. I’d been kept waiting before being sat in a sterile interview room, despite being told they were thankful for my co-operation. Half an hour after leaving the station, a taxi dropped me back at Tasker’s studio. The Scene of Crime Team was at work. I was told in no uncertain terms that I should collect my car and go. I drove to Tasker’s parents’ house.

Major was already there, stood outside the front door, cigarette in his mouth, mobile to his ear. He finished his call. ‘What’s going on, PI?’

There wasn’t much I could say. ‘He was attacked. Looked like a single punch and his head caught the sharp edge of the mixing desk.’ I’d seen and heard enough to put that much together. That was it for the moment.

He turned towards me. ‘I was sure he was just going to turn up.’

‘Me too.’ Meaningless platitudes. I hadn’t taken his disappearance seriously enough. I should have been more insistent that the police were informed. It was too late now. Looking at the house, the only light on was in the front room. The police would still need his parents to formally confirm it was their son. It would be a grim job for them. Identifying my wife’s body was the hardest thing I’d ever done.

‘How are they doing?’ I asked.

Major shook his head and lit another cigarette. The shock was hitting him, too. ‘Not particularly good.’

‘As you’d expect.’

‘His mother’s not too good.’

‘Are the police in there with them?’

Major nodded. ‘They asked me to leave.’

‘It’s procedure.’

He offered me a cigarette. ‘I need you to sort this for me, PI.’

‘There’s nothing we can do at the moment’ I said. I’d already decided I had to help. I was partly responsible. I could have put a stop to this and insisted they call the police. But I hadn’t. Someone had killed him and I couldn’t let it lie. I thought back to my wife’s death. You couldn’t rely on the police. I wasn’t going to let them suffer like I had.

‘How about enemies? Had Greg said anything to you? Now’s the time to say.’

‘Not so far as I know.’

‘How about in London?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Right.’ The press would soon be on their doorstep, and if the press was interested, it meant the police would make extra resources available to ensure they got a result. The situation would feed on itself and snowball with Tasker’s parents stuck in the middle of it. I remembered there weren’t any photographs of New Holland in the front room. If they hadn’t enjoyed the associated fame their son brought them, being in the public eye was about to get a whole lot worse for them.

I walked into the front room. Kath Tasker was being consoled by her husband. He told me to take a seat. ‘We should have told the police from the start. We should have listened to you.’

I waved his words away. ‘They needed to know.’

‘We don’t blame you, Joe’ he said. ‘Chances are, the police wouldn’t have been able to find him, either. We understand how it works.’

‘How are you doing?’ I said. Trite, but what else was there to say?

‘He was our only child, and you’re not supposed to outlive your children, are you? Especially not under these circumstances.’ Keith stood up and walked across to the windowsill where there was a box of tissues. He passed them to his wife. ‘We’ve got a lot to do and so much to organise. I haven’t even started to ring the family yet.’

He looked like he’d pulled himself together, but grief acts in funny ways. Once the initial shock was over with, I hoped he would have people to turn to. People who would help him.

‘Is there anything I can do?’ I asked. ‘Anybody I could call for you?’

He shook his head. ‘Thanks for the offer.’

‘We’ve made a terrible mistake’ said his wife.

We both turned to listen to her.

‘It’s important to us that you know we were doing this for the right reasons.’ She felt for her husband’s hand, gripped it tight. ‘We need your help to put it right. We let our son down, so the least we can do is to make sure we get justice for him. The more people who are trying to do that, the better.’

I didn’t know what to say. I’d sat outside and thought it through. I hadn’t done enough for them. I knew I was at least partly culpable. I was the outsider. I should have seen things more clearly.

‘We can pay you’ she said.

I told her it wasn’t necessary. Major was already paying me. ‘What did the police say?’ I asked.

Keith Tasker took over. ‘They didn’t tell us much. They’ve asked us to formally identify him tomorrow. Maybe they’ll tell us more then. I assume they’ll have to do their forensic work first and work out exactly what happened. They’ll want to do a thorough job.’

I looked him in the eye. I could see his pain. I knew I was already in. ’I'll do what I can for you’ I said.

Kath started crying again and thanked me through her tears. ‘He was our son. He was just our Greg.’

I thought back to the story Keith Tasker had told me about how he’d helped my family. I made the promise again. ‘I’ll do what I can.’

I drove back to the city centre. I’d phoned Julia as soon as I was clear of the house. It was nearly two in the morning, but news of Tasker’s death would break quickly. I said I’d go to her hotel. I stared at Don’s number in my mobile. I decided I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of him telling me I’d been wrong. Not yet. I sent Sarah a text message and said I’d speak to her first thing in the morning. I felt like a coward. Julia was waiting for me as I walked down the corridor towards her room. I sat down on the bed and told her what I knew. She hadn’t been as upset as I thought she would be. Maybe it was the shock of the situation. He might not have been a very close friend, but she’d still lost a friend. I supposed, in a way, I had too. It wasn’t a pleasant situation.

She stood up and looked around the room. Her laptop was in the corner. ‘I need to write this up’ she said.

I reached for her hand. ‘Not yet.’

She sat back down.

‘There’s plenty of time for that.’

She relented. ‘I’m sorry, Joe. It must have been horrible for you.’

I nodded. I had nothing to say, but I pulled myself together. I had to.

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Whatever I can’ I said.

‘What about the police?’

I shrugged. They were better resourced and connected than I was, but I’d been asked to assist. ‘I’m going to need your help’ I said. ‘His parents are in pieces. As well as having to bury their only child, there’s going to be a media shitstorm heading their way. They’re going to need all the help they can get. I need some help, too. You know as much about Greg as anyone. If we work together, I’ll feel happier that they’ll get the answers they want.’ I dangled the carrot. ‘And you’ll get the exclusive.’ She had my story, too, but I left it unsaid.

‘The police won’t like you sticking your nose in’ she said.

‘I don’t care.’

She held her hand out. ‘I want to know everything. You don’t keep anything back from me.’

I shook it. ‘Deal.’

We took a break whilst she made coffee. I needed it to keep going.

‘What do we need to do?’ she asked.

‘We have to build a picture, find out more about Greg’s life’ I said. ‘It’s where the answer will be. We need to know how he spent his days, what he did and who he did it with. All that kind of stuff. We need to know his habits and routines. We need to know everything about him.

‘If he had secrets?’

‘Everyone has secrets’ I said. I’d promised to hold nothing back. ‘He was having an affair with Lorraine.’

She considered the information. ‘I’m not surprised.’

I asked her how she knew.

‘It’s obvious, really.’ She smiled. ‘The engineer guy said as much.’

‘Right.’ 

‘I can’t believe we’re talking about Greg like he’s a piece of meat’ Julia said.

We sat in silence for a moment until I broke it. ‘We’ve got to do the best we can for his family.’

Julia moved closer to me. ‘He didn’t deserve this.’ She snuggled up against me and kissed me on the cheek before turning her head to kiss me on my lips.

CHAPTER SEVEN

I woke
early, and seeing Julia sleeping next to me, I got out of the bed and headed into the shower. I turned the hot water up as far as I could bear it and closed my eyes. The previous night had been clumsy and awkward, like being a teenager again. Part of me felt it was wrong, but part of me knew it was a necessary step. I had to start living again. Stepping out of the shower, I towelled myself dry and put yesterday’s clothes back on. The shower had woken Julia. She was sitting upright in bed with a T-shirt on when I walked back into the room.

‘Morning’ she said.

‘Morning.’ I smiled, aware I was fully dressed and ready to be on my way. ‘Busy day’ I said, hoping it explained why I was leaving so early. What I didn’t say was that I didn’t know how to behave or what to do. I headed for the door. ‘Speak to you later.’

An hour later, and following a detour to my flat to change into clean clothes, I was stood on the doorstep of Steve Priestley’s farmhouse. I knocked and waited for an answer. They lived on what I assumed used to be a working farm halfway between the small villages of Mappleton and Aldbrough. It was out towards the North Sea coast, about fifteen miles away from Hull. It stood by itself, no other houses in view. It certainly offered isolation. A woman answered the door. She was in her late thirties. She looked washed out and tired. ‘If you’re a reporter, I’m not interested’ she said, trying to shut the door on me. I got a foot in the doorframe and stopped her. She relented. ‘Steve’s not here.’

‘Can I talk to you?’ I asked. I told her who I was and who I was working for.

She hesitated before letting me in. She told me she was Priestley’s wife, Carly. I followed her through the house and into the conservatory. We sat down.

‘He’s out walking, getting some fresh air’ she said.

‘How’s he doing?’

‘He’s not said a word to me.’ She lit a cigarette. ‘What are the police saying?’

‘Not a lot at the moment.’

I told her I was working for Tasker’s parents.

‘How are they doing?’

‘Not too good.’

‘It must be terrible for them.’ She took a long drag.

‘They’re struggling’ I said. ‘I’m trying to make it a bit easier for them.’

She stood up and turned away from me. Opened the conservatory door. ‘I knew this reunion was a bad idea’ she said. ‘Steve hated the idea right from the start, but he let himself be talked into it.’

‘Major?’

‘Who else.’ She shook her head. ‘This isn’t my Steve. He’s better off out of it, but he never could say no. I met Steve as the band broke up and he was a total mess’ she said. ‘Once Greg became incapable of functioning normally, it was Steve who carried them all. He was the one writing the songs and keeping things together, yet Major carried on treating him like something he’d scraped off his shoe. Major’s first concern was always for Greg and it never changed.’ She took a long, angry drag on the cigarette.

‘You won’t be having him around for dinner any time soon’ I said, trying to lighten the mood.

‘I don’t want the man anywhere near me. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve told Steve to stand up for himself. He shouldn’t let Major walk all over him. He should be treated with more respect.’ She paused and shook her head. ‘The music business nearly broke my husband the first time around. I’m not going to let it happen again.’

‘When I spoke to him, he told me he was looking forward to being in a band again.’

‘He would do, wouldn’t he? But I’m telling you, the idea of a reunion terrified him. He wasn’t sleeping properly at night. The worry of it was making him ill.’

‘Why do it, then?’

‘Because he’s an idiot. He thinks it’s all about the music. He’s closed his mind off to the money side of things. I think he finds it easier to cope if he pretends the others are in it for the same reasons as him.’

It didn’t tally with the way Priestley had presented himself in the rehearsal room.

‘He was with me all night’ she said, staring at me, as she put her cigarette out. She closed the conservatory door and headed into the kitchen.

I nodded. ‘Right.’ I hadn’t asked her to offer an alibi. I stood up and followed her.

‘My husband always went with the flow in the band and he never caused any trouble.’ She turned away from me. ‘Just leave us alone, please.’

Returning to my car, I checked my mobile for messages. Clicking onto my address book, I flicked through the numbers until I found Julia’s. I stared at it for a moment, unable to decide whether or not I should call her. She might have misinterpreted the way I’d left her hotel this morning. I shouldn’t have left as quickly as I had, but it was too late to undo it. I continued to look at the number knowing leaving it wasn’t going to help the situation. I put it back in my pocket. She hadn’t called me, either.