Where Memories Are Made (29 page)

A
rriving early in the office the next morning so she could speak to Harold Rose about the previous evening's developments, Jackie had taken the switchboard off night service and was about to go over to her desk when the internal line from the surgery lit up. It was Sister Stephens informing her that Sister Popple had asked her to pass on a message to Jackie as soon as she came in. It appeared that the girl from last night had admitted taking a couple of pills and so had her friends. They had no idea what they were though, had just believed what they were told by another friend who'd bought them that they would make them feel good. The doctor Sister Popple spoke to had added that the girl was extremely lucky that the amount of amphetamine she had taken hadn't actually killed her. But there was no hope of finding out where they'd come from; the kids claimed they couldn't remember.

Harold was dumbstruck when Jackie explained to him the events of the previous evening. In his closeted world he knew nothing of such things except for the news items he had read in the newspapers about the growing drug culture in London. Since it was a world away from the corner of Britain he lived in, he hadn't taken much notice. His immediate response was that they must inform Drina Jolly of this development and get her instructions on how to deal with it, but Jackie managed to persuade him that she had enough on dealing with Rhonnie.

Not having been in a situation like this before, Harold openly admitted to Jackie he hadn't a clue how they went about catching a dealer, and didn't hide his relief when she said she had a plan. Ginger and she were going to pretend that they were normal clubgoers at Groovy's while secretly keeping their eyes open for any suspicious carryings on. For his part Harold offered to hang around the Paradise foyer, inconspicuously on the lookout for anything suspicious.

With this problem on her mind, Jackie completely forgot about finding Al's wallet the previous evening. She saw him rummaging around in his desk when she came out of Harold's office and automatically asked him what he was looking for.

Worried, he told her, ‘My wallet. I took it out of my pocket yesterday afternoon so I could buy a bar of chocolate from the shop and I didn't realise I'd not put it back until I went to check last night. I couldn't find it. But it's not here so …'

Jackie interjected as she grabbed her handbag and fished out the wallet, ‘Stop worrying, I've got it. I spotted it on your desk after you'd left last night as I was checking all was secure before I left myself.'

She walked across to hand it to him.

As he took it from her Al said, ‘Thank goodness I've not lost it as I'd not have managed until payday without what's in here.' It then struck him that Jackie might wonder how he'd managed to pay his fare home and back to work today on the bus without his wallet and told her, ‘Thankfully I had enough coins in my pocket to pay my bus fares but this will teach me to check I've got everything before I leave at night.'

Jackie looked taken aback. ‘You caught the bus home last night? But I chased after you with your wallet and was just nearby when it arrived. I never saw you get on it.'

Of course she hadn't, because at the time he'd been stealing his way around the perimeters of the camp to his temporary home in the derelict farmhouse. He stared back at her frozen-faced, panic tightening his stomach. Unwittingly, Jackie had just caught him out in a lie and he had no idea how to get himself out of it without arousing her suspicions. He knew she was the inquisitive sort; where he was living and what he was doing must not be uncovered by her. She might not be understanding, as his family had not been, and then he'd be turned out immediately, which was the last thing he wanted when he was so very near to reaching his goal. The only option Al could see open to him was to brazen it out and hope she'd accept she'd made a mistake.

As matter-of-factly as he could, he responded, ‘It's a mystery to me why you didn't see me. I did catch that bus.' He added jocularly, ‘Maybe it's time for a visit to the optician.' It was obvious to Jackie that for him this conversation had ended as Al collected a pile of filing out of the tray and began to sort it into alphabetical order.

It was a mystery to Jackie too. There was nothing wrong with her eyes. She knew what she'd seen, or hadn't seen in this case, which was Al at the bus stop or getting on the bus. He was obviously lying to her, but why would he need to about such a petty thing as whether he'd caught the bus home or not?

She wasn't given chance to ponder any longer as the door opened then and Maureen Watson, the elder of Harold's two assistants, arrived carrying two huge ledgers with a pile of paperwork on top.

Jackie smiled a greeting at the pleasant middle-aged woman. ‘Morning, Maureen.'

As she met up with Jackie she responded accordingly before launching into, ‘Well, that was a bit of a rum do yesterday, wasn't it? The behaviour of some people never ceases to amaze me.'

Instantly the words were out of her mouth panic reared up in Jackie that, despite all their precautions, gossip had leaked out that they had a drug dealer amongst them. Then her fears subsided as Maureen continued.

‘That girl jumping off the fountain like she did and ending up almost breaking every bone in her body! I expect that'll teach her not to drink so much in future.'

Jackie said shortly, ‘Well, hopefully it will. Mr Rose is in his office, so I'll just call through and let him know you're here to see him.'

‘Thanks, Jackie. I'll be glad to put this lot down. These books weigh a ton.' Maureen then leaned closer, lowered her voice and said, ‘Mr Rose hasn't received a thump on the head, has he?'

Jackie looked at her strangely. ‘Not that I'm aware of. Why are you asking that?'

‘Well, something must have happened to bring about such a drastic change in him. When I went into his office to update him yesterday, he actually looked me in the eye, smiled, and asked me how I was. Could have knocked me down with a feather. I could see he was a bit uncomfortable about it, but he did it all the same. He's not what you'd call a handsome man, is he? But he's got a lovely smile, which certainly improves his looks no end. After all this time working with him, it was a pleasure finally to see it. I was beginning to wonder if he didn't smile because he hadn't any teeth.'

Maureen paused to chuckle at her own joke before she continued, ‘Anyway, whatever has brought about this miraculous change in him, I hope it lasts. This new version of Mr Rose is a great improvement on the off-hand, po-faced one we had before. To be honest, me and Sally have enjoyed our jobs so much more since he's been doing his stint as boss in here, being free to laugh and chat, make tea when we want, and not having to whisper to each other and mind our Ps and Qs, because that's how he made us feel we had to behave. Because of the more relaxed atmosphere we've got more done and the time has passed so much quicker. We were dreading him coming back and us having to go back to working in a mausoleum again, but now … well, maybe we needn't dread his return. I live in hope at any rate. Anyway, give him the nod I'm here then, love, before my arms drop off.'

Just over two weeks later Ginger heaved a fed-up sigh and moaned to Jackie, ‘Just think, I used to get so excited about dressing up and coming to this place, wondering if this would be my lucky night and I'd meet Mr Wonderful. I didn't think I'd hear myself say this but if I never came here again, it would be too soon for me. If I hear Hats singing “I'm a Believer” one more time, I think I'll scream.'

Ginger was voicing exactly what Jackie was thinking. She felt she knew the Upbeats' repertoire better than they did, and the DJ's too.

The two young women, doing their best to act just like the rest of the Groovy's revellers, had kept their eyes peeled for any suspicious activity going on from the moment it opened until it closed. Harold Rose had done his bit in the Paradise foyer and intermittently had a nose around the other recreation rooms. None of them had witnessed anything going on between a member of Jolly's staff and the campers, or even camper and camper, that looked like money being exchanged for drugs.

Ginger was griping again. ‘Look, Jackie, we've kept a watch on all the bar staff over the last two weeks or so and seen none of them acting at all strangely, and we've approached at least a dozen people we think have taken drugs, pretending we're after buying some for ourselves, and apart from the couple it was obvious didn't know what the hell we were talking about, from the rest we've had the same answer … “from the shop”. Did they think we're so bloody daft we'd believe you can just go into a shop and buy illegal drugs!

‘But this same stupid answer has got me to wondering if we've been sussed out by the dealer, and he or she has given those that buy from them our descriptions and threatened them they're not to blab to us or else they'll live to regret it. If that's the case, I don't know how we're ever going to catch them red-handed as they're not going to do any deals while they know we're hanging around nearby, so all we're doing here is wasting our time.'

Jackie heaved a sigh. ‘You could be right, Ginger, but unless you've got any other bright idea how we can catch the dealer …?' Her friend gave a shrug by way of telling Jackie she hadn't. ‘Well then, we have no choice but to stick with what we're doing because at least it's better than doing nothing. No matter how clever this person is, or how well they believe they've covered their tracks, everyone makes mistakes. They will sometime and we'll be there to nab them when they do.' She then looked at her friend meaningfully. ‘Look, when I roped you in, to be honest I never thought we'd still be here over two weeks later and no further forward than when we first started. I'll understand if you don't want to do this any more.'

Ginger sighed. ‘Well, if I'm being honest, I don't, but you're my friend and I will see this through with you until the bitter end. At least we have each other, unlike poor Harold who's patrolling upstairs on his own.'

Jackie chuckled. ‘He did tell me the other day that he was worried some people who have seen him there night after night might think it's him that's up to no good in some way and report him to us. Fancy another drink?'

‘Oh, go on then.'

They began to make their way towards the bar when suddenly Jackie pulled Ginger to a halt as her attention was caught by a barman leaning over the bar towards a female customer. She watched them exchange a few words, then the woman opened her handbag to take something out while he took a look around, it appeared to Jackie, to see if anyone was watching him before he put his hand in his pocket. Jackie held her breath, her heart thumping in anticipation. Just what was he going to bring out? Had they at long last caught the dealer red-handed? If this was the case then just who he was came as a big shock to her. Rodney Miller was a very personable young man, the last one she would have thought would be involved in anything like this. Then her heart-rate returned to normal and her anticipation faded when she saw what came out of Rodney's pocket. It was a lighter, and what the girl had taken out of her handbag was a packet of cigarettes.

Ginger meanwhile had noticed her distraction and was demanding, ‘You've seen something? What is it? Have you just seen a deal taking place? Have we caught the bastard at last?'

Jackie shook her head and said in disappointment, ‘No. I thought Rodney was our man for a minute as he was acting suspiciously with that female the other side of the bar, but it turns out she was asking him for a light for her cigarette. When I thought he was checking around to make sure he wasn't being watched, he must have been checking the counter at the back for a pack of matches first. Seeing none, he offered her his lighter instead.'

Ginger scoffed, ‘You actually suspected Rodney Miller! He's that naive he wouldn't know the difference between LSD and a saccharin tablet.'

Jackie said dryly, ‘Just like us then.'

Ginger chuckled, ‘Yeah, just like us. Shall we get that drink?'

It was the Upbeats' night off tonight and the DJ was playing his last up tempo record of the night, The Turtles' ‘Happy Together'. The dance floor was jammed with gyrating dancers giving it their all before the tempo slowed down for the last hour with the ‘smooches', so that meant it was just before eleven. Every Wednesday on the band's day off, while the other members were sleeping off their previous night's revelry, Vic would take himself off in the van to visit his parents and friends in his home town of Leeds, but would be back no later than seven in order to take Jackie out for the evening.

Since her quest to uncover the drug dealer had begun, feeling that the best place to do that was Groovy's, Vic would still turn up at seven after his trip to Leeds then aid Jackie and Ginger in their search, which she thought was very good of him considering he spent every other night of the week in Groovy's as it was. As Vic hadn't arrived to meet her yet she assumed he had stayed later in Leeds and that she wasn't going to see him tonight. It looked as if she was out of luck there as well. So, completely taking Ginger by surprise, she replied, ‘No, let's not. Let's have an early night instead. I just want to go back to the chalet and get to bed. We'll check in with Mr Rose on the way out and update him that once again we've drawn a blank, as I suspect he has too. I expect he'll be glad to call it a night too and get himself off home. By now he must be getting as fed up with our vigilance as we are.'

Ginger was more than happy to go along with that but, to their surprise, although Harold had had no more luck than they had, he didn't appear to want to go home but was quite happy to stay on until the place shut down for the night.

Leaving him to it, the two women made their way out of the Paradise building. Immediately the tantalising smell of fish and chips assailed their nostrils. Unable to resist, they walked across to the parade of shops to join the queue of other holidaymakers at the fish and chip kiosk, wanting a snack after their night of entertainment before they went to bed. There were at least ten people in front of them and as they slowly moved up the queue the person in front of them arrested Jackie's attention. She thought it was odd that on such a warm night the man was wearing a heavy winter overcoat, with a cap pulled well down over his head. He was hunching himself over like he was shielding himself from the cold. Beneath his cap grey hair sprouted, telling Jackie he was elderly. Old people suffered lots of illnesses and obviously this old gent had something that affected his ability to keep warm. Presently it was the man's turn to be served. Armed with his parcels of food he turned to go. As he did so Jackie caught a glimpse of the lower part of his face and she watched thoughtfully as he shuffled off in the direction of the holidaymakers' chalets.