After Flyte left it was a long time before Cassie could bring herself to open the carrier bag of bits and bobs from Kieran’s locker. Finally, she made herself empty everything out onto the kitchen table. Seeing the fanzines and being reminded of everything Kieran had done for her, she felt as if a hand had reached up inside her ribcage and given her heart a tug.
She picked up the album, Poitín spelled out in Celtic script on the cover, above the photo of the three band members, down at the canal. It gave her the chills to realise that the spot where Kieran had been found was just a few metres behind them. Barney gazed off-camera, smoking a cigarette, too cool for school; Maria looked willowy and enigmatic in her low-cut long black dress and spiky black choker that showed off her long white neck. Callum was the only one who wore anything like a smile.
She leafed through the half-dozen copies of the fanzine Camden Sounds half-heartedly; Kieran would surely have told her if he had unearthed anything of interest. The front page of the September issue was dedicated to news of Poitín’s record deal, although it took a far snarkier tone than the NME article, reporting that Poitín’s barmy army of fans are up in arms about the cult band selling out. What next? Top of the Pops?
She could easily have overlooked the band’s next mention. It had come in the October edition, in a two-para piece tucked away on the last page under the heading STOP PRESS, clearly hastily added just before the fanzine’s release.
Headlined FENDER TO FARMER? it read, We hear a whisper that Poitin’s guitar man Callum Raven could be trading his Fender Jazzmaster for a hoe, taking his family to Ireland to try the farming life. The piece went on: If true, the departure would scupper the band’s move to the mainstream – the brainchild of Poitin’s manager Barney Cotter.
Callum and Kath becoming farmers? Had the record deal been going off the rails just before she died? Did Callum get cold feet or had Kath put her foot down at the last minute, freaked out by the idea of him disappearing on tour? Cassie recalled Kieran, over breakfast in the greasy spoon, suggesting that very scenario as a motive for her murder.
She dialled Callum’s number. Hearing his happiness at the sound of her voice prompted a jab of pity – and guilt. It felt wrong that she alone should know what Capaldi had revealed. But she couldn’t tell him – couldn’t even think about the paternity issue right now.
‘Just a quick query. Was Mum opposed to the record deal Barney had set up?’
A bout of coughing came down the line, and then he said, ‘Well, darlin’, she wasn’t exactly keen. It would have meant a lot of touring, and she hated the idea of being left at home.’
Cassie racked her brains. What was it Maria had said? That all four of them had drunk champagne to celebrate the news? ‘But I got the impression that she’d come round to the idea? That she might go along on tour and bring me too?’
‘You’d only just started Reception so we decided that taking you away for weeks at a time wasn’t really an option.’
‘So . . . did you discuss it that night at the pub?’
‘Not exactly. But after we had the row, I realised something. I could hardly blame Kath if she was seeing another guy, what with me out gigging most evenings. Everything fell into place. The solution for us – the way to make her happy again – was simple. The three of us should move away.’
She could hear the echo of his two-decades-old excitement as he relived the idea.
‘My uncle had an unused scrap of farmland in Ireland with an old barn on it. Kath had always had this dream of us all living on a little farm – you know, keeping a few chickens, growing fruit and veg, herbs for the market. We could start over.’
‘Why didn’t you mention this before?’
‘After your mum died, the band, the record deal – it was all just a stupid sideshow. I never even got the chance to tell her about it.’
Cassie’s head spun. How had Callum’s lightbulb moment found its way into a fanzine? ‘Did you tell anyone else about this plan?’
‘Umm. Yeah, I went to another pub for a pint on the way to Barney’s and Pete was there. I told him about it.’ Fanzine Pete – who’d clearly wasted no time squeezing this mini-scoop into his next issue.
‘That would have meant no record deal – and the end of the band?’
‘Yeah.’ Callum sighed. ‘Look, of course I felt bad letting Barney down, after all the work he’d put in getting us to the next level. Never mind all the cash he’d laid out.’
‘So that was why you went round to Barney’s – to break it to him.’ It was all Cassie could do to keep her voice steady. ‘How did he take it?’
He gave a dry chuckle. ‘There was a bit of a shouting match, we even squared up to each other at one point. But when he’d calmed down, he was pretty good about it. He asked me to take a day to think it over but he swore he’d accept my final decision either way.’
‘And then you headed home intending to share the plan with Mum.’
‘Yeah, I knew she’d be thrilled about it. But when I got home, she wasn’t there.’ He left a pause. ‘I assumed she still had the hump with me and had gone to your nana’s. I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up to an empty flat.’ He fell silent.
‘Weren’t you gutted to give up on the band – money, fame, all that stuff?’
A bitter laugh. ‘There’s only one thing I regret, Catkin. That Kath never knew I was ready to give it all up to make things right again between us. And I’d give anything now, just to have her back.’ He paused. ‘Anything except my daughter.’
Cassie had to bite down on her lip to suppress the turmoil inside her. How would he react to be being told that his fatherhood had been cancelled? After promising to be in touch again soon she hung up.
Had Callum’s plan to leave the band, scuppering the record deal, been the catalyst for Kath’s murder? If so, who would have the strongest motive for wanting her out of the picture?
A phrase from her Latin primer came back to her.
Cui bono?
Who benefits?
There was one obvious answer.