‘You did what?’ Don said to me.
It was too early in the day to be arguing and I was tired. Unable to sleep, I’d sat in my front room and watched the sunrise. The walls were thin, so I’d put my headphones on and listened to music until it was time for work. I walked back to my desk with my drink. ‘I shouldn’t have done it’ I said. It was the best I could offer.
‘You should have gone to the police and put a stop to it. You’ve done your best, but you can’t do it all by yourself. This isn’t what we do here.’
I shook my head. ‘They don’t want the police involved. They’ve made their decision. It’s not what Greg would want, so I think we’ve got to respect their wishes on this.’ I felt for them. I could see both sides of the argument, but I wanted to help them to the best of my ability. I’d been thinking about what Keith Tasker had said to me the previous night. He’d helped my family when asked. I had to repay the favour. It was that simple.
Don picked up the morning’s post and rifled through the pile, throwing my letters onto my desk. ‘It doesn’t mean you can go around breaking into people’s flats’ he said. ‘It’s against the law. We’ll be shut down and then we’ll all have nothing. Everything we’ve worked for would be gone.’
I understood that, but at least I was getting paid for my troubles. ‘The main thing is we find him’ I said. I passed him one of the bills I’d found in the pile. ‘And then we might be able to pay this.’
I glanced at my mobile, but there had been no calls so far this morning. I called Major again. Straight to voicemail.
Don looked at his watch and stood up. ‘I’m going out. I’ll be on my mobile.’
I watched him leave. Don had every right to be angry. I wasn’t comfortable with the way Major had forced this upon me, either. He had expected me to go along with things without so much as a murmur of dissent. He might be paying for my services but it didn’t mean he owned me and I’d blindly follow his instructions. I had to decide how far I was willing to go with this.
The buzzer to the office went. I looked into the camera and saw Julia. I realised I’d not spoken to her since I’d left her in the restaurant. Shit. I met her at the door.
‘You were supposed to call me’ she said, walking straight past me.
I said I was sorry.
She walked right up to me, inches away from my face. ‘You’re been very naughty, Joe, and to make it up to me, you best have a very, very good story for me.’
I smiled and took a step back, tried to think.
She followed me across the room. ‘I know you’re holding out on me.’
‘Of course I’m not.’
‘Good. Because that’s not what we agreed, is it?’
‘No.’
‘Is Kane cool with the situation?’
‘Not really.’
Julia shrugged. ‘He’ll deal with it. Has Greg turned up yet?’
‘I’ve not heard from Kane today.’
She laughed. ‘I bet you’ve been ringing him all morning.’
‘Not at all.’
‘Liar.’
I walked back to my desk, wanting her questions to stop.
‘I need a story’ she said to me. ‘Have you told him I know Greg is missing?’
I nodded. ‘It didn’t go down well.’
‘He’ll have to deal with it.’
‘He’s got a lot on his plate.’ I wasn’t sure why I was defending him.
‘He needs to have a think about his priorities.’
I understood. She was probably stretching her brief as far as possible. If another paper got the story first, she’d be in serious trouble.
‘Where is he, Joe?’
‘I don’t know’ I said. ‘If I knew, I’d tell you. In fact, if I knew, he’d be back here by now.’
‘Not good enough.’
‘I thought you weren’t going to file the story?’
Julia leaned in close to me. ‘Don’t be so naive, Joe.’
‘How am I naive?’ I felt like a parrot. It seemed whenever she invaded my personal space, I had nothing sensible to say.
She walked away from me, towards the window. ‘Tell me why Sarah doesn’t like me.’
‘She does like you.’ It sounded ridiculous as soon as I said it. ‘She didn’t want us taking this job on, that’s all.’ And neither did her father, I thought.
Julia shook her head. ‘It doesn’t matter, but don’t forget you’re relying on my goodwill here, Joe, and it can’t last forever. Whatever’s going on, you’re in the loop, so I suggest you talk to Kane and sort it out. Otherwise I’ll have to speak to him on the record, and I can’t imagine he’ll like that very much.’
With Julia’s words of warning still ringing in my ears, I tried Major’s mobile again. Straight to voicemail. Enough was enough. I grabbed my coat and headed across the city centre to his office. His temporary base in Hull was a ten minute walk away in The World Trade Centre, a high class office block overlooking the city’s marina. I’d had clients in the past who were based in the building. Bad memories.
The receptionist tried to block my entry, but I wasn’t going to be stopped. I walked straight into his office. Major was on the telephone. The office was a mess; empty mugs weighed down piles of paperwork, leaving little of the desk visible. I couldn’t believe he’d only just arrived in town. I walked across the room and opened the blinds. He finished his call. ‘I said I wasn’t seeing anyone today, PI. You can’t just barge in here when you feel like it. I employ you. You might want to remember that.’
I took a deep breath and sat down opposite him.
He looked up at me. ‘There’s no word.’
‘Nothing?’
‘No.’
Major yawned and rang through for more coffee. ‘It’ll be fine. Don’t worry; we’ll find him.’
I didn’t share his enthusiasm. Things don’t just work out. You have to make them happen and we didn’t possess the tools to do that. Tasker hadn’t made contact and he wasn’t answering his mobile. We had nothing. And that was being positive. I didn’t want to think how fragile his mental state might be. ‘I’ve spoken to Don. It’s time to call the police’ I said.
‘Fuck Don. Can’t you make your own decisions? You saw his parents. We’ve agreed, we don’t want the police involved.’
‘The reunion’s not worth that much, surely?’
‘You were there. You spoke to them. They know how important it is and they don’t want to spoil it for Greg. Keep looking for him. He’ll turn up and then we put this behind us and move on. Alright, PI?’
This was getting out of hand. I’d seen the state Tasker’s parents were in and I wanted to help them, but this wasn’t the way. As well as talking to people, I’d been on the Internet trying to track him down, but nothing. He might be famous, but it seemed if you were determined enough, you could hide away. All you needed was cash, so you didn’t leave an electronic trail, and somewhere to lie low. He walked me over to the window and we looked out across the marina. When the weather’s good and the yachts are on the move, it’s a beautiful sight. It makes a nonsense of the city’s reputation. Today wasn’t one of those days.
‘What’s the score with Julia?’ he asked me.
‘I’m keeping her at bay.’ I didn’t offer any more than that.
‘Good. I don’t need her making the situation worse.’
‘She’s all over the story and starting to run out of patience.’
Major didn’t seem bothered by this. ‘Is she flirting with you?’ he asked me.
‘Why would she do that?’
‘Come on, PI. We’re both men of the world.’
‘I’m just trying to do my job.’
‘Of course you are.’ Major smiled at me. ‘She’s an attractive woman, though. I wouldn’t blame you, but don’t let her get too close.’ He tapped his head. ‘She’s got issues. Just be careful, that’s my advice. Fuck her and then get rid. And make sure you don’t go in for any pillow talk.’
Thirty minutes later and I was back at my desk in the empty office. I hadn’t liked the way Major had spoken about me and Julia. Truth was, I liked her more than I was comfortable admitting. She was attractive, intelligent and good company; what wasn’t to like? My thinking was interrupted by Lorraine Harrison appearing at the door. I invited her in.
‘Do you mind?’ she asked.
‘Of course not.’ I told her to sit down. Her appearance wasn’t a huge surprise to me. As soon as her husband had returned home, she’d stopped talking. I asked if there was something I could do for her.
‘I need to speak to you’ she said. ‘Away from Julia and everyone else. I don’t trust her. And nor should you.’
I waited for her to continue.
‘Can we speak in confidence?’ she asked me.
I told her we could.
‘Have you found Greg yet?’
‘Not yet.’
‘He’s just gone away for a few days, I’m sure.’
‘Does he have any favourite places? Anywhere I could check?’
She shook her head. ‘Not really. It doesn’t make sense. I know he was nervous about the band’s comeback, but he was also really excited about it all. He had all kinds of plans for what he was going to do once the band had finished their tour. He wanted to get out of his studio and do things, make his own music again.’ She paused and took a deep breath. ‘He hasn’t killed himself. I know he hasn’t.’
‘I’m sorry to be blunt, but he’s tried it before.’
‘That was years ago. He’s changed since then.’
I asked her the question I wanted to ask back at her house. ‘Are you having an affair with Greg?’
She started to cry.
I rummaged in my drawer for some tissues. Sarah usually kept us stocked up. She was good with the small details. Finding them, I passed them over to her and let her clean herself up. Admitting the affair seemed to lift a weight from her shoulders.
‘I know it’s hard for you’ I said, ‘but I need to ask you some questions about Greg, ok? When did you last see him?’
‘I haven’t seen Greg for a few weeks’ she said. ‘He was getting himself ready for the rehearsals. We’d speak on the phone regularly, but that was all.’
‘When did you last speak to him?’
‘About a week ago.’
I nodded. It didn’t tell me anything new about his movements over the last couple of days. ‘Has he mentioned any problems he might be having?’
‘No.’
‘Any problems with his family?’
‘No.’
I was getting nowhere. ‘I’m sorry to be so brutal, Lorraine, but does your husband know about your relationship with Greg?’
She shook her head. ‘He mustn’t know. Please don’t tell him.’
I told her I had no reason to speak to him. Not at the moment. If they didn’t speak it was their business. Sometimes it’s easier to say nothing. But I know how it eats you up and eventually it boils over. ‘Have you considered telling him about you and Greg?’ I said.
‘If he knew he’d throw me out. He wouldn’t be able to forgive me, however much he loves Jay. Neither of us can afford to divorce. He doesn’t earn much from his job and neither do I.’ she shrugged. ‘We just muddle along the best we can.’
I wasn’t sure what to say.
Lorraine continued. ‘Greg doesn’t love Siobhan, you know. He deserves better than her. Most people don’t know him, but I do. He’s not the wild rock star people think he is. He’s made a huge effort to sort himself out.’
‘I understand’ I said. I wasn’t entirely convinced, but I thought I got it.
I called Major to find out if there had been any progress. Voicemail, again. I looked up as Sarah walked into the office. She offered to make me a drink.
‘Don’t be thinking this gets you off the hook. Dad called me earlier.’
I’d expected as much. I followed her into the kitchen area and told her why I’d gone along with Major’s plan, trying to justify what I’d done. She passed me my drink and we sat back down.
‘I take it there’s no news on Tasker?’ she said.
I shook my head. Changed the subject. ‘Julia knows Tasker is missing’ I said.
‘You told her?’
‘She found out.’
‘How?’
‘She’s spoken to a man at Tasker’s studio. He told her I’d been asking questions.’ I explained Julia wasn’t filing a story on Tasker’s disappearance just yet.
‘She’s not to be trusted, Joe.’
‘She’s keeping to her part of the bargain.’
‘She’ll use you, Joe. All she wants is a story.’
I shut my eyes. ‘I’m not stupid.’
Sarah turned away from me. ‘I sometimes wonder.’
I opened them again. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘You’re not thinking straight.’
‘Of course I’m thinking straight.’ I was getting sick of being told how I should deal with things. I thought she was a bit more pragmatic than her father, less black and white. I thought she understood.
‘We should never have taken the job’ she said.
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘I’m not being ridiculous. You can’t see how you’re behaving and how it’s affecting others.’
‘How am I behaving?’ My head was starting to hurt. I didn’t want an argument, but I couldn’t let it go, either.
‘You’re being reckless’ Sarah said. ‘Helping Major to break into places? It’s stupid and dangerous.’
The venom in her voice surprised me. ‘There’s a man missing. I don’t see how trying to find him is stupid.’
‘It’s not a job for you.’
I shrugged. ‘It’s not my place to make the call. I’ve been asked to help, so that’s what I’m trying to do.’
‘You’ve been asked to help by Kane Major, a man who’s so far removed from the real world, he probably doesn’t know what day it is anymore.’
‘It’s his call.’ It wasn’t just that. I’d explained to both Sarah and Don that I had ties to the Tasker family. I hadn’t expected it to cause such an issue, but nor had I expected to find out that I owed them like I did.
‘You’ve got to take some responsibility, Joe.’ She was pointing at me. ‘You’ve got to call a halt to this carry on. You’re not going to find him. You’re only one man.’
I knew she was talking sense and I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I could resolve the case by myself. But I was prepared to try. ‘It’s not just Major’s decision. Tasker’s parents agree with him.’
‘What about Julia?’
‘What about her?’
‘If she blows the whistle on this, Major’s plan is in tatters.’
‘She won’t.’
‘Don’t be so naive, Joe.’
I was getting sick of being called naive. ‘You don’t like Julia, do you?’ I said. ‘And neither does your dad.’
Sarah sat upright. ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’
‘Julia’s trying to help us, but you’ve not given her a chance. You’re not being much of a help.’
‘I see.’
I apologised. It was a stupid thing to say. ‘I didn’t mean that.’
‘If you give her an inch, she’ll take a mile.’
‘That’s not fair.’
‘Call it women’s intuition if it makes you feel better. She’ll use you, Joe, and when she’s done, it’ll be me you’ll want to come crying back to.’ She put her empty mug down. ‘And I’m not going to let that happen.’
‘That’s out of order. You don’t know her.’
‘And you do know her?’
Sarah’s words stopped me in my tracks. Kane Major and Lorraine had warned me about Julia, too. We were both standing, facing each other, eyeball to eyeball. Trying to find Tasker was a difficult enough task and I needed Sarah’s help and support. I thought I could count on her. Breaking away from her stare, I headed for the door.