Denise Mina - Exile

The police didn't believe in the Polaroid and she couldn't tell them where it was. She couldn't mention Maureen or they'd want to know why she had taken it and why she was in London. When she told them it was of a guy called Frank Toner the fat guy laughed and the woman smiled up at her. "What has he got to do with this?"

"I think he was her boyfriend," Leslie'd said.

The policeman had sniggered. "Well, I know what Frank Toner's girlfriends look like and Ann just wasn't his type."

Leslie bit the tip of her ulcer again and blanched at the convulsive needle pains in the root of her tongue. If she could just speak to Maureen and find out what was happening she might be able to lie convincingly. The English woman came back in and sat down across from her. "Would you like something to eat?" she said.

"No," said Leslie. "Listen, I didn't know Ann was Jimmy's wife until after she left."

"I see. When did you realize?"

"After she left."

"When after she left?"

But Leslie wasn't used to lying and she didn't have any of the basic equipment. She couldn't visualize herself or build on existing facts to make a lie sustainable. She sat back, drawing the last of her cigarette and stubbing it out in the pie-tin ashtray. "What's going to happen to me?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to charge me?"

"We're not sure yet."

"If you do, what will you charge me with?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"If we can prove you could foresee he was going to hurt her and you aided that in some way. Then… well, then it's murder."

Leslie still wasn't home. Maureen nearly phoned Vik again but lost her bottle halfway through the area code. Outside the glass of the telephone box the car exhaust was forming a gritty haze above Brixton Hill, the fumes and the dirt suspended in the sunlight like salt in solution. It was early afternoon and the day was turning out to be another warm one. She put on her sunglasses and stepped out of the box, heading up the hill to Moe's. Her bag was heavy and pressed on her shoulder, making her feel worse. She stopped and rested the bag on a low wall, ripped the Velcroed flap open and looked inside. She still had Kilty's shopping. She picked out the heavy stuff and left two cans of beans and a tin of corned beef on a wall. She kept the things that couldn't be replaced from a corner shop: two giant bars of Milka chocolate, a packet of rice cakes and a box of fire lighters. She'd explain to her later. She cringed as she remembered the night before. The Las Vegas woman, Elizabeth, had said she didn't know anything about that. She wouldn't have said that unless there was something to know.

Someone had tipped a wheelie bin over around the back of Dumbarton Court, disseminating the putrid smell of week-old ready meals and shitty nappies. Maureen took the stairs slowly, stopping to catch her breath on each of the landings. By the time she got to the door she was half hoping Moe wouldn't be in, but she was.

"What do you want?" asked Moe, adding a "hah" as an afterthought.

"I'm not from the brew," said Maureen, softly, more concerned with nursing her hangover than setting a kindly tone. "Ye can stop all that puffing and panting."

"Hah, I don't know what you mean, hah."

"Where's Ann's child-benefit book, Moe?"

Moe stood up straight, glared at her, opened the door and pulled Maureen in by the lapels. Her angina had cleared up a treat. She slammed the front door shut and turned to face her. "Who the fuck are you?"

The darkness was a comfort to Maureen and she rubbed her itchy eyes. "Have you got the child-benefit book, Moe?" whispered Maureen.

"Are you from the police?"

"No," said Maureen. "I'm just a friend of Jimmy's family. Look, Ann died a week and half ago and her book's still being cashed. Have you got it?"

"If you're just a friend of Jimmy's I don't have to answer any questions, do I?"

"No, Moe, you don't, but I know about the book and I know about her trips to Glasgow with the big bag and I know why you want the Polaroid. What should I do with that information?"

Moe's chin crumpled and she began to cry, tugging at her wedding ring. Her face turned pink, like Ann's. Maureen was glad of the dark hall and the cool walls but her knees were feeling shaky. "Come on, sit down," she said, and led the crying woman to the living room.

Moe cried for a long time, hiding her face in her hands, and each time the crying subsided the sight of Maureen made her sob afresh.

"Moe," said Maureen quietly, "you've got an alcoholic sister who doesn't live here. She comes to visit ye, goes away, and two days later you report her missing. She could have gone home and not phoned, she could be lying drunk somewhere in the middle of a binge. It's ridiculous for you to report her missing." Moe was looking at the carpet, dabbing her wet eyes. Maureen sighed. "Do you mind very much if I smoke?"

Moe shook her head. Maureen took out her fags and lit one, leaning over and feeling under the chair for the ashtray. She found it and pulled it out, sat it on the arm of the chair. Moe watched her, sniffing quietly. "Would you like a cigarette?" asked Maureen gently.

Moe shook her head again and gestured to her heart, sobbing and turning away. Too hungover to fight with a woman about her heart condition, Maureen waited patiently until Moe had cried herself out. She gave her a hankie.

"Thank you," said Moe, in a little-girl voice, glancing up at her. "Can I make a phone call?"

"No. I want you to sit and talk to me for five minutes and then you can make a phone call."

Moe dabbed at her nose. "But I want to phone my husband."

"After."

Moe looked up to see if she meant it and saw Maureen's red eyes and scratched knuckles. " 'Kay" She shrugged. "What do you want?"

"Tell me about the book."

Moe picked at the chenille on the arm of her chair. "I've got it," she said. "I didn't think it would matter, now she's dead."

"It does matter. It means that the children are going without. Burn it."

" 'Kay." Moe sniffed. "I'm sorry, I just didn't think it mattered."

Maureen drew on her cigarette and looked at her. "Have you ever heard of a guy called Tarn Parlain?"

"Of course I have. Everyone knows about him. It's men like him that make this estate hell to live on. They buy drugs from him and they come round here to use them."

Maureen took a drag. "I know Ann was a courier," she said softly. "What's the story Moe? Why did she really tell you about Leslie Findlay?"

Moe began to cry again, covering her face and panting, making a passable impression of herself earlier. "No, come on, stop," said Maureen lethargically. "I know it's not real this time, stop it."

Rumbled as rumbled could be, Moe sat up straight, sniffing and blushing and watching Maureen's cigarette. "Can I have one?" she said.

"Course ye can." Maureen gave her one and lit it for her, moving the ashtray to the other arm of the chair to save Moe reaching over. "Now tell me. Who was Ann carrying for?"

"I don't know," said Moe. "Someone bought her debt and they made her do it. She knew she was in danger – she told me about the photo and gave me the address of the shelter so that I'd be able to tell the police if anything happened. She was very concerned about the kids…" She broke off for a genuine sob. "She was worried about them, worried anything would happen to them."

"Didn't she know the police would think Jimmy beat her?"

"No," said Moe. "She thought the truth would come out."

"She should have told the shelter people the truth."

"But if she'd told them the truth they wouldn't have let her stay, would they? They'd have sent her to the police and she couldn't go to them."

Moe was right, Ann couldn't have told them that. They'd have turned her away immediately.