Denise Mina - Resolution

The police officer stuck his head round the door again and told them that the court had finished its day's business and they must all come back the next day for nine thirty sharp.

When she walked out into the lobby Maureen saw Elsbeth Brady and her mother-in-law walking down a corridor towards her, looking angry. "You should be in the witness room," said Carol Brady.

Maureen didn't say anything. She was tired and had no reason to apologize to either of them anymore.

"I suppose you're enjoying this, are you? Being at the center of it all," said Elsbeth, with an unkind smile.

Again she said nothing but crossed her arms. A long, hot bath, whiskey and peace. The women looked her up and down, read "porn star" on her chest and brushed past her, walking down the stairs to the door. Leslie was standing beside her. "Was that Carol Brady?"

"Aye," said Maureen. "And Elsbeth, Douglas's wife."

"Douglas's widow," corrected Leslie.

"Her nose has been running all day and she kept sniffing really loudly," said Winnie. "I think she's allergic to not getting attention."

Maureen didn't think they'd all be able to come the next day but she wanted them all to be together for just a little longer. She insisted that they go across the road to a cafe. She wanted to go for a drink but was afraid of putting temptation in Winnie's way. As they went into the cafe she saw Liam whispering urgently to Winnie. He gathered himself together and came over, telling Maureen that he had to go and get a part for the car. The guy wouldn't wait for him and he'd see her tomorrow. She knew he was lying. She knew that he had to go and see about Michael.

The Val d'Oro cafe had small seating booths in yellow, trimmed with red like a child's toy. They sat in adjoining booths, Leslie and Jimmy Harris with Winnie and George, Maureen and Kilty with Vik and Shan. They ordered drinks and rolls. Shan asked for two egg rolls and a roll with sausage.

"He eats all the time," confided Vik. "You've never seen a constitution like it. More food goes through him than Safeway's checkouts."

Shan smiled, slow and easy, at Kilty. "It'll just get me ready for my dinner."

"Your mum's great," said Vik quietly, so Winnie wouldn't hear.

"Aye," Maureen said cagily. "She's great sometimes."

"How d'ye feel about seeing Angus again?" said Shan.

"I'm too tired to feel anything. What about you?"

"I wanted to kill him," said Shan, a red flush rising up his neck, settling on his cheeks.

Back at the flat Maureen lay in a hot bath, watching her skin turn red under the waterline and bits of tissue disintegrate on her skin. The cuts were deep and red blood had settled into scarlet blackheads in the cellulite on her thighs. She heard Leslie out in the living room, watching a quiz show on the telly. They were going to have Leslie's baby together and it changed everything. They'd have to get jobs and stop being pissed all the time. They'd have to grow up. She sipped her whiskey and knew she'd be asleep in ten minutes. When she thought about Gartnavel, thought past the shock and horror, she knew she'd done a good thing and providence would bless her for it. If only she hadn't put Liam in the middle of it.

PAULSA was agitated. He seemed not to have had his medicine that morning and was pacing the stuffy room, watching the door. Spontaneous droplets of sweat popped onto his forehead and top lip. He was licking them away, a habit Shirley found disgusting. Maureen could see her across the room, watching him, grimacing when he did it. Maureen wanted to tell him what Liam had told her, that they were defense witnesses, they'd be the last to give evidence, but the more upset he was the better it was for her.

Leslie had bought bandages for Maureen's arms and put them on her this morning, securing the ends with little elastic clasps. Some of the wounds were open, itching and festering. Leslie had washed them gently in salt water before vomiting in the sink.

Maureen went back to reading a newspaper she had picked up when she was buying cigarettes. It was a local newspaper and she hadn't noticed that it was a special sports edition. The back page crept towards the front, buffeting the central pages, and there was little for her to read in it. In the "News in Brief" column she saw a headline that caught her eye. A body had been found up at Gartnavel Royal and police were treating the death as suspicious. The paragraph underneath gave scant detail, adding nothing to the headline but times and the fact that Stewart Street were conducting the investigation. Joe McEwan and Liam had definitely seen each other.

Maureen guessed that she wouldn't be called today. She began reading, dragging her eyes over a long article about football funding, and before she had digested half of it, they were called for lunch.

Kilty and Leslie were waiting in the lobby again with Winnie and George, Liam and Vik. Shan had had to go to work, apparently, but he'd be back in the afternoon. They went down to the canteen and ate sandwiches together. Maureen looked around the table and felt very lucky, having them all here, chatting to one another and getting on well. She saw Liam was looking tired and drawn and wanted to comfort him, but couldn't until he told her.

They were smoking on the stairs outside, Kilty and Vik having a good-natured argument about Kosovo with Leslie interjecting supporting arguments for each side, when Liam took her aside. "The night before last," he said casually, "what did you do?"

Maureen pretended to try to remember. "I fell asleep and woke up and couldn't get back to sleep," she said.

"So, you didn't go out?"

"No. Leslie was there with me. And Kilty. We all slept in the living room. Why are you asking?"

Liam looked down his nose at her. "Just asking."

She should push it: he'd be suspicious if she wasn't suspicious. "It's a strange thing to just ask. Where were you?"

"At Siobhain's house," he said, "watching a video."

They sat smoking and looking out at the sunny green.

"I really love her, Mauri."

Mauri looked at him, at his curly black hair and straight nose, at the prematurely aging skin beneath his eyes. "I'm glad, then," she said. "I hope ye stay together for the longest time and are really happy."

Liam smiled up at her. "Really?" he said, touched and pleased.

"Yup."

Liam grinned and stretched out a leg in front of him, looking away down the road and then back at her. "I'm thinking about asking her to marry me."

"Oh, fuck off," snapped Maureen.

"Hey, you said you were pleased," said Liam, raising his voice.

"You've known each other all of two minutes," shouted Maureen.

Everyone on the steps was looking at them.

"We'd have a long engagement," said Liam earnestly.

She found herself laughing. "A long engagement?" she repeated.

Liam thought about it and laughed too. "Yeah," he grinned, "a long engagement."

"Who are you, the Duchess of Argyll?"

"You. Hello."

Maureen turned and found Suicide Tanya staring down at her. She was wearing a grotesquely feminine Laura Ashley dress with a rosebud pattern on it, tottering in a pair of battered court shoes with a worn-down heel. Maureen suspected that Laura might have meant her to wear a bra with the dress: the cloth belt around the waist strained under the weight of her breasts. Next to her stood a pencil-thin myopic man wearing women's glasses, a dirty gray T-shirt and a Confederate soldier's hat. "Suicide, how are ye?"

"Aye," shouted Tanya. "This is Reb. He's my partner."

Maureen nodded at him. "How're ye?"

Reb didn't nod back. His glasses were so thick Maureen doubted he knew where he was. "This is my brother," she said and, turning to introduce him, saw that Liam was at once enchanted and repulsed by Tanya and her beau.