Denise Mina - Garnethill

They picked a tray from the bottom of the pile and shuffled sideways along the counter. Maureen bought the coffee and began the search for the least dirty table. She stacked up the used dishes and moved them to an empty table before she sat down. The tabletop was strewn with crumbs and sticky patches of what appeared to be jam.

"I don't really want to drink out of that," said Liam, pointing at his cup. It had ring stains on the inside and a chip on the handle.

"It's good for you," said Maureen. "If you eat germs you get immune to them."

Liam wiped a space on the table in front of him with a paper napkin. "That sounds like an excuse for bad housekeeping to me."

"Aye, right enough, I'd never thought of it that way." She turned her cup round to a chipless part of the rim. "Mum used to say it to me. What's she up to?"

"What d'ye mean?" said Liam.

"What's Mum's new thing? She's said Dad's name twice in the past week and Una was looking well shifty."

He raised his eyebrows. "It's nothing, Mauri," he said. "I wouldn't worry about it."

That meant it was bad. Normally she wouldn't have asked Liam. They had an unspoken rule about Winnie that they didn't discuss her except in joking, disparaging terms, and even then it was as a release mechanism so that they wouldn't take her too seriously. They never gossiped about her or told each other what she'd been saying about them: they were old enough to know that none of it mattered, it could only hurt them and she'd be picking on someone else next week. But Maureen had a feeling that Winnie's recent behavior related to something more sinister than usual, and she needed to know. Liam sipped his coffee nonchalantly and grimaced. "That tastes of tires," he said. "What's yours like?"

"Tell me, Liam."

"It's nothing."

She had to cajole him all the way through her coffee. "I'm worried that she's been talking to the papers about me, that's why I need to know."

"Maureen, it's got nothing to do with that, it's not important."

"Why won't you tell me, then?"

Liam gave up on his coffee. "I can't drink that."

"Well, leave it, then," she said irritably. "Tell me."

He frowned and shoved his cup away to the side of the table. She caught his arm. "Tell me. Right now."

Liam sighed heavily. "It's to do with Marie… and Dad," he said.

"Has Marie remembered something?"

"No."

Maureen stopped dead. "What about Dad?"

Liam sat back and shoved his hands in his pockets, swinging backward on his chair. "Look," he muttered, "I really don't want to tell you. I just think you should stay away from them all, at least until this Douglas thing's settled."

"What is it?"

"Maureen, I-"

"DON'T LIE."

He took a deep breath and looked at her. "Marie doesn't believe you about Dad."

"Marie doesn't believe me either?"

"None of them believe you, Mauri." He laughed nervously, trying to make a joke of it. "They don't believe anything they don't want to."

"I know Mum doesn't but Marie was there when it happened. How could she not believe me?"

"I dunno."

"Which bit doesn't she believe?"

"None of it."

"What about Una?"

"She definitely doesn't."

"But Una was the one who brought it up in the first place. She only recanted to get Mum off her back. How could she not believe me?"

He shrugged.

"Marie was there," squealed Maureen. The other customers eyed them furtively. "She was fucking there. She saw Mum pulling me out."

"Mauri, please."

"Those fuckers!" shouted Maureen, curling over the table with fury. "Fuckers!"

A small boy at a nearby table started to cry. Liam pulled at her arm, trying to get her to sit up and calm down. "Keep it down, Mauri, please. We could get arrested for a breach."

She straightened up and took his hand roughly, pulling him forward across the table. "You tell me everything," she said fiercely. "Everything. Why are they bringing this up now?"

He blinked sharp little spasms and wouldn't look at her. "Mum thinks you might not have remembered about Douglas properly."

"And where did that come from?"

He picked at his fingernails. "There's been all this stuff in the papers about memory…"

"This false memory stuff? They don't believe me about Dad so I make up everything all the time?"

"Kind of."

She slumped over the table, muttering curses to herself.

"I'm sorry, Mauri, I'm sorry," Liam whispered.

Maureen scrubbed at her eyes, dragging the soft skin on her eyelids back and forward, trying to get it together. "They think I'm completely mental, don't they?" she said.

"I suppose."

"Have they told the police this?"

Liam shook his head. "After the show Mum made of herself at the station the other day I don't think she's exactly got the ear of the police. I wouldn't worry about that. My God, it's not as if you're used to relying on their support, is it? I just think they'll fuck our heads if you go near them. Promise me you'll stay away from them until this Douglas business blows over."

"Let's get out of this place," said Maureen. "It's dirty."

They left the arcade and walked back to the car. Liam pulled the keys from his jacket pocket. He opened the passenger door for Maureen but she didn't move to get in. "Not one of them believes me?" she said.

Liam rubbed his hands guiltily, as if he was implicated in his sisters' duplicity.

"No," he said, "they don't."

"Do you?"

"Yes, totally, completely."

"Why?"

"Because Una told you, because it's all too much of a coincidence and I know you've questioned it so often and arrived at the same conclusion every time."

"Do you believe me when I say I didn't kill Douglas?"

"Yeah, well, I know you're really hard, Maureen."

They grinned melancholically at one another. "And for fucksake," he said, "if you had done it you'd've told everyone by now."

Maureen stepped closer to him, until she could feel the warmth of his skin, and looked over his shoulder. "Liam?" she breathed, desperate for the right answer. "You don't think I could have done it and forgotten?"

Liam held her face in his hands and looked her in the eye. "You listen to me. There's nothing wrong with you."

"But maybe-"

"There's nothing wrong with you."

"Maybe… my memory…"

"Shut the fuck up. Listen, this isn't about Douglas at all, it's about them not wanting to believe you about Dad. I want you to stay the fuck away from them all."

"You want me to let this go?"

"Keep away from them," he said, strangely emphatic, and let go of her face. " Please . For awhile, anyway."

He walked round the car and slipped into the driver's seat. Maureen climbed into the passenger's side and shut the door behind her.

"I think they're all mental," said Liam.

"You're not just saying that to comfort me?"

"I am, a bit." He smiled, caught in fib. "But I know it happened."

"Which is more than I do," she said, heartsore with self-pity.

Liam put the keys in the ignition, pulled the choke and started the engine. "Thing is," he said, "you have to ask yourself what kind of arsehole would even question a memory like that."

Liam parked the car around the corner, out of view of the police station. They walked through the front doors, telling the policeman on the desk their names and who they were there to see.

Almost immediately a gang of four appeared at the top of the stairs. McEwan, Inness, Hugh McAskill and the Seedy Man. They seemed purposeful, certain, as though the outcome of the meeting was already set.

"We were just about to come and find you," said McEwan, letting them know who was in charge.

The Seedy Man said he was going to caution both of them at the same time. He recited it in a British Rail announcer's monotone. McEwan looked smug. He kept looking at Maureen, smiling inadvertently and looking away quickly, as if she would know what was making him smile if she saw it flourish. McAskill was standing three steps back from Inness and the Seedy Man, his hands in his pockets, his eyes darting around the lobby, avoiding Maureen. Liam looked at Maureen, he seemed worried. She meant to make an encouraging face but she couldn't stop thinking about Winnie and Marie and Una. She crumpled her chin and raised her eyebrows, looking blaming and distant.