Garnethill

Chapter 12

They had never seen Liam so angry. The police had raided his house. He had been lying in bed with Maggie when they kicked the front door in and four officers stormed upstairs into the bedroom and found them naked, covered with a sheet. They pulled the sheet away, made them get out of bed, watching as they dressed, and took Liam downstairs.

Because of Maureen's timely warning there was nothing incriminating for the police to find, but they had brought tracker dogs with them and found the scent everywhere. They gutted the house, pulling up floorboards and digging up bits of the garden. Liam said the house was un-fucking-inhabitable; it looked like 25 Cromwell Street.

Maggie sobbed hysterically for half an hour and then phoned her mum in Newton Mearns, begging her to come and fetch her. Until this point her mother had believed that Liam was a music-business entrepreneur. Maggie didn't mention the police on the phone, her mum thought they'd had a fight. Good mother that she was, she dropped what she was doing and drove all the way across town to get Maggie. Nearing the house she saw the police cars and, good citizen that she was, pulled over, asking them what it was about and could she help. They told her. She took her daughter home and forbade her to see Liam again.

"They can't trash my fucking house and just leave it like that," said Liam aggressively. He turned on Be

"There must be some way," said Be

"Those fuckers can just rip my house apart and walk away? That's fucking outrageous."

"Why don't you write to your MEP?" said Maureen, trying to lighten the prickly atmosphere.

"That's not fucking fu

"Don't shout at me!" shouted Maureen. "It's not my fault."

"Well, if you hadn't-" Liam realized how bad he was being and corrected himself. "I won't be able to work for ages."

"I have to tell you," said Be

Liam dropped onto the settee and covered his face with his hands. "Jesus Christ," he said, his voice muffled, "what the fuck am I going to do now?"

Maureen sat down beside him. "Come on, now," she said. "You're a bright guy, you've got loads of capital in the house and you've saved some money, haven't you?"

"A bit."

"It's a big bit, isn't it?"

He shrugged. "S'pose."

"Well, we'll think of something."

"Shite, I've got a big deal coming off next week as well."

"Don't do it, Liam, eh?" Maureen pleaded.

"That would be really stupid," said Be

Liam shook his head. "If Joe McEwan and that mob hear about it I'll be completely fucked."

"But they didn't find anything in the house," said Maureen.

Be

"Oh," said Maureen. "Sorry, I didn't think."

"You even thought it was me."

"I didn't think it was you, I just thought you might know something about it."

"God," he said. "You're a stupid cow sometimes."

"There's no need for name-calling," said Maureen.

Her comment struck Liam as profoundly fu

He got Maureen to phone for him. When Maggie's mum answered she asked for Maggie and handed the receiver to Liam when she came on the line. He took the phone out to the hall and shut the door. Be

She kept her eye on the door and snuck over to him. "Mr. Mood Swing, eh? How long's he been here?" she whispered.

"About an hour," Be

They could hear him ringing off. Maureen darted back to the settee. Liam came back into the living room and slammed the phone down on the side table. He looked furious. "She's gutted," he said. "She told her mother she'd smoked hash once and now she thinks Maggie's a drug-soaked gangster's moll."

Be

"Because she asked," said Liam with a superior air. "And Maggie's family don't lie to each other all the time."

"My God," said Be

Maureen offered to make Liam a cup of tea but he refused it, saying if he wanted a fucking cup of fucking tea he'd make it his fucking self.

"It'll be okay," she said.

"Stop fucking saying that!" shouted Liam.

"I've only said it once!" Maureen shouted back.

Be

"You've pissed him off now," Maureen said.

Liam didn't reply but he sat down next to her on the settee. It was as close to an apology as she would get. "Did you see the picture in the paper yesterday?" she said.

"Yeah," said Liam, "I saw ye." It wasn't me.

Liam looked worried. "Aye, it was," he said. "You were in the ticket booth and everything, Mauri."

"Did you buy it and get a good look?"

"Well, naw, I wouldn't give them my money."

"It wasn't a picture of me, it was a photo of Liz."

Liam shifted uncomfortably and avoided her eye. She stomped across the room to her rucksack and pulled out the folded front page of the newspaper. She opened it out and handed it to Liam, sat down and watched him as he examined the picture. "Is that me?" she said.

Liam handed it back to her. "It's not you."

"Yeah, and I'm not responsible for you getting busted either. I want that one nipped in the bud."

"I know that. I'm sorry, pet, I was angry."

"Everyone I meet thinks I did it," she said.

"Everyone I meet thinks I did it," said Liam. "It's like being at school again."

"Yeah, we're a pair of wrong 'uns."

They looked at each other. Liam reached out solemnly and took her hand in his. "I'm go

Maureen laughed and Liam gri

"Do me a favor." She held up the newspaper. "Look at this picture again and tell me, if you didn't know me all that well, could you mistake Liz for me?"

Liam glanced at it. "No. I thought it was you because of the booth."

"Liz doesn't look like me?"

"No. Her hair's the same length as yours but that's about it."

She folded the picture away and slipped it back into her bag. "How's Mum?"

Liam's face wilted with a despondency familiar from childhood.

"You don't want to know, Mauri."

Be

"What, again?"

"Yeah."

Leslie had the Evening Tribune. The headline picture was of Maureen on holiday in Millport. Liam and Leslie had taken her there just a month after she got out of hospital. The weather was su