Beggars Banquet

‘Sorry, Brian,’ Rebus said. ‘Are you off out?’

‘In ten minutes. Come in anyway. Is it Damon?’

Rebus shook his head and saw the tension in Brian’s face turn to relief. Yes, a visit in person wouldn’t be good news, would it? Good news had to be given immediately by telephone, not by a knock at the door. Rebus should have realised; he’d been the bearer of bad news often enough in his time.

‘Sorry, Brian,’ he repeated. They were in the hallway. Janis’s voice came from above, asking who it was.

‘It’s Joh

‘Of course. It’s my name, isn’t it?’ He could have added: again, after all this time. He looked at Brian, remembering the way they’d sometimes mistreated him at school: not that ‘Barney’ had seemed to mind, but who could tell for sure? And then that night of the last school dance… Brian had been there for Mitch. Brian had been there; Rebus had not. He’d been too busy losing Janis, and losing consciousness.

She was coming downstairs now. ‘I’ll be back in a sec,’ Brian said, heading up past her.

‘You look terrific,’ Rebus told her. The blue dress was well-chosen, her make-up highlighting all the right features of her busy face. She managed a smile.

‘No news?’

‘Sorry,’ he said again. ‘Just thought I’d see how you are.’

‘Oh, we’re pining away.’ Another smile, tinged by shame this time. ‘It’s a di

‘Nobody expects you to sit at home every night, Janis.’

‘But all the same… ’ Her cheeks grew flushed and her eyes sought his. ‘We’re not going to find him, are we?’

‘Not easily. Our best bet’s that he’ll get in touch.’

‘If he can,’ she said quietly.

‘Come on, Janis.’ He put his hands on her shoulders, like they were strangers and about to dance. ‘You might hear from him tomorrow, or it might take months.’

‘And meantime life goes on, eh?’

‘Something like that.’

She smiled again, blinking back tears. ‘Why don’t you come with us, John?’

Rebus dropped his hands from her shoulders. ‘I haven’t danced in years.’

‘So you’d be rusty.’

‘Thanks, Janis, but not tonight.’

‘Know something? I bet they play the same records we used to dance to at school.’

It was his turn to smile. Brian was coming back downstairs, patting his hair into place.

‘You’d be welcome to join us, Joh

‘I’ve another appointment, Brian. Maybe next time, eh?’

‘Let’s make that a promise.’

They went out to their cars together. Janis pecked him on the cheek, Brian shook his hand. He watched them drive off then headed to the cemetery.

It was dark, and the gates were locked, so Rebus sat in his car and smoked a cigarette. He thought about his parents and the rest of his family and remembered stories about Bowhill, stories which seemed inextricable from family history: mining tragedies; a girl found drowned in the River Ore; a holiday car crash which had erased an entire family. Then there was Joh

The Lord had to be a bodybuilder.

From family he turned to friends and tried recalling a dozen names to put to faces he remembered from schooldays. Other friends: people he’d known in the army, the SAS. All the people he’d dealt with during his career in the police. Villains he’d put away, some who’d slipped through his fingers. People he’d interviewed, suspected, questioned, broken the worst kind of news to. Acquaintances from the Oxford Bar and all the other pubs where he’d ever been a regular. Local shopkeepers. Jesus, the list was endless. All these people who’d played a part in his life, in shaping who he was and how he acted, how he felt about things. All of them, out there somewhere and nowhere, gathered together only inside his head. And chief among them tonight, Brian and Janis.

That night of the school dance… It was true he’d been drunk – elated. He’d felt he could do anything, be anything. Because he’d come to a decision that day – he wouldn’t join the army, he’d stay in Bowhill with Janis, apply for a job at the dockyard. His dad had told him not to be so stupid – ‘short-sighted’ was the word he’d used. But what did parents know about their children’s desires? So he’d drunk some beer and headed off to the dance, his thoughts only of Janis. Tonight he’d tell her. And Mitch, of course. He’d have to tell Mitch, tell him he’d be heading into the army alone. But Mitch wouldn’t mind, he’d understand, as best friends had to.

But while Rebus had been outside with Janis, his friend Mitch was being cornered by four teenagers who considered themselves his enemies. This was their last chance for revenge, and they’d gone in hard, kicking and punching. Four against one… until Barney had waded in, shrugging off blows, and dragged Mitch to safety. But one kick had done the damage, dislodging a retina. Mitch’s vision stayed fuzzy in that eye for a few days, then disappeared. And where had Rebus been? Out cold on the concrete by the bike sheds.

And why had he never thanked Barney Mee?

He blinked now and sniffed, wondering if he was coming down with a cold. He’d had this idea when he came back to Bowhill that the place would seem beyond redemption, that he’d be able to tell himself it had lost its sense of community, become just another town for him to pass through. Maybe he’d wanted to put it behind him. Well, it hadn’t worked. He got out of the car and looked around. The street was dead. He reached up and hauled himself over the iron railings and walked a circuit of the cemetery for an hour or so, and felt strangely at peace.

Nine

‘So what’s the panic, Matty?’

After a home draw with Rangers, Stevie was ready for a night on the town. One-one, and of course he’d scored his team’s only goal. The reporters would be busy filing their copy, saying for the umpteenth time that he was his side’s hero, that without him they were a very ordinary team indeed. Rangers had known that: Stevie’s marker had been out for blood, sliding studs-first into tackles which Stevie had done his damnedest to avoid. He’d come out of the game with a couple of fresh bruises and grazes, a nick on one knee but, to his manager’s all too palpable relief, fit to play again midweek.

‘I said what’s the panic?’

Matty had worried himself sleepless. He knew he had several options. Speak to Stevie, that was one of them. Another was not to speak to him, but tell Mandelson he had. Then it would be down to whether or not Mandelson believed him. Option three: do a ru

If he spoke with Stevie, he’d lose a new-found friend. But to stay silent… well, there was very little percentage in it. So here he was in Stevie’s flat, having demanded to see him. In the corner, a TV was replaying a tape of the afternoon’s match. There was no commentary, just the sounds of the terraces and the dug-outs.

‘No panic,’ he said now, playing for time.

Stevie stared at him. ‘You all right? Want a drink or something?’

‘Maybe a vodka.’

‘Anything in it?’

‘I’ll take it as it comes.’

Stevie poured him a drink. Matty had been here half an hour now, and they still hadn’t talked. The telephone had hardly stopped: reporters’ questions, family and friends offering congratulations. Stevie had shrugged off the superlatives.

Matty took the drink, swallowed it, wondering if he could still walk away. Then he remembered Malibu, and saw shadows falling.