Dead Wrong - [14]

Chapter Six

Every set of lights on the East Lancs Road went red. And there are many sets. I tried not to get tense but the car was hot and my temples were starting to thump. I had a raging thirst. I hadn’t had a drink since breakfast and the smoky air at the Centre had added to my dry mouth. I pulled in at a garage, bought a bottle of mineral water and glugged it all the way to town.

I drove round for almost half an hour before finding a parking space. The cordon still barricaded off Cross Street, Market Street and Cannon Street, and although many of the buses and the Metro Link were now running, the traffic-flow through town was still at a snail’s pace.

Manchester does have some beautiful buildings, and the Central Library is one of them. Like a cross between the Coliseum and the Parthenon, it’s a delight in white marble, albeit smeared with grey from the pollution. It has large round pillars supporting the porch at the front and repeated on a smaller scale around the dome and the upper floors. The libraries inside are circular, light and airy from the glass ceilings. And plastered with notices warning of pickpockets and bag thieves.

I walked up the stairs to the Social Sciences library and headed for the microfiche newspaper archives. The local papers along with the national dailies were all there. I sought out issues from just after New Year. There were no local papers until 2nd of January. Coverage of the murder of Ahktar Khan dominated the headlines. NEW YEAR STABBING TRAGEDY. Ahktar in a classic school-photo pose took up most of the front page. I read the reports, which were sketchy and speculative. I scrolled forward, winding the film on to the next front page. KHAN KILLING – POLICE DENY RACIAL MOTIVE and the next: SCHOOLBOYKILLING – SUSPECT HELD. Later in the week they proclaimed: KHAN MURDER – POLICE CHARGE SCHOOLFRIEND.

There was a picture of the two boys next to a drum kit with two friends. Their band.

I made photocopies of the relevant stories to take away. The papers had covered the murder for most of that week, but the speed with which they had charged Luke Wallace with the crime put an end to the press interest.

My mobile rang just as I got back to the car. I answered it and paced back around the car park, ducking and weaving in an effort to improve the reception. The phone crackled. ‘Hello,’ I shouted. ‘Can you bear me?’

More static, then a couple of words. ‘Sal…here.’ Enough for me to recognise the voice of my best friend, Diane.

‘Diane!’ I yelled, hoping she could hear me. ‘I’ll ring you back.’

I walked round the corner and stood next to a wall; my mobile seemed to like walls. Diane answered, clear as a bell. ‘I thought you meant later,’ she said. ‘Look, I can’t make tomorrow, can we change it to Monday?’

I cast around for problems. Ray hadn’t mentioned anything; he should be in. ‘Fine.’

‘Come for a meal?’

‘What’s the big occasion?’ We usually met at a pub halfway between her house in Rusholme and mine in Withington.

‘I fancy a good meal, I can’t stretch to a restaurant, next best thing. What do you reckon?’

‘Yes, love to.’

‘Seven thirty?’

‘Great.’

Teatime at home was a disaster. Maddie burst into tears and refused to eat a morsel. Something to do with the layout of the food on the plate. Tom had been fine until he knocked his blackcurrant juice all over his plate and the rest of the table. I struggled hard to force food down into my stomach which was tense with irritation. Maddie continued to howl until I told her to go off and do it somewhere else. She stormed off. Ray cast me a questioning look.

‘I’m not in the mood,’ I said. ‘It drives me up the wall when she does this, when she won’t explain what’s wrong. God, if I knew she wanted the flipping peas in the middle I’d put them in the middle. I’m not telepathic.’

‘You should be,’ Ray said. ‘It’s a prerequisite of motherhood.’

The door flew open and Maddie flounced in. ‘Mummy.’ She’d stopped crying now and she was all outrage. ‘You didn’t give me any tea and I’ll starve and I’ll die and then you’ll be really sorry and I’ll be glad.’ She wheeled round and pulled the door to behind her hard. She was trying for a satisfying slam. Unfortunately a well-placed stuffed dinosaur was in the way and the door merely bounced back open again.

I covered my mouth to stifle the giggles. It wasn’t the first time she’d threatened me this way, but I reckoned her mouthing off her anger at me was probably healthier than swallowing it all and storing it up for adult life.

Of course by bedtime peace had been restored. We’d talked about my need to know about her constantly shifting requirements – not that I thought it would make one iota of difference. I hugged her, told her I loved her and read a long story. I even managed to bite my tongue when she complained of feeling hungry and brought her warm milk and an apple. Perfect mother or what?

I needed to make some sense of my notes while Luke’s voice was still fresh in my mind. It was half past nine before I got a chance to sit down and work through them. Dusk was only just falling. Midsummer, 21st of June, the longest day of the year. I sat on the sofa with the curtains open and the small table-lamp on. I could see the back garden as I worked, and watch the night steal across from behind the trees at the end, the sky turning purple then navy.