Heartbreaker (23 page)

‘Right,’ said Paul, looking at his watch, ‘time to rock and roll. Let’s get the gear in the van and hit the road.’ He, Johnny and Colin headed off to sort themselves out and Mark and Irena packed up their equipment, loading all but one camera bag, which they were taking to the party, back into their car.

Chapter 60

A van had appeared from somewhere and the guys began loading it up. Alex was amazed to see how much equipment was being taken for just a small gig in a local pub. Once packed, they headed off to the George and Dragon, Paul at the wheel. They were leaving the gear there that night, they’d pick it up next day.

When they started unloading, Alex could see that Gerry was no stranger to the process. He helped them get their gear in and set up their kit. Siobhan took charge of the mixing desk.

‘First time she did this, she turned the monitors up way too high,’ Paul told Alex. ‘Johnny was singing and he had the words to a couple of numbers taped to the front of them. We had to stop and get her to turn them down; the words were bouncing all over the place and Johnny couldn’t read them.’

‘You’ve done this a few times, then?’

‘Not for a while, but yeah. It’s good fun. We tend to do standards, stuff people can dance to. It takes us back to the early days when we played clubs and pubs all the time. Hell of an antidote to the stadiums. Of course, we have to keep it quiet. Or at least, we did in the old days, anyway.’

Alex smiled. He was being far too modest. If word got out that the surviving members of Heartbreaker were playing a gig, the village would be swamped.

Irena took some photographs while the band finished setting up and Alex took the chance to have a chat with Mark Killian.

‘You must have seen this kind of thing many times,’ she said to him.

‘God, yeah, and with very many bands, as well.’ He grinned. ‘I’m a dab hand with a soldering iron, which came in very useful in Heartbreaker’s early days. Before a show, while the lads sorted the gear I’d be out back fixing guitar pickups.’

‘Get away!’

‘This was before they had techs or even much of a crew. I’d be there to shoot them for one of the music papers and get roped in to help. In return, I got to shoot them more than most, which once they’d taken off was fantastic. I went on tour with them a couple of times as well. Great fun.’

‘Were you with them in ’79 when the UK press exposé happened?’

‘Yeah, we were in the States and all hell broke loose over here.’

‘Colin said they’d dodged a bullet just before that, but we got interrupted and I never got the full story. Do you know what that was about?’

‘Oh, God, I remember that. There was this Australian woman from some paper or other following the tour and fishing around for scandal. And let’s face it, there was plenty going on to be considered scandalous. We were wondering how the hell to shut her up, when one of the girls told us she thought she fancied Johnny. So we set him onto her.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Johnny went on a charm offensive. He was dynamite in those days. He’s not bad now, to be honest. He didn’t even fancy her, but he sacrificed his honour for the sake of the band. We figured if she was sleeping with him, she wouldn’t do the dirty.’

‘And it worked?’

Mark nodded. ‘Like a dream. Then a week or so later we got hit anyway and Johnny dropped her like a hot brick. By then her story wasn’t worth shit.’

‘Did that sort of thing happen often? Band members sleeping with people to get them to do what they wanted?’

Mark shrugged. ‘You do what you have to do, you know?’

‘Mark, have you any idea what happened to the tour diary tapes?’

‘I wish. It’s a mystery to me where they went. There was some fantastic stuff on them, though. It would be bloody great if they turned up again.’

Once the gear was set up and tested, the mixing desk sorted, the cables taped down and the band happy with what they were doing, they got a round in. Alex looked round the pub; someone had been busy: the place was liberally decked out with banners and bunting, and a long table groaned under the weight of an expansive buffet. Elaine came into the bar and got a warm welcome. She introduced Alex to Monty, her and Gerry’s son, home to help his mum celebrate her birthday.

‘It makes a change to see you in the bar,’ said Alex.

Elaine laughed. ‘Yes, I’m normally stuck in the kitchen, but he lets me out for special occasions.’

‘And your fiftieth birthday qualifies as a special occasion, love.’ Gerry put his arm round his wife, gave her a kiss.

Elaine shooed him away. ‘Oh, get off you big beggar. You get sloppier as you get older.’ Elaine spotted Christabel. ‘Thanks for helping out, love. We couldn’t have done it all without you.’ Chrissie tipped her glass in salute and smiled.

Gerry looked at his watch. ‘Come on,’ he shouted, ‘it’s seven o’clock, time for a party!’

That was the cue for the fun to start. It looked to Alex as if the entire village had turned out, the pub was packed. Johnny introduced the band as the ‘Helmsleigh Village Dance Band’ and once they started playing, they soon had everyone on their feet. They played a varied selection, running through numbers by Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and Christabel got up and sang with them on a couple of songs, too. The party was a fantastic success and no one thought anything of it when a guy from the crowd started taking photographs of the band in full swing, belting out a foot-stomping
Johnny B. Goode
, which Johnny dedicated to ‘Chuckleberry Watson’.

‘What was all that about?’ asked Alex when she got him to herself for a few minutes.

Johnny smiled. ‘Tom. He always had this thing about not overstaying his welcome, musically. Getting out when it was still good, you know? Then he saw Chuck Berry on Top of the Pops doing
My Ding-a-Ling
and he went into overdrive. He was horrified. He made me promise to shoot him if he ever came close to doing anything like that.’

‘Yeah, well, he had a point. That’s all some people remember Chuck Berry for.’

Johnny nodded. ‘Fucking tragic.’

After midnight, back at Johnny’s house, Christabel skinned up while Johnny sorted out drinks and everyone wound down after the excitement of the evening.

‘Elaine seemed to have a good time,’ observed Colin.

’Did you see how much gin she put away?’ asked Paul. ‘Jeez, that woman can drink.’

‘That’s quite a compliment, coming from you,’ quipped Johnny.

‘Hark who’s talking.’

Marilyn stood up and yawned. ‘If you lot are going to bicker, I’m off to bed. G’night.’

Five minutes later Christabel headed off and Colin followed close behind.

Paul and Siobhan giggled. ‘There goes Colin, like clockwork.’

Alex said nothing. She wondered whose bed he was heading for.

Chapter 61

Next day it was lunchtime before anybody surfaced. Alex and Christabel made bacon sandwiches and coffee to kick-start sluggish systems and by mid-afternoon they deemed themselves fit enough to go to the George and Dragon to sort out the gear. Killer and the Red Rage headed off home and Alex and Siobhan ferried everyone else to the pub.

As the gear was being dismantled and carried out to the van, Gerry took Alex to one side. ‘Alex, love,’ he said, ‘have any of you seen the papers today?’

Alex shook her head. ‘No. We just lazed around then came here to pick up the gear.’

‘Come through the back. There’s something you should see.’ They went through to the living quarters at the rear of the pub and Gerry ushered her into a bright, modern living space. He produced a copy of the
News of the World
. ‘Look, love.’

Alex looked. She was horrified. There on the front page was a photograph of Johnny, his guitar round his neck, grinning from ear to ear. It had been taken the night before at the party and accompanied a story about Candy’s overdose and subsequent collection by ambulance from Johnny’s house on the Friday night, under a banner headline reading: ‘Heartbreaker star’s drugs shame’. The article resurrected all the bad press the band had suffered over the years, plus a whole load of stuff about Johnny and his own experiences with drugs. Then it pilloried him for supposedly getting an innocent young woman hooked on drugs and then abandoning her at an Accident and Emergency unit when things went wrong. The photograph, of course, was evidence of how little he cared, how cheaply he valued others’ lives. It was captioned:
Johnny Burns parties as young woman fights for her life
. Alex felt sick. Johnny would go ballistic. It was just so unfair, and yet realistically there was nothing he could do to set the record straight.

‘Can we hide it from him, do you think?’ she asked Gerry.

He shook his head. ‘Unlikely. I’m surprised the phone hasn’t been ringing off the wall back at the house.’ He scratched his head. ‘We’re going to have to tell him. If we don’t, someone else will, and they might not be so careful how they put it.’

‘How on earth did they find out about Candy?’

‘Could have been anybody. One of the ambulance crew, hospital staff, or just someone who happened to be there and recognised Johnny. They’d likely get a few bob from the paper for the tip off.’

Alex sat with her head in her hands. This was all they needed. ‘It wasn’t like that at all, you know, Gerry.’

‘I never thought it was. I’ve known him far too long to be taken in by crap like that.’ He shook his head. ‘He’s had more than his fair share of this sort of thing over the years, you know. Back when the boys died, he was practically besieged. That was an awful time. Then the year after, when he had his … accident, it was nearly as bad again. And every time they dredge up every bad thing that’s ever been written, whether it’s true or not, and turn the whole thing into a witch hunt.’ Gerry shook his head. ‘I don’t know how he puts up with it. It would drive me nuts.’

They went back through into the bar. The gear had been packed and the others had headed off to the house. Johnny was waiting for Alex.

‘You two gossiping again?’ He took in their expressions and frowned. ‘What’s up?’

‘Sit down, mate,’ said Gerry. He got generous shots of Jack Daniel’s for himself and Johnny, and a coke for Alex. ‘Got a bit of bad news.’

Alex smiled, squeezed his hand. ‘It’ll all blow over in no time. Tomorrow’s chip wrappers and all that.’ She slid the paper over to Johnny. He took in the front page. His face fell at once, but dismay was quickly replaced with anger. ‘Not again. What the fuck do I have to do to get them to leave me alone?’ He scanned the article. ‘The usual level of accuracy, I see.’ He pushed the paper aside in disgust, emptied his glass in one. ‘Thanks, Gerry, I appreciate the tip-off.’ He stood up, turned to Alex. ‘Let’s get back and warn the others. There’ll be fallout from this, you can bet your life on it.’

When they got back to the house, Dan Cross was waiting for them.

‘I’ve seen it, Dan,’ Johnny told him. ‘Do the others know?’

‘Not yet. I wanted to see you first. I’ve managed to keep the press at bay so far.’

Johnny nodded. He got everyone together and filled them in on what had been in the paper. Dan produced a couple of copies of the rag, which they passed around. Christabel hugged Johnny. Paul looked sick at heart.

‘I don’t understand why no one has been on to us direct yet,’ said Johnny, ‘but I’m sure they will be soon enough. I suggest you all batten down the hatches and wait it out. Hopefully it shouldn’t last too long.’

The atmosphere was subdued as people packed up and left later in the day. Dan was the last to leave.

‘What are you going to do?’ he asked Johnny.

Johnny considered. He looked at Alex. ‘First, we go up North to get your passport. Unless you’ve got it with you?’ She shook her head. ‘Then we get out of the country for a couple of weeks.’ He ran his hands through his hair. ‘The break will do us good anyway. I don’t know about you, but I could do with a holiday.’

Dan nodded. ‘Let me know where you end up, mate. I’ll handle things at this end. My phone’s been ringing off the hook and it’ll be your turn next. You can bet somebody’ll cough up your number. Probably best you’re not here.’

Chapter 62

They set off at about seven in Alex’s car, which was less obtrusive than Johnny’s Maserati Spyder. They shared the driving and got to her flat just before midnight, fell into bed exhausted and were almost immediately asleep.

Johnny had a place in the South of France and they had decided to hole up there until the dust settled. He rang his travel agent first thing next morning to get flights sorted out, then took the opportunity to look through Alex’s music collection while she got her things together. ‘You’ve got some great stuff here,’ he enthused. ‘Some of this is really rare.’

‘Been collecting a long time. I’ve spent more on music over the years than I have on shoes; my sister thinks I’m certifiable.’

‘It’s a shame we haven’t got time to go and see her,’ said Johnny. ‘Mind you, if she’s seen the paper, it’s probably just as well.’

‘I’ve had my phone turned off since Friday,’ said Alex. ‘I don’t know if anyone’s been trying to get in touch or not. I thought I’d wait until we were safely in France before I checked.’

Johnny laughed. ‘Good idea; that way, they can’t stop us getting away.’

Alex froze as she heard someone rapping on the front door.

‘Looks like I might meet one of your friends after all,’ said Johnny.

Alex stared. Her heart sank. She had a pretty good idea who it would be.

‘Aren’t you going to answer the door?’

She shook her head slowly. ‘No. No, I don’t think I’ll bother.’

A fist beat on the door. ‘Alex? Alex, I know you’re in there. I saw your car. Open up!’

‘Who’s that?’ asked Johnny.

‘That’s Dave, my ex.’

‘I’ve been ringing you. Open the fucking door!’

Johnny looked enquiringly at Alex. She kept her eyes down, shook her head. The last thing she wanted was for Johnny to be subjected to Dave, especially in the mood he seemed to be in. She remembered the hurtful things Dave had said last time she saw him. ‘He’ll get fed up and go. Just ignore him.’