Slur: The Riverhill Trilogy: Book 1 (15 page)

Sunday 3
^rd
August 1986

It was a popular pub and was difficult to find a quiet table
where they could have a discussion without being overheard. After a good look
round they spotted a table in the corner where they would be out of earshot of
the many regulars who were dotted about the place.

‘Are you
all right for time Vinny?’ asked Julie.

‘Yeah, fine.’

‘What about
you Rita, can you spare the time?’

‘Oh yeah, I’ve
got nothing important on today. Anyway, we’re here to sort this out and that’s
what we’re going to do.’

‘OK, well I’ve
got an idea to put to you both.’

Vinny and
Rita listened as Julie began to outline her plan.

‘I think we
should find the evidence ourselves. It’s no good catching him in the act at a
nightclub. We’ve already done that and the police won’t believe us. But if he
is dealing drugs then you can bet your life that his flat’s full of them.’

‘I hope
you’re not thinking what I’m thinking,’ said Rita.

‘Dead
right! I think we should break into the flat. It’s the only way to find the
proof we need.’

‘Oh yeah,
and what do we do with it then?’ asked Rita. ‘Go to the police and tell them we
just happened to stumble across it in Les’s flat? They won’t believe us and,
even if they do, we’ll end up getting arrested for breaking and entering.’

‘I’ve
thought of that. We’re going to make sure that the police find the drugs
themselves.’

‘How?’ asked
Rita and Vinny in unison.

‘Well,
first we have to break in and make sure the drugs are there. Then, we’ll start a
fire in another room. Just a little one, but we’ll do it near the window where
it can be seen. After I’ve legged it from the flat we’ll call 999, report a
fire, and leave the drugs where the firemen can see them when they go in to put
the fire out. They’ll have the police there in no time.’

‘Jesus
Julie, have you gone off your bleedin’ head or what?’ asked Rita. ‘What if he
catches you in the act? You don’t want to go messing about with him. He’s a nasty
bastard! Anyway, you’re going to make yourself more ill the way you’re going
on.’

‘If he’s a
drug dealer he probably spends most of the evenings dealing in pubs and clubs.
We trace his movements first and when we’re pretty sure that he’s likely to be
out for a while, then we’ll make our move. What’s the alternative Rita? Letting
him go free will make me more ill. Once we’ve got him arrested I can finally
hold my head high.’

‘Julie’s
right,’ Vinny added. ‘We need to make sure that the police find evidence of him
dealing drugs. Then maybe they’ll take us seriously and start questioning him
about how Amanda died. But I won’t have you doing it Julie. It’s too risky and
you’re in enough trouble already. I’ll do it.’

‘No you
won’t! I’m not getting you in trouble as well. It’s my problem and it’s up to
me to sort it.’

‘Any
problem of yours is my problem as well Julie. I’m doing it and that’s that!’

Julie and
Rita were stunned into silence by Vinny’s unusual display of authority until
Rita broke the silence by saying, ‘Right, me and Julie will act as lookout
then. When do you want to start tracking him?’

Now that
they had all reached agreement about their course of action, they spent the
next couple of hours planning their surveillance operation, which was to commence
the following weekend.

--------------------  

Monday 4
^th
August 1986

Julie was
filled with trepidation when she returned to work after being off for two
weeks. Although she was feeling more positive due to the recent turn of events,
and the anti-depressants that her doctor had prescribed, she didn’t know if she
felt ready for work. “
But,
” she thought to herself, “
If I keep
putting it off I’ll never be ready. It’s better to face up to it and get it
over and done with.
”

She arrived
early, determined not to hide from anybody. She had decided to brave it out and
let them know that she had no reason to go into hiding or to feel ashamed of
herself.

Norma was
already there and her enthusiastic greeting was encouraging.

‘Hello
stranger, nice to see you back! How are you feeling? You look a lot better than
you did.’

Julie had
been in contact with Norma by telephone over the last two weeks and told her
that she intended to return to work, but Norma had advised against it. ‘Wait a
bit longer, let the dust settle,’ she had said. Julie therefore surmised that
Norma was surprised to see her back and was doing her best to make her feel
welcome.

‘I feel a
lot better,’ said Julie, ‘although I don’t know if I’ll still be saying that by
the end of today.’

‘Well
Julie, it certainly can’t get any worse, can it? You might even find that a few
people have mellowed towards you since you were in work last. I’ve made sure
that I’ve told your side of the story to some of them anyway.’

‘Has
everyone been talking about it then?’

‘A few, but
what do you expect? It’s not an everyday occurrence is it? But don’t let that
bother you Julie. If anybody says anything, you just make sure you tell them
the truth, and if they don’t want to believe you then sod them!’

Julie
changed the subject, not wishing to dwell too much on the unpleasantness that
was sure to surround her once the employees of Belmont Insurance Company began
to arrive for work.

‘We think
we’ve found out who really did it anyway.’

Norma’s jaw
dropped. ‘You’re joking!’

‘No, really!
A lot has happened in the last few days.’

Julie then
told Norma all about Les’s drug dealing, and their visit to the police. Finally
she told her about their plan to set up the evidence for the police to
discover, adding that they had, in fact, already begun to watch Les’s flat.

‘Jesus
Julie, you’re going to end up in a lot more trouble if you’re not careful!’

‘What’s the
alternative?’ asked Julie, but before Norma had a chance to respond the first
of Belmont’s employees arrived. Julie was greeted by scowls and tut tuts from
the three women as they approached the lift.

The
situation was repeated for the next half hour until the last of the staff
entered the building. Eventually Julie switched off and stared right through
them as she continued to answer telephone calls.

At
lunchtime she left the building and walked around the shops so that she
wouldn’t have to eat in a hostile environment. Julie was relieved when she
visited the ladies, however, as somebody had taken the trouble to scrub the graffiti
from the walls, leaving just a vague shadow of the words that had once
dominated the cubicle.

At five to five,
to Julie’s relief, Rita arrived in reception. Julie was delighted at Rita’s
show of support and they left Belmont Insurance Company together.

‘How did it
go then?’ asked Rita.

‘Bad enough
but don’t worry Rita, they won’t get to me this time. I can’t wait till we
prove that bastard Les guilty; they’ll all be licking my arse then, wont’
they?’

‘Yeah they
will, and you just keep thinking that whenever it gets you down.’

‘I’ll be
all right Rita, honestly. It helps having Norma to talk to. I was telling her
about Les, and she thinks we should …’

‘You what?’

‘I told her
about Les dealing drugs. What’s wrong with that, Rita?’

‘What else
have you told her?’

Julie’s
reply took the form of a guilty expression on her face.

‘Jesus
Julie! You haven’t told her that we’re going to break into his flat have you?’

‘It’s all
right Rita, Norma won’t tell anyone.’

‘Well let’s
hope she bleedin’ doesn’t otherwise we’re all in the shit! You want to be
careful Julie. We still don’t know if it was Les that killed Amanda. It might
just be a coincidence that he’s a drug dealer. That Jackie could still have
done it.’

‘I think
the odds are on Les, Rita. It’s just too much of a coincidence. Besides, you’re
bound to suspect Jacqueline; you’re not exactly her number one fan are you?’

‘We’ll
see,’ said Rita, ‘…but just you be careful in the meantime.’

--------------------

Friday 8
^th
August – Tuesday 19
^th
August 1986

For the
next couple of weeks Julie, Rita and Vinny observed Les’s flat, taking care
that they weren’t spotted.

One night
they had taken up their usual spot behind the garden wall of a derelict house
facing Les’s apartment. Although it was August, it had been a dull day, and as
the evening drew on there was a chill in the air.

Rita
shivered. ‘How much longer do we have to stay crouched down here?’ she asked.

‘Not long
now,’ Julie replied. ‘We can’t go rushing off yet; we might miss something.’

‘Like
what?’ grumbled Rita. ‘There’s not much happened in the last hour. It’s worse
than watching bleedin’ paint dry, and I can’t feel my feet they’re that bleedin’
cold.’

‘Sshh,’
Julie warned as a car approached the building.

They
watched in astonishment as the car pulled up outside Les’s apartment building
and Jacqueline emerged from the back of it, carrying a package.

‘What the
fuck is she doing here?’ exclaimed Rita, unable to contain herself.

Julie
touched her arm to silence her and they waited until Jacqueline had entered the
building.

‘This is a
turn up of events isn’t it?’ asked Julie.

‘I thought
she didn’t know Les that well,’ Vinny commented.

‘So did
we,’ said Rita, ‘…but it looks as though they had more in common than we
realised. I bet they bumped Amanda off between them because they were having an
illicit affair,’ she continued, letting her thoughts run away with her.

‘I doubt
it,’ Julie replied. ‘Why would he be interested in that nasty cow when he’s
got, I mean
had
Amanda.’

‘Search
me.’

‘Let’s wait
and see what happens,’ said Vinny.

They
remained behind the wall for what seemed like hours, but was in fact only a few
minutes, before they were rewarded by the sight of Jacqueline exiting the
building minus the package.

‘Whatever
that package was, Les has got it now,’ said Vinny.

‘Right, can
we go now?’ moaned Rita.

Julie intuitively
felt that the night wasn’t over and that perhaps there was more to see. ‘Just
give it a couple more minutes.’

‘Why, what are
you waiting for?’

‘I don’t
know, I just want to see what happens.’

Rita tutted
and continued to bang her feet on the ground in an exaggerated manner in order
to keep them warm. Eventually a man emerged from the building. He was small and
wiry with an unkempt appearance, which seemed incongruous with the middle class
surroundings. This made Julie think that he may have emerged from Les’s flat.

‘He looks a
bit of a wimp, doesn’t he?’ whispered Vinny.

‘That’s
just what I was thinking,’ Julie replied. ‘I bet he’s come from Les’s flat and I’d
love to know what was going on in there that involved both Jacqueline and that
man.’

‘Me too,’ said
Vinny and Rita together.

‘There’s definitely
something amiss going on there and I think the sooner we get to the bottom of
it the better,’ said Julie.

‘I’ll
second that,’ said Rita. ‘It beats being stuck out here nearly every bloody
night freezing to death.’

Julie and
Rita looked at Vinny for his reaction.

‘How about
this Friday then? Les has been out on a Friday for the last two weeks. There
must be a lot of business in the clubs when they’re packed.’

The girls
consented.

--------------------

Wednesday
20
^th
August 1986

The next
morning at work Julie watched for Jacqueline entering the building. Just before
nine o’clock, she spotted the unmistakable lines of one of Jacqueline’s power
suits emerging from behind a group of men from the third floor. Their eyes
locked, Jacqueline’s full of the usual scorn for Julie but not revealing anything
untoward. This time Julie did not look away in shame; she held Jacqueline’s gaze.
After all, she wasn’t the one with anything to be ashamed of, she thought, as her
eyes followed Jacqueline heading to the lift. Her intense stare seemed to
unnerve Jacqueline, until she broke Julie’s gaze with a swift turn of her head
before marching towards the elevator.

Julie was
tempted to shout something at Jacqueline before she disappeared. She would love
to have asked what she was doing at Les’s flat, but she bit her tongue. “
Mustn’t
give the game away,
” she thought. “
If Les finds out we’re watching his
flat, then we’ll never find the evidence we need.
”