toddlers. I placed the plate of food in front of him and walked off towards the cigarette kiosk without waiting for a thank you. When I flipped the packet of Benson and Hedges on to the table, saying: “If you must poison me, do it with something reasonable,” he grinned and said: “Right. Cheers.”
I sipped the fresh tea I’d brought myself as he ate the first food he’d had in eight years that he could be sure nobody had dipped their dick in. When he’d half-cleared the plate he said: “You not eating, then?”
“I had mine before you came,” I replied.
He manoeuvred a piece of egg white on to a corner of toast and bit it off. “So this is all a fit-up, eh? You arranged the whole thing,” he mumbled.
“I thought you’d appreciate a day out,” I replied.
“You’re wasting your time.”
I shrugged. “It’s a day out for me, too.”
“I’m sticking to my story.”
“That you didn’t know the name of the bloke with you. You planned a burglary with him, did the job together, and never asked each other’s names.”
He took a cigarette from the packet and lit it. “Yeah, well,” he said, exhaling. “That’s how it was.”
“And you don’t grass each other.”
“That’s right.”
“He’d have grassed you. They always do.”
“Not always.”
“You were a fool, Vince. A twenty-four carat mug, believe me.”
“Yeah, well, I can sleep at nights.”
I changed the subject. “How does Eboracum compare with Bentley?” I asked.
“It’s OK,” he replied.
“Only OK? I’d have thought it would be a big improvement.”
“Oh, it is. It’s just that, at Bentley, you knew where you stood, what the rules were, if you follow me. At this place, you’re never sure. Some of the screws say one thing, then another will say summat different. ’Ere, what time is it? I’d better be getting back.”
“That’s OK,” I told him. “They know you’re with me.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.” I decided to speed things up. “Did you meet Tony Silkstone while you were in there?” I asked. “He’s one of mine, on remand.”
He grinned and said: “Silko the Salesman? Yeah, I met him.”
“How come?” I asked. “I thought you’d be on separate wings.”
“We were, but we had association. Well, not proper association, but we had these classes. Silko took one of them, sometimes, and we all joined. Well, it was an hour out of your room wasn’t it? He couldn’t ’alf talk, about, you know, motivation an’ plannin’ an’ all that. We could all be millionaires, ’e told us, without breaking the law. Mind you, ’e did wink when ’e said that last bit.”
“That sounds like Tony,” I remarked.
“Yeah, well. He killed a nonce, didn’t ’e? Good riddance, we all said. Come to think of it, we talked about you, once.”
“About me?”
“Yeah. We were in the classroom, me, ’im and this screw, waiting for the others to arrive. I used to get the room ready, clean the blackboard an’ tidy up. I’d just finished when they walked in. ’E was grumbling to the screw, saying that ’e’d be out, now, if it wasn’t for this cop who was ’ounding ’im. This cop called Inspector Priest. I said that it was you that ’ad done me. That you’d…well, you know.”
“That I’d fitted you up?”
“Yeah, well, summat like that.”
“So what did he say?”
“The screw laughed. He said that you’d just done someone you were chasing for twenty-odd years. It was in the papers, he said. Summat about a fire.”
“There was a fire in Leeds,” I explained. “Back in 1975. Three women and five children were burnt to death. We just found out who started it.”
“Blimey,” he said, quietly. “You got the bastards?”
“We got them. So what happened next?”
“Yeah, well, like I was saying. The screw thought it was a right giggle. ’E said that if ’e’d done summat wrong the last person ’e’d want on the case was you. ’E said that you never forgot, an’ that ’e ’oped Silkstone was telling the truth, for ’is sake, ’cos ’e’d never be able to sleep at night if ’e wasn’t.”
“Right,” I said. “Right.” My tea was finished and Halliwell was chewing his last piece of toast. “So did Silkstone have anything else to say?” I asked.
“No,” he replied. “The others came in, then, an’ we started. Come to think of it, though, he wasn’t as chipper as ’e usually was, that lesson.”
I lifted my jacket off the back of the chair and poked an arm down a sleeve. “Do you want a lift back?” I asked.
“No thanks, Mr Priest,” he replied. “I ’ave to be careful what company I keep.”
“Scared of being seen associating with the enemy?”
“Summat like that.”
“I take it you are going back?”
“Dunno.” A little smile played around his mouth, the wrinkles joining up into laughter lines. “Would it get you into trouble if I didn’t?” he asked.
“No,” I lied. “Nothing to do with me.”
“Then I might as well go back.” He stood up, uncurling from the chair and stretching to his full height with a display of effort. “Thanks for the breakfast, an’ the fags. Sorry you ’ad a wasted journey.”
“I’ll give you a lift, if you want one.”
“No, Mr Priest,” he said. “I want to walk down that road like all these other people. Past the shops, an’ all. Enjoy my freedom while I can. It’s been a long wait.”
“I hope it works out for you, Vince,” I told him. “I really do.”
We walked across the car-park together. As we emerged on to the pavement I said: “Vince.” He turned to face me, his face etched with worry, scared I was about to spring something on him. He’d already had enough excitement for this day.
“Tony Silkstone took out a contract on me,” I told him. “He offered someone fifty thousand to kill me. Did you hear anything about it?”
“To…to kill you?” he stuttered. “Fifty thousand to kill you?”
“That’s right. Who did he talk to?”
“Dunno, Mr Priest. First I’ve ’eard of it.”
“He hired a man called Chilcott. You ever heard of him?”
“Chiller? Yeah, I ’eard of ’im, but ’e wasn’t in Bentley.”
“I know. He was abroad. You didn’t hear any talk?”
“No, Mr Priest, not a word. Honest.”
“If you remember anything, get in touch.”
“Yeah, right.”
“OK. Thanks anyway. Mind the road.”
I began to turn away but I heard him say: “’Ere, Mr Priest.”
“Mmm?”
“Is this what it was all about, an’ not the other job?”
“That’s right, Vince. The other job’s history, as far as I’m concerned. We knew who was with you, just couldn’t prove it.”
“So I told you what you wanted to know?”
“You gave me the reason that Silkstone had for wanting me dead. Yes.”
“You devious bastard.”
