“Need some air,” he said, and opened his door.
She leaned over him, causing him to retch, and slammed the door shut. “You stay right here,” she said. “We have to get a few things straight. So far, you’ve been pretty hopeless. That job at the surgery should have been a doddle, but so far you’ve turned up bugger all. And that mess-up with Prue whatever her name is. I’m warning you, Gary,” she continued. “If you don’t start coming up with the info, there’ll be trouble.”
“Trouble from who?”
“Trouble from me,” snapped Joanne.
“You and who else?” said Gary, smiling in spite of himself at this relic of the playground.
To his surprise, Joanne Murphy subsided like a flat tyre. “Oh come on, Gary,” she’said. “You know as well as I do who else. We’re stuck with this now, and it has to work, else we’re all in the shit. You’ve bin around a long time, for God’s sake.” She sighed. “I wish I’d never seen that major bloke. But it’s too late now, so let’s try a bit harder, huh?”
The implied threat in her voice jarred on Gary’s jangled nerves. “Don’t try that,” he said. “There’s nothing on me, and you know it. If anybody’s in the shit, it’s you. So just watch it,
Joanne got out of the car in a flurry, and then leaned back in. “Better move on,” she said. “You got some dustin’ and polishin’ to do this afternoon, no doubt. Get yer pinny on, pathetic little twit!” And then she was gone, stalking off down the road to where a car with darkened windows awaited her.
Derek, driving home from a swift half at the Waltonby pub, passed Joanne Murphy walking down the road, then noticed a familiar-looking old car parked in a field gateway. By the time he reached home, he had remembered whose it was. And when he told Lois, adding that he thought the tarty barmaid from the Tresham Arms had been talking to Gary, she was much more interested than he had expected. “Bit of a romance, gel?” he suggested. “No need to go over the top. You can’t get involved in your team’s private lives. Fatal. Everybody knows that.”
¦
There is only one thing to do, Lois told herself. Confront him with it. But how can I, when, as Derek says, what he does with his spare time is entirely his affair? But he lied to me, that’s certain, and that’s a different thing altogether.
The weekend passed with the usual family activities, disagreements and reconciliations. The boys went off with Derek on Saturday afternoon, and Josie spent hours trying out new make-up in front of her bedroom mirror. She was off to a party in the evening, being collected by an older sister of a friend from Tresham. Around seven o’clock, when the boys and Derek were back and tea was finished, Josie came down the wide staircase into the hall.
Lois was passing through, and looked up. “My goodness!” she said. “You look nice, Josie, really nice. That new stuff makes you look years older, girl. Just you be careful at this party…”
“Oh Mum, don’t nag!” Josie said. “It’s just kids from school…in my class…” She hoped her face did not reveal the lie. In fact, she had given in to persuasion to join a group of older girls who were going to the Cinderella Club in Tresham. “Just for an hour or two,” they’d said. “Nobody’d know you weren’t same age as us. It’ll give you a taste of it! One of us’ll run you home.”
Josie lurked about in the hall until the doorbell sounded, then quickly greeted the girl, yelled ‘Cheerio’ to her family, and was gone before either Lois or Derek could come out of the kitchen.
“Well,” said Lois suspiciously, “she got out quick!”
¦
The club was heaving. Josie stuck close to the other girls, but as one after another they peeled away to talk to others, she found herself standing alone in a corner, too nervous to join in. I’m the Cinderella all right, she thought. She felt conspicuous and vulnerable. Best thing would be to go to the loo and return when her friends came back. The women’s toilet was empty, and she leaned against the wall, fighting against tears. Then the door swung open and a woman came in.
“Hi,” she said, and disappeared into a cubicle. When she came out again, she glanced curiously at Josie. “You all right, sweetie?” she said.
Josie nodded. “Just the noise,” she said. “I’m like that.”
The woman nodded. “Yeah,” she said, “gives you a headache sometimes.” She fished in her handbag, and pulled out something small and white. “Here,” she said. “This’ll help. I’ll be around if you need anything.”
She disappeared quickly, and Josie looked down at the little white tablet in her hand. Blimey, that was quick. A sudden urge to get out and be home again overtook her, and as she heard voices approaching, she did what she always did when stuff was offered. It was easy enough to pretend and then get rid of it. She went quickly into a cubicle, flushed the pill away, and emerged with her head down. She didn’t know the laughing group of girls who came in, and none of them noticed her.
“Where’re you going, Josie?” It was one of her friends, seeing her on her way out. “Come and join us!” The girl’s pleasant, laughing face reassured Josie for a moment. Perhaps she should go back in. After all, nothing bad could happen to her now, now she knew the score.
¦
It was midnight when Josie came creeping back into the house.
“In here!” said Derek peremptorily, taking her by the arm and pushing her into the kitchen. “Shut the door, Lois,” he added, taking no notice of Josie’s protestations that she was tired and wanted to go to bed.
“Right,” said Derek. “Now let’s have the truth.” His voice was harsh, and Josie cringed.
“Dad – ” she began, but her mother interrupted.
“Just a minute, Derek,” she said. “Let’s have her side of the story first. Give the girl a chance.”
“Chance!” said Derek. “She’s lied to us, come back here with God knows who, and looks like somethin’ the cat brought in! She’ll be lucky to get the chance of a bed to sleep in!”
Lois gently pushed Josie into a chair, and sat down with her, taking her hand. “Now then, love,” she said. “Where’ve you been? Dad phoned that friend, and they said there was no party. You’d better tell us straight…it’s easiest in the long run.”
The last two hours had been hell for Lois. She couldn’t forget Josie’s disastrous entanglement with Melvyn Hallhouse, a lad who’d been much too old for her and turned out badly. She thought she’d forgotten that particular nightmare, but it had re-emerged in full force as she watched the clock and heard Derek’s shocked voice telling her there was no party. They had given themselves until midnight before they phoned around other friends, and then Josie had come in, like Cinderella, on the last stroke of the clock.
Josie had reckoned that contrition and tears would be her best defence, and so sobbed out the whole story, including the woman with the tablet. This was not a great surprise to Lois. Her kids were part of the drug generation, though not, she was reasonably sure, an active part.
“What did she look like?” said Lois urgently, and Josie’s description was clear enough. Then, sniffing back her tears, she repeated a desperate apology for lying, for causing them so much worry…again.
“I hate bein’ fifteen!” she blurted out finally. “Why is everything so bloody horrible? I just wish I was dead!”
“Like that girl in the paper?” said Derek, pushing across the picture of a lovely girl who had been found dead by her friends after an evening clubbing. “Is that what you want?”
Lois shook her head at him and took the paper away. “No, Derek,” she said. “She doesn’t mean it. Best thing now is to go to bed and get some sleep. We can talk some more in the morning – after all, it’s Sunday, the day of rest.”
Rest! That was a laugh. She knew she wouldn’t sleep, and tomorrow would be a dismal day, with Derek stamping round in a temper, Josie refusing to get up, and the boys retreating to the sanctuary of their rooms.
She followed Josie upstairs and peered into the total darkness of her daughter’s bedroom. “Night, love,” she said.
A small voice answered her, and then added, “Oh, and Mum, you might like to know that bloke was in the club, that Gary who works for you. Right little raver, he is.” Lois did not reply, but shut the door quietly and went along to her own bedroom.
“Gary Needham was there,” she said to Derek, who was undressing slowly.
“Wonderful,” said Derek. “That’s all you wanted to know, isn’t it, me duck. I dunno, Lois,” he said, “we seem to be gettin’ into another bloody mess. You’d better get us out of it quick, else I shall do it for you.” He climbed into
