“She was outrageous. She got us chucked out of The Trumpeters and nearly did the same at The Fountain.”
“I thought you were well behaved at The Fountain?”
“Been asking around, have you?”
“Doing our job.”
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“Just the facts, ma’am. Sure. Well, we were. Except Hayley wanted a p— She needed to go to the toilet badly, and some yobs had wrecked it. Happens all the time. Gave Jamie behind the bar a right mouthful, though it was hardly his fault.”
“Jamie Murdoch?”
“Aye. You know him?”
“We’ve talked to him.”
“I went to school with Jamie. He moved down from Tyneside with his parents when he was about twelve. He’s all right. A bit quiet, lacking in ambition, maybe.”
“In what way?”
“Jamie tried the college once, but he didn’t take to it. He’s actually quite bright, but not everyone can handle the academic life. He can do better than the pub, but I’m not sure he’s got the balls to try.”
“He was running it alone on Saturday night,” said Winsome.
“Yeah, I know. He does that a lot. Can’t seem to keep the staff. I think he’s got Jill Sutherland working there at the moment, but I’ll bet that won’t last.”
“Why not?”
“Too many airs and graces to last long in a dive like The Fountain, our Jill.”
“What about the own er?”
“Terry Clarke? That wanker? He’s never there. Got a time-share in Orlando or Fort Lauderdale or somewhere like that. It can’t be easy for Jamie. He’s not a natural authoritarian. He lets everyone just walk all over him. Anyway, Hayley got a bit mouthy when she saw the state of the bogs, called him a few names, told him to get in there and fix it or she’d do it on the f loor. That was our Hayley. But we calmed her down before any real harm was done. We got to finish our drinks, at any rate.”
Winsome made a note that someone should have another chat with Jamie Murdoch and also locate Jill Sutherland. “Is it true that Hayley went down Taylor’s Yard to use the toilet?” she asked.
“Yes,” said Zack. He cocked his head and studied Winsome.
“Though that’s an odd way of putting it. I mean, there isn’t an actual toilet there. Like I said, Hayley could be pretty outrageous. As soon as 1 4 4 P E T E R R O B I N S O N
we got outside The Fountain, she announced to all and sundry that she was off for a piss. Sorry. She needed to go to the toilet, and she was going in The Maze.” He paused. “Maybe she should have done it on the f loor, then she wouldn’t have gone in there.”
“Didn’t any of you try to talk her out of it?”
“Yes, but you can’t talk Hayley out of anything when she gets her mind set on it.”
That was what Stuart Kinsey had said, Winsome remembered.
“One of you could at least have gone with her . . .” Winsome realized what she had said too late and let the sentence trail off.
“I’m not saying she wouldn’t have got plenty of volunteers,” said Zack with a smirk. “Stuart, for one. Maybe even me, if I was drunk enough. But I can’t say I’m into golden showers, and Hayley wasn’t my type. Oh, we all joked about going down there and jumping out at her, giving her a fright, catching her with her knickers down, but it didn’t happen. We ended up in the Bar None. And Hayley . . .”
“She wasn’t planning on joining you later?”
“No, she was gong to stay at a friend’s.”
“Who? A girlfriend?”
Zack laughed. “Come off it. Whatever our Hayley was, she definitely wasn’t a girl’s girl. I’m not saying she didn’t have a couple of mates—Susie and Colleen come to mind—but mostly she liked to hang around with the guys.”
“Can you give me the names of everyone who was there on Saturday?”
“Let’s see, there was me, Hayley, Susie Govindar, Colleen Vance, then there were Stuart Kinsey, Giles Faulkner and Keith Taft. That was about it. Will, that’s Will Paisley, he was with us earlier but he went off to see some mates in Leeds early on. To be quite honest, I think he’s got a boyfriend there, though he seems to be lingering overlong in the closet. Mind you, I can’t say I blame him in a place like this.”
“So most of the time, after this Will had gone off to Leeds, for whatever reason, there were seven of you, right?”
“Give or take one or two we met on the way.”
“You said that Hayley preferred the company of men. Why was that?”
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