1983

‘Edward Dunford speaking.’

I ask him: ‘Saturday night all right for fighting?’

‘Who’s this?’

I wait.

‘Who is it?’

‘You don’t need to know.’

‘What do you want?’

‘You interested in the Romany Way?’

‘What?’

‘White vans and gyppos?’

‘Where?’

‘Hunslet Beeston exit of the M1.’

‘When?’

‘You’re late,’ I say. I hang up -

4 LUV .

Chapter 41

You are sat in the car park of the Balne Lane Library for the last time -

It is Saturday 4 June 1983:

The car doors locked, you are staring into the rearview mirror and then the wing; the rearview and then the wing; rearview and then wing -

The relentless sound of the rain on the roof, the radio on as loud as it can go:

‘200 arrests at USAF base at Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire; VC’s widow accuses Healey of despicable and cheap conduct over his remarks about Mrs Thatcher and the Falklands; Dr Owen warns that the Tories need a constraining force to combat Mrs Thatcher and Norman Tebbit and that voters are afraid of Big Sister…’

No Little Sister -

Rearview then wing; rearview wing; rearview:

Not today -

D-5 .

The key turns in the lock and you are up the stairs two at a time, pulling the last box down from the shelf -

July 1969.

Threading film, winding spools -

STOP -

Monday 14 July 1969:

Local Girl Missing – by Jack Whitehead, Crime Reporter.

The parents of missing eight-year-old Jeanette Garland made an emotional plea late last night for information that might lead police to their daughter’s whereabouts. Jeanette was last seen on Saturday on her way to buy sweets at a local shop.

Tuesday 15 July 1969:

Girl Vanishes, Fourth Day, All-out Hunt – by Jack Whitehead, Crime Reporter.

STOP -

Saturday 19 July 1969:

Medium Contacts Police – by Jack Whitehead, Crime Reporter.

STOP -

Back to the shelf, back to 1972 -

Friday 24 March 1972:

Medium Links Susan and Jeanette – by Jack Whitehead, Crime Reporter of the Year.

Police last night refused to comment or speculate on reports that local medium and TV personality Mandy Wymer had found a connection between the missing Rochdale schoolgirl Susan Ridyard and Jeanette Garland, known as the Little Girl Who Never Came Home, who was eight years old when she disappeared from her Castleford street in 1969.

STOP.

STOP.

STOP -

Into the library toilets, dry-heaving -

Your stomach burning, bleeding again -

You retch. You puke. You spew -

Knowing it’ll soon be over, soon -

But you have to go back there:

Back to the room (back to all their rooms) -

Back to the shelf again (take them all down again):

The films, the spools -

STOP -

AGAIN -

Saturday 21 December 1974:

Murder Hunt – by Jack Whitehead, Crime Reporter of the Year.

A fresh murder hunt was launched in Wakefield today following the discovery of the body -

STOP -

AGAIN AND AGAIN -

Monday 23 December 1974:

RL Star’s Sister Murdered – by Jack Whitehead, Crime Reporter of the Year.