It was strangebut after less than a year his time in prison had become a kind ofblur. ‘Doing time’ was such an accurate description and he’d neverreally dwelt on what might have been in terms of his academiccareer – he’d focused his frustrations and anger more on howJustine and others had let him down. He would surely have been aSenior Lecturer, if not Professor, by now.
It was justafter 4 o’clock; various classes and lectures must have justfinished, judging by the groups of students heading to the busstops or car park. Mark realised that it was probably the firstweek of teaching after the summer break so it was not surprisingthere were so many around. He remembered how attendance graduallydeclined as the academic year progressed and students found moreinteresting things to do with their time. The initial keenness andnaivety of the quaintly-named ‘freshers’ soon receded, particularlywhen it was clear that attendance at lectures wasn’t monitored inthe ways they might have been used to at school, and indeed thatsuch events were in many ways peripheral to student lifeanyway.
From what he’dpicked up the social sciences were still attracting more and morestudents and no doubt the Sociology department was thriving. Craigwas waiting for him outside the science block: he didn’t drive andMark had offered to pick him up and go into town for a bite to eatand a couple of drinks. Craig was the only person there whom Markhad kept in touch with and they had decided it wouldn’t be a goodidea for Mark to risk bumping into any of his ex-colleagues, andparticularly Sandra. She’d been his friend and mentor when he hadstarted at Sussex; in fact their relationship had strayed beyondthe professional but in the end her suspicions, coupled withjealousy when Justine took over his attention, had helpedeverything unravel back in 1974.
‘It’s good ofyou to invite me down, Craig. Let’s go to the Ship for some foodand then maybe the King and Queens, I haven’t been there foryears.’
Brighton wasstill his favourite town and it felt good to be back there and todrive down past the entrances to Stanmer and Moulscomb parks, thenalong Lewes Road and through the outskirts of town, on to VictoriaGardens, the Old Steine fountain and the Royal Pavilion. Theyparked just off Church Street and walked through the paviliongrounds, resplendent with purple and pink hydrangeas still in fullbloom, then past the front of the ornate, Regency-style TheatreRoyal and on to the Old Ship Hotel. A few office workers weregrabbing a quick drink after work but it was easy enough to find atable overlooking the promenade and Palace Pier.
Craig filledhim in on what had been going on in the world of Sociology. He hadonly just started in the department at Sussex the term beforeMark’s confession and subsequent imprisonment, but had been theonly one to offer any kind of support or sympathy; and the only onewho had visited him during his years away. Sure, there might havebeen a bit of ghoulish interest, and it did fit in with hisinterest in developing the sociology of deviance courses he’d takenover, but it was better than the way just about everyone else hehad worked with had lined up to condemn him. He even suggested hecould try to help Mark get back into his old role.
‘You know Icould have a word with Michael, he’s still Head of Department,we’re bloody short staffed right now and they’re looking forpart-time people, hourly paid.’
It was nice of Craigto suggest but Mark knew it would never happen.
‘That’s niceof you Craig, but they’d never have me back either at Sussex – oranywhere else, for that matter. These places might try and appearliberal and unprejudiced but a conviction for murder would be astep too far. Anyway I’ve got plans of my own, youknow.’
He didn’t want to givetoo much away but needed to see if Craig could help.
‘The thingis, I’ve basically lost touch with people I used to get stuff fromand I could do with getting some drugs, speed or coke maybe; justfor me and Gemma, old habits die hard and all that. I know you’reinto that and there were a couple of students who used to help meout in that direction, one in particular was Greg Corner and Ithink he was planning to go on to a PhD in our department. I waswondering if you knew anything about him or had any othercontacts?’
‘Bloody hellMark, I’m not really in touch with it all, but I do know who youmean and he actually completed a year or two back; but the thingis, I never really knew him anyway. I do get a bit of dope fromtime to time but that’s about it and not so often now. I reckon I’mgetting past it but I suppose I could try and ask aroundsurreptitiously.’
‘Fair enoughand that’d be nice, but Greg could get hold of all sorts. Anyway,it was worth a try, I guess. We could go to the King and Queens butI guess that’d be a bid dodgy just trying to scorerandomly.’
The look on Craig’sface indicated that he agreed.
‘Yes I don’tthink that’d be a good idea – you never know if any of our studentsare there – but let’s go and have a pint anyway.’
It had turnedout to be a pleasant enough evening. Mark enjoyed picking up on abit of gossip and had learned that there had been something of adivision in his old department. On the one hand there was a loosecombination of the Marxist and feminist advocates who seemed tothink their purpose there was to convert the undergraduates whocame their way to the fight for justice; and then there were thosetending to support a more qualitative and broadly interpretivistapproach, who were pretty much focused on research for the sake ofit. As well as that there was Ernest, close to retirement but stillnumber-crunching and seemingly in a world of his own. By virtue oflongevity, really, Ernest had been
