Tanya wanted to go with Maureen. Maureen had to explain several times that she was going to the university library and she needed to have a ticket to get in.
"I can't get in because I don't have a ticket."
"That's it, Tanya. You need a ticket."
"Buy me one."
"You can't buy them."
"No?"
"No, they have to give them to you."
"Will they give me one?"
"No."
"Why?"
"You're too tall."
Tanya insisted on waiting with Maureen until the bus came. Maureen got on the bus and waved eagerly through the window but Suicide ignored her.
In the library basement she asked an assistant for some help finding the salary scales for clinical psychologists. The assistant gave her a professional publication from behind the desk. He would have been on about forty-five K. She thanked the woman and caught the lift up to the top floor.
She pulled out the past papers and skimmed through them for news of the ecology conference in Brazil. It had been opened officially on Wednesday morning by the president. The story was accompanied by a picture of Carol Brady and some other people in expensive clothes.
Glasgow University library is eight stories high and built at the top of Gilmorehill. The walls are floor-to-ceiling smoke-tinted glass, giving the sprawled city below an unreal quality. She sat down at a table and looked out over the neo-Gothic university building, down to the river, past Govan to the airport, looking for the lightbulb factory far to the west, next to the motorway. It's possibly the most beautiful building in Glasgow. She couldn't see it.
Angus was the only therapist she had ever felt understood her properly, the only one she had ever connected with, and he thought she'd killed Douglas. He wasn't even angry with her. He must think she was very mental. She folded the newspapers carefully and shoved them back in the pile. She left the library and caught the bus back to Benny's house, hungry for the sight of him and his casual kindness.
Chapter 12
They had never seen Liam so angry. The police had raided his house. He had been lying in bed with Maggie when they kicked the front door in and four officers stormed upstairs into the bedroom and found them naked, covered with a sheet. They pulled the sheet away, made them get out of bed, watching as they dressed, and took Liam downstairs.
Because of Maureen's timely warning there was nothing incriminating for the police to find, but they had brought tracker dogs with them and found the scent everywhere. They gutted the house, pulling up floorboards and digging up bits of the garden. Liam said the house was un-fucking-inhabitable; it looked like 25 Cromwell Street.
Maggie sobbed hysterically for half an hour and then phoned her mum in Newton Mearns, begging her to come and fetch her. Until this point her mother had believed that Liam was a music-business entrepreneur. Maggie didn't mention the police on the phone, her mum thought they'd had a fight. Good mother that she was, she dropped what she was doing and drove all the way across town to get Maggie. Nearing the house she saw the police cars and, good citizen that she was, pulled over, asking them what it was about and could she help. They told her. She took her daughter home and forbade her to see Liam again.
"They can't trash my fucking house and just leave it like that," said Liam aggressively. He turned on Benny. "Can I sue them for compensation?"
"There must be some way," said Benny, trying to placate him, "given that you didn't commit a crime, but I can't think what it would be."
"Those fuckers can just rip my house apart and walk away? That's fucking outrageous."
"Why don't you write to your MEP?" said Maureen, trying to lighten the prickly atmosphere.
"That's not fucking funny!" shouted Liam.
"Don't shout at me!" shouted Maureen. "It's not my fault."
"Well, if you hadn't-" Liam realized how bad he was being and corrected himself. "I won't be able to work for ages."
"I have to tell you," said Benny authoritatively, "it'd be stupid for you to deal now." He said that because the police had found the scent everywhere, they would be back time and time again until they caught him out. Even if he moved house they'd still be on his back. "I wouldn't even pass a spliff at a party now if I were you."
Liam dropped onto the settee and covered his face with his hands. "Jesus Christ," he said, his voice muffled, "what the fuck am I going to do now?"
Maureen sat down beside him. "Come on, now," she said. "You're a bright guy, you've got loads of capital in the house and you've saved some money, haven't you?"
"A bit."
"It's a big bit, isn't it?"
He shrugged. "S'pose."
"Well, we'll think of something."
"Shite, I've got a big deal coming off next week as well."
"Don't do it, Liam, eh?" Maureen pleaded.
"That would be really stupid," said Benny.
Liam shook his head. "If Joe McEwan and that mob hear about it I'll be completely fucked."
"But they didn't find anything in the house," said Maureen.
Benny and Liam glanced sidelong at each other. "That's fuck all to do with it, Maureen," said Liam. "If they find out I'm dealing there's no way they'll believe that Douglas's murder had nothing to do with me. The police think all professional criminals are capable of anything."
"Oh," said Maureen. "Sorry, I didn't think."
"You even thought it was me."
"I didn't think it was you, I just thought you might know something about it."
"God," he said. "You're a stupid cow sometimes."
"There's no need for name-calling," said Maureen.
Her comment struck Liam as profoundly funny. He laughed and kissed the top of her head. "You're precious," he said warmly.
He got Maureen to phone for him. When Maggie's mum answered she asked for Maggie and handed the receiver to Liam when she came on the line. He took the phone out to the hall and shut the door. Benny caught her eye and made a panicked face. Maureen stood up. "I know, I know," she mouthed.
She kept her eye on the door and snuck over to him. "Mr. Mood Swing, eh? How long's he been here?" she whispered.
"About an hour," Benny whispered back. "He was going mental when he first got here. I had to calm him-"
They could hear him ringing off. Maureen darted back to the settee. Liam came back into the living room and slammed the phone down on the side table. He looked furious. "She's gutted," he said. "She told her mother she'd smoked hash once and now she thinks Maggie's a drug-soaked gangster's moll."
Benny was puzzled. "Why did she tell her mother that?"
"Because she asked," said Liam with a superior air. "And Maggie's family don't lie to each other all the time."
"My God," said Benny. "They must hate each other."
Maureen offered to make Liam a cup of tea but he refused it, saying if he wanted a fucking cup of fucking tea he'd make it his fucking self.
"It'll be okay," she said.
"Stop fucking saying that!" shouted Liam.
"I've only said it once!" Maureen shouted back.
Benny gave her a look. She wasn't good at defusing Liam's temper, she always ended up shouting back at him. Benny said he was welcome to sleep on his floor for a while, until the house was fixed up. Liam flatly refused. Benny said he was going out for some milk anyway and slammed the front door behind him.
"You've pissed him off now," Maureen said.
Liam didn't reply but he sat down next to her on the settee. It was as close to an apology as she would get. "Did you see the picture in the paper yesterday?" she said.
"Yeah," said Liam, "I saw ye." It wasn't me.
Liam looked worried. "Aye, it was," he said. "You were in the ticket booth and everything, Mauri."