Prim thrust out her hand towards the girl. ‘I’m Oz’s business associate,’ she explained.
‘I’m trying to persuade them,’ Leonard went on, ‘that I ain’t been sabotaging Everett’s operation in Britain for Mr Reilly.’
Her mouth fell open in horror. ‘Sonny wouldn’t do that, mister, honest,’ she burst out.
I looked at her. ‘Would it surprise you to learn that someone has been?’
She shook her head. ‘No. Nothing would surprise me about Tony Reilly,’ she said, in a light Eastern seaboard accent. ‘He’s a dangerous man, if ever I met one.
‘I wasn’t with CWI when Diane left him for Everett Davis, but those who were said he went ballistic. He said he’d kill them both. The story was, that was why Daze left the US.’ She paused. ‘I heard there was history between them before that, though.’
‘What sort of guy is Reilly?’ I asked her. ‘What does he look like?’
‘I can show you,’ she said. ‘I got a CWI marketing brochure inside.’ She stepped back into the house, reappearing a few seconds later, with a glossy folder. She opened it, took out a red-covered A4 booklet and handed it to me. ‘Page one,’ she said. ‘That’s him.’
I opened the brochure. It was my turn to be shocked. I know there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be the case, but given my Celtic roots, I just hadn’t expected someone called Reilly to be black.
Chapter 43
‘Sandy Schlitz?’ said Everett, still stunned by my story. I had called him straight away from the airport in St Louis. ‘Sonny Leonard’s married Sandy?’
‘That’s right. We talked to her, and she confirmed that all those calls were to her, or at least that he made that number of calls to her at the CWI office.’
‘In that case, Sonny’s telling the truth,’ he said. ‘I know Sandy from my Triple W days. She always struck me as slightly dumb, but she’s a good girl, and honest too.
‘That’s good work, you two.’ He grunted. ‘Even if it’s not what I wanted to hear. Because you know what it means.’
‘Oh yes,’ I said. ‘It means that you’ve still got a problem.’
Since we didn’t fancy a sightseeing tour of the St Louis soap factory, Prim and I caught the first flight back to Chicago. We were faced with another night in the Windy City, so we made the best of it, with a quick visit to the Adler Planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium in Grant Park, before dinner in a very good Italian restaurant in the heart of the Loop, listening to the rattle of the elevated trains as we ate.
‘You’re still homesick in spite of all this around us, aren’t you?’ Prim said as I said goodbye to my Minestrone starter.
‘I don’t think so,’ I said. ‘I think I take this with me everywhere I go.’
‘For how long?’
‘All my life, I reckon. It may not show as much but it’ll always be there. Sorry, Prim; I’m lousy company.’
She smiled. ‘But I know you, so that makes it all right. I’d much rather you were like this, than pretending to be the old Oz. All wounds take time to heaclass="underline" those as bad as yours may take a long time. But I like the man you are now just as much as I liked the old one.’
‘Listen.’ I paused to sip my wine. ‘Once you’ve touched base with your folks, what are you going to do?’
‘Go back to Spain, I suppose, go back to work. For a while at least.’
‘Promise me one thing then. Don’t head off into another war zone without telling me. No one has so many friends that they can afford to lose touch with even one.’
‘I promise.’ She reached over and squeezed my hand. I couldn’t help it, I recoiled; I pulled it back, very slightly, but she couldn’t mistake it. ‘Sorry,’ she said.
God, was I a mess. Feeling guilty, I took both of her hands and squeezed them hard. ‘No, I’m sorry; there I was going on about friendship, too. It’s just that. . How do I put it?. . there are lots of bridges I’ll have to cross, but in my own time.’
We said our goodbyes at O’Hare Airport next morning. Prim’s flight to Glasgow was due off just before mine, so we sat together in International Departures until it was called, then I walked her to the gate. I thought about kissing her goodbye; just a friendly peck on the cheek, but I couldn’t. Too soon, Oz, too soon; maybe never. So I smiled, ruffled her hair, and said, ‘Give me a call from Auchterarder. Say hello to your folks for me.’
My body clock was totally confused, so I tried to keep it ticking all the way back to Manchester, to get it on an even keel, but once or twice I dozed off. The second time. . at least I think it was. . I had the grey dream again, only this time Jan was in our living room standing by our partners’ desk.
I snapped awake, with a very clear picture in my head. It was of Jan, just before I left for Barcelona, the last time I saw her alive. It was still early morning, but she had been working on some papers at the desk, as she had through most of the previous evening. They were strewn all over it. And at the same time, her eyes were shining — the way they always did when she achieved some personal triumph. She had looked so good, I had felt incredibly horny, and had had to force myself towards the door.
As I sat on the plane, coming back to reality, I thought about that moment and wondered just what the hell had happened to those papers.
Chapter 44
Everett was waiting at the International Arrivals gateway at Manchester Airport when the flight came in, just before eleven pm, BST. I was still preoccupied with my dream on the aircraft, but he took it for jet lag.
His Range Rover was in the short-term car park, which was almost part of the terminal. He handed me a copy of the Saturday BattleGround running order. I glanced down it and noticed that Darius was in action in the opening match against Le Baron, a French jobber, then was surprised to see Daze in the middle of the order, against Cyclops; Al Hendrix, the import from Japan.
‘He’s going straight in against you?’ I said.
‘Yeah. We’ve been running promos on him all through this week’s programming. He’s costing enough so I’m gonna get full value out of him. We’ll run a little play where I’m supposed to be fighting Axel Rodd. . that’s Max Schwartz, remember. . till Al takes him out and goes at it with me. We’ll play it even, until we’re interrupted by Liam.’
‘Is Matthews going to be fit for the pay-per-view?’ I asked him.
‘Yeah, he’s okay. The doctor signed him off on Wednesday, and he’s back doing full gym work, with high impact manoeuvres. He and I have even done a run-through of our match for next Wednesday. It’s going to be good; the guy’s fast, very fast. I could be wrong but his attitude seems a bit different since his accident; a little less arrogant, maybe.’
I smiled at him. ‘Does that mean you’re beginning to give up your theory about him and Diane?’
Everett grunted. ‘Yeah, I guess you were right about that. He couldn’t be that stupid. Anyway, if Diane was going to play around, I don’t reckon he’d be her type.’
‘What’s her type, then?’
He grinned at me, sheepishly as he fitted himself into the Range Rover. ‘I guess I am.’
‘So,’ I asked him, as he drove out of the park, ‘am I back on watcher duty for this weekend?’
‘Yeah, you sure are, now that Leonard’s in the clear.’ His grin returned. ‘Hell, I must have scared him, looking at him out of that ring, mustn’t I. Scared him outta town and outta the goddamn country! I suppose I better send him a severance payment after all.’
‘Funny, he never mentioned that. He’s got himself a job anyway, as road crew foreman with a touring rock band. Sandy’s on the team too, in charge of catering.’
The big fellow laughed. ‘From what I remember of the kid, I hope the guys like steak. Enthusiastic but limited just about sums her up.’
I unzipped my flight bag and took out the CWI brochure which Sandy had given me. ‘You never told me Reilly was black, Everett,’ I said.
He looked at me, taken aback. ‘Fucking honky,’ he said eventually, with an attempt at a grin. ‘Why shouldn’t he be?’