"‘Look on the good side, Gerry,’ he smiled to me. ‘At least I held off giving them your telephone number until breakfast time. If they had it their way, you would have got the call at around three this morning.’
"‘Very considerate of you I’m sure,’ I stormed. ‘But don’t imagine I feel any gratitude to you for such a small mercy. Next time you may find I will not answer the phone.’
"He stopped and turned to me pleadingly. ‘I’m sorry, Gerry, truly sorry, but it was necessary.’
"‘What was necessary? You getting drunk and ending up in a fight in the early hours of the morning? You can push friendship too far, you know.’
"He could see I wasn’t feeling very forgiving.
"‘I know, Gerry, I know. But please stay with me on this, will you? You’re the only true friend I’ve got at the moment. It is important and it won’t go on forever, I promise. With your help I will get through it, if you can give me a little more time.’
"He was looking very pale and grey and he was already starting to lose weight as a result of his new lifestyle. I could only shrug. This was Mark and I could not believe he was being insincere.
"‘Come this way,’ I answered him. ‘We’re not going in my car with you drenching everything in whisky fumes. I’ll walk you home. In case you don’t realise it, I would be very surprised if anyone could stand being in a confined space with you for the rest of the day so you’d better keep all doors and windows wide open wherever you go.’
"We set off across the park in the bright morning air, and something began to niggle me.
"‘I thought you didn’t like whisky,’ I challenged him.
“‘It’s an acquired taste,’ he grinned, and said no more.”
Chapter 27
"It was only a few nights later when the telephone rang again, this time in the dark hours. I recognised the desk sergeant’s voice as soon as he spoke.
"‘Sorry to bother you, sir,’ he began in his official tone. ‘I am calling to advise you that we have Dr Brinsley in the cells again, having picked him up about an hour ago in a state dangerous to his health. We were wondering if you could come and collect him and take him home, sir. We are rather busy, so it would be better for him to go home with you rather than have us look after him for the rest of the night.’
"It was two thirty in the morning.
"‘Yes, yes thank you, Sergeant,’ I answered. ‘I’ll be there shortly, as soon as I can.’
"‘Don’t you dare bring him here,’ muttered Sue fiercely.
"She was fully awake and sitting forward in bed ready to take on anything that walked in through the door.
"‘I’ll do what I can, Sue. Go back to sleep. If he is in a fit enough state, I’ll take him back to his own place.’
"‘And if he’s not?’ she challenged.
"‘Then I’ll think of something else,’ I answered.
"I was only just awake and still getting my thoughts together while I pulled on some clothes.
"‘Why the hell are they calling us?’ she demanded. ‘Why don’t they call Alcoholics Anonymous or someone who can take care of him?’
"‘Probably because the police sergeant has our number and he knows we are Mark’s friends.’
"‘But why the hell does he always have to call you?’ she persisted angrily.
"‘Because, as I said, we are Mark’s friends.’
"‘No, we are not,’ she shouted back. ‘I’m not his friend, you are. It’s you he calls, not me. Whenever he gets into a fix he calls you and he drags you into whatever mess he is in. And you always go. Why can’t you let him go and sink in his own stew? You are not part of it, Ger, you didn’t create it. Why do you have to go? Don’t go, Ger. Let the police look after him and hand him on to someone competent to deal with him tomorrow. I’m begging you, Ger, don’t go. Don’t go to him. You don’t know what you’re getting into. It’s too…, it’s not…, Ger, don’t go.’
"Two thirty in the morning is not the time to be having such a conversation and Sue was verging on hysterical.
"‘I have to go, Sue,’ I replied. ‘He’s a friend and he’s in trouble, and he has asked for my help. Go back to sleep and I’ll go and see him home and we’ll talk tomorrow about where we go from here. I might be a couple of hours so don’t worry. I’ll see you at breakfast and we’ll talk then.’
"She flung herself back on the bed and gripped the bedclothes tightly around her. She was shaking and crying, presumably with anger, and she didn’t respond to the kiss I gave her as I left. I don’t imagine she went back to sleep.
"The desk sergeant seemed pleased to see me in an official sort of way. He was having a very busy night and his holding cells were all full, so I suppose freeing one of them was going to be helpful to him. A constable brought Mark out and held him up against the counter while the paperwork was produced. He could hardly stand so I signed for his pocket contents.
"‘Thank you, Sergeant,’ I managed. ‘I’m sorry you had to be troubled by whatever led to this.’
"‘That’s all right, sir,’ he replied. ‘We know Dr Brinsley very well and we know you are a good friend of his.’
"He then leaned across the desk to me while I took Mark’s weight off the constable.
"‘And you might like to believe it, sir,’ he continued more quietly, ‘but here in the police station we too like to think of ourselves as good friends of Dr Brinsley, particularly after what happened to his wife and the bastards that did it to her. All of us here remain deeply upset about it and we are inclined to agree that it is enough to drive any man to drink. But I’m afraid Dr Brinsley has been making an increasing nuisance of himself and it can’t go on. An awful lot of flexibility has been applied to the procedures to keep him out of any serious trouble, but he has to get himself sorted out now or else those procedures which have so far been held in check will no longer be able to be contained. I’m sorry to tell you this, sir, and if we can be of any assistance to you, we will be. But as I’m sure you understand, there is a limit to how far we can keep turning a blind eye.’
"‘I appreciate that, Sergeant, and thank you for your advice, although I’m not sure what I can do about it.’
"‘I don’t know either, sir, but I thought it only fair to warn you’ he finished. ‘Goodnight, sir, and have a safe trip home.’
"I hauled Mark out of the station and into the fresh air, and tried to get him to stand.
"‘Hello, Gerry,’ he slurred. ‘Sorry to trouble you.’
"I didn’t answer him. I was too busy trying to work out the best way of getting him home. I doubted a taxi would have stopped for us and I certainly wasn’t going use my car. We had just got to the park gates when he suddenly broke away from me.
"‘Sorry, Gerry,’ he choked, and promptly started to throw up all over the pavement.
"He hung on to the park railings and retched and retched for five minutes or more, all over his shoes and the front of his clothes and was utterly, utterly revolting. The smell almost made me sick too and it was impossible for him to do it quietly. A couple of cars slowed to gawping speed as they passed and some early, or late, pedestrians decided it was safer to cross to the other side of the road to get past him. Eventually, he stopped vomiting and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and managed to stand up on his own. He looked awful. I handed him some tissues from my pocket to help with the clean-up.
"‘Sorry, Gerry,’ he repeated. ‘It’s the bloody whisky. It’s awful bloody stuff, I hate it.’
"He looked at me with very glassy eyes.
"‘If you hate it so much, then why do you drink it?’ I asked. I was too tired to be angry.
"‘Because I have to,’ he replied. ‘It has got to be whisky. Can’t be anything else.’
"‘What the hell do you mean by that?’ I demanded.
"‘Nothing,’ he answered. ‘Nothing at all.’
“He waved a dismissive end to the conversation with an unsteady hand and began staggering off in the direction of his home. I
saw him in, loosened his belt and took off his shoes and collapsed him face down over the end of his bed, and there I left him to come round and finish cleaning himself up in his own time. Aunt Gwendoline, do you want me to stop now?”
She had dropped her forehead on to her hand and shivered again, although this time not with cold but with fatigue.
“I don’t know that I can do it, Mother,” she muttered silently. “I’m getting old. I must rest.”
But the hand on her shoulder still held her, more tenderly but still insistent. She heard Gerard repeat his question.
“No, my dear boy,” she replied. “I was just resting. You must continue. Please do so.”
Chapter 28
“I arrived home just a Sue was finishing breakfast,” Gerard resumed cautiously.
He was not sure he should tell any more of his story for the moment and it was only his great-aunt asking him to that led him to continue.
"She poured me a cup of tea but said nothing. We just sat in silence, tiredly looking at each other across the table. The only thought in my mind was that I must not tell her about what had happened.
"‘Well, how was he?’ she asked eventually.
"‘Not good,’ I replied. ‘But I think you’re right. I’ll have to call Alcoholics Anonymous and get hold of someone to give him some professional help. He’s drinking himself into oblivion, and he’s drinking whisky which he doesn’t like. He’ll end up self-destructing if it goes on. And you are right, I can’t handle him on my own. Even drunk he retains the same charm and friendliness he has always had and I find it very difficult to be firm with him. Upset, sad, angry with what he has been through, yes, but I cannot sustain any anger towards him to the point where I can give him a sustained telling off.’
"‘You care for him very much, don’t you?’ she commented.
"‘He’s a friend, Sue, and we have done some good work together. And Janet was a friend too, to both of us, so I feel some sort of obligation to try and care for him in her absence.’
"She cleared away part of the dirty dishes and half busied herself for a few seconds putting them in the sink. She then turned back and leaned across the table to me.
"‘I care about you too, Ger,’ she said. ‘But I am frightened about what you are getting into. Get on to Alcoholics Anonymous or whoever you have to, and do it today. Then hand Mark over to them and don’t go near him anymore. I’m frightened, Ger. There is something about him that frightens me. The whole situation frightens me.’
"I remember thinking that ‘frightened’ was very strong word for her to use and it puzzled me. Drunk or sober, Mark was never frightening. Violence was not in him, and when legless he was just a grinning, charming, friendly, vomiting nuisance.
"‘I’ll think about it,’ I replied.
"‘Don’t think about it, Ger,’ she insisted. ‘Do it!’
"I neither saw nor heard from Mark for a couple of days, and then on the third night we got another telephone call.
"‘No!’ screamed Sue the instant she heard the ring. ‘Let him go. Don’t answer it.’
"I did answer it, of course, and scrambled to put on some clothes and find my car keys. Sue rolled over and curled herself up under the bedclothes.
"‘Don’t go, Ger, don’t go,’ she kept repeating.
"She was sobbing. I tried to reassure her and hold her for a few moments but she would not bend to me. She lay rigid under the blankets in a tight ball, the corner of the sheet screwed up and pushed into her mouth with her fist. It was as if she had woken from a nightmare and was still terrified by the images of it, and she began shaking too hard for her to tell me what it was about. All she would say was ‘don’t go, please Ger, don’t go’.
"‘Don’t worry,’ I told her. ‘Nothing is going to happen.’
"I arrived at the police station a short while later and was approaching the desk sergeant when a voice called out to me.
"‘Gerard, I’m pleased you’ve come. Could I have a word with you? It won’t take long.’
"It was Sergeant Chak. He had clearly been waiting for me and, before I could answer him, he led me into one of the side rooms where we would not be disturbed. I was pleased to see him again, although puzzled that he should want to see me.
"‘Gerard, how much do you know about Dr Brinsley’s drinking?’ he began.
"‘Only that he’s having a rough time of it. I’m assuming it is part of his way of dealing with his wife’s murder and the failure of our wonderful criminal justice system to extract any penalty from her murderers.’
"I answered a little bitterly then realised I was being unfair. Sergeant Chak and the police generally had done a wonderful job of identifying Janet’s killers and collecting the evidence for their trial.
"‘I’m on the point of calling Alcoholics Anonymous to see if I can get some help for him,’ I continued more reasonably. ‘I know he is being a bit of a nuisance to you people and I’m sorry about that. You’ve been more than understanding.’
"He nodded, and paused as if thinking about what to say next.
"‘It’s a bit more than that,’ he replied, ‘and if it doesn’t stop, he could be in for some very serious trouble.’
"I looked at him. The delivery of the warning had not been threatening but there was no question he was deadly serious.
"‘Your desk sergeant did tell me there was a limit to how far you could stretch the procedures to shield Mark from the consequences of his behaviour,’ I replied.
"‘That is certainly true,’ he replied. ‘But I think it might be advisable for you to have some additional information. Gerard, what I am about to tell you is strictly off record and must go no further. I am stepping outside my authority in telling you this, and if it becomes known that I have spoken to you, I could be in serious trouble. It is absolutely confidential. Do you understand what I am saying?’
"I nodded.
"‘Have you wondered why we have not yet charged your friend Dr Brinsley with any offence?’ he asked.
"‘I assume it was because you and your colleagues have been extremely tolerant and understanding of his circumstances,’ I answered.
"‘In part,’ he agreed. ’What happened to Janet Brinsley did shock us all, as did the failure of the court to convict Billy and George Crater. But you are missing my point. We can be flexible within fairly wide limits when faced with what are really minor incidents of affray, but the public is not generally quite so tolerant. In particular, the owners and managers of businesses that are disturbed if not damaged by the sort of behaviour Mark Brinsley has engaged in tend to take a very dim view of it. In general, they have no hesitation in lodging formal complaints against the offender and filling out the forms to prefer charges against them. When that happens, we have no option but to act.
"Now, when you consider that over the past month or so Mark Brinsley has been spending his time parading up and down the main night club drag of this city, entering establishments and being abusive to the staff, tipping up tables and generally upsetting other law-abiding customers, breaking more than the occasional drinking glass, bottle and bar mirror, and on several occasions creating a fracas to the point of fighting with the club security, you do have to wonder why no complaint has been lodged against him.’
"I was aghast. ‘What? Mark has done all that? I had no idea. I thought he was just getting drunk. Are you sure? No, that’s a silly question, of course you’re sure. It just doesn’t sound like anything I would ever have imagined him doing. Has there been much damage?’
"‘Yes, there has been damage, and in a couple of cases quite a bit,’ he answered. ‘And no, in all cases there has been no complaint, the damage has been covered by the owners of the establishments concerned and Dr Brinsley has not had to cough up any money to pay for it.’
"‘So, there have been no official complaints and no bills for damages in spite of all the trouble he has caused?’ I repeated. ‘Why? It doesn’t make sense.’
"‘Exactly,’ he nodded. ‘Yo
u are beginning to see my point.’
"He let me have a few seconds to digest the information.
"‘It gets more interesting,’ he continued. ‘If Mark Brinsley was simply intent on getting himself plastered to try and erase the memory of what happened to his wife, and there are a number of us here who would understand that and be as accommodating as we can with him, then any old pub or drinking hole would suffice. But Mark’s watering holes have not been randomly selected.’
"‘What on earth do you mean?’ I asked.
"‘Let me explain. Criminal organisations generally run a line of legitimate businesses as a front to hide their illegal activities from public view and provide them with a means of laundering the money they make from those activities. The Crater family, as we know, is one of the biggest crime families in this city and their illegal activities include all the usual lines of drugs, bent gambling, prostitution, people trafficking, fraud and all the nasty offshoots of all those activities plus a heap of others, which is why they have been on the books of the Major Crime Division for a long time. The front they use for all this illegal activity is their legitimate clubs and drinking dens found along the main nightclub drag of this city. And it is in these specific establishments that your pal Mark has been getting drunk.’
"‘Oh, shit!’ was all I could think to say.
"Sorry, Aunt Gwendoline, but I suddenly came out in a cold sweat at the implications of what Sergeant Chak was telling me.
"‘Let me understand this,’ I asked. ‘Mark has been getting drunk and getting into fights in nightclubs owned by the Craters? He must have lost his mind. What on earth is he up to?’
"‘That’s what we want to know,’ he answered. ‘And if you have any information that might help us answer that question then give it to me and give it to me quickly. Let me make this quite clear to you, Gerard. Mark Brinsley is being a problem to the Craters. They have clearly instructed their club managers to hold off from taking any official action against him following his rampages, probably because they fear that, if they do, some junior journalist going through the court proceedings will connect Mark Brinsley’s name with theirs and Janet Brinsley’s murder will be back on the front pages of the newspapers all over again. They do not want that. They only just got away with her murder and they want to keep it that way. A low profile is what they are after because that is the best way for them to stay off our radar.’
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