bathroom and came back with a fresh Pamper and a jar of cold cream.
‘I’ll do it,’ Janet said. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be at work?’
‘Yeah. Same as you.’
Janet took the cold cream from his hand. ‘You get off,’ she said. ‘I’ll do this and drop her at the nursery.’
‘What’re we having for supper? You want me to pick anything up?’
‘No, I’ll find something. You fancy fish?’
‘Sure. Whatever. Or bread and wine, we could have that if you like. The Last Supper.’
‘I’ll give you that one night, bet you wouldn’t like it.’
‘For just one night I could do anything, Janet. Even fast food.’
‘I don’t think...’
‘What if they’d had, the disciples, instead of bread and wine double cheeseburgers and fries, chilled Coke on the side? The reason they had bread and wine was because that’s what people had in those days. In that place, in that time, you wanted to have supper with your mates, you got some bread and wine and split it around a table. But if Jesus had been born the same time as us, what they’d’ve done, they’d’ve gone to some fast food place and had whatever was on the menu. I dunno, might’ve been pizza, curried king prawns and chips.
‘Then in church on Sundays you’d get a few more people turning up for Communion. “This is my body”, a nd the parson sticks a piece of Cumberland sausage in your face, “and this is my blood ”, and you suck up a Vodka Alcopop through a straw.’
Janet laughed. ‘Are you going to work?’
‘Maybe I should. Sam’ll be briefing us on why he lied to the police.’
‘Perhaps he killed her,’ Janet said. ‘That’d be a good reason to lie.’
‘Sam? He’d never do that. What’re you saying?’
Janet raised her eyebrows, put a grin on her face. ‘Never say never, Geordie. Remember, there are no absolutes anymore. In the right circumstances, in context, it could all make perfect sense. This ex-wife of his — what was she called, Katherine? — she could’ve been the reason he was in Nottingham in the first place.’
‘This’s my friend you’re talking about,’ Geordie told her.
‘Oh, I know,’ Janet said as she lifted Echo out of her highchair. ‘And he’s a thoroughly nice bloke. It was probably a mercy killing.’
8
Mid-morning and Jody was lying on the couch half-naked. Diamond Danny Mann came in from the kitchen with a mug of tea. He wore shiny black trousers with braces and no shirt.
‘I’ve moved the thermostat up,’ he said. He sat on the edge of the couch and used the remote to flick through the TV channels. After a couple of minutes he hit the standby button and gazed over the rim of his mug at a picture on velvet hanging on the wall. In the centre of the picture was a wizard with a tall pointed hat, a black cape and a wand that looked like a sparkler. On the ground by the wizard’s feet was a black cat and above his head a crescent moon.
‘I’ve got this thing with my eye,’ Danny said. ‘The last couple of weeks. Maybe I’m rundown?’ He turned his head to the left and then to the right. Focused above the velvet picture and then below it. ‘Some kind of visual fault. It starts to twitch and a small kaleidoscope takes off on the edge of my vision, spinning away in a corner of the retina.’
Jody didn’t reply. He imagined he heard her sigh quietly but he couldn’t be sure. She wasn’t easy to communicate with outside their double bed.
‘Might be a brain tumour,’ he said. He put his hand over his right eye and looked around the room. ‘Right eye, left side of the brain. There’s a rune you can use for tumours. Give them to somebody else or get rid of your own.’ He put his mug on the carpet and walked over to a shelf of books. He selected a large tome with broken boards and ragged end-papers and took it over to a circular table in the pink-curtained bay window.
He thumbed backwards and forwards through the book for the better part of an hour. Eventually he
‘I’ll do it,’ Janet said. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be at work?’
‘Yeah. Same as you.’
Janet took the cold cream from his hand. ‘You get off,’ she said. ‘I’ll do this and drop her at the nursery.’
‘What’re we having for supper? You want me to pick anything up?’
‘No, I’ll find something. You fancy fish?’
‘Sure. Whatever. Or bread and wine, we could have that if you like. The Last Supper.’
‘I’ll give you that one night, bet you wouldn’t like it.’
‘For just one night I could do anything, Janet. Even fast food.’
‘I don’t think...’
‘What if they’d had, the disciples, instead of bread and wine double cheeseburgers and fries, chilled Coke on the side? The reason they had bread and wine was because that’s what people had in those days. In that place, in that time, you wanted to have supper with your mates, you got some bread and wine and split it around a table. But if Jesus had been born the same time as us, what they’d’ve done, they’d’ve gone to some fast food place and had whatever was on the menu. I dunno, might’ve been pizza, curried king prawns and chips.
‘Then in church on Sundays you’d get a few more people turning up for Communion. “This is my body”, a nd the parson sticks a piece of Cumberland sausage in your face, “and this is my blood ”, and you suck up a Vodka Alcopop through a straw.’
Janet laughed. ‘Are you going to work?’
‘Maybe I should. Sam’ll be briefing us on why he lied to the police.’
‘Perhaps he killed her,’ Janet said. ‘That’d be a good reason to lie.’
‘Sam? He’d never do that. What’re you saying?’
Janet raised her eyebrows, put a grin on her face. ‘Never say never, Geordie. Remember, there are no absolutes anymore. In the right circumstances, in context, it could all make perfect sense. This ex-wife of his — what was she called, Katherine? — she could’ve been the reason he was in Nottingham in the first place.’
‘This’s my friend you’re talking about,’ Geordie told her.
‘Oh, I know,’ Janet said as she lifted Echo out of her highchair. ‘And he’s a thoroughly nice bloke. It was probably a mercy killing.’
8
Mid-morning and Jody was lying on the couch half-naked. Diamond Danny Mann came in from the kitchen with a mug of tea. He wore shiny black trousers with braces and no shirt.
‘I’ve moved the thermostat up,’ he said. He sat on the edge of the couch and used the remote to flick through the TV channels. After a couple of minutes he hit the standby button and gazed over the rim of his mug at a picture on velvet hanging on the wall. In the centre of the picture was a wizard with a tall pointed hat, a black cape and a wand that looked like a sparkler. On the ground by the wizard’s feet was a black cat and above his head a crescent moon.
‘I’ve got this thing with my eye,’ Danny said. ‘The last couple of weeks. Maybe I’m rundown?’ He turned his head to the left and then to the right. Focused above the velvet picture and then below it. ‘Some kind of visual fault. It starts to twitch and a small kaleidoscope takes off on the edge of my vision, spinning away in a corner of the retina.’
Jody didn’t reply. He imagined he heard her sigh quietly but he couldn’t be sure. She wasn’t easy to communicate with outside their double bed.
‘Might be a brain tumour,’ he said. He put his hand over his right eye and looked around the room. ‘Right eye, left side of the brain. There’s a rune you can use for tumours. Give them to somebody else or get rid of your own.’ He put his mug on the carpet and walked over to a shelf of books. He selected a large tome with broken boards and ragged end-papers and took it over to a circular table in the pink-curtained bay window.
He thumbed backwards and forwards through the book for the better part of an hour. Eventually he
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