Father and Son Read Online Free PDF Page A

bolstering herself from the cold.
    “No, actually,” Jeanette says as she gets herself a mug from the
cupboard. “But there are bits of you everywhere. Trashy paperbacks which I am
sure are not the property of Mr John Ray MA, hairdryer, tweezers, tampons, this
bathrobe… Then there are the pants he keeps in his sock drawer.”
    “Feel free to borrow them, if they fit.”
    “Ooh, double-ouch!” she says, hoisting herself up onto a high stool
by the kitchen island and pouring herself a coffee, doing a pretty good job of
showing no further interest in the two people standing awkwardly by the door;
making it look, indeed, as if they are the ones intruding on her morning
routine.
    Den watches her for a moment, then turns her attention to John.
    “The message?”
    Her skin looks good, a little pale, perhaps, and her hair is a touch
shorter than it used to be, almost like a schoolboy’s.
    “Have you lost weight?” he says. Doesn’t know why. Den was always
slim. Plus, she’d never cared much about whether there was a bit of fat on her.
Never cared about any of that stuff.
    “The text ?” she says.
    She never cared about hiding her impatience either.
    “It’s Dad,” he says, first thing that comes into his head. “He wants
to see you.”
    His eyes are wide open, pleading for her to understand.
    It takes her a second or two. She glances across at Jeanette.
    “Okay. Okay, what time do you want to go?”
    He rubs a hand across his face.
    “You know his dad?” comes a voice from the kitchen area.
    Jeanette slips down from the stool, moves over to the sofa and sits
there cross-legged, cradling her mug.
    Den and John are still near the door, looking like guilty fools. Of
the two, Den is the more proficient liar, part of her job, an unavoidable
skill.
    “I’ve met him once or twice,” she says. “He’s got a soft spot for
the police, hasn’t he, John?”
    “Shit, you’re a copper!”
    “None taken,” says Den, turning back to John. “You wanna go now? I’m
busy later.”
    “I won’t be a minute,” he says. “Need a new shirt.”
    “I wasn’t going to say anything,” Den says as he disappears into the
bedroom, almost jogging across the room, as if he’s glad to be out of there.
    “In town for long?” Den asks, once John has disappeared.
    “A while, yeah. Renting a cottage in Bramthorpe. It’s a little
vill…”
    “I know it. Very peaceful.”
    Jeanette nods. “It’s a nice angle, that, isn’t it?” she says,
leaning back on the sofa until the bathrobe comes apart, revealing a deep
cleavage that she’s obviously not shy about.
    “What, Bramthorpe?”
    “No. That Tony Ray’s son was shacked up with a police officer. Rank?”
    “Who me?”
    “Just for the record. I’m writing Tony Ray’s biography, in case John
forgets to tell you. It’d be great to have a chat with you sometime.”
    “I bet. Detective Sergeant, Greater Manchester CID. I used to work
here in Leeds.”
    “Don’t tell me,” says Jeanette, looking down admiringly at her own
body before pulling the bathrobe together, “you moved to Manchester when things
fell apart with big bad John Ray? Getting in the way of promotion, was it,
living with criminals.”
    “He’s not a criminal.”
    “So let’s have a chat,” Jeanette says, smiling. “Tell me how good he
is.”
    “Looks like you’ve been getting to know his good side pretty well
without my help.”
    John reappears, brighter, stronger, the old John. Same baggy black
suit, fresh white shirt, no tie. A big man, and he’s ready for action. You
wouldn’t want to get in his way right now.
    “What?” he says, the two women both looking at him.
    But he doesn’t want to know what.
    He needs to talk to Den.

Chapter Eight
    “You gonna let her
write a book about your dad?”
    “What? Oh, that… Haven’t decided,” he says as he drives the Saab
erratically, a cigarette in his mouth, the window right the way down, smoke
blowing into his face. “She just turned