Tyler struggled, but Gerry’s grip was firm. He bumped into the table and spilled more beer. ‘Hey, wait, wait a minute!’ he said. ‘There’s no need for violence. It’s cool. OK. What do you want to know?’
‘That’s better,’ said Gerry.
They sat down. Tyler rubbed his arm. ‘It’s poison, that stuff,’ he said. ‘Drugs.’
‘I already know that,’ said Gerry. ‘I just want to know how it worked.’
‘How what worked?’
Had this boy actually been admitted to Eastvale College? Gerry wondered. If he had been, there were serious problems with the admission requirements. Talk about unconditional acceptance. You didn’t even need a brain to get into this place, it seemed.
‘The set-up. The drug operation on Hollyfield Lane.’
‘I don’t do it any more.’
Gerry sighed. ‘Tyler. You’re beginning to sound like a stuck record. I’m not after you for drugs, believe me. If I were, you’d be in a cell already. All I want is information. Pure and simple. Of course, if you don’t—’
Tyler put his hand up, palm out. ‘No, no. It’s all right. I’ll talk to you. It’s just that you can’t be too careful, that’s all. Go on, ask away.’
‘Thank you,’ Gerry muttered under her breath, and out loud, ‘How did it operate?’
‘You just phoned this mobile number, like, and put in your order.’
Gerry showed him the number she had copied from the scrap of paper Annie had found in Howard Stokes’s wallet. ‘This number?’
Tyler frowned in concentration. ‘I’m not sure. But it looks about right.’
Gerry put the number away. ‘How did you first find out what number to phone?’
‘A mate told me.’
‘How did he know?’
Tyler shrugged. ‘Dunno. Internet, I think. Facebook, something like that.’
‘How many people knew it?’
‘No idea.’
‘So what did you do next, after you phoned in your order?’
‘You waited until Greg came up with the stuff.’
‘Up from where?’
‘Leeds, I think.’
‘Who was this Greg?’
‘Dunno. I just knew him as Greg.’
‘Go on.’
‘There was this old bloke there as well, but he was always on the nod. I think it was his house.’
‘Howard Stokes.’
‘I didn’t know his name.’
‘How did you know when the drugs had arrived?’
‘Easy. It was all done over the mobile. One line. That’s why they called it county lines.’
‘I know that,’ said Gerry, quickly losing patience. ‘So, as far as you were concerned, you just phoned in your order, then went to pick it up when the delivery came, right? And you made all the arrangements through the one phone number.’
‘That’s right.’
‘What happened? How did it end?’
‘Greg just stopped coming.’
‘How long ago?’
‘About a month ago. I had an order in, but he never turned up with it. Pissed a lot of people off, I can tell you.’
‘Did you meet any of the other customers?’
‘Not that I remember. It wasn’t like a doctor’s waiting room, you know.’
‘But you just said a lot of people were angry.’
‘Figure of speech. I was, so I assumed others must have been in the same boat.’
‘Did you go to Hollyfield Lane after Greg stopped showing up?’
‘Once. I just wanted to know what was happening, like, if they’d made alternative plans. I mean, I wasn’t addicted or anything, but you know... I was used to it.’
‘And who did you see?’
‘Just the old bloke in the wheelchair who lived there.’
‘And what did he tell you?’
‘That there’d been some trouble, and the line was down, but it would be up and running again soon as they sorted out some personnel and supply problems.’
‘So what did you do?’
‘In the end I found another bloke in Leyburn.’
‘What are you taking?’
‘Was. I told you, I’m off it now. Just a little coke.’
‘That’s highly addictive. Are you sure you’ve kicked it?’
‘I was never addicted. Just a snort now and then doesn’t do any harm.’
Gerry didn’t believe for a moment that Tyler had kicked the habit. He was too twitchy, even now. She wasn’t going to take him in, but she would pass on information about a source of cocaine in Leyburn to the drugs squad, if they didn’t already know about it.
‘Was Greg the only one you ever met selling the stuff at Hollyfield?’
‘Yeah.’
Gerry took out the photo of Samir and showed it to him. ‘Ever seen this lad?’
Tyler examined the photo. ‘Isn’t that the kid who got killed last week? Put in a wheelie bin?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Never seen him.’ Tyler passed the photo back. Gerry thought he was telling the truth.
‘We think he was Greg’s replacement,’ she said. ‘Or all set to be. Are you sure you didn’t take any deliveries from him over the past month or so, since Greg packed it in?’
‘No. I told you, I found someone else. In Leyburn. Then I packed it in. Besides, I’d remember if I had met him.’
‘And you never went back to Hollyfield?’
‘No. Why would I?’
‘OK,’ said Gerry. ‘So you’re saying the old man told you things would be up and running again soon, but they weren’t?’
‘Right.’
‘What about the line? The phone number?’
‘Dead, wasn’t it?’
‘And you didn’t get a new one from your mate?’
‘No. Nothing. They just, like, abandoned us all. Just like that.’ He drank some more beer. Gerry finished her slimline tonic and closed her notebook. She hadn’t learned a lot, but it hadn’t been an entirely wasted visit. At least she thought she had managed to add a bit more evidence to the mounting pile that showed Samir hadn’t turned up in Eastvale until the day he was killed. Or if he had, he had been lying very low. And she knew his predecessor’s first name was Greg. But she still didn’t feel any closer to knowing who had killed him.
Chapter 10
On Saturday night, Zelda waited until nine o’clock before she entered the bar and grill at the Hotel Belgrade. As luck would have it, there was a vacant seat at the bar between two couples, both far too interested in their respective partners to pay her any attention. She was also pleased to note that her style of dress was not at all out of place. The dressed-down crowd might be sitting at the tables, but up there at the bar, most of the men and women were dressed for an evening out. She looked just like a woman waiting for her date.
When the barman asked her what she wanted, Zelda ordered a vodka and tonic. The only thing she really missed was smoking. She wished she could light up while she was sitting there with her drink. Not only was she feeling a nicotine craving, but her nerves needed calming. The barman placed a bowl of mixed nuts and nibbles in front of her, but that wasn’t quite the same. She tried one piece; it tasted like salty cardboard.
There was a flat-screen television behind the bar, and Zelda half-watched The Voice with the sound off. It was better that way. She could hardly sit and read her book at the bar tonight. She was too nervous to concentrate, anyway. She kept glancing at her watch. The knife was in her handbag, and she felt so conscious of it she was certain the whole place knew about it, that everyone knew what she was planning to do. What if he didn’t come? What if he didn’t pay her any attention? Was she attractive enough?