He looked at her curiously. "Ye were asleep at ten o'clock when I phoned."
"Oh," she said stiffly, "yeah, but I woke up then and I couldn't get back to sleep."
The steps were busy with smokers. Three uniformed policemen stood at the bottom between the gates, comparing something on their ungainly utility belts. A crowd of well-dressed confident people were standing in a circle and laughing loudly. Maureen saw nervous Aggie Grey hanging on the edges of the group and realized why they were happy. They had no interest in the case going either way, they were journalists. Aggie spotted Maureen coming down the steps and averted her gaze, smiling at the ground, making a discreet thumbs-up. Maureen did it back and when she looked again Aggie was smiling up at the building.
Joe McEwan was a couple of steps down from Inness, absent-mindedly scraping the arch of his shoe on the stairs as he talked. He looked up and saw Liam and Maureen coming out of the door. He shot them a polite smile, pressing his lips together and looking away. Liam gave the same smile back and sat down a distance away, resting on a pillar to light up. The last time Maureen saw Liam and Joe together they had hated each other. She could tell they had seen each other in the meantime – recently, by the looks of things. Joe would have told Liam about Michael. She could see Liam asking him not to tell Maureen, just until the trial is over, please, just until then. Neither of them had any idea that she was involved; Joe McEwan had finally decided that she was a victim of circumstance just when she stopped being one. Liam gave her a cigarette and she took it in her left hand, leaning over the match in his hand to catch a light.
"Are you Maureen O'Donnell?" It was one of the men from the group of journalists.
"No," said Maureen.
"I think she's still in the canteen," said Liam helpfully.
Maureen looked out over Glasgow Green, busy with lunchtime sunbathers. Leslie and Kilty came out and Vik and Shan joined them all, and they sat on the steps of the High Court and smoked and were together.
The afternoon was shorter. Shirley had relaxed a little and answered when Paulsa asked her the time. Maureen went to the loo to have a fag every so often, just to keep herself awake. She found a newspaper tucked behind the cistern as if someone was coming back for it. She read an article about how television was damaging everyone in some indefinable way. Back in the waiting room she soaked up the sun through the small window and planned her night. She was going to have a bath, a long, hot bath, and she was going to drink whiskey.
The police officer stuck his head round the door again and told them that the court had finished its day's business and they must all come back the next day for nine thirty sharp.
When she walked out into the lobby Maureen saw Elsbeth Brady and her mother-in-law walking down a corridor towards her, looking angry. "You should be in the witness room," said Carol Brady.
Maureen didn't say anything. She was tired and had no reason to apologize to either of them anymore.
"I suppose you're enjoying this, are you? Being at the center of it all," said Elsbeth, with an unkind smile.
Again she said nothing but crossed her arms. A long, hot bath, whiskey and peace. The women looked her up and down, read "porn star" on her chest and brushed past her, walking down the stairs to the door. Leslie was standing beside her. "Was that Carol Brady?"
"Aye," said Maureen. "And Elsbeth, Douglas's wife."
"Douglas's widow," corrected Leslie.
"Her nose has been running all day and she kept sniffing really loudly," said Winnie. "I think she's allergic to not getting attention."
Maureen didn't think they'd all be able to come the next day but she wanted them all to be together for just a little longer. She insisted that they go across the road to a cafe. She wanted to go for a drink but was afraid of putting temptation in Winnie's way. As they went into the cafe she saw Liam whispering urgently to Winnie. He gathered himself together and came over, telling Maureen that he had to go and get a part for the car. The guy wouldn't wait for him and he'd see her tomorrow. She knew he was lying. She knew that he had to go and see about Michael.
The Val d'Oro cafe had small seating booths in yellow, trimmed with red like a child's toy. They sat in adjoining booths, Leslie and Jimmy Harris with Winnie and George, Maureen and Kilty with Vik and Shan. They ordered drinks and rolls. Shan asked for two egg rolls and a roll with sausage.
"He eats all the time," confided Vik. "You've never seen a constitution like it. More food goes through him than Safeway's checkouts."
Shan smiled, slow and easy, at Kilty. "It'll just get me ready for my dinner."
"Your mum's great," said Vik quietly, so Winnie wouldn't hear.
"Aye," Maureen said cagily. "She's great sometimes."
"How d'ye feel about seeing Angus again?" said Shan.
"I'm too tired to feel anything. What about you?"
"I wanted to kill him," said Shan, a red flush rising up his neck, settling on his cheeks.
Back at the flat Maureen lay in a hot bath, watching her skin turn red under the waterline and bits of tissue disintegrate on her skin. The cuts were deep and red blood had settled into scarlet blackheads in the cellulite on her thighs. She heard Leslie out in the living room, watching a quiz show on the telly. They were going to have Leslie's baby together and it changed everything. They'd have to get jobs and stop being pissed all the time. They'd have to grow up. She sipped her whiskey and knew she'd be asleep in ten minutes. When she thought about Gartnavel, thought past the shock and horror, she knew she'd done a good thing and providence would bless her for it. If only she hadn't put Liam in the middle of it.
Chapter 45
PAULSA was agitated. He seemed not to have had his medicine that morning and was pacing the stuffy room, watching the door. Spontaneous droplets of sweat popped onto his forehead and top lip. He was licking them away, a habit Shirley found disgusting. Maureen could see her across the room, watching him, grimacing when he did it. Maureen wanted to tell him what Liam had told her, that they were defense witnesses, they'd be the last to give evidence, but the more upset he was the better it was for her.
Leslie had bought bandages for Maureen's arms and put them on her this morning, securing the ends with little elastic clasps. Some of the wounds were open, itching and festering. Leslie had washed them gently in salt water before vomiting in the sink.
Maureen went back to reading a newspaper she had picked up when she was buying cigarettes. It was a local newspaper and she hadn't noticed that it was a special sports edition. The back page crept towards the front, buffeting the central pages, and there was little for her to read in it. In the "News in Brief" column she saw a headline that caught her eye. A body had been found up at Gartnavel Royal and police were treating the death as suspicious. The paragraph underneath gave scant detail, adding nothing to the headline but times and the fact that Stewart Street were conducting the investigation. Joe McEwan and Liam had definitely seen each other.
Maureen guessed that she wouldn't be called today. She began reading, dragging her eyes over a long article about football funding, and before she had digested half of it, they were called for lunch.
Kilty and Leslie were waiting in the lobby again with Winnie and George, Liam and Vik. Shan had had to go to work, apparently, but he'd be back in the afternoon. They went down to the canteen and ate sandwiches together. Maureen looked around the table and felt very lucky, having them all here, chatting to one another and getting on well. She saw Liam was looking tired and drawn and wanted to comfort him, but couldn't until he told her.
They were smoking on the stairs outside, Kilty and Vik having a good-natured argument about Kosovo with Leslie interjecting supporting arguments for each side, when Liam took her aside. "The night before last," he said casually, "what did you do?"