Resolution Way by Carl Neville Read Free Book Online Page A

you get this address?
    Your business partner. I went to your bookshop, he said, and was amused to see Gillespie’s eyes start flicking around the room, his head nodding
    Howard? How did he strike you?
    Alex Hargreaves laughed and raised his hands.
    He said I was a trickster. He said the dead must be killed again and again or they will rise from their watery graves and confront us.
    Listen. I don’t know you and I am sure, end of the day, you’re a bit of a cunt, but one of the reasons I am not down there in that bookshop is precisely because of Howard. He was unhinged ten years ago and I doubt he’s got any better over the years. I would avoid him.
    Alex Hargreaves smiled indulgently. I think I can handle him, he said.
    I don’t think you can and I’ll bet I’ve seen a lot of the shittier side of life than you have, pal. So don’t say no one offered you any friendly advice.
    He said you and Vernon used to dabble in magical practices.
    We did more than dabble, sonny. He took down the last half a pint of Guinness in a gulp and waggled the empty glass at Alex Hargreaves. I’ll have another of the same. I still don’t know what you want.
    Alex went to the bar. He had his pitch well prepared; he explained that he wanted Vernon’s work, that he would be its custodian, that it had been neglected, that his friends had done nothing with it and it was time that someone who had the where-withal, the contacts, the drive, to make sure it got known.
    You seemed very reluctant to talk about Vernon Crane when I contacted you. So what was that anyway?
    Because I knew Vernon, right?
    I am interested in Crane’s work, the whole backstory, especially all this stuff he distributed around the country.
    Paula Adonor, right? She has been telling you all this stuff. I should have known. I don’t know why Vernon trusted her with anything.
    Well, they were in love.
    Gillespie snorted. Not by the end. He was infatuated for a while. Gillespie looked to one side. She left him when he was at his most exposed. She wouldn’t listen to what he wanted to tell her, go where he wanted to take her, you know? When he ended up homeless she wouldn’t take him in. If not for her he might still be around today. She holds a lot of responsibility for what happened to Vernon.
    Well, she speaks of him with real affection.
    Ach, I’m sure she does, y’know. Shame we can’t hear Vernon’s side of the story, eh?
    Alex Hargreaves sat back and inspected Robert Gillespie. He needed money, that much was obvious.
    Maybe you could work with me on this. I’d pay, of course.
    Be your gopher you mean, your vassal? Come under your benign stewardship?
    Having taken the wrong tack Alex backtracked with a smile. Not at all, not at all, we could collaborate on this. Exhibitions, publications, re-issues. The time is absolutely right. This will be good for you, a springboard on to other things, get you some contacts. You collaborated on a lot of things. I am sure you’re sitting on stuff that would be of interest to a lot of people. Photos, tapes, essays, he paused, videos, a longer pause that had Rob’s eyes narrowing questioningly, writing. You know how to get access to one set of people, I know another. Alex Hargreaves smiled ironically at the term, but still it was the most appropriate one he could find. There’s a synergy.
    Oh, synergy, aye, Gillespie said with a smirk.
    There are other people who will want to get involved in this. I have yet to speak to Crane’s parents but I imagine they would have a lot of interesting biographical information and work and an interest in …
    Gillespie was staring at him, pint half way up to his mouth.
    Now don’t you go bothering people’s old folk. Show a little bit of respect for people’s losses.
    If I don’t someone will, sooner or later. Don’t you want to get back into it? You used to be someone, to a degree, right?
    Robert Gillespie was staring at him again. No, he says. I was always no one, no one and nothing. We