The Long Glasgow Kiss

‘My shift ends at nine.’

I looked at my watch. It was eight-fifteen. Of course, I could have stayed and drunk my bourbon and chatted to May until her shift ended, but that would have been awkward for both of us. ‘Okay, I’ll pick you up then.’

I drank half the bourbon for appearances’ sake, paid for it, and headed back to my car. Considering May and I had been intimate on a number of occasions, I found something depressing about the sterile, businesslike exchange I’d just had with her. But then, when I thought about it, our intimacy had often been sterile and businesslike.

I tried Lorna again from a callbox at the corner of Bath Street. Still nothing. I looked at my watch again. I had this business with May and Sammy’s putative inamorata, Claire, to sort out. It would be ten before I could head out to Lorna’s.

I killed the half hour and went back to pick up May. She came out wearing a lightweight coat and smart black hat. They looked new but I’d seen them on her more times than I could remember. While the rest of society was coming out of austerity, a divorcee in Glasgow working behind a bar had to learn to stretch her wardrobe.

I put the radio on as we drove to Partick. Mel Tormé was singing ‘Harlem Nocturne’ and it made me think of everything Devereaux had told me about his bosses, who were convinced that Devereaux’s particular Harlem nocturne wouldn’t play in Peoria. They were wrong and Devereaux was right.

The Velvet Fog sang, and saved both of us the effort of conversation. I don’t know what it was that was going on between May and me, but it was mutual. It was as if we were both on the brink of becoming other people. Putting a past behind us. And each represented an embarrassing reminder to the other of who they had been.

We were halfway to Partick when May confirmed my thesis. ‘I’ve met someone, Lennox,’ she said tentatively. ‘A widower. He’s older than me but he’s a good man. Kind. He’s got two children.’

‘Does he come from Glasgow?’ I asked. If she said no, I would know that the chump was a ticket out of the city. May had made it very clear in the past how much she hated Glasgow. In the past, in the pluperfect, and in the present perfect continuous.

‘No. He has a farm in Ayrshire. You know that my ex-husband was a farmer?’

‘You mentioned it,’ I said. Several drunken times, I thought. ‘Does he make you happy?’

‘He stops me being unhappy. That’s enough for me. We need each other. I get on well with his kids and they’re at an age where they need a mother.’

‘Okay …’ I smiled at her. ‘I’m happy for you, May. Really. I take it there’s a reason you’re telling me this?’

‘I can’t do any more work for you. After tonight, that’s it. George doesn’t know that I’ve done these divorce cases with you and he can’t find out. We’re going to make a clean break, get right away from the past.’

‘To Ayrshire?’ I couldn’t keep the puzzlement from my voice. ‘That is the past. To be specific it’s the eighteenth century.’

‘No,’ she said coldly. ‘Not Ayrshire. You’ll laugh at this …’

‘Okay, try me.’

‘Canada. We’re emigrating to Canada. They’re looking for farmers there.’

I didn’t laugh. In fact, I was surprised at my reaction. Something sharp and unpleasant bit me in the gut and I realized it was envy.

‘Where in Canada?’

‘Saskatchewan. Near Regina.’

We pulled up outside Craithie Court. I switched Tormé off mid croon. ‘I really do wish you all the best.’

‘The other thing, Lennox … it would be best if you didn’t call round to the flat any more.’

I placed my hand on hers. She stifled the instinctive recoil, but not quickly enough for me not to sense the tensing of her fist to pull away.

‘It’s all right, May. I understand. I really hope it works out for you. We’ll make this our last job, okay? I won’t call round any more.’

She smiled. It would have been nice if her smile had been tinged with sadness, but the idea of not seeing me again seemed to cheer her up no end. I have that effect on some women. I went over with her again what to say to Claire Skinner and gave her Sammy Pollock’s name again. She got out of the car and went into the Hostel. When she didn’t come back immediately, I took it as a good sign.

It was half an hour before she re-emerged and got back into the car, her face flushed and her expression dark.

‘Drive around the corner,’ she said without looking at me. ‘She’s probably watching the car.’

I did what May told me. ‘What’s going on?’ I asked when we were parked again.

‘I don’t know, Lennox, but whatever it is, that girl in there is terrified. She said she wouldn’t come out to talk to you. She says she knows nothing about where Sammy Pollock is and she wouldn’t tell you if she did know. It’s not that she’s being tough about it, it’s just that she is so terrified.’ May frowned. ‘I don’t know what you’ve got involved with, Lennox, but you better be careful. Someone has that poor girl scared half to death.’

‘Okay … I guess I’ll have to wait until she has a spot at the Pacific Club and have another go at her then.’