Page 83 of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
Amanda Bailey
Remember Gray Graham?
Oliver Menzies
Old stringer who only came in to the office for Christmas drinks? Where he’d bore us all with stories from his early days on the job.
Amanda Bailey
Yep, him.
Oliver Menzies
Didn’t know him
Amanda Bailey
Died alone in a grotty council flat.
Oliver Menzies
Not surprised. He was paid peanuts, and only when his pic or story made it into print. If it was spiked for any reason, he got nothing. They wouldn’t even pay him expenses. Developed his own pics to save money.
Amanda Bailey
Died before he could tell me who asked him to say Jonathan Childs was first on the scene of Singh’s murder. When he wasn’t.
Oliver Menzies
Isn’t this the second bod who’s croaked before you could speak to them?
Amanda Bailey
The curse of the Alperton Angels.
Oliver Menzies
The curse of Amanda Bailey. With this and the baby you’re not having much luck
Amanda Bailey
Do you know shorthand?
Oliver Menzies
Do you? No. Because we both did a sub-standard training course.
Amanda Bailey
Hmm. Would’ve been VERY useful.
A scan of my handwritten note to Aunty Pat. Undated, but I posted it through her door after sundown on the evening of 14 July 2021:
Dear Aunty Pat,
It’s been so long since we spoke, let alone met. Hope you’re keeping well. I bumped into Robin’s wife (Claire?) a few years ago. She said Uncle Jack died.
You and I may not have parted on the best of terms, but life is too short to hold grudges. Your memories of things that happened many years ago vary markedly from mine, but my feeling is that we can each maintain our differences of opinion and still have a relationship. It would be a shame not to, as there are so few of us left in the family. Shall we meet? Perhaps a coffee or something informal?
