Page 82 of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
Oliver Menzies
I’ll have to tell Jo at Green Street. She’ll pull the whole book. They’ve never liked me there anyway.
Amanda Bailey
Pippa will tell her. Let’s think of other angles. Anything in mind?
Oliver Menzies
No. Mad squaddie taking up too many brain cells right now.
Text messages between me and a council official outside the flat of former news reporter Gray Graham, 14 July 2021:
Amanda Bailey
Outside the flat now. It’s boarded up.
Unknown number
I’ve got keys to the reinforced door. On my way. Delayed.
Unofficial interview with a council representative in the flat of the late Gray Graham, 14 July 2021. Transcribed by Ellie Cooper.
AB:In all these years of being his close friend, I only ever knew him as Gray. Short for Graham, I suppose.
CR:You didn’t realise he wasThomas AndrewGraham. Yet you were so close. How old was he?
AB:I … don’t know.
CR:How did you meet him?
AB:At work. Years ago. He was a stringer – a roving reporter on the local paper I started on.
CR:What was he like? [So many questions. She’s suspicious … EC]
AB:Great at the job. He’d done it for years. I mean, yeah, if something happened in the borough, he’d be first on the scene, guaranteed. Like he had a sixth sense for what was going on. Knew all the right people. Asked the right questions.
CR:What was he like as a person?
AB:Quite lovely. [OMG, I don’t think you knew him at all. EC] Looking around, I can see he had, er …
CR:His flat doesn’t give much away, does it? [Awkward pause while the CR and, quite frankly, I silently doubt your claim to being his friend. EC]
AB:No, I suppose it doesn’t.
CR:Nice you stayed in touch, though.
AB:Yes. [These pauses are excruciating. Make it stop! EC] He always had a tale to tell.
CR:He obviously lived very … frugally. If someone came here expecting to snap up Mr Graham’s valuables … jewellery or cash, for example, they’d be sorely disappointed.
AB:They would. Any valuables have beensnapped upalready. Luckily, I’m only interested in documents from the decades he worked forThe Informer. We diligently maintain our archives. Local newsgathering is very different now. Gray was from a bygone era. It would be a shame if that time died with him.
CR:I’ll be in the hallway.
[I heard your sigh of relief she’s gone. EC]
WhatsApp messages between me and Oliver Menzies, 14 July 2021:
