Wearing Purple

Chapter 10

‘Was Matthews really hurt, or was it all just part of the act?’ Jack Gantry asked me, in a quiet, almost conspiratorial, voice. He was still wearing his heavy gold chain of office, even in the privacy of the GWA hospitality room. It was an hour after the accident, and I had just emerged from a gruelling session with Everett and Jerry Gradi, who had questioned everyone around the scene of the accident.

‘No, that was for real.’ I winced as I spoke. I had watched as the paramedics sedated Liam then cut him free from the barrier, leaving the piercing spokes in place for removal by surgeons.

‘Diane went with him in the ambulance. She called ten minutes ago from the infirmary. He’s in surgery, but they don’t think that it’s life-threatening. This can be a dangerous game, but Liam knew that. He signed up to take risks, like all these people.’

The Lord Provost nodded. ‘No serious damage, then.’

‘I didn’t say that, Mr Gantry. It could be serious enough to keep him out of action indefinitely, and that would knock a big hole in the GWA’s next pay-per-view event. Tonight’s match was supposed to have been a warm-up for that.’

‘Ach still,’ Mr Glasgow muttered. ‘Everett’s a resourceful big guy. He’ll paper over the cracks.

‘Here, listen,’ he went on, his tone changing. ‘Before I forget; I’m hosting another reception next Wednesday in the Burrell Gallery. It’s to mark the presentation of the city’s annual arts awards the night after. I’d be very pleased if you and your lovely wife would come along, as my personal guests this time. Susie and Mike’ll be there, and I’m sure you’ll know lots of other people, given your line of work.’

‘Thanks very much,’ I said, unashamedly delighted by the Great Man’s patronage, and amused privately by the fact that he too clearly thought that I was an actor. ‘We’d love to.’

‘That’s good. Ring my office on Monday and give my secretary your address. He’ll send you an official invitation and send a car to pick you both up on the night.’

As I nodded, he patted me on the arm, as if for being a good boy, and headed back to rejoin his colleague, the Lord Mayor.

I turned and wandered across the room to find my family. My dad and Jan were chatting quietly, watching wee Colin as his idol, the Bee-Moff, lifted him in one huge hand and sat him carefully on his shoulder. Jerry shot me a quick stage scowl, then grinned. The Monster was back in friendly mode. Meanwhile Jonathan — a lad after my own heart — was showing remarkable initiative for one so young, by practising a belly-to-belly suplex on Sally Crockett.

‘You keep it up while you have the chance, wee man,’ I told him. ‘If you were ten years older you wouldn’t get that close.’

The Ladies World Champion smiled. ‘I’m not so sure about that,’ she said. ‘He’s got a gleam in his eye, has this one.’

‘Christ, don’t tell him that,’ spluttered Mac the Dentist. ‘He’s full of himself as it is.’ He reached out to take Colin from Jerry, as the wrestler lifted him down from his perch, his huge paw almost engulfing the wee chap.

‘Come on, you two lads. Time we were off. I promised your mother I’d have you home by midnight, and I’d rather have Mr Behemoth here mad at me than have our Ellie.’

‘How is my sister?’ I asked, as I walked them to the door.

‘Oh, she’s fine. She’s got a date tonight. Not with that teacher guy she’s been seeing though; someone new. A journalist from Dundee, I believe.’

‘As long as she doesn’t get her name in the papers. You drive carefully now.’

I watched them as they walked up the drive away from the Arena. When I turned, Everett was behind me, with Jan, who was carrying my suit-bag. ‘Let’s go find dinner,’ he said. ‘Diane’s meeting us at the restaurant.’

The taxi which arrived less than a minute later took us to Twenty-One Queen Street, which Everett had been assured was the best restaurant in Newcastle. His wife had beaten us to it. She was seated at a corner table, looking tired and worried.

‘What news?’ the giant asked her, at once.

‘He was still in the theatre when I left,’ Diane answered. ‘His mother’s waiting back at the Infirmary for him to come out of the anaesthetic.

‘The shoulder wound was nothing much, but the next one skidded off a rib and lacerated his side quite badly. The third is the most serious: the receiving surgeon thought it might have pierced a kidney.’

Everett’s face twisted in a grimace. ‘Let’s hope not. Liam may be an s.h.i.t. but he’s a talent. How’s Mrs Matthews handling it?’

‘Is she going to cut up rough like Tricia Manson, you mean? She won’t do that. She told me that Liam’s father was killed by Loyalist paramilitaries. The way she sees it, being in our industry has kept him away from that sort of trouble, and she’s thankful for it. She accepts that what happened tonight is an occupational risk.’

She frowned at her husband. ‘We are going to sue the people who made those barriers though, aren’t we? The design was supposed to have been tested, plus, they guaranteed that those struts wouldn’t break, no way.’

‘We’ll talk to them Monday, but let’s drop it for now. This dinner is to welcome Oz and Jan to the GWA family. So let’s change the subject.’

‘What are you doing about tonight’s transmission?’ Jan asked him, suddenly. ‘Wasn’t the ending a bit chaotic?’

Everett beamed at her, with professional pride. ‘The station will run it uncut,’ he said. ‘I reviewed the footage straight away. To those who don’t know about the accident, the ending is absolutely terrific. When Oz stands up and gets in the cameraman’s face, between him and Liam so he can’t get a shot, he looks really shocked and threatening. Then when he shouts “Medics!” that’s really great television. You couldn’t plan it, or rehearse it.

‘So tonight we make the best of it. We take that and we use it, then we freeze on Oz’s face in close-up, and run the credits over that.’

He turned to Diane. ‘You see, babe. I told you it was the right thing to hire an actor for this job.’

Under the table, I kicked Jan sharply on the ankle to stop astonishment showing on her face. But she was better than that. She treated me to a smile which let me know, among other things, that she’d see me later about the sore ankle. ‘Didn’t I tell you, darlin’,’ she said, ‘that if you just hung in there, your big break would come?

‘It looks like Everett’s made you a household name overnight. Who knows, now you might even get on Coronation Street.’