You Are Dead

104

Wednesday 24 December

Grace had had visitors all day, including his sister, and had nodded off watching the television. He was woken what seemed like only moments later by the gruff voice of Glenn Branson.

‘Happy Christmas, mate!’

He opened his eyes to see the tall hulk of the detective, in a sharp suit and even more dazzling tie than usual, reeking of alcohol and looking unsteady. He was holding a card in one hand and a massive bottle of champagne, with a blue ribbon around the neck, in the other. Next to him stood an attractive, fair-haired woman in a short black dress, leggings and high-heeled boots. She was holding a basket of fruit wrapped in cellophane with a sprig of holly on the top.

The Argus reporter, Siobhan Sheldrake, Grace realized. He looked up at them, wondering what the hell was going on. ‘Wassertime?’ he asked, still not fully with it.

‘One minute to midnight, Christmas Eve. Just call me Santa! Do you know how much rank I had to pull to be let in here?’ Branson said.

‘How are you feeling, Roy?’ the Argus reporter said.

‘No comment,’ he replied.

Was Glenn insane? What the hell was he doing here with this reporter?

‘Siobhan’s cool,’ Branson replied, reading his mate’s expression. ‘This is a social visit — she’s not writing it up. She’s already done her piece on you!’ He held up the front page of today’s Argus.

Grace stared at the headline.

Branson staggered sideways, got a grip on himself and put the bottle down on the table beside him. Then he touched Roy Grace’s face with his hand. ‘You OK?’

‘I haven’t thanked you properly yet, for getting me out of there,’ Grace said.

‘Yeah, and you managed to grab the headline!’ Branson retorted, sitting down on the side of the bed. ‘Hero bloody cop! Huh!’

‘You sodding yanked my arms out of their sockets!’

The tall detective grinned. ‘Yeah, bummer.’

Grace looked at him, moved his eyes over to the Argus reporter, then back to Glenn Branson. ‘Want to tell me what’s going on?’

‘Yeah. Siobhan and I–I know we’re a bit pissed. But I thought you ought to be the first to hear the news. We just got engaged.’