Dumfries (5 page)

  “Christ, Senga, that’s whit guys ur like,” Lizzie hid lectured her, as if she wis a daft wee school lassie or something. 

  Efter that wan visit tae see him up in Barlinnie, she’d written tae him a few times, and hid been annoyed that she hidnae received any replies.  Eventually, jist before he’d been due up at the High Court, she’d goat a short scrawl ae a letter back, informing her that even though he wis sure he wid be found not guilty, he didnae think they should correspond wae each other and that he’d catch up wae her wance he goat oot.  It hid been short and tae the point.  No, how are ye daeing and whit ur ye up tae, Ah’m sorry fur hurting ye, furgive me fur playing wae ye o’er the years, blah, blah bloody blah.  His letter wis still sitting, tormenting her, oan her bedside cabinet.  She looked at the pen and the writing paper sitting oan tap ae his letter again.  Oan the day he’d been found guilty and sentenced, she’d slipped in tae wan ae the patients’ television rooms up in the wards, jist as the evening news hid come oan.  There, up oan the screen, hid been mug shot photos ae Johnboy and Silent, wae the announcer telling her and the rest ae the patients watching, that Johnboy Taylor hid been found guilty and hid goat sentenced tae fourteen years…the longest sentence ever haunded oot tae a teenager in Scotland.  Silent hid been sentenced tae five years.  She heard wan ae the patients saying that they should bring back the rope and the birch.  It hid taken Senga aw her strength tae finish her shift.  She’d hid tae nip intae the lavatory a few times when she’d felt the tears coming oan.  When she’d arrived hame and burst intae tears, Lizzie hid held oan tae her fur aboot twenty minutes.

  “Christ, ye sure know how tae pick them, Senga.  Whit’s wrang wae falling in love wae a plain van driver or a plumber like the rest ae us, eh?”

  Senga knew then, that the possibility ae her and Johnboy Taylor ever spending any time thegither, wis noo doon the Swanee furever.  She wis supposed tae hiv been heiding up tae her ma’s efter her shift the next day, bit she’d gied that a miss.  She hidnae wanted tae sit there and listen tae her ma lecturing her that ‘Ah telt ye that ye wur wasting yer time oan somewan like him.  Boys like him never change their tune.  Wance a thief, always a thief, that’s whit Ah say.’  Fourteen years?  Christ, she hidnae a clue how long he wid hiv tae serve or whit age she’d be when he wis finally released.  She knew she couldnae ignore whit everywan else knew and hid been telling her fur years.  As well as feeling humiliated, hurt and stupid, she realised that she didnae really know Johnboy Taylor very well, despite hivving been part ae his social circle since they wur weans.  He’d lied aboot being Michelle Hope’s regular boyfriend and noo a jury hid jist found him guilty ae shooting two polis, despite the fact that he wis actually winching a polisman’s daughter. She put the decent leg ae her ripped tights tae good use, by wiping away the tears fae her eyes.  Wan ae the doctors that her and Lizzie used tae muck aboot wae in the canteen, when Lizzie wis still working up at The Royal, hid asked her oot a few times recently, bit she’d body-swerved gieing him a response, so far.  When she’d telt Lizzie, Lizzie hid gone aff her heid.

  “Ur ye barmy as well as bloody nuts?  Christ, Ah’d gie ma left kidney tae go oot wae that wee ugly cretin, so Ah wid,” Lizzie hid shouted at her.

Senga reached o’er and picked up the pen and writing paper.  She didnae want tae upset Johnboy any mair than she knew he wid be at this time in his life, bit it wis noo or never.  She wid keep it short…Dear Johnboy…

  “
Good evening.  My name is John Turney and these are the news headlines in Scotland tonight.

  Two young joy-riders were killed late last night on Great Western Road in Anniesland during a high speed chase involving police vehicles from various stations across the west of the city.  The youths, believed to be in their early teens, stole the high-powered BMW 2800 CS Coupe that they were driving from a car park in the city centre yesterday afternoon.  Local residents, who witnessed the carnage scattered across the busy thoroughfare, claimed that police deliberately forced the stolen vehicle off the road.  Inspector Jings Johnston, from Yoker Police Station, told a packed press conference that the police had had no choice, as the car had been driving at excessive speeds and was a danger to other road users and pedestrians along the route…

  Police are still trying to identify the body of a man, who was found with fatal gunshot wounds in the grounds of a sawmill, close to the Southern General Hospital this morning.  Staff arriving to start work at eight o’clock at the sawmill in Langlands Road found the man, thought to be in his late twenties.  Police forensic scientists have spent the day making door-to-door enquiries. A local resident, who didn’t wish to be named, said she’d heard three loud bangs just before six o’clock this morning, but had assumed that it was a car back firing…

  Six families who shared the same tenement close on Paisley Road West, near to Govan Cross, were rushed to the city’s Victoria Infirmary with suspected food poisoning today after all complained of acute stomach cramps and diarrhoea.  Hospital staff said that they were particularly concerned for two children, aged three and four.  Public Health officials said that they believed the families shared meat purchased from an unregistered source…

  Police and firemen helped evacuate sixteen families in the early hours of this morning in Tylefield Street, Camlachie, after a fire broke out in a ground floor tenement flat.  Three adults and two children are being kept in the city’s Royal Infirmary overnight due to smoke inhalation…

  Staff at Glasgow Royal Infirmary’s casualty department unfortunately failed to save the life of a thirty-seven-year-old mother of five who was admitted with severe head injuries late last night.  Police said later that a man, believed to be the women’s husband, is helping them with their enquiries in connection with a domestic disturbance…”

Chapter Six

  They hidnae messed aboot wance the Paddy wagon reached the Bar-L.  Johnboy and Silent hid been telt tae remain sitting where they wur, while everywan else, whose trials wur still gaun oan or hidnae started yet, wur drapped aff.  The High Court sat in the first week ae every month and the untried prisoners travelled back and forth every day until everywan wis eliminated by either being found guilty and sentenced, or let oot efter a not guilty or not proven verdict.  The average length ae a trial, including murder wans, wis usually two tae four days.  There wur exceptions though, like Shamus and Gerry’s ‘Bomb’s in the Chapel’ trial.  Efter Johnboy and Silent’s trial hid finished, Shamus and Gerry’s jury hid indeed gone aff tae come up wae a verdict.  The jury hid been oot a week. They wid’ve been bored shitless, sitting anchored, doon in the dungeons ae The High Court, waiting fur the verdict tae be announced, Johnboy thought tae himsel.  Travelling back and forth, spending aw day sitting in the cells, waiting fur yer trial tae be called wis soul destroying.  At the start ae the month, two big paddy buses hid been commandeered tae ship everywan back and forth.  Oan the bus back up tae the Bar-L, efter him and Silent hid been sentenced, Johnboy coonted nine people, other than him and Silent, oan the bus.  It hid been a long month.  He’d read in the papers a few weeks earlier that this sitting ae the High Court hid been the busiest in living memory.  Only three trials…Johnboy’s, The Mankys and the Irish brothers…hidnae been whit the authorities still referred tae as capital wans…a throwback tae the days when murderers wur strung up.  Maist ae the capital wans, like the fatal gang stabbings, hid mair than wan person charged, so that hid filled oot the numbers.  Johnboy hid known some ae the guys that wur up fur stabbing some rival gang member tae death, hivving served time in an approved school or borstal wae them previously.  He’d goat tae know maist ae the other guys oan murder charges through walking aroond in the exercise yard wae them in the untried C Hall or when they’d been shackled thegither travelling back and forth tae the High Court.  Apart fae Shamus and Gerry, who wur first offenders and hidnae done any time before, everywan else seemed tae be seasoned hauns at supping porridge.  Efter being telt that naw, he wisnae being let aff the paddy wagon, up at the Bar-L, tae take a leak, the bus did a tight, eight point turn in the inner yard before heiding oot through the gates towards Airdrie.  Johnboy hidnae been in Longriggend before, although Pat and him hid come oot and picked up Snappy efter Graham Portoy, their brief, hid managed tae get him bail, when he’d been remanded fur assaulting a Springburn bizzy called Glory.  Glory wis the bizzy partner ae Michelle Hope’s da, the lassie that Johnboy hid been caught in bed wae, the night he’d goat lifted fur shooting Liam Thompson, the lying basturt ae a sergeant, who’d claimed he’d clocked Johnboy let him hiv it wae baith barrels in the bank up oan Maryhill Road.  The year before, Hope and Glory hid been sauntering past Tony and Snappy, who’d been minding their ain business, loitering oan the corner ae Jonah’s Tavern oan Springburn Road, opposite the fire station.  As the bizzies strode by, carrying a poke ae chips each in their erms, Snappy hid started whistling Land Ae Hope and Glory.  The bizzies hid done an aboot-turn and Glory hid asked Snappy if he wis ‘taking the cunt?’  That hid been as far as Glory hid goat wae that bit ae lip.  Snappy hid swiftly let fly wae a nice wee right hook that hid broken Glory’s nose there and then. The bizzies hidnae hung aboot oan account ae Tony being present.  Being seasoned operators, they knew fine well tae retreat when the chips wur stacked, or in their case, scattered against them.  Later oan that night, Snappy hid goat huckled oot ae his bed and efter being assaulted mob-haunded in the cells by The Stalker and company, hid been charged wae serious assault and remanded oot in Longriggend.  Efter the charge hid eventually been read oot in court three or four months later, Snappy’s charge ae assault hid been found not proven.  Pat McCabe, another Manky, hid gied a sworn statement saying that he’d also been staunin wae Snappy and Tony and that it wis impossible fur Snappy tae hiv punched Glory as he wid’ve seen it fae where he wis staunin.  Snappy hid then instructed Graham Portoy, his brief, tae lodge a complaint ae false imprisonment, assault and a claim fur the repair costs tae get his front door, which he’d hid tae replace efter the bizzies broke it in two in their haste tae arrest him.  A few weeks before, Snappy hid goat Tony’s locksmith, Harper Harris, tae fit these amazing locks oan his front door tae stoap anywan fae being able tae break in.  Unfortunately fur Snappy, the door hidnae been as good a quality as the locks hid been.  The locks hid still been sitting embedded in the door frame, while his good front door hid been trashed and scattered intae fifty pieces, aw o’er the stairheid landing.  Aw The Mankys hid been pishing themsels laughing, especially efter Peter The Runner hid nipped up and taken photos ae the damage fur Snappy tae use fur his damages claim.  According tae Snappy, there wis a right cheeky cow ae a social worker in Longriggend, who wis well-known fur throwing pens and other stuff at prisoners if she thought they wur being lippy.  Snappy hid been oan tae Johnboy and Silent tae look oot fur her.

  Efter arriving at Longriggend’s reception, Johnboy and Silent hid been shifted alang tae the wee convicted wing…basically a closed-aff corridor…tae await assessment.  The reception screw hid telt them that this wid probably take aboot a week tae ten days, if they wur lucky.  Ten days?  Him and Silent wid need tae be oan their guard twenty-four-seven. The first week tae ten days wis the maist dangerous time fur a pair ae jailbirds like them.  Jail wis an alien environment oan arrival, where possible enemies, who wanted tae dae ye harm, wur well-ensconced and used tae the ins and oots ae the place.  Johnboy read wance that maist fatal stabbings in the nick took place no long efter an inmate hid been admitted.  It wid be suicide fur Johnboy and Silent tae assume that they widnae hiv enemies lurking aboot in Longriggend, waiting tae nip them the first chance they goat.  Johnboy hid drummed this in tae Silent that first day they’d been sentenced, bit he wisnae sure if Silent hid taken in whit he’d been saying, as he’d hid that vacant look that he wore when he wis daeing his non-communicative trip.  Johnboy goat up aff the bed and looked oot ae the cell windae.  The design ae the cells wis a carbon copy ae those that him and Silent hid done time in in Polmont Borstal, oot near Falkirk, back in 1971.  He peered through the bars.  The rain wis pelting doon.  There wisnae that much tae look at…a curved road separated him fae whit looked like the end ae another cellblock.  Apart fae a strip ae grass oan either side ae the road, that wis basically it.  He’d awready hid a run-in twice that day wae wan ae the screws.  He’d rung his bell and politely asked fur a shot ae a pen or pencil and hid been rudely telt tae fuck aff as they didnae hiv any.  Oan the third attempt, he’d scored a bull’s-eye, efter he’d informed the screw that he wanted tae petition the Secretary ae State fur Scotland.  That hid goat the lazy basturt aff his arse.  Johnboy knew that every convicted prisoner in Scotland wis entitled tae ask fur and be furnished wae, withoot question or hindrance, an envelope, paper petition and a pencil, if he wanted tae make a complaint or tae seek clarification oan anything fae the Secretary ae State.  Even better, the prisoner wis allowed tae seal the envelope, so the content wis private, which meant the screws didnae know whit hid been written.  It wis wan ae the few things that goat the lazy basturts moving.  Fur aw they knew, the petition wis a complaint aboot them, so they tended tae respond tae a request pretty pronto.  He turned fae the windae and looked at the pencil sitting oan tap ae the petition.  He picked up the Gideon’s bible and opened the back flap and went o’er his calculations fur the umpteenth time again.  He’d been sentenced tae fourteen years, which tallied up tae a hunner and sixty-eight months. That became five thousand, wan hunner and thirteen days.  He then deducted a third fur the remission that he wis entitled tae claim fur his supposedly good behaviour, which then left him wae three thousand four hunner and nine days ae his sentence tae complete before he wis due tae be liberated.  By his calculations, that came tae approximately a hunner and ten months, which panned oot tae be nine years and two months.  Fuck, nine years and two months wid take him up tae July 1982.  He knew there wur months like February, April, June and November that didnae hiv thirty wan days in them that he hidnae deducted.  He’d gied them up as natural wastage, as he knew that he wis bound tae lose some days remission here and there o’er the years by being placed oan report by some petty screw.  He plapped that arse ae his doon oan tae the rickety, squeaky, chipped metal chair, and picked up the pencil, gieing the HB lead a wee damp lick wae that tongue ae his before scribbling.

  ‘Dear Secretary ae State, Ah spent March, April and maist ae May oan remand while waiting tae go tae trial.  Ah’ve noo been sentenced tae fourteen years.  By ma rough calculations, taking intae consideration wee remission losses here and there, due tae the anticipated pettiness ae the prison staff o’er that period, ma earliest date ae liberation seems tae be the 30th July 1982.  Kin ye confirm if ma release date calculations ur spot-oan and am Ah entitled tae claim back the ninety two days that Ah spent locked up, an innocent boy, oan remand in Barlinnie prison’s C Hall?  Yours sincerely, Johnboy Taylor.’

  Johnboy tossed the pencil doon oan tae the desk and read through his petition again, before folding it up and tucking it in and sealing the envelope.  He stood up and hid another wee gander oot ae the windae, as a wee bird flew past, being chased by another, bigger wan.

  “Fuck’s sake, Ah’m bored awready,” he said oot loud.