Blood At The Root Read online

  Banks told him it wasn’t, but assured him that the matter was still under investigation.

  “What’s up, then?” Charles asked.

  “George in?”

  “George?” He flicked his head. “Upstairs. Why, what’s happened?” Banks didn’t think she could have heard, but Shazia Mahmood had stopped putting jars on shelves and seemed to be trying to eavesdrop.

  “We don’t know yet,” Banks said. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’d just like to talk to him. Okay?”

  Charles Mahmood shrugged. “Fine with me.”

  “How’s he doing these days?”

  Charles nodded toward the stairs. “You’d better ask him. See for yourself. He’s in his room.”

  “Problems?”

  “Not really. Just a phase he’s going through. Another seven-day wonder.”

  Banks smiled, remembering the way his father used to say that about every hobby he took up, from Meccano to stamp collecting. He’d been right, too. Banks still felt that he lurched restlessly from interest to interest. “What particular phase is this one?” he asked.

  “You’ll find out soon enough.”

  “I’d better go talk to him, then,” said Banks. “The curiosity’s killing me.”

  He walked upstairs, aware of Shazia Mahmood’s eyes drilling into his back, and didn’t realize until he got to the top that he didn’t know which room was George’s. But it didn’t matter by then. At the end of the hallway, beside the bathroom, a door stood slightly ajar, and from inside the room Banks could smell sandalwood incense and hear piano music.

  It was jazz, certainly, but not Monk, Bill Evans or Bud Powell. No one like that. It didn’t even resemble the wild flights of Cecil Taylor, one of whose records Banks had made the mistake of buying years ago on the strength of a review from a usually reliable critic. This music was repetitive and rhythmic, a sort of catchy, jangling melodic riff played over and over again with very few changes. It was vaguely familiar.

  He tapped on the door and George Mahmood opened it. George was a good-looking boy with thick black hair, long eyelashes and loam-brown eyes. He looked at Banks a moment, then said, “You’re Brian’s dad, aren’t you? The copper.”

  It wasn’t exactly the warm welcome Banks had hoped for; he had thought George might have remembered him with more affection. Still, attitudes change a lot in three years, especially when you’re young. He smiled. “Right. That’s me. The copper. Mind if I come in?”

  “Is this a social call?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “I didn’t think so.” George stood aside. “Better come in, anyway. I don’t suppose I could stop you even if I wanted.”

  Banks entered the bedroom and sat on a hardback chair at the desk. George slouched in an armchair. But not before he had turned down the music a couple of notches. He was wearing baggy black trousers and a white top with a Nehru collar.

  “Who is that playing?” Banks asked.

  “Why?”

  “I like it.”

  “It’s Abdullah Ibrahim. He’s a South African pianist.”

  Now that George mentioned the name, Banks realized he had heard of Ibrahim and his music before. “Didn’t he used to be called Dollar Brand?” he asked.

  “That’s right. Just like Muhammed Ali used to be called Cassius Clay.”

  Banks hadn’t heard of Cassius Clay in years, and he was surprised that someone as young as George had ever heard of Ali’s old name at all. They made a little uneasy small talk about Brian, then Banks got quickly to the point he had come for. “George,” he said, “I’ve come to ask you about Saturday night.”

  “What about it?” George looked away toward the window. “And my name’s not George anymore. That’s a stupid name, just my father’s post-Colonial genuflection. My name’s Mohammed Mahmood.”

  As he spoke, George turned to look at Banks again and his eyes shone with defiant pride. Now Banks saw what Charles Mahmood meant. Now it made sense: Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim, the Koran lying on the bedside table. George was exploring his Islamic roots.

  Well, Banks told himself, be tolerant. Not all Muslims support death threats against writers. He didn’t know much about the religion, but he supposed there must be as many different forms of Islam as there are of Christianity, which runs a pretty broad spectrum if you include the Sandemanians, the Methodists, the Quakers and the Spanish Inquisition.

  Why, then, did he feel so uncomfortable, as if he had lost someone he had known? Not a close friend, certainly, but a person he had liked and had shared things with. Now he was excluded – he could see it in George’s eyes – he was the enemy. There would be no more music, laughter or understanding. Ideology had come between them, and it would rewrite history and deny that the music, laughter and understanding had ever happened in the first place. Banks had been through it once before with an old school friend who had become a born-again Christian. They no longer spoke to one another. Or, more accurately, Banks no longer spoke to him.

  “Okay, Mohammed,” he said, “did you go to the Jubilee with a couple of mates on Saturday night?”

  “What if I did?”

  “I thought Muslims weren’t supposed to drink?”

  Banks could swear he saw George blush. “I don’t,” he answered. “Well, not much. I’m stopping.”

  “Who were you with?”

  “Why?”

  “Is there any reason you don’t want to tell me?”

  George shrugged. “No. It doesn’t matter. I was with Asim and Kobir.”

  “Are they from around here?”

  “Asim is. Asim Nazur. His dad owns the Himalaya. They live in the flat above it.”

  “I know the place,” said Banks, who had eaten there on more than one occasion. He also knew that Asim Nazur’s father was some sort of bigwig in the Yorkshire Muslim community. “And the other lad?”

  “Kobir. He’s Asim’s cousin from Bradford. He was just visiting, so we took him out to listen to some music, that’s all. Look, why are-”

  “What time did you leave the pub?”

  “I wasn’t looking at my watch.”

  “Before closing time?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where did you go?”

  “We bought some fish and chips at Sweaty Betty’s, just down Market Street, then we ate them in a shop doorway because it were pissing down. After that we went home. Why?”

  “You went your separate ways?”

  “Course we went separate ways. You’d have to do, wouldn’t you, if you lived in opposite directions?”

  “Which way did you walk home?”

  “Same way I always do from up there. Cut through the Carlaw Place ginnel over the rec.”

  “What time would this be?”

  “I’m not sure. Probably elevenish by then.”

  “Not later?”

  “No. A bit before, if anything. The pubs hadn’t come out.”

  “Mum and Dad still up?”

  “No, they were asleep when I got back. They close the shop at ten on a Saturday. They’d been up since before dawn.”

  “Did you see anyone on your way?”

  “Not that I remember.”

  “Doesn’t it worry you, walking alone across the rec at night?”

  “Not particularly. I can handle myself.”

  “Against how many?”

  “I’ve been taking lessons. Martial arts.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since some bastard chucked a brick through our window and cut me mum. They might accept what’s going on, but I won’t.”

  “What do you mean, ‘what’s going on’?”

  There was scorn in his voice. “Racism. Pure and simple. We live in a racist society. It doesn’t matter that I was born here, and my mum and dad before me, it’s the color of your skin people judge you on.”

  “Not everyone.”

  “Shows how much you know. The police are part of it, anyway.”

  “Geor – - sorry, Mohammed, I
didn’t come here to argue the politics of racism with you. I came to find out about your movements on Saturday.”

  “So what’s happened? Why are you picking on me?”

  “I understand there was an altercation in the Jubilee?”

  “Altercation?”

  “Yes. A disagreement.”

  “I know what it means. I’m not some ignorant wog just got off the boat, you know. I’m trying to remember. Do you mean that stupid pillock who bumped into me and called me a Paki bastard?”

  “That’s right.”

  “So what?”

  “What do you mean, ‘So what?’ You’re telling me you just let it go at that? You? With all your martial-arts training?”

  George puffed up his chest. “Well, I was all for doing the pair of them over, but Asim and Kobir didn’t want any trouble.”

  “So you just let it go by, a racial slur like that?”

  “When you look like I do, you get used to it.”

  “But you were angry?”

  George leaned forward and rested his palms on his knees. “Of course I were bloody angry. Every time you hear something like that said about you, you just get filled with anger and indignation. You feel dehumanized.” He shrugged. “It’s not something you’d understand.”

  “Because I’m white?”

  George slumped back in his chair. “You said it.”

  “But you listened to your friends this time?”

  “Yes. Besides, we were in a crowded pub. Just about everyone else in the place was white, apart from a couple of Rastas selling drugs. And the last thing those bastards would do was come to our aid if anything happened. They’d probably join in with the whiteys.”

  “What made you think they were selling drugs?”

  “That’s what they do, isn’t it?”

  Talk about racism, Banks thought. He moved on. “Did you know the lad who insulted you?”

  “I’ve seen him around once or twice. Arrogant-looking pillock, always looked down his nose at me. Lives on the Leaview Estate, I think. Why? You going to arrest him for racism?”

  “Not exactly,” said Banks. “He’s dead.”

  George’s jaw dropped. “He’s wha-?”

  “He’s dead, Mohammed. His name was Jason Fox. Someone unknown, or several someones unknown, kicked seven shades of shit out of him in the Carlaw Place ginnel sometime after eleven o’clock last night.”

  “Well, it wasn’t me.”

  “Are you sure? Are you sure you weren’t so upset by what Jason called you that you and your friends waited in the ginnel? You just admitted you knew Jason lived on the Leaview Estate, so it would be a pretty good guess that he’d take the same short cut home as you, wouldn’t it? You waited there, the three of you, and when Jason came along, you gave him what-for. I’m not saying you intended to kill him, just teach him a lesson. But he is dead, George, and there’s no remedy for that.”

  George looked so stunned he didn’t even bother to correct Banks over his name. “I’m not saying owt more,” he said. “I want a solicitor. This is a fit-up.”

  “Come on, George. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

  “Like hell it doesn’t. If you’re accusing me and my mates of killing someone, then you’d better arrest us. And get us a lawyer. And I told you, my name’s Mohammed, not George.”

  “Look, Mohammed, if I do what you’re asking, I’ll have to take you down to the station. And your mates.”

  George stood up. “Do it then. I’m not afraid. If you think I’m a killer you’d be taking me anyway, wouldn’t you?”

  Oh, bloody hell, Banks thought. He didn’t want to do this, but the silly bugger had left him no choice. He stood up. “Come on, then,” he said. “And we’d better take the shoes and clothes you wore last night along with us too.”

  THREE

  I

  The crosswinds on the A1 just south of Aberford almost blew Banks off the road. He felt relieved at last when he was able to edge out from between the two juggernauts that had him sandwiched and exit onto Wakefield Road.

  It was another of those changeable days, with gale-force winds blowing a series of storms from the west. Between the bouts of rain, the sky would brighten, and Banks had even seen a double rainbow near the Ripon turnoff.

  Even though Wakefield Road was busy, Banks still felt able to relax a little after the ordeal of the A1. He had been playing a Clifford Brown tape, finding the sound of the trumpet suited the weather, but he had hardly been able to listen for concentrating on the road. “The Ride of the Valkyries” would have been more apt for his drive so far, with the big vans and lorries spraying up dirty rain all over his windscreen. Now, however, he found “Gertrude’s Bounce” a fine accompaniment for the wind blowing the leaves off the distant trees.

  It was Monday morning, and Banks was on his way to Leeds to talk to Jason Fox’s employer. George Mahmood and his friends were in custody at Eastvale station, where they could be kept for another six or seven hours yet, all claiming racial discrimination and refusing to say anything.

  Though Banks felt sorry for them, especially for George, he was also bloody irritated by their attitude. And it was Jason Fox who deserved his pity, he reminded himself, not the cowardly bastards who had booted him to death. If they had done it. Banks couldn’t see George Mahmood as a killer, but then he had to admit he was prejudiced. And George had changed. Nevertheless, he was willing to keep an open mind until an eyewitness or forensic evidence tipped the balance one way or the other. In the meantime, he needed to know more about Jason Fox’s life, starting with where he worked and where he lived. He could have phoned the factory, but he really wanted a face-to-face chat with someone who knew something about Jason.

  Banks entered the industrial landscape of southeast Leeds. He turned down Clifford Brown and concentrated on traffic lights and directions as he headed toward Stourton.

  Just off Pontefract Road, he found the long, fenced lane-way that led to the plastics factory where Jason had worked. Ahead, the horizon was a jumble of factory buildings and warehouses. A row of power-station cooling towers, the hourglass shape of which always reminded Banks of old corsets adverts, spewed out gray smoke into the already gray air. Between the factories and the power station ran the sluggish River Aire, delivering its load of industrial effluent to the Humber estuary and the North Sea beyond.

  Banks identified himself to the guard at the gate and asked where he could find the Personnel Department. “Human Resources,” the guard told him, pointing. “Over there.”

  He should have known. Everyone used to call it Personnel a few years back, but now even the North Yorkshire police had their Human Resources Department. Why the change? Had “personnel” suddenly become insulting to some pressure group or other, and therefore exiled to the icy wastes of the politically incorrect?

  A hundred yards or so farther on, Banks pulled up in front of the three-story office block.

  The Human Resources office was much like any other – untidy desks, computers, filing cabinets and constantly ringing telephones. A dark-haired young woman looked up and smiled as Banks walked in.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “Hope so.” Banks showed her his card.

  If she was surprised, she didn’t show it. “What is it?” she asked. “My name’s Mary, by the way. Mary Mason.”

  “I’ve come about one of your employees. A lad called Jason Fox. I’d like to speak to his boss and workmates, if I can.”

  Mary Mason frowned. “I don’t believe I know the name. Still, there’s a lot of people work here, and I’m quite new to the job.” She smiled. “Do you know what department he’s in?”

  The Foxes hadn’t been that specific, Banks remembered. All he knew was that Jason worked in an office.

  “Well,” Mary said, “at least that lets out the shop floor, doesn’t it? Just a minute.” She tapped away at her computer. A few moments later, she swiveled away from the screen and said, “No. It’s not just me. We don
’t have a Jason Fox working here.”

  Banks raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “Are you sure?”

  “According to payroll records.”

  “Computers make mistakes sometimes.”

  Mary laughed. “Don’t I know it. Every once in a while my mouse starts running wild, all over the place. Nobody’s managed to work out why yet, but they call it ‘mad mouse disease.’ In this case, though, I’d tend to believe the computer. Are you sure he was on the clerical staff?”

  Banks scratched the scar beside his right eye. He wasn’t sure of anything now. “That’s what I was told. Would it be too difficult to check all your employees?”

  Mary shook her head. “No. It’ll take just a little longer. One of the benefits of computers. They do things fast, then you can spend the rest of your time varnishing your fingernails.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  Mary tapped a few keys and did the Ouija-board thing with her mouse, which wasn’t running wild today as far as Banks could tell, then clicked the buttons a few times and squinted at the screen.

  “Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “No Jason Fox anywhere in the company. Maybe he worked for another branch?”

  “You have other branches?”

  “ Rochdale. Coventry. Middlesbrough.”

  “No. His parents definitely said he lived and worked in Leeds. Look, are there any back records you can check, just in case?” It was probably pointless, but it was worth a look while he was here.

  “I can search the files for the past few years, if you’ve got a bit of patience left.”

  Banks smiled. “If you would, please. I’ve got plenty of patience.”

  Mary returned to her computer. Banks found himself tapping his foot on the floor as he waited. He wanted a cigarette. No chance in here; you just had to sniff the air.

  Finally, with a frown creasing her brow, Mary whistled and said, “Well, what do you know…?”

  “You’ve found him?”

  “I have indeed.”

  “And?”

  “Jason Fox. Can’t be two, I don’t suppose?”

  “I doubt it.”

  “Well, according to our records, he left the company two years ago after working for us for only one year.”