'You could have said you didn't know where the stuff came from, that all you did was help to sell it second-hand.'
'Who knows what he might have told them about me? The best thing you can do at the police station is to keep quiet. Looking back on it, lifting all that gear was a mistake. If they hadn't found the lock-ups all they could have done him for was taking and driving away one motor. They wouldn't have had nothing on me. The money we got for all that stuff was hardly anything, and finding buyers for it was a lot of hassle. Our real money came from the cars. All that bloody junk made it obvious how much thieving we'd been doing. They made it sound as bad as they could at the trial, said we were habitual criminals, had refused to co-operate with the police, made us out to be a couple of real villains. Basically that is the job of the prosecution isn't it, to paint you as black as they can? We were guilty after all. We both got sent down. He came off worse because of previous convictions.'
'Is he out yet?'
'He must be out by now. He wrote to me once from prison. I wrote back, said I was working again and was going completely straight... permanently. Wished him all the best obviously. The one good thing to come out of the whole bloody mess was that the police brought Andrew to the station to see if he'd recognise either of us. His car had been stolen a couple of days earlier and he'd seen someone hanging around at Biddulph Mansions. We weren't responsible, but Andrew did recognise me, we'd met a couple of times in the Beckford Arms. He asked the police about my trial and wrote to me in prison suggesting I got in touch with him when I came out if I needed any help. After all he did for me I wouldn't ever do anything bent again. It would be like throwing it all back in his face. I wouldn't want to anyway, it's not part of my life that I'm proud of.' He stopped and sat back in his chair.
'Is there any more?' I asked.
'Details, if you want if you want to hear them. That friend of mine from school I told you about has been in loads of trouble since. I've told you how it was. You're shocked, aren't you?'
'A bit. By how much and how long... No, that isn't what I wanted to say. I'm glad you've told me. Thanks for making yourself go over it all again. What matters is that you're here. I missed you, you know, really missed you.' I went over to his side of the table, leant over him, stroked his head and kissed him, reassuring him that my feelings for him had not weakened.