For a while I wandered the streets of Soho, as I had on the day I’d first visited forty years ago. Doorways whispered to me and ghosts looked down from high windows. Some faces I recognised; others belonged to a different era. In Greek Street the Vesuvius bore a sign to the effect that it was closed until further notice.
I attempted to buy a bottle of single malt in Vintage House using the Griffin company card. It was declined and I ended up forking out ￡9.99 for a bottle of Monarch in Budget Booze around the corner. Plus ?a change, plus c’est la même chose, as Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr put it. Same shit, different day, should you prefer the Odeerie Charles worldview.
Back at the flat I shredded a few bills that had arrived in my absence. For some reason I couldn’t bring myself to destroy the photographs of Harry Parr. Instead I tucked them in my desk drawer. It took the best part of an hour to prepare an invoice for Roger Parr, not least because I loaded it with every conceivable expense. Then I went online and checked out the trains to Manchester.
Three every hour from Euston.
It was early evening when I uncapped the bottle. Dusk was gathering and metal shutters were being drawn down to mark the end of the working day or raised to greet the beginning of the working night. The lamp post outside the flat flickered on and illuminated the room in sulphurous yellow light.
When the bottle was two-thirds empty, I stumbled into the bathroom and returned with the antidepressants Dr Leach had prescribed. I popped the blister marked MONDAY, pressed the tiny yellow disc on my tongue, and swallowed.
And then I raised a glass to the Soho dead.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank:
The late John Petherbridge, who was Soho Dead’s first reader and who provided generous and knowledgeable feedback.
The Thomas & Mercer team, particularly Jane Snelgrove and Russel D. McLean, for their incisive editorial input. It has been a pleasure to work with you.
Veronique Baxter at David Higham Associates for being a great agent.
And Kiare Ladner for her invaluable suggestions.