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Contents ( 44)
  1. A WASH OF BLACK
  2. CHRIS MCDONALD
  3. CONTENTS
  4. CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR A WASH OF BLACK
  5. LOVE BEST-SELLING FICTION?
  6. FROM BLOODHOUND BOOKS
  7. PROLOGUE
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. EPILOGUE
  39. EIGHT WEEKS LATER
  40. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  41. YOU WILL ALSO ENJOY
  42. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  43. LOVE BEST-SELLING FICTION?
  44. FROM BLOODHOUND BOOKS

With a swift movement, belying his bulk, he rises from his seat and closes the gap between himself and his unwanted guest just as Ciaran intervenes and the homeless man is banished. The time stamp now shows 10:32 p.m.

Jay looks like he is considering going after the homeless man and makes a start for the door. He pauses after two steps and seemingly thinks better of it because he sits down again and orders another drink. He speaks to the barman for a little while longer and once he has drained his glass, staggers towards the stairs in the direction of the toilet and leaves the bar at 10:59p.m. The video ends with nothing new gleaned, save for a time frame of events.

I click the red box and exit the video, before entering the folder and opening the file labelled ‘Exterior 1’. Again, the video starts at 9:06 p.m. and as in the first, a few minutes after the video starts, Jay enters the frame.

He marches up the street with his head down, before pulling back the door to the pub and entering. A tall, shadowy figure, dressed in dark, non-descript clothes appears in the frame not long after, grabs the handle of the pub door, takes a peek inside, thinks better of it and scuttles down the alley at the side of the building. Could this be the killer?

His clothes don’t match the homeless man who appeared in the video I’ve just watched, so now we have two people of interest who have sought Jay out on the night he was murdered.

Nothing of note happens for a time; a number of people enter the pub, though far more merrymakers ignore it completely, searching instead for a livelier atmosphere deeper into the trendy Northern Quarter.

At just before half past ten, the homeless man staggers up to the door with his pronounced limp and pulls it open at the second attempt. He reappears a few minutes later and leans against the pub wall. His chest seems to be rising and falling at a rate of knots, perhaps his encounter with Jay has caused a spike of adrenaline.

He then proceeds to do something I did not expect; he pulls the front of his trousers down and holds his penis in his hand. A group of women wearing sashes, presumably on a hen do, dash across the road, as though alarmed by his actions as he stumbles towards the kerb.

The homeless man makes his way down the alley, penis still exposed. I assume he needs to relieve himself, perhaps that’s why he entered the pub in the first place, simply to go to the toilet. Though, judging from the video and how he made a beeline for Jay upon entering the pub, he seemed to know that the American film producer was there, which makes the toilet theory seem a little naïve.

At 10:59 pm, Jay staggers out of the pub and fishes a box of cigarettes from his jacket pocket. He leans against the wall of the pub for a minute or two, attempting to shield the lighter’s flame from the wind, before turning around and peering into the darkness of the alley. Something seems to have piqued his interest. He throws his unlit cigarette to the floor and stamps on it, before wandering into the alley towards the source of the noise.