London Calling - James Craig [92]
‘Jesus,’ said Joe, ‘do I really look that old?’
‘Sorry,’ said the girl. ‘We get a lot of people wandering through here trying to dig up old stories to prove that the good old days actually happened.’
‘I didn’t go to university,’ said Joe, a tad defensively.
‘OK.’
‘But, if I had, it wouldn’t have been much more than a decade ago.’
‘Sure,’ the girl said doubtfully.
‘Anyway …’ Joe then belatedly managed to explain who he was and, in broad terms, what he needed.
‘Well, you’re in luck,’ said the girl, after she’d taken a careful look at his warrant card. ‘I was just popping into the office now. This is probably the only time for the next two months that you’ll be able to get in.’
After unlocking the door and inviting him inside, she turned and said: ‘I’m Sally McGurk, by the way. I’m a research student in Accounting and Finance, and also the deputy editor of Grantebrycge.’
‘An accountant and a journalist.’ Joe grinned. ‘How schizophrenic.’
‘No prizes for guessing which career path my parents are keener on me pursuing,’ Sally laughed.
‘No,’ Joe smiled. ‘I’d be delighted if my two kids became bean counters.’
‘And if they turn out to be journalists, instead?’
‘I might have to drown them in the Thames.’
She pulled a memory stick out of her pocket and waved it at him. ‘Right now, I’m two weeks late with my MPhil dissertation.’
‘Is that a big deal?’
‘It sure is,’ she grimaced. ‘It’s thirty thousand words and it represents a third of my final mark. I need to get three copies on my professor’s desk by ten o’clock tomorrow morning, before he heads off to Umbria for the summer, or else I fail.’
‘Bummer.’
‘It’s no biggie. I need an hour or two on the computer here, and then I’ll be able to print them out in about ten minutes flat.’
‘Why not just go to the library?’
‘Too many distractions. Always someone wanting you to go for a coffee with them or chat about what a shit their latest boyfriend is.’
‘Ah.’ Joe tried his best to look knowing.
‘Here I get guaranteed peace and quiet.’ She tossed him another dazzling smile. ‘At least I did until you came along.’
‘Sorry,’ said Joe.
‘Don’t worry about it.’ She pointed towards a computer at the back of the room. ‘Park yourself over there and get it switched on. Then I’ll come and see if I can help you in the right direction. What years are you looking for?’
‘1981 to 1985,’ Joe replied. The Carlton brothers had been at Cambridge until 1984, but he thought he should allow himself a little extra room at the back end, in case they’d hung around after graduating.
By now, Sally was already bashing away at the keyboard of another machine by the door. She paused to explain, ‘I don’t know if we’ve got that stuff on the system yet. Last I’d heard, they’d got as far back as 1988, but that was a few months ago, so you never know.’
After a bit of random groping around, Joe located the on-switch for his machine. ‘I could always look at the hard copies, I suppose?’
‘You could,’ she called over, while scanning the words on her own screen, ‘but they’re not kept here. Some are in the library, but most are stored in a warehouse out of town somewhere. That could take a while.’
In the end, accessing old copies of the newspaper proved much easier than he could have hoped. Not only had all the editions of Grantebrycge back to 1977 been put online, but an excellent search facility allowed him to compile lists of stories referencing both the Carltons and the Merrion Club. However, after more than an hour of scanning articles about binge drinking, trashing of restaurants, urinating in the street and other by now familiar types of student naughtiness, Joe was feeling quite fatigued, and fearful that he wasn’t really any further forward.
‘How’s it going?’ Sally asked. ‘I’m almost finished here.’
‘OK,’ said Joe, rubbing his eyes as he scanned a story from April 1985 headlined ‘Merrion legends a tough act to follow.’ He noted down the names of Edgar and Xavier’s successors without any great enthusiasm.
‘Got something?’
‘Not really. Joe pushed back his chair, rolled