Read Bottleneck for Free Online Page B

precise vocabulary. I suppose, in that sense, I added a fair amount to the band."
    Cullen was sorry he asked. "Can you give us your account of what happened the night Jimi disappeared?"
    "Well, we didn't know at the time it was the night he disappeared," said Johnson. "Nobody knew what happened to him, but it was certainly the last night we saw him."
    "Had he gone off before?" said Cullen.
    Johnson frowned. "Not as such. Jimi was someone who lived day to day, shall we say?"
    Cullen knew he'd have to keep him on topic. "You had a gig?"
    "Correct," said Johnson. "We were practising a lot. Jimi was really pushing us hard. We were building a following and things were starting to happen. We'd even been in the press. He was a driven man."
    "So you'd rule suicide out?" said Cullen.
    "Not for me to say," said Johnson, shrugging his shoulders.
    "And this gig?" said Cullen.
    Johnson nodded. "We had a concert booked in Glasgow, supporting Biffy Clyro. They were a big deal at the time. Still are, of course. We'd been in our practice room since six o'clock and finished up at nine."
    He blinked away a tear. "That was the last practice before the concert. I think Jimi stayed behind to fix the intonation on his guitar. It sounded fine to me."
    "That's making sure the guitar is in tune with itself," said Buxton, reading Cullen's blank expression.
    "Right," said Cullen. "And that's the last time you saw him?"
    "It is," said Johnson.
    "What was he wearing?" said Cullen.
    "Those preposterous big boots he always wore," said Johnson. "He used to say it was so if he bumped into racists or homophobes he could 'kick them in,' as he put it. I think that was for show. Jimi wasn't much of a hard man, despite his talk."
    He took a sip from the plastic cup of water in front of him. "He was wearing jeans and his Jeff Buckley t-shirt. I gave it to him for Christmas one year."
    "And this was when?" said Cullen.
    "I think it was the third of September, two thousand and eleven," said Johnson.
    Cullen looked over at Buxton, who gave the slightest of nods. "Was there something going on between you?"
    "The t-shirt?" said Johnson, frowning. "Heavens, no. We all exchanged gifts. It was a band tradition. We'd play a Christmas show in the middle of the month, swap gifts and then pack up till early January. We all went back to our home towns for Christmas. It is merely coincidence Jimi was wearing that t-shirt, I assure you."
    "And what was Jeff Buckley doing on this t-shirt?" said Cullen. He was vaguely aware of him - Sharon might have a couple of his albums.
    "It was the cover of Grace ," said Johnson, "his only true album."
    "That's the t-shirt we found," said Buxton.
    "Looks like he's our man," said Cullen, nodding. "We will, of course, be conducting DNA analysis to confirm it, if possible."
    "Could I have a look at him?" said Johnson.
    "I'm afraid not," said Cullen. "There's not much left to see."
    Johnson nodded, looking disappointed.
    "Tell us about the band, then," said Buxton.
    Cullen hoped this was connected to the case and not just idle curiosity.
    "We split up after Jimi went missing," said Johnson. "Of course, we didn't play the concert in Glasgow. Nobody knew what happened to him. I had to phone the promoter myself to cancel. The band just fell apart. Jimi was the driving force behind it."
    "Tell us the whole story," said Buxton. "Everything. Something quite trivial might turn out to be important. Right from the start."
    "Certainly," said Johnson, composing himself. "Jimi and Alex Hughes, the guitarist, got together in two thousand and five I think. We were all students at the time. They spent a few months writing songs, just the two of them. They wanted to be a three-piece and Jimi played bass as well as singing. It took them a while to find a drummer before they eventually got Beth."
    "This would be Beth Williamson?" said Cullen.
    Johnson nodded. "I've not seen her in a while. Beth was very good, much better than Mo Tucker." He smiled at Cullen's