by Ann Bloxwich
Dave caught Alex just as his legs gave way and he collapsed, sobbing, into his brother’s arms.
78
There was a harsh bite of frost in the air as the funeral procession drove towards the churchyard. Ancient cedar trees lined the avenue beyond the gates, all the way to the car park at the bottom. The small party got out and started their procession between the rows of headstones to where a sympathetic priest with sad eyes and a delicate smile stood, waiting for them by a large mound of earth and an open grave.
Michelle’s mum sat in her wheelchair and cried silently, flanked by her carer Kevin Huntley, and John Jackson and his wife. Chad, Si, Des and Hope stood on the other side of the grave, with Neil and Ruby at the foot. The priest said a few quiet words before the coffin was slowly lowered into the ground. After a few minutes everyone headed back towards the cars, looking forward to getting out of the cold.
‘Well, that was awkward,’ Des said as he slid into the passenger seat of Chad’s car. ‘I didn’t know what to say to her poor mum. She looked so broken up. I’m almost relieved we can’t go to the wake.’
‘Well, she’s lost her husband and her daughter because of Ray Diamond,’ Si said, climbing into the back seat. ‘How do you come back from something like that?’
‘I have to be honest,’ Chad added, putting his seat belt on and starting the engine, ‘I don’t think it will be long until she joins them. She looked very frail.’
Chad joined the M54, heading east. The traffic was light at that time of day, and they drove in silence for a while.
‘Does anyone know what’s happening with Ray?’ Si asked. ‘I’ve heard nothing.’
Des gazed out of the window. ‘I heard the police were charging him for Steve Gifford’s murder. I don’t know if he’s in custody or not, I couldn’t care less to be honest.’
‘You and me both, brother,’ Chad said. ‘I’m staying away from that mess. If he hadn’t killed Steve, none of this crap would ever have happened. The only upside is that we got to know Michelle.’
‘True, she was pretty great. Always had time for a chat and always happy to help us whenever we needed her,’ Si said. ‘She was like a little sister to me. I’ll really miss her.’
They drove past the exit for junction 3 of the motorway. There were still faded flowers tied to the railings close to where Michelle had died.
Des saluted them as they drove under the bridge. ‘Sleep well, sweetheart,’ he said.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, let me thank you, the reader, for buying this book, it means so very much to me that you did. It was a long, hard process, but so worth it to see it out there in the big wide world. I hope you enjoy the next one too. I have a lot of people to thank, but if I’ve missed you off the list, please know this was not intentional.
Firstly, I want to say a massive thanks to my publishers, Dark Edge Press, for putting their faith in me, and for the incredible amount of hard work they have put in to make this happen. They may be a small company, but they have as much drive and dedication as bigger ones.
I also need to thank Susi Holliday, author and co-founder of Crime Fiction Coach, for putting me in touch with fellow author Louise Voss, who did such a wonderful job with the line editing and proofreading – you really did make it a much better book.
Every character in What Goes Around is fictitious, and any similarities to persons living or dead are coincidental. Ray Diamond was created from all the things that irritate me about people – heaven forbid such a man should ever exist! On the contrary, Kitty McLane was made up of some of the finest drag queens I know, these ladies work incredibly hard, and will always have my utmost respect and love. There are two exceptions – Chad is based on my good friend, Conrad Brissett. He is indeed a male stripper, but also a double black belt and teacher of Karate, a dance teacher, a mentor, motivational speaker, and teacher of Ryoko Mindset. We had great fun creating his alter ego, and my heartfelt thanks go out to him. Peace and love, my brother.
The second character, Joel, is based on my own son. He has cerebral palsy and Asperger’s syndrome, caused by birth injury, and I wanted to show some of the things that the parents and carers of these children live with on a daily basis. Most of the time my son is happy, funny and very loving but, like Joel, he is prone to violent outbursts and destructive phases. Almost every situation between Jayne and her son are ones I have personally experienced. It was difficult writing about them, but I wanted to show the full reality of living with a disabled child.
An extra special group of friends allowed me to use their names for my characters, and I asked them to read the book in its infancy, to make sure they were completely happy with the storyline. They are Craig and Deb Muir, Gary and Jo Temple, Les and Ruth Morris, Maureen Ross, David and Carol Peachey, Glyn Mason, Lee Masters from Undertone Tattoo in Codsall, Dean Smith and his excellent band Nowhere Fast, John Woodward, owner of Adrenalin Promotions and Pleasure Boys UK, and last but by no means least, Matthew ‘Faz’ Farrow, who is not a coroner, but actually a top sports physiotherapist and owner of Physio Wolverhampton. Many a plot was discussed as he pummelled my muscles and cracked my neck!
Special thanks to Rob Parker, Howard Linskey, Dan Stubbings, Louise Fairbairn, Sharon Birch, and Gail Williams for the help, advice and support you have given me along the way. Massive hugs to Dr Noir, AKA Jacky Collins, who showcased my book on air last year, giving me a chance to tell people about it. You really are a wonderful lady, and you work so incredibly hard to help everyone. Also thank you to Hannah Stevenson, aka The Book Detective, for interviewing me on her blog last year, when the book had a different title.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to author Graham Smith for creating the hugely successful Crime & Publishment, crime writing workshop, where so many of us have since cut our teeth. The course has been running for eight years, and to date there are fourteen attendees who are now successfully published, with hopefully many more to come. I arrived for that first weekend alone, terrified and full of self-doubt, and left feeling confident and worthy, having made some amazing friends who offered me so much support with my writing that I uprooted my family and moved to Scotland, so I could continue to work with them. Of those people, I particularly want to thank my Twisted Sisters, Irene Paterson, Linda Wright, Fiona Quinn, Jackie Baldwin, Hayley Kershaw, Christine Huntley, Sonia Sandbach, Beth Corcoran, Kriss Nichol, Jo Abbott and Tess Makovesky. Of equal importance were Mike Craven, Les Morris, Douglas Skelton, Michael J. Malone, John Langley, Lucy Cameron and Janet Williamson, who all read the book in its infancy and steered me in the right direction. Special thanks to Les for formatting the manuscript – I had no clue what I was doing with that. He became DC Les Morris in the book (and the incident with the dog is a true story!).
To my friend Sharon Withers, thank you for taking me to my first ever ladies’ night, and to many more afterwards. We really do have some fabulous memories, don’t we? To Donna Jones, thank you for reading some of the very earliest chapters, I hope you’re pleased with the final result. To Bev and Gail, I wish you were both here to read this book, I’m sure you would have loved it.
To Anthony (Mother), I love and miss you so much, my darling.
The biggest thank you goes to my wonderful family. Paul, you put up with my erratic moods, my crippling self-doubt, my shoddy housekeeping and my tears of frustration. You also agreed to move hundreds of miles away and start over again so I could fulfil my dream. You are an incredible man, and I love you from the ground up. To my amazing children, you have been my guiding lights, my inspiration and you never stopped believing in me. You are my happy thoughts; I would not exist without you.
Lastly, to Jack. You will always be my favourite son. Not a day goes by when I don’t miss you.
Ann is a married mother of four grown-up children. Her passions include books, cats and rock music.
She started writing around ten years ago, but struggled until she discovered a crime writing worksh
op, called Crime and Publishment, established by author Graham Smith, in Gretna Green. The support and encouragement she received from her peers on the course was fantastic and it prompted her to move with her family from the West Midlands to Scotland, so she could concentrate on her writing.
She has had short stories published in two anthologies, titled Happily Never After and Wish You Weren’t Here, with all profits going to local charities.
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