by Paul Kelly
“That’s no problem and if you want a rest from talking just raise your hand and I’ll understand, O.K?”
William nodded again and closed his eyes as if he was about to fall asleep.
“How do you get on with your mother?”
William opened his eyes sharply when Gardner asked him that question. It was something he had not anticipated and thought that Garner had already asked him that question before. Something he wished he did not have to be asked again as he did not want to answer.
“What has that got to do with the …c ....c ... case in question?”
“Well, it’s something that we policemen like to know. You know family ties and connections and so on. It can make a big difference about how a person feels about himself and about life in general.”
William pulled out a large red checked handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose loudly.
“We ... we ... don’t get on very well at all,” he answered. “…N ... n ... not at all in fact, but I thought you already knew that?”
Gardner wanted to tell William of his previous conversation with Mrs. Bright, but she had asked him not to talk about it and he began to think that somehow or other he must have mentioned William’s mother in previous questions, but he couldn’t quite remember and he didn’t keep notes. He changed the subject and dropped the enquiry about Bertha Bright. There would be plenty of time to deal with ‘that madam’ …in due course…
“You say that you worked at a supermarket ... Did you like it there.” he asked, but William would not leave the subject of his mother.
“My m ... m ... mother has nothing to do with my life now,” he snapped, “she lives her life the… w ... w ...w ... way she wants to do and I do the same. She ca ... ca ... cannot condemn me for anything I have done … wh ... wh ... when she should put her own house in order first.”
Gardner apologized for the oversight, thinking again of the philosophy he was hearing as he called it and the conversation went back to the supermarket.
“Do you enjoy working at the supermarket . . . “Gardner asked again after he had studied his nails in a nonchalant manner. “It seems rather a mundane job to me.”
William sighed heavily and rolled his eyes
“Yes, most of the time, “ he replied, “I was … g ... g ... glad of the money as it gave me the …m ... m ... m ... means to do what I wanted ... well to some extent. They didn’t pay that well and I started off as a,,, c ... c ... c ... cleaner before I was promoted to stacking … sh ... sh ... shelves.”
“You would have had to give your mother some money for your keep, would you not?”
“Yes, I gave her …thi ... thi ... thirty pounds every week.”
Gardner raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“Was that a lot, considering what you were earning?”
“More than half actually ….” William replied and his voice was steady and clear.
“And the rest ... Do you have any hobbies?”
William looked to the floor when Gardner asked him that question.
“I like music,” he replied in very low and precise voice and Gardner smiled.
“Pop star, maybe?” Gardner asked, but William did not seem to be amused.
“I don’t … ap ... ap ... appreciate pop,” he answered keeping his head low as if to apologize for making that statement.
“Do you sing, then?”
“No.”
“You don’t play the piano, do you? Don’t tell me you could be another Liberace?”
“Liber what?” asked William obviously having never heard of the one time famous pianist.
“LIBERACE ...” Reggie Gardner repeated, “He was a brilliant pianist. I would have thought everybody had heard of him. Where have you been all your life, boy?”
William looked surprised.
“No, I have …n …never heard of this … p ... p ... p ... person and anyway … I … p ... p ... play … the … the … violin and not… the …p …piano.”
Gardner gasped when William said that and his eyes went wide. It was the last thing he would have expected William Bright to do. Somehow the violin was a cultured sort of instrument and William didn’t seem to be what one would describe as cultured ... or was he? Was there more to William Bright than the eye could perceive?
“How long have you been playing the violin William?”
William hesitated again and wet his lips
“Since I was fourteen,” he replied without the slightest trace of a stutter and Gardner thought he could see a blush on the young man’s cheeks.
“You amaze me William. You don’t talk much and some people have thought you were far below average when you were at school and now you tell me that you play the violin.”
William allowed his blush to blossom.
“I have always loved the violin and one of my friends who ... who ... who was at school with me used to play. He was like me at that time too and the other b ... b ...boys used to laugh when they heard … wh ... wh ... wh ... what instrument he played. I also had a friend who …w... w ...worked at the supermarket and who … was … s ... s ... s ... studying at the Royal C ... C ... C ...College of Music. He did the ... the ... the shelf filling in the evenings to pay for his tuition, so I ... I ... I saved up in the same way when my friend told me of… a ... a ... a private tutor and he gave me private lessons, along with a lot of … s ... s ... stuff he taught me himself at that time. My friend at the super market, I mean.”
“Stuff . . .? What sort of stuff?”
“Well ... you have to ... have to ... have to know something of the history of ... of ... music also ... That is ... is ... very important,”
“I didn‘t think music needed any history,” said Gardner with a suspicious grin on his face when he thought he knew more about music than he actually did . . . and William smiled.
“You should know the …c ... c ... composer‘s names and what music they composed, otherwise you ... you ... you wouldn‘t know …wh ... wh ... what to play. Every piece of music has a name and a… c ... c ... c ... composer. I thought everybody knew that.”
Gardner sat back in his chair with a look of total surprise on his face and his mouth dropped open when William told him the facts of music as he could see them.
“Ignorance is bliss they say,” Reggie quoted with a complacent sniff. “Did you tell your mother about this?” he asked and William frowned.
“No, I could never have … t ... t ... t ...told her. She would have laughed and thought me …s ... s ... stupid. The violin to her is something ,,,f ... f ... f ...for cissies … and …n …n …not for men.”
“But didn’t she miss you when you went to these lessons?”
William laughed when Gardner suggested such a possibility.
“My mother was out … m ... m ... most of the time when I was at …h ... h ... h ...home. She had a list of men … who … who …who took her out. Sometimes ... some ... some ... sometimes when they …c ... came to the house and they would give me money as they were … l … l … l … l …leaving, but I hated what they did.”
There was a rattle of keys at this point in the conversation and Gardner knew his time for talking was over, but he had to inform William of the visitor he was to expect the following day and he wondered just how his young friend would accept that.
“William …”
William was about to leave the interviewing room but Gardner caught him by the arm.
“William ... tomorrow I won’t be here. Instead there’s a solicitor coming to see you and he will have to ask you more questions. He may even have to jot down some notes, but don’t be afraid, he’s only doing his job and he is here to help you in any way he can. Understand?”
“But my …st ... st ... stutter ... will he ...be able to …un … un … und
erstand me …” William asked and swallowed hard as he walked away.
“He’ll understand, so don’t give that a thought. Have a good night’s sleep and you’ll feel refreshed in the morning. Bye, William.”
As Gardner left the room, he was disturbed about his thoughts regarding William Bright. There was so much to know about this young man and yet he was learning slowly as he went. William Bright didn’t seem so dull as he was thought to be …
Chapter Six
JAMES LEDERER tapped his notebook as he waited for William to come to the interview room. He had gathered a little information from Gardner about what to expect, but the latter had formed his own opinion of William Bright by this time and it was unfair to influence another ... even if he felt that the young man was more sinned against than sinned. Meanwhile Garner lit a cigarette in the grounds of the police station and hoped he might be allowed to visit Maya Broomfield in due course, as his interest in Maya Broomfield was becoming something that concerned him greatly.
“Good morning, Mr. Bright. I hope you are well.”
William looked as though he had just waked up. His eyes were half closed and he shook his head from side to side, as he rubbed his forehead and strained to see who was visiting him.
“Good morning,” he replied wearily and waited for the visitor to introduce himself.
“I am James Lederer … the solicitor for your defense case, if it should come to that”
William shook his head again and frowned.
“I don’t need a s ... s ... s ... solicitor thank you and besides, I couldn’t afford you, so we had better say … goo ... goo ... goodbye now before anything …f ... f ... further happens … O.K?”
Lederer sat his brief case firmly by the side of his chair and touched the end of his spectacles with his thumb and forefinger.
“Well no ... It’s not O.K. Mr. Bright and with legal aid you don’t have to pay anything, so can we begin please?”
William sighed. Was there no getting away from these inquisitors? Would the questions never cease?
“I … d ... d ... d ... don’t think you ... you ... under ... understand Mr. Leatherer.”
“Lederer, the name is Lederer but you may call me James, if you like and do I have to address you as William? Surely your friends call you by another name?” said Lederer remembering the warning he had from Reggie Gardner if he should even touch on the name that referred to William’s privates. William grinned. It was all to start again ... The names game, but he was determined that he would never be addressed as a Willie … not by any means… He was no prick and he wanted everyone to know that.
“I thought I had g ... g ... g ... given all the information that was required yesterday to that p ... p ... policeman who came to see me,” said William as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I am called … Wi ... Wi ... William and that is my name.”
“Well, of course William. That suits me if that is what you want. I can’t be sure what enquiries were made with you yesterday, but I am due to visit Mrs. Broomfield in the next day or so I would like to ask you a few questions about her, if I may and now if we could begin, please?”
William stared at Lederer with angry eyes and his mouth twitched as he swallowed hard.
“You have no business … g ... g ... g ... going to see that lady. She has nothing to do with the ... the case. I am guilty of the … m ... m ...m ... murder of the man in … q ... q ... question,” he snapped, shaking his head vigorously as he was well aware of the difficulty with his impediment …His stammer was apparent. It always was when he was irritated and got angry. He knew it got in the way, but there was nothing he could do to prevent it, unless shut up and stare into space … and there was no way he was ever going to be allowed to do that…
“What?” snapped Lederer in surprise, “You‘ve only been banged up in this police station for the past forty eight hours and you talk about being guilty of murder. Who do you think you are exactly ... Al Capone?”
“I am … the … the … the only one responsible … f ... f ... for what happened. Surely you must realize …th ... th ... that, as I am sure that … e ... e ... everyone else does.”
“But this lady was the cause of your actions. You must surely realize that. If the other man was not with her when you arrived at the flat, things would have been very different, wouldn’t they?”
William paused when he heard that statement and shook his head sharply from side to side.
“I wish I had ... I wish ...“he went on before he threw his head back when an afterthought entered his head . . . “No, I don’t wish . . . “ he said resolutely, “If I hadn’t gone to the … f ... f ... flat when I did, Maya could have …b … been the one who was k ... k ... killed. That man meant …b ... b ... b ... business. He was big and he was … h ... h ... hurting Maya. I thought he wanted to k … k …kill her when I saw wh … wh…what he was doing…”
“But I understood this lady Mrs. Broomfield had asked you to leave her flat some weeks before, implying that she didn’t want to see you again. Is that correct?”
Once more William looked to the floor before he answered, but he was a little perplexed as to just how much this Mr. Lederer knew and he was sure that Lederer had certainly done his homework . . .
“We had … we had … a ... d ... d ... disagreement a short time ago. Something about … n ... n ... nothing … really and she was angry with me. I could understand … h … h … h … how she was fee ... fee ... feeling… and I left the flat thinking that she ... she ... she would change her mind and be ... be ... besides, I still had the …k ... k …key to the flat. Maya didn‘t … a ...a ... ask me to give the key back. ”
William closed his eyes and shook his head at this point as if by that means he would the more easily say what he had to say.
“And did she?
“Did she …wh ... wh ... wh ...what?”
“Did she change her mind when obviously you came back to the flat and I presume that was by her invitation?”
“Yes ... It was the evening be ... be ... before I went back and I had a telephone call from M ... M ... Maya’s daughter asking me to go b ... b ... b ... back the following day. It was she who asked me to go and see her … m ... m ... mother. I hadn’t spoken to Maya at all about my … v ... v ... visit.” William’s head shot forward as he spoke in an effort to make himself heard more clearly. “Perhaps I sh ... sh … should have told May I was … c ... c ... coming to see her that evening.”
“Maya’s daughter … I didn’t know about her.” said Lederer as he glanced again carefully at his notes.
“Yes, Maya had a …d ... d ... daughter of seventeen. Her name is Fee ... Fee ... Fiona. Fiona had visited the flat several times wh ... wh ... when I was there.”
“And did Fiona know about the relationship you had with her mother?”
William hesitated and licked his lips before he answered.
“Y ...y ... yes, she did.” he said slowly and James Lederer made a few notes in his pad as he listened. “I don’t … I don’t …th ... th …think she minded,” he added, but his voice was more hesitant than normal.
“Was this lady … Fiona, I mean … was she married . . .”
“I don’t …th ... th ... th ... think so and I would hardly have … im … im … im … imagined her to be married at … s ... s ... such a young age.”
“Some are at it from a much younger age than that, but never mind . . . I don’t suppose she was very pleased about that. Was she?”
“What? About not being …m ... m ... married?”
“No, I mean I don‘t think she would have been pleased about the situation concerning you and her mother, was she?”
William frowned as if he didn‘t understand what James Lederer meant and then his face took on a look of understanding.
“Fiona understood
the … si ... s ... s ... situation completely and sh … sh … she never q ... q ... quizzed. She never asked any …q ... q ... questions,” he said.
“That’s not what I asked you William,” said Lederer and his voice was firm. “WAS FIONA PLEASED AT THE ARRANGEMENT YOU HAD WITH HER MOTHER?”
“I don’t think so ... well, no ... no, she wasn’t p ... p ... pleased at all but she ...she realized what her mother was like … and …and …besides, it was n ... n ... none of her business. You f ... f ... fall in love with some people and n ... n ... n ... not with others. Fiona would have understood … th ... th ... that. She was ... is a very … s … s … sensible girl.”
Lederer stroked his chin and raised his eyebrows, a little perplexed at the philosophy of one as young as William Bright.
“Was she jealous, do you think?” he asked and William stared at him.
“Jealous? Who …w ... w ... would have been …j ... j …j …jealous? I don‘t understand . . . Wh ... wh ... what you mean?”
Lederer looked at William above the rims of his spectacles and smiled.
“Fiona, perhaps?” he said with a smile on his lips, but William could not believe what he was hearing. “She could have been jealous of such a young handsome bloke being with her mother, surely…” Lederer went on, but William shook his head violently and his eyes were wide with anger.
“No ... not that ... Fee ... Fee ... Fiona was only a … y ... y ... young girl. She would … n … n … n …never have ... have ... have ... been jealous of anyone.”
“Hardly a little girl, William if she was as you say, seventeen. Perhaps it was Maya who could have been jealous ... of her daughter, because of her youth, eh?”
William sat in silence for a few moments as if he had never had such a thought in his mind before.
“I think Fiona was …s ... s ... seventeen. M ... M ... Maya must have told me that, but I can’t remember. Fiona was … n ... n ... not jealous and Maya was not jealous. I ... I ... I don’t know where you ... you ... get ... get these silly ideas.”