by Paul Kelly
“Sorry ... Now can we get back to your visit to the flat on the evening in question. You say it was Fiona who telephoned you and asked you to go to see her mother the following day?”
“Yes.”
”So you had a key to the flat all this time you were not visiting Maya. Is that correct?”
”Yes … I … I … have … t … t … told … you that, haven’t it …”.”
“Rather strange, don’t you think ... That a woman should ask you to leave her flat some time before and not ask you to return the key?”
“I never thought to ... re ...return the key and …M …M … Maya never asked me. I just forgot ... for ... for ... forgot that I had the key in my … p ... p ... pocket. That’s all”
“And so you were able to let yourself into the flat when you went there, by invitation, the following morning, yes? How convenient”
“I told you it ... it ... it was Fiona who asked me to go b ... b ... back to the flat, not Maya and I went back to the … f … f … flat, not in the m ... m ... morning, but in the evening around seven, as that was the time … wh ...wh ...wh ...when I always …w ... w ... went there. Look you are getting me stuttering again and I don’t ... I ... I ... I don’t like it.” William snapped, as his eyes were wild …
“Take your time and answer at your will. I’m not in any rush and I just want you to be calm and answer to the best of your ability. Did Fiona know that you still had the key and did she know that Maya was expecting another visitor that day?”
“You will have to ask Fiona that question,” said William in a very slow and determined voice and there was no apparent stutter.
“O.K … Let’s leave that point for the moment. Now when you arrived at the flat … around seven in the evening, as you say, did you hear any voices or any sound at all within the flat?”
“No.”
“At what time EXACTLY did you arrive there?”
“At my …u ... u ... u ... usual time … wh … wh … when I visited Maya ... About 6.30 or 7.0pm, but I … I … I … I … can’t say exactly.”
Lederer stroked his chin.
“Could you just be a little more exact William? Was it nearer 6.30 or nearer 7.O?”
William stroked his chin and looked to the ceiling.
“Nearer … s ... s ... seven, I would say.”
“And never during the day . . . but always in the evenings … and always about that time” Lederer asked, but there was a look of doubt in his eyes as he studied William more closely …
“I could never visit Maya … d ... d ... during the … d ... d ... day. She is a dental surgeon and has a surgery …t ... t ... t ... to attend to.”
“Every day . . . she doesn’t have a day off at any time?”
“She works in her … s ... s ... surgery every day of the week, but she is al ... always away at the weekends, from … F ... F ... F ... Friday evening actually. She has conferences and lectures and ... and ... and things she has to attend. It was after one of these … con … con …conferences in S ... S ... S ... Southend that I first … m ... m ... met her.”
Lederer raised his eyebrows as he continued to question William, but there was a strange look in his eye.
“But wasn’t it a Friday evening when you went to see Maya at Fiona’s invitation?”
“Yes ... I ... I ... suppose … Fi … Fi … Fiona knew that her mother w ... w ... would not be away on that day, otherwise she w ... w ... wouldn’t have asked me, w ... w ... would she?”
“I’m asking YOU, William,”
“I was anxious to get back to see M ... M ... Maya and I … d … d…didn’t think much about it being a … F ... F ... Friday and anyway it didn’t … m ... m ... matter as long as she wanted to see me. I was willing to … to … to see M … M … Maya at any time . . . Any ...any ... d ... d ... day.”
“O.K . . . I can understand that, but didn’t you think it was rather strange that when you went to visit Maya there was another man at the flat at precisely the time you always went there?”
“I never th ... th ... th ... thought about that. I just wanted to … s … see her.”
“And you say there was no sound when you arrived at the flat. What did you do then?”
William coughed and looked about him.
“I hesitated to put the k ... k ... key in the lock for a few moments, so I knocked …f ... f ... f ... first and then rang the doorbell.”
“Yes and what happened then?”
“I heard this strange noise ... A sort of ... of ... of ... sh ... sh ... shuffling sound and then I thought I … h ... h ... h ... heard a scream.”
“Yes, you heard a scream?”
“Yes, it was then I …sh ... sh ... shoved the key in the lock and rushed inside.”
“And it was then you saw this strange man? What was he doing?”
William closed his eyes and began to shake.
“I ... I ... saw that this man had his hands … his hands … ar … ar … ar … around Maya’s throat. He was a … b ... b ... big man, broad and tall. I ... I ... I ... thought he would kill her if I didn’t do something, so I ... I ... reached for a poker by the fireside and hit him hard across the … sh ... sh ... sh ... shoulders with it. This poker was all I could …f ... f ... find at that … m ... m ... moment.”
“Yes and …” Lederer persisted and William closed his eyes for a moment before he answered.
“He stumbled and turned …to ... to ... to ... towards me. I hit him with my fist this time and he fell to the …f ... f ... f ... floor. There was blood …c ... c ... coming from his mouth and I knew I had …d … d ... d ... done him some ... some ... serious damage, but I was more …in …in …in …interested in helping M ... M ... M ... Maya.”
“Did you check to see what harm you had done to this man who was lying on the floor, by this time?”
“No ... I … d ... d ... didn’t care what I had done to him. I just d ... d ... dropped the poker to the … f ... f ... f ... floor and went to the telephone to …d ... d ... d ... dial for an ambulance to get Maya into … h ... h ... h ... h ... hospital. She looked ... rather … d ... d ... dazed. I think she was unconscious.”
“You’re doing fine William,” James Lederer patronized, “Your stutter isn’t so bad. Are you able to go on with some more questions?”
William nodded, but he looked pale and Lederer could see that he was deeply upset.
“It was just a …f ... f ... few minutes after the ambulance had taken Maya away that the p ... p ... p ... police arrived at the flat. They … w ... w ... wouldn’t let me go to the hospital with her. It was then I knew that I had m ... m ... m ... murdered this man. The ambulance took him away also and the police took me to … to … to … the … p ... p ... police station for … qu ... qu ... qu ... questioning.”
“Did they handcuff you, William?” he asked and William shook his head.
“I was stunned. They knew I … c ... c ... couldn’t and wouldn’t run away, even if I …w ... w ... wanted to and besides, I told them then that I had m ... m ... murdered that man.”
Lederer sighed deeply and felt for his brief case.
“Don’t be such a bloody idiot,” Lederer said and his voice was angry … “You didn’t murder anyone. This man’s name is David Bingham. He is in hospital suffering from an over dose of cocaine otherwise he’s as right as you or I will ever be. He’s a registered drug addict. Can you tell me if Maya was an addict too?”
William stared into space. There was fear in his eyes and a tear formed at the corner of his eyelid.
“I was …sh ... sh ... sure I had killed this man. There was blood coming from his … m ... m ... m ... mouth as he was lying on the … f ... f ... floor after I hit him. He did not seem to be … b ... b ... b ... breathing, but I have never thought M ... M ...
M ... Maya to be on drugs. No . . . n ... n ... never that . . . She is a lovely woman.”
“But as you have already said, you were more interested in getting Maya to the hospital. I don‘t suppose you gave this man another thought. Did you William?”
William did not answer that question.
“Is Maya alright?” he asked, “Can I … g ... g ... go to the hospital and see her?
“Maya is not in hospital. She was discharged yesterday. That is when I went to see her, but I will have to go again to ask her some questions.
“She is alright then, yes?”
“Yes ... Apart from a sore neck and a black eye together with a bruised ego, the lady is fine, but I still want to know why Fiona arranged for you to go to the flat when this man was there with Mrs. Broomfield. Was Fiona aware that this man would be there with her mother and did she know what time you would go there, knowing her mother’s routine?”
“I ... d ... d ... don’t know, but Fee ... F... F ... Fiona wouldn’t do anything like that …d ... d ... deliberately. I presumed that Maya h ... h ... had asked her to tell me I could come back and ... and ...and ...and see her. That’s all.”
James Lederer stooped down and picked up his brief case.
“I’ll be off now, but I’ll see Mrs. Broomfield again soon ... and also her daughter Fiona.
“But what will … ha ... ha ... happen to me now? Will I still be held prisoner here or … w ... w ... w ... will they let me go,” pleaded William, but Lederer couldn’t give him an answer except to tell him that he was still guilty of assault and the rest was up to the police.
Chapter Seven
MAYA BROOMFIELD opened the door of her flat to see this large figure standing in front of her waving a pencil in the air. He bowed low and took off his trilby.
“Yes, what is it your after?” asked Maya, pulling her house coat around her carefully, as she had some idea it was something to do with the incident that had occurred in her flat on the previous weekend.
“Just a few questions, if you don’t mind, Madam. My name is Gardner, Inspector Reginald Arthur Gardner, member of the Metropolitan police, plain clothes section, I hasten to add, but you can call me Reggie”
“Bloody considerate of you, I’m sure,” added Maya as she stepped aside to let the visitor into her flat. Maya knew it would be impossible to tell the visitor to get the hell out of it, as she stood aside and allowed him to pass her and walk into the lounge.
“Nice place you have here, Mrs. Broomfield. I wouldn’t say no to a cup of coffee and may I call you Maya?”
“You’ve got a bloody cheek, I’ll say that for you Inspector,” Maya snapped,
“What was it you said your name was again?”
“Gardner, Ma’am ... Reggie Gardner, but you can . . .”
“Yes ... yes, I know all that old jargon. I’ve heard it all before. Now what was it you wanted to know because I’m just about to nip down to the chemist to get something for this …”
Maya pointed to her black eye and some bruising on her right cheek.
“Well, it looks as though you’ve been in some sort of a fight. Doesn’t it now,” said Reggie with a grin, but Maya was not amused, nor had she any intention of laughing.
“You know what it is,” she barked and scowled simultaneously, “and I want to get dressed when you’ve finished your interrogation ... if you don’t mind.” she grunted.
“Three sugars but just a little milk,” added Reggie, ignoring Maya deliberately and knowing full well that she was annoyed at his request…”Didn’t you get some treatment at the hospital for that?” Reggie went on, but Maya snubbed his remark and told him she wasn’t going to the chemist to get medicine or ointment, but to get some make-up to hide the marks on her face.
“You won’t need a lot of mascara for that right eye, will you?” said Reggie and Maya sneered again.
“Get on with that you have to do, or you might need more than mascara on both your eyes INSPECTOR,” she snarled.
Reggie smiled. He liked a woman with spirit, but he wasn’t at Maya’s flat to admire her wit …or for a cup of anything, but information… She poured Reggie some coffee from a percolator and sat down opposite him, running her hands across her thighs as she crossed her legs provocatively, being careful to adjust her house coat to show just as much of her anatomy, as she intended He sat down and crossed his legs with a sigh as if he was more comfortable in that position.
“The sugar’s there. Help yourself,” she added, but her voice was anything but inviting…
“Now then, it’s about William ... Just William,” he smiled as he supposed she recognized that he was making a pun …“That’s the subject of my visit. You know William of course?” he asked and Maya nodded.
“He’s a friend of mine,” she said in a soft voice as Reggie helped himself to the sugar.
“A very good friend, I hasten to add, MAYA ... I can call you Maya, yes?”
Again Maya nodded and Reggie continued …“A friend who would go out of his way to protect you from harm, would you agree. A friend who might even kill for you, if need be.” Reggie added as he sipped his drink slowly.
Maya sat upright in her chair and her eyes were ablaze.
“Oh Fuck! ... Is he dead? Is Bingham dead,” she asked nervously and her hands shook “It was Billy-Boy who did it. I never touched him.” Maya went on nervously …”Dave went out like a light when he hit him. I never did anything. I swear I didn’t. I don‘t remember anything about it.”
Reggie Gardner stopped smiling when she said that.
“You don‘t remember anything about it and yet you could remember that it was your friend William who hit this man, Dave and that he went out like a light and best of all, that you had nothing to do with it ... How strange, don’t you think? Strange that you can remember some things and not others, isn‘t it?” he said as he raised his eyebrows in surprise over what Maya Broomfield had said. Apparently she hadn’t heard the latest that Dave Bingham was still in hospital suffering from a drugs overdose and he decided to leave that information for a future enquiry, but he was nevertheless surprised that Maya should accuse her young lover of so much violence ... Was this what she would describe as LOVE? Had her maternal instinct abandoned her suddenly?
“Tell me what happened?” he asked and leant forwards with his coffee mug in his hands to await the story that he knew would be interesting, to say the least. Maya Broomfield looked lost for a few moments and tried to collect her thoughts as she shook her head violently from side to side.
“I hope he’s not dead,” she repeated, “I would hate for Billy-Boy to be in trouble because of that ... that big bastard … I don’t know why the hell Billy-Boy came back that evening, but I suppose I should be grateful, or I might be more seriously injured than I was.”
“You didn’t know he was coming then, did you?”
“No ... I had told him to go; ... to leave my flat and never come back. That was about three weeks before. We had a row, you see. He was very forceful and insolent at times.”
Gardner was even more surprised at that reference to William ... or Billy-Boy as he had now resolved to call him. Well Billy- Boy sounded a little bit better than William anyway, although hardly a choice pseudonym, he thought, but he had hardy imagined that Maya Broomfield would have seriously complained about her young lover being forceful ... Insolent, perhaps ... most young men could be described as that, but not forceful. That would surely have added to her exotic pleasures.
“It sounds as if Billy-Boy was a very ‘close’ friend, Maya.”
Maya Broomfield closed her eyes for a second before she opened them again to admire her nails.
“You bastard,” she snapped, as she stared at the floor. “You know of our relationship, don’t you? So why the bloody hell pretend?”
Reggie cocked
his head to one side and sighed heavily as he pretended to be shocked. How could he answer that question other than to ask Maya again if William Bright, alias Billy-Boy was indeed her very own toy-boy …”
“You fancied him then?” he asked.
“Like as hell I did, but that’s all over now. I don’t want to be involved in any killing.”
Reggie decided to play along and say nothing of David Bingham’s fate until later on in his enquiries.
“But you never asked him to leave the keys of your flat ... did you Maya and I think you would have been insistent on that if you really didn’t want to see him again ... don’t you agree?” ... Maya hung her head when Reggie mentioned the keys. “Don’t you think that proves that the Billy-Boy loved you when he would go to that length to protect you?”
Maya stretched her legs out as she touched her breast.
“He loved me ... O.K. Well that’s what he said, but that was all shit.”
“SHIT?” shouted Gardner, “How can you call any kind of love shit?”
“He was too young to know anything about love. He got what he wanted here and he didn’t have to pay for it. He was a dreamer, was that boy. So he‘s got nothing to complain about and anyway, I didn‘t want all the trash that went with the sex I had with him. I never asked him to write those bloody letters, did I?”
“Letters . . . what letters are those?” asked Gardner and Maya held her breath for a moment as she hesitated to answer.
“Its nothing …nothing at all,” Maya tried to explain, as she felt she had already said too much. “Just silly little childish notes he wrote to me from time to time. It’s nothing I tell you.”
“He really must have thought a lot about you then, Maya ... I’m sure you must think that, especially now and anyway, it would have been easier for Billy-Boy to write letters to you rather than talk ... as he had a bad stutter and that must have deterred him a lot in his loving conversations, don’t you think?”
Maya looked surprised when Gardner said that.
“Stutter ... I don’t know what you’re talking about. Billy-Boy never stuttered when he was with me,” she snapped and Gardner raised his eyebrows in surprise as his mind went into fourth gear . . . Perhaps such was the power of love after all, he thought.