by Paul Kelly
“I’ve been to see Mrs. Broomfield, William,” he said, “and she seems to think everything was lovely between you too. Was it?”
William looked into Lederer’s eyes.
“I have already …t ... t ... told you, I was in love with her, if that’s … wh ... wh ... what you mean,” he replied but Lederer didn’t seem to take any notice of what the young man had said and William looked at him in anger. “I ... I ... I ... I was in love with her, I said. Didn’t you hear … m ... m ... m ... me?” he repeated and Lederer nodded as if this information was no great surprise and didn’t amount to anything of importance.
“She was ... is a very sexual woman William, this Mrs. Broomfield and naturally for a young man of your age, it would be a great thing for her to have given you any attention ... in a sexual way, I mean ... and therefore you might easily confuse that with love. Haven’t you ever felt a loving sensation for anyone else before this ... and I don’t mean the feelings you have for your mother . . . natural love I mean …”
“It wouldn’t …b ... b ... b ... be difficult to describe the love I had for my … m ... m ... mother. You could write all … th ... th ... th ... that on the back of a p ... p ... postage stamp and it was …it was … anything but ‘natural’ love, I …c…c…c…can assure you, however I knew a girl from my school days once ... There was … n ... n ... nothing between us, but there was a … fl ... fl... fleeting moment when I … th ... th ... th ... thought there might be. I tried to … k ... k ... k ... kiss her once, but she wasn’t interested. Her …n ... n ... n ... name was Iris ... Iris …s … s ... s ... something or other. I‘ve forgotten her … s ... s ... surname now, but it … d ... d ... doesn‘t matter,” he said and then as if by a sudden afterthought, he raised his voice a little, “I saw her about …f ... f ... four or … f ... f ... f ... f ... five weeks ago in the supermarket where I work and …”
“Yes, go on. You saw this Iris girl whose surname you can’t remember, so what of it?” asked Lederer and William blushed.
“She was … p ... p ... p ... pregnant and she also had another baby in a … p ... p ... pram,” he said and Lederer grinned.
“Well it wasn’t anything to do with you, so why the hell are you blushing? You only tried to kiss the girl from what you’ve told me and you have to do a little more than kiss a girl to get her pregnant as I’m sure you know, Mr. Bright.”
“I had …n ... n ... never been with any woman or …a … g ... g ... g ... girl before I went with Maya. She is the only person who ever showed me any …af ... af ... af ... affection. I was so proud and really, really happy when she let me ...”
“Let you what?” asked Lederer indifferently, as he threw his head back trying to make young Billy-Boy think that he was little interested in what he was saying, but the words that were coming from the young man’s mouth were very important …Very important indeed,”
“Nothing,” William replied sharply and stared at the ground. “It’s n ... n ... n ... none of your …b ... b ... business,”
“She let you touch her in an intimate way, didn’t she?”
“”I have said, that is none of your … b ... b ... business …Haven‘t I?”
Lederer was cautious, but he began to think he might try Gardner’s approach when he asked William if he fucked his lover, which he thought was a stupid thing to ask and certainly not the kind of language he would use in any interrogation, but he also thought that the provocative word might make the boy think differently, however, he was wrong. William never raised an eyebrow when Lederer uttered the dreaded words ... He sat in silence and Lederer wondered what he should say next to bring this young man to the open so that he would talk of his experiences with Mrs. Broomfield and lessen the sentence that was overshadowing him, even if it wasn’t murder.
“She seduced you …didn’t she,” he said and watched William’s reaction ... “and don’t deny it,” Lederer went on . . . “she has already told me that she has.”
“I loved her. That is all I am …g ... g ... g ... going to say.” was the reply but Lederer wouldn’t leave it like that.
“You met this woman on a rainy evening; went to her flat to dry off and fell in love with her ... all in a few minutes. Did you like her cocoa? Did she shove something into your drink?” William rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand as Lederer continued, “I can understand why you had sex with her, lad. Some men would say she is beautiful. Certainly she is a woman of experience, whereas you ... you had none or very little and as she touched you, especially when you were partly naked, it’s only natural that you would respond, but that was SEX, not love. You surely must realize that. You’re no fool William Bright.”
William bit his lip and rubbed his eye with his forefinger.
“No, you are … you are wrong,” William replied coldly, “No ... w ... w ... woman had ever let me …d ... d ... do anything to her that she did. She taught me things that I would … n. n ... n ... never have learned if she had not … b ... b ... b ... been with me.”
Lederer reflected on some of the things that Maya Broomfield had said before he continued his questioning and his following question was a gamble, but he felt he had to ask it.
“Cunnilingus,” he said slowly, “Did she teach you what that meant, or was that something you thought was a cough medicine?”
William sat with glazed eyes when Lederer asked him that question.
“I would have done any ... any ... anything for her,” he replied, innocently avoiding any knowledge of what Lederer had said.
“Even murder?” asked Lederer and William began to cry.
“Yes, even m ... m ... murder,” he stammered, “ but you told me … th ... th ... th ... that this man I thought I had …k ... k ... k ... killed was still alive and in hospital,”
“He is alive and should be discharged totally from hospital quite soon I should imagine, but there are other problems in this case.”
“Other problems …What do you … m ... m ... mean?”
Lederer crossed his legs and studied his socks as if there was some special pattern there that would resolve and answer any question that William would ask.
“There’s some matter of drugs, William. Did you know Mrs. Broomfield to indulge in drugs at all ... I mean in the times when you were with her?”
William looked perplexed before he started to laugh,
“Maya doesn’t …n ... n ... n ... need drugs,” he said, “she is a drug in her ... her ... her ... herself when you are with her, but … ad ... ad ... additional drugs ... No ... and …f ... f ... for what anyway?”
“Well, you are her favourite lollipop,” added Lederer thinking again of some remark that Maya Broomfield had let slip. “So I suppose you would know better than anyone else.”
“Lollipop … Lollipop? I don’t know … wh ... wh ... what you mean. Did she say that to you? ... favourite, I mean?”
“Yes, she did, why?”
William sighed heavily, but he started to look sad.
“I didn’t know that there … w ... w ... were any others,” he said, “Not for me to be her …f ... f ... f ... favourite.”
Lederer thought it might be well to add a little humour to the story at this point, as he felt somewhat sorry for what he had said.
“Perhaps you were the flavour of the month,” he said, but William blushed wildly and Lederer thought he might have gone just a little too far . . .
Chapter Twelve
REGGIE GARDNER looked at his notes in the police station library. He wasn’t familiar with a computer and felt he was too old to start learning, so he had collected his information in a cardex system, each card containing someone’s name connected to the case. It was only a brief study of what each person was like, but it would give him enough information to make a more detailed study at a later date when he got home to his semi ... if
the wife would allow him. At least for the moment, there in the police station library, he would have some peace and quiet, away from nosy questions about the case he was now investigating.
Reggie searched into his cardex system and drew out the first card ...William Bright ... it read ... Bright boy despite what everyone seems to think about him … handsome lad, but unlucky with the girls. I wonder why? Says they giggle at him and he can’t stand being laughed at ...and what about this violin playing.
“Wonder was he any use at that and if he was, did he woo his lady with the fiddle?” Reggie asked himself aloud before he thrust his hand to his mouth and enjoyed a quiet giggle. He went on to the next character in his notes, turning the second card upside down on the desk and read …Bertha Bright ... not so bright as her silly son, I would say. Knows her onions though ... Wonderful mother to her only son ... I wonder. Her husband Charlie must have had some time with her constant nagging when he was alive ... Reggie felt sure that comment was accurate … Mustn’t call William by any other name or he would take offence ... “Strange” he thought aloud again as he turned the second card around to read what he had written on the back and rubbing the end of his nose with his fist as he muttered aloud …“I asked her son how he got on with his mother, but I should have asked him how he got on with his headmaster at school, shouldn’t I?”
Stupid to forget a thing like that, he read on, especially as everybody seemed to think he was a bit dull ... and yet, he could quickly and efficiently learn to play the violin. Nothing dull about that. ... A second card went face down and Reggie Gardner took out a third one …
Maya Broomfield ... She’s a hard case. Dentist by profession always looking at other people’s mouths when she isn’t studying William Bright’s assets with her own ... and another card went face down
Next on line was Fiona Munroe-Smith ... Sweet little madam. Wonder what her daddy Major Munroe-Smith was like? She doted on him apparently, but doesn’t have much time for her mother ... to say the least. Has a soft spot for the mother’s young lover, I would think. ... Or does she? Was she being truthful when she arranged for William to visit her mother’s flat when she knew that one of her mother’s other lovers would be there ... or was she hoping that young William would turn against her mother if he discovered he was being two-timed ... or playing second fiddle ... Was that more like it, Reggie wondered . . . “Second fiddle,” he repeated and laughed again at his own pun. …”Ha! Ha! “ Reggie laughed again as he continued to read aloud, “ Oh that was a pun, wasn’t it? second fiddle indeed …and he a violinist. ... But then that wouldn’t have meant that William would have turned his affections towards Fiona ... or would it?”
Gardner gathered his cards together and shuffled them about like a pack of playing cards, hoping that one would turn out to be the ace, but he knew there would have to be a more thorough investigation before he could complete his enquiries.
***
It wasn’t difficult to interview Mr. David Bingham. He was still languishing in his prison cell, when he wasn’t in the prison hospital awaiting his release on parole and where he was allowed out on days with some sort of bail … Reggie Gardner studied Bingham’s form from the notes he had collected from the prison authorities and knew that most of Bingham’s adult life was spent in prison ... even if he had been educated at public school level and had a degree in something or other, the name of which puzzled Gardner, since it was so difficult to spell. Bingham was only 36, but looked rather older in the snapshot that Gardner held in his hand. No doubt women and the booze had something to do with that and booze was number one on the high list of his priorities, when he wasn’t snorting cocaine . . . and where did he get the dope from ... and even better still, when he had it to whom did he sell it on? ...
Gardner waited in the interrogation room not quite expecting the figure that appeared through the heavy doorway. The man was HUGE in every sense of the word.
“Are you here to help me out of this bloody mess?” Bingham asked as he coughed and his chest rattled. “I’ve had two days out and now they’ve got me back again. I don’t know what the hell is happening here. Either I should be in hospital; in jail … or they should let me go free.”
Reggie stood up, almost as a token of respect as he listened to the cultured voice of the giant who stood before him and then he sat down quickly again. What was it with this guy, who made you think he was someone of some bearing when he was only a common junkie, but Gardner couldn’t answer his own question as he sat in silence and tried to answer the prisoner’s question … “Are you a solicitor ... or something like that and am I entitled to legal aid as I can’t afford you, if I’m not.” said Bingham with a very upper-crust English accent.
“I’m not a solicitor,” said Gardner, feeling rather inferior with his accent being as near Cockney as you would wish for. “I’m a police officer, C.I.D. and I’ve been detailed here to give you any help you might require before your trial on Thursday. Now is there anything you want to ask me, before we start?”
Bingham coughed again and sputum filled the air, compelling Gardner to reach into his pocket for his handkerchief.
“Got a fag?” asked Bingham and Gardner shook his head. The prisoner was not the only one who could do with a weed at that time, but the notices were everywhere and in ever language ... NO SMOKING.
“They don’t have anything on me, you know,” Bingham went on as his chest heaved, “I was only having some fun with that dame and she wasn’t complaining. Don’t know what hit me when I bounced off the floor and who was that fucking idiot who knocked me over? I hadn’t seen him before. Was he one of the Dentist lady’s clients,” he asked and a broad smile swept across his large face. “She knows her trade, does that one and I don’t mean what she does for the poor buggers in her dental chair.”
Reg. Gardner smiled although he thought the humour too dry for his taste.
“Have they discharge you then?” asked Reggie with a curious look on his face.
“Something called ‘condition of residence’…” replied Bingham, “whatever the hell that means. I know I can’t leave home if that’s what they mean.”
“That’s right. You can’t wander afar ... Have they taken your passport?”
“Yes ... and I hope they don’t keep it too long. I was hoping to get across to France to collect some more booze before long. My cellar’s looking empty.”
Gardner wanted to ask him at this juncture in the conversation about his other passion and he didn’t mean Maya Broomfield. He was more interested to know how Bingham got hold of his cocaine ... and other drugs that he didn’t want to talk about at that juncture.
“How do you spend your time then, if you are confined so much? It can’t be easy,” Gardner prompted hoping he might get a clue about his interviewee’s pass-times, but Bingham sat in silence, pondering something that existed only in his mind.
“Pass-times?” queried Gardner again, “Hobbies? Do you have any hobbies, he asked, but Bingham only laughed as something of a reply; staring at the floor and studying his hands.
“Pass-times ... Well, I like woman, as you already know ... and by the way, I wasn’t trying to kill that bird, Maya. I only wanted to teach her a lesson ... slap her around a bit and then that little shit came in and spoiled everything.”
Gardner put his head to one side, affecting pity, but he was gradually beginning to find a certain loathing for this man who seemed to think only of himself and had such a disregard for the woman he professed to like. Quite a contradiction to the little shit that interrupted his love play, he thought . . . Maybe young Billy-Boy was more of a man than he thought and maybe Maya Broomfield should have realized that before she started meddling with the giant who nearly killed her.
“I thought you were arrested because there was a suspicion about the marks on her throat. Surely that was more than ‘teaching her a lesson’ or slapp
ing her around a bit?”
“Marks on her throat?” asked Bingham before he laughed aloud again. “You tell me when you’ll ever find Maya Broomfield without some mark or other on her throat ... and other places on her body as well. She’s a sadist is that one. Could eat a man for dinner and spit him out for supper, she could. She’s no flower. I can tell you. She sure smells good but she‘s no rose and she is always with some bruise or other on her body. She loves that, she does ... Shows those marks to you with a certain pride in her eyes. I think that’s what really turns her on.”
“Nevertheless, if there were other wounds or marks on her body, they weren’t found by the police and I think she would have been examined thoroughly by a police doctor, don’t you?”
“Police doctor, my arse,” barked Bingham. “I was marched off to hospital after I came round in the police station. They didn’t give a damn what happened to me, did they? All they could when they so-called ‘examined’ me, was stick a finger up my fucking arse, but I could have been bleeding from head to toe for all they cared. Bloody examination ...”
“Well you weren’t marched off before you were examined. Mr. Bingham and the police doctor found traces of drugs in your blood stream.”
Bingham’s eyes went wide when Gardner said that and he began to shake and move his head about in a jerky fashion.
“There’s no way they could have found anything on me,” he snapped, “Clean as a whistle I am and have been for years. Why I didn’t even touch a drop of booze that evening I went to visit Maya Broomfield ... Well, you must understand that surely. I can’t get a hard-on when I’m pissed, can I?”
“Is that so?”
“Yes it bloody well is ... I was married for fourteen years without any trouble down there in that department and yet now, after having been divorced for only three years, I can’t get a stiff one unless ...”
“Unless you have a little cocaine to help you along?” asked Gardner, but Bingham only laughed again. .