In Love with Richard Read online

  Title Page

  IN LOVE WITH RICHARD

  By

  Paul Kelly

  Publisher Information

  Published in 2013 by

  Andrews UK Limited

  www.andrewsuk.com

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.

  Copyright © Paul Kelly 2013

  The right of Paul Kelly to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  Chapter One

  The Surburbs of London, 2001. A Police Station

  RICHARD BRIGHT sat with his head in his hands waiting whatever judgment was to befall him when one or more of the Station officers came through the heavy door at the other end of the cell. He had just had his twenty-first birthday, but it hadn’t been the joyful one that most people expect at that time and he felt such a fool... The last two days had been spent in custody in that prison cell and he knew he had been stupid in what he had done, but he also knew he would do it again if need be.

  His life had changed so dramatically in the last few years, when he remembered what it was like at St. Michael‘s School, where he was so inconspicuous a scholar and where day followed day and life went on without incident... without anything of interest for that matter. He didn’t have a girlfriend, or even a close male friend, that he could call his best mate. He felt isolated and he couldn’t understand why. It was not as if he had two heads or anything like that... was it? Then that fateful day when he was standing getting soaked in the rain on his way back to London from Southend and that motor cyclist had given him a lift when all the large vehicles; vans and cars just sped past leaving him with only the heavy spray from the rain... but he never suspected the motor cyclist would be a middle aged woman with short blonde hair cut like a boy, nor that she would invite him up to her flat in Muswell Hill for a hot drink before he went home on the underground. He never knew it was a woman motorcycle driver until she appeared from her bathroom into the lounge where Richard was sitting, with only a bath towel wrapped around her. He remembered thinking at that time, that he should move away and make an excuse to leave the flat, but she invited him to dry off and put his wet jacket over the radiator. Together with that, she had thrown a bath towel at him and suggested he could dry the rest of his clothes off before he left. Richard Bright knew in that moment that his life had changed... and changed forever as he visited Maya Thompson’s flat nearly every evening after that first meeting and eventually moved in as her lover.

  Maya Thompson was the biggest surprise and love of his life. He loved her from the start of his first meeting with her. He hadn’t just fallen head over heels in love with the woman; he adored her... and would have done anything for her to prove his love and this is where he went wrong. One dark, wet evening he went to her flat to tell her of his undying love, after they had fallen out over some trivial matter, or so it seemed to Richard and he hadn’t been to see Maya for a few weeks, but when he arrived there he found Maya in the arms of another man... or rather the other man with his arms around Maya and his strong sturdy hands clasping her throat. It was in that moment of fear and anger that Richard Bright’s life had changed again and this time it was NOT for the best.

  Chapter Two

  TOMMY GARDNER crossed his legs and lit a cigarette.

  “Smoke?” he asked offering his packet to the buxom woman who sat beside him, but she waved her hand in the air and snorted. “Bad habit,” he admitted, “but I’ve been too long with it now. Don’t think it’s worth stopping when you get to my age and I’ll be nearly twenty-thee next birthday,” he joked, but as Lizzie Bright, his companion shook her head. Tommy knew that his joke was lost on her.

  “Oh! I’ve got the habit too,” she said slowly, “ especially when I ‘ave to wait here so long in this flaming police station and without any news that I can talk about, but I’ve just finished one and I’m getting a little nervous. Perhaps I’ll have another a little later, but thanks anyway.”

  Gardner blew a smoke ring in the air and studied the woman’s face as he started to question her. He had been a police officer for more than thirty years but his approach was always novel and he considered himself to be quite an actor when it came to his work in the Force; his tactics had been noticed by all his fellow workers with admiration... and Tommy knew it. There were few, if any who could tell Thomas Gardner what to do...

  “The lad?” he asked as he screwed his eyes up with the smoke that started to smart and nodded towards the cell where Richard was sitting so miserably alone. “Is he your only child?”

  “Yes,” she replied, “I had a little girl, but she died when she was only a few months old. Richard is my only child now. He is nearly twenty-one... No, I tell a lie. He is twenty-one now and should be twenty-two in August.

  “Smart looking boy is Richard and big for his age, I would say. Well, I shouldn’t say big really, but rather tall for his age. He’s well proportioned, if you know what I mean. Is your husband alive? I seem to remember in my notes that you are a widow... Is that correct?”

  “Yes, my Sammy died when Richard was six. I don’t think my son would remember much about his dad, although perhaps I shouldn’t be saying that as Richard was very fond of his dad for all his tender years. Well, yes, I’m sure he was, after all, he wears his dad’s ring now, you know. Expensive thing it was too... Silly boy to do that, don’t you think? That ring should be mine. I was married to Sammy, not Richard and all I got was his bloody pocketwatch. Sammy must have been confused when he wrote out that Will and that’s all I can say. He was never what you might call an ’hintellectual,’ said Lizzie Bright, feeling sure that an ‘H’ should have been at the beginning of the description of her husband‘s lifestyle... ‘He was a good man, was my Sammy, Mind you, it was a good watch he left me. It was real gold too... I got quite a few pounds for it. Silly boy is my Richard. That’s what I think. I should have had that ring as well,” she went on. “My Richard will never use it, will he?... The gormless bugger. Who the ‘ell would want to marry ‘im... I ask you?”

  Lizzie Bright sniffed complacently when she concluded her sentence as if the entire future of her beloved son was in front of her, but Tommy Gardner ignored her question as he asked Richard’s mother one of his own... presuming that he knew more than she did about her son’s destiny and ignoring her smug conclusions of what her silly son might do.

  “I would have thought you would have kept your husband’s watch, Mrs. Bright, especially as you were so much attached to your husband when he was alive,” he said, but not with a great deal of sincerity in his voice. “And as for Richard... well he might get married one day and that would be nice for him if he could use his own father’s wedding ring, wouldn’t it?”

  Mrs. Bright stared at the police officer in surprise when he said that.

  “My Richard getting married... don’t make me laugh... He wouldn’t know what to do with...”Lizzie Bright stopped talking suddenly and shoved her palm across her lips as she smiled. “Well, you can’t take it with you, can you... “she replied hoping to amend for her verbal indiscretion in her description of what she thought her son was, or wasn’t capable of doing... “and besides, I had that boy to keep, didn’t I? He
needed clothes and things as well as food and other things besides. Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know”

  Gardner closed his eyes in tolerance of Mrs. Bright’s ‘affectionate’ nature, before he continued his questions.

  “Why do you think you would laugh if Richard decided to get married, Mrs. Bright? Does he have a girlfriend? Richard, I mean?”

  “Who... MY Richard?... You must be joking. Well, he didn’t have no one and couldn’t tell a boy from a girl, if you ask me... well that is till he met this floozy that’s causing all the trouble. He wouldn’t say boo to a goose, would my Richard... Doesn’t have much upstairs actually. I shouldn’t say that about my own son, but there’s no use telling you he’s some sort of a genius when he certainly is not that... and he stutters a bit when he’s excited... did you know that?” she went on but, before Gardner could answer, Mrs. Bright continued in haste... “Never was much good at school and the only jobs he could get when he left school at fourteen was cleaning or stacking shelves at the Supermarket... Wanted to go to university or some higher school or other, he did. Always had high ideas about himself, I say and that used to make me laugh... I would laugh my bleedin’ sides sore sometimes at the things he wanted to do and he used to scribble some sort of lines and signs on a scrap of paper. Called it music, he did, but I thought it was just gibberish. Didn’t make no sense to me at all. So he kept jabbering on about universities and things like that when he came home from the supermarket, but that was just nonsense. All balderdash is what I would tell him. He wasn’t a one for further studies and anyway, he couldn’t have done much if he was up to tricks with this female; this bitch, I should say, could he? Only heard about that nonsense with all this news what’s going around. I mean, this latest news about him being in this trouble is more than a surprise to me. Never thought my Richard would make any news of himself at all, let alone this,” gabbled Mrs. Bright, not caring whether anyone was listening to her or not. “Never happens at the weekends usually, that’s what surprised me too, you know. I just can’t believe it. Most people are ‘at it’ at the weekends, even if they don’t muck about much during the week, I would have thought.” Lizzie Bright closed her eyes in scorn as she threw her shoulders back and giggled softly to herself.

  Tommy Garner raised his eyebrows and wondered if Mrs. Bright had finished her oratory before he would get a chance to speak. He stared at her in silence for a few moments.

  “What do you mean... it never happens at the weekends, Mrs. Bright? I thought this particular incident involving your son Richard took place on a Friday evening.”

  “Well, yes it did, but... Oh! I don’t know, but it seems this lady, if you can call her that, has some business out of London every weekend and there is no-one in her flat at that time since she lives alone...”Lizzie Bright laughed again at her own remark before she continued to speak... “She’s some sort of a teacher of photographs or something like that... a business woman I should imagine, as far as I know. ”Maybe she has to work away then...”interrupted Gardner quickly, in fear that the talkative lady who was sitting comfortably in front of him would start her jabbering again. “I mean, she could be giving lectures or anything like that, couldn’t she, if she is a business woman of some kind, eh?” he added and sighed with relief that he was able to talk again, “but you do surprise me when you say that your son is not as bright as he might be. That concerns me a little because of how good-looking your son is Mrs. Bright or should I say... so intelligent looking? I would have thought all the girls would be round him like flies around the honey pot. He is more than just attractive you know.”

  “Oh! I know what you mean. Yea, I know what you mean alright...”Mrs. Bright added with enthusiasm, “Takes after his dad as far as looks are concerned, but that’s about all. My Sammy was ever so handsome; romantic with it too. Couldn’t leave me alone, he couldn’t. At it night and day too, he was. Just couldn’t get enough of me, sexy bugger... kept telling me how beautiful I was...”

  Mrs. Bright giggled again when she made that remark and closed her eyes with a complacent smile on her face. “But my Dickie... Oh dear... I mustn’t dare keep calling him that or I’m for the high jump... well, I don’t think he’d know what to do, even if he had a girl, if you get my drift.” Mrs. Bright screwed her face up and shrugged her shoulders as she spoke and looked about her, suggesting that she should say what she had said about her son in a much quieter tone. “Well I didn’t until I heard this latest news about my Richard that is...” she went on, “He’s very quiet. Doesn’t have much to say for himself and I’m sure any girl or woman would be bored to hell with that one. Surprise, surprises, eh? The world is full of them and besides... his stuttering would put anyone off. By the time he got to tell you anything of importance, you’d have forgotten what the hell he was talking about. But for all that, my son seems to be a man at last... well in body, if in nothing else, is what I say. This photographer lady seems to think he’s O.K. even if she has to wait for his stuttering to stop when he’s at it.”

  Lizzie Bright giggled at her own conclusions and Gardner screwed up his eyes again, but this time he was thinking that something somewhere was wrong. The image he got of Richard Bright was hardly what his mother had described him to be, but then again, she should know better than anyone else what her son was like.

  “The high jump for calling him Dickie you say Mrs.Bright... when that is his name, isn’t it? Why do you say that?” Gardner asked knowing full well that Mrs. Bright would give him the fullest of answers.

  “Well Richard told me once that one of his school mates referred to him as a right prick, because his name was Dickie and a Dickie was another name for a prick.”

  Gardner stifled a giggle when he heard that, but Mrs. Bright had been precise and to the point this time and without a trace of a smile on her stern face which surprised Gardner.

  “Oh! Dear... That was unfortunate... and has Richard always been this way, would you say, Mrs. Bright... I mean has he always been a quiet lad?” said Gardner, hoping to change the subject of the phallus.

  “Yes, always...”she replied, “Bright by name, but bloody dull by nature... I think his mate was right after all...”she giggled again as she spoke and Gardner stubbed his fag out into an ashtray.

  “How old did you say he was Mrs. Bright?”

  “He’s twenty-one... Born on August 15th 1980... Why?”

  Gardner sighed and took a deep breath.

  “Looks more like a eighteen year old to me, but he is big. I’ll grant you that,” he said and stuck another cigarette in his mouth. “How did you get to know that Richard was seeing this lady... this Mrs. Thompson?”

  “Well, I had an idea he was seeing someone, but as I’ve already said, he’s a dark horse is my Richard and he never tells me anything. I would have thought he would have found himself a much younger female to muck about with, if he was gonna muck about at all... silly bugger. Used to stay out for nights at a time and I knew he wasn’t staying somewhere on his own. Well, why would he when he has a good home to come home to and me to cook and sew for him as well as all the other things I have to do... Ungrateful little sod... I worked my fingers to the bone for that lad, I did and this is the way he treats me... I started to wonder why he wasn’t keen to stay in when he came from work in the evenings, but then I’m a busy woman myself, if you understand... always turning my hand to one thing or another and evenings is the only free time I have to do it, if you understand?” Gardner blew another smoke ring into the air as he nodded his complete and total understanding of what the buxom lady was saying, before she went on. “Yes, I can say hand on heart, I’ve been a bloody good mother to that boy and this is the way he treats me,” she sobbed for a moment as she stabbed her bosom with her fist and then dried her eyes on a skimpy lace handkerchief that stunk of stale lavender. “Do you have any children, Sir?” she asked as she blew her nose loudly,

  Tommy Gardner
puffed on his cigarette and blew the smoke aggressively from his nostrils as if he hated being asked such a question.

  “Yeah... seven of the bleeders, but I must say, I don’t have much trouble with them now... They’re all grown up and settled in their own way of life, but we had our fair share of trouble when they were teenagers.”

  “But nothing like this, I’m sure,” added Lizzie Bright as she shrugged her shoulders once more and her bosom rose about four inches. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this. I really don’t,” she snapped as she scratched her head viciously with her fingers and looked totally martyred.

  “Well, I’ll be seeing Richard tomorrow, so is there anything you want me to tell him?” asked Tommy as he twisted his cigarette around his lips.

  “Oh for God’s sake don’t tell him you’ve spoken to me. That WILL put the cat among the pigeons. He doesn’t know that I know about the life he’s been leading. Shameful I say and for a young boy of his age,” added Lizzie, “and I will have that cigarette now if you don’t mind. I think my nerves are about to snap and I could just do with a weed.”

  Gardner raised his eyebrows as he looked at Lizzie again and offered her the weed that she was sure would calm her nerves.

  “I wouldn’t call him a young boy, Mrs. Bright. He’s quite a young man now, I would say. Kids grow up much quicker today than they did when I was a nipper. I was in short trousers until I was fifteen.”

  “Get away with you. You’re having me on. Short trousers went out with the Arc. How old did you say you were?” asked Mrs. Bright and Tommy laughed

  “About the same age as the Arc, I would say. There’s a taxi driver calling for you Mrs. Bright. I see a man signaling for you. I’ll see you again as soon as I’ve seen Richard. Bye for now and do take care. Oh by the way, I don’t suppose I could address your son as Ricky or Bill, could I? It sounds very formal calling him Richard.”