In Love with Richard

by Paul Kelly

  Richard felt just as he had done when he first thought he had murdered Barnes only this time the fact was for real and he had killed Clive Cramner... he was the last person to see him alive from the time the police gave out on the news... There was no mistake about that this time and yet be began to feel a strength over what he had done; a feeling of well being. The man deserved to die and Richard Bright was just the right person to do it... he told himself as he settled down to eat his corn flakes, but later that day when he looked at his hands and felt sure he would have difficulty in playing the violin, he found it was quite to the contrary and he played with an assurance that he hadn’t felt for ages... well, not since Maya had died.

  It was time now to move on and concentrate on what he would be doing at the Royal College in August, as he took out the little book again and turned to the alphabetical page of C... It read C. Cranham... and that was the only name on that page. Quickly he ruled a thick black line through the name and closed the book. There was a deliberate look in his eye, but two days later he studied the little book again; this time with renewed curiosity and he opened it at a random page... where he read R for Reynolds, with even more detail as it gave a Christian name and read, Ronald Reynolds. His mind was blank for a moment until he could bring back the memory of the night before when he had met Clive Cramner...

  “Good afternoon, is that Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Ronald Reynolds?”

  “Yes, why... who is calling?”

  “Oh! You don’t know me, but I’m phoning on behalf of Mrs. Maya Thompson. She was concerned about not seeing you for some time and she asked me to enquire as to how you were.”

  There was a long silence on the phone before the caller spoke again.

  “I don’t know who the bleedin’ ’ell you are, but I asked Maya never to call me on this number, so now if you don’t mind, I’d rather you rang up.”

  Richard studied the mouthpiece of the phone with a cynical grin on his face before a sad look came into his eyes

  “No, I don’t think that would be a very good idea, Sir,” he continued, ignoring the suggestion or demand that he should get off the phone... “You see, Maya is rather concerned about you not meeting her as you have done and that is why she asked me to contact you.”

  “I don’t know you. What d’ya bloody want?”

  “Well if we could meet somewhere, I could explain, but it is difficult on the telephone and besides, Mrs. Reynolds might wonder who you’re talking to. Mightn’t she?” Richard teased with anger, but his voice was calm. There was a further prolonged silence before Mr. Reynolds spoke again

  “Where can we meet?” he said and his voice was hoarse as if he needed to clear his throat of phlegm

  Richard arranged for the meeting outside ’The Lamb’ public house in Holbright at a certain time and Mr. Reynolds reluctantly agreed to meet him, whereas he put the phone down and wrapped a Michael knife in a thick piece of leather to form a scabbard, before he reached for his violin.

  Reynolds was ten minutes late, but Richard wasn’t worried about waiting that length of time.

  “Mr. Reynolds?” asked Richard as he observed the man looking very furtive outside ‘The Lamb.’

  “Yes, now tell me what ya want and let’s get on wiff it. I don’t know how ya got to know me and I’m sure I never told that Maya gel that I was married... nor did I give ‘er my phone number, so what’s it all about, eh?”

  Richard looked innocently into the eyes of the man who had just spoken to him.

  “I think Maya thought you were in love with her, Mr. Reynolds and I’m sure she never knew you had a wife... well a wife who you cared for... otherwise she wouldn’t have felt that way... would she?”

  Reynolds shuffled where he stood and blew his nose loudly into an immaculate handkerchief that he suddenly produced from the top pocket of his jacket

  “I don’t know where she got this ‘LOVE’ fing you’re talking about. There wasn’t no love. She was just a bit on the side when me wife had her bleedin’

  ‘eadaches, that’s all... I mean, a guy don’t get involved wiff a tart like... .”

  But in that instant and before anything else could be said... or heard... Richard calmly walked away from Ronald Reynolds, Esq., but not before he wiped the blade of his Michael knife on the... by now not so immaculate handkerchief that Reynolds had produced from his jacket pocket...

  “You see,” he told himself with a muffled laugh... “The jugular is always the best bet.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  RICHARD studied his suit the following morning in the sunlight to ensure there were no ‘tell-tale’ marks that would give him away, but there were none and he turned on the television to watch the early morning news before he went to work at the supermarket.

  The news was without incident and Richard became a little anxious that he hadn’t done his job properly the night before, but he contented himself to waiting until the afternoon news before he formed any conclusions in his mind and of course, before he scored the name of Reynolds through with the thick black biro in his little notebook. He was becoming more concerned as he thought over his plans until he was quite sure that they would produce the results he sought... However the news reached him sooner than he had anticipated when he scanned the morning paper where he worked and found that a second man had been attacked in the identical way to one a few days ago and the police were suspicious of foul play. The attack was identical to the one done on another man a few days before the man was found to be dead... and also the act was done outside a public house, but on this occasion an instrument was used and the police concluded it to be either a very sharp knife or a dagger as there were no ragged marks to the cut. It was clean and the police presumed the victim must have died soon after the incident from some passer by who tried to stem the bleeding without success. It was assumed that the killer went for the jugular to be sure of the kill...

  “If you want to read that bleedin’ paper mate, you’d better pay for it,“ someone cried from behind the newspaper counter, but Richard closed the newspaper, returned it to where he had found it and continued with his shelf stacking.

  “Hi there... You’re Richard Bright, aren’t you?” a voice came from somewhere behind the shelf he was stacking with baked beans. He turned around and a beautiful blonde girl stared down at him where he was kneeling on the floor.

  “Yes...”he replied rather warily, as by this time he was nervous of anyone who might recognise him and connect him to the killings, but he couldn’t recognise the girl until she introduced herself rather breezily.

  “I’m Lise,” she said, “Lise Frankland. Don’t you recognise me? I used to be Lisa but I think Lise is much more sexy... don’t you think?”

  Richard stood up and came closer to the girl’s face, but he was unable to see anything of the Lisa Frankland he had known at school. All he could remember about her was that she had led the giggling crowd of girls and the mocking laughter where he was concerned and he considered her at that time to be a right bitch.

  “Lisa... Lisa Frankland” he said as he looked closer at her face, but she contradicted him telling him again that she had changed her name to Lise. The obvious blonde rinse had completely baffled Richard and he just barely recognised the rather plain looking girl he had known at school.

  Oh! Yes... I remember now,” he said as he smiled, “You have changed a lot Lisa. I would hardly have recognised you as you are. I mean, your hair and...”

  “Lise,” she reminded him again with a curt smile and then she stroked her bosom with pride.

  “I don’t suppose you would recognised me Dickie,” she said as she flickered her long dark eyelashes at him “I’ve ‘blossomed’ somewhat, don’t you think?” Richard was mesmerised for a moment but it wasn’t the beautiful transformed Lisa that had that effect on him. He stared at her as she called him Dickie and the connotati
on of that word, from his school days made him angry, however she prattled on with her attributes to impress him, or so she imagined. ”Tell you what,” she gabbled, “You can take me to the hop tonight. There’s a dance on at the Town Hall and Brian... he’s my fella, he’s on the buses till midnight and can’t take me. He’s a bus driver, you know. Works on the 82 he does.”

  Richard was stunned at Lisa’s proposal, but suddenly his eyes took on an affected look and he agreed to meet her under the arches at 9.pm that evening where he would willingly escort her to the ’hop’

  Lise tripped off from the baked bean counter but not before she smiled again at Richard, telling him that he had improved a lot since he left school where she thought he was a bit of a drip. He thanked her and waved her goodbye.

  “You’ll be sure to be there won’t you,” she called out as she left him “Cos I’ll be all dressed up and I don’t want to be disappointed. My Brian likes to see me all dressed up, you see.”

  “Richard muttered his goodbye again and Lise minced off feeling very happy that she looked so beautiful for her Brian.

  That evening about three minutes to nine, Richard stood under the shade of the arches waiting for the lovely Lise. She was punctual and arrived at exactly nine o’clock.

  “Oh, you shouldn’t have put your best suit on for me, Dickie,” she said, “I’ll only need you till Brian comes and then... well, if you don’t have anywhere else to go, you might pick up a girl here at the town hall, and as I said, you look a bit better than you did at school... Well, even you would have to admit that, eh?”

  Richard sighed and was beginning to feel bored, but he smiled through his empathy.

  “Yes, even I can see that,” he said in agreement, but before Lisa could turn to go into the Town Hall, he stopped her and held her arm for a moment.

  “I know I won’t be needed when Brian comes along, but... but would you do me one favour before we go into the dance, he asked and Lise looked at him in surprise.

  “Sure I will,” she said, “but I’ve just noticed... you used to stutter a lot, didn’t you? You don’t stutter now and that makes you look a lot different too. Why, I think you could be quite handsome if only you’d smile a little.” Richard smiled ‘a little’ at Lisa’s request before he spoke. “Well what was it you wanted then?” she asked, “I hope it won’t affect my make-up whatever it is. My Brian liked to see me well made-up.”

  “No... no it won’t affect your face at all.” he replied with a grin...”I just wanted to know if you would let me kiss you... Just a gentle kiss would do.”

  Lisa raised her eyebrows in surprise, but she held her face out and puckered her lips where Richard put his hands around her throat as he touched her lips with his own, but as he lingered for a moment, his hands tightened as Lisa tried to scream. Within a few minutes she slouched to the ground and as Richard checked the pulse on her wrist, he noticed that the beautiful Lisa or Lise had pissed herself as she died.

  Richard walked away whistling to himself at first before he broke into an uncontrollable giggle... which later became a mad laugh and he made his way back to Fiona’s flat, “Nobody calls Richard Bright a prick...”he shouted into the air... ”Nobody,”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Don’t you get any holidays from the supermarket, Richard? You seem to be working all hours there and I don’t suppose it is all that well paid,” said Fiona as Richard tightened the strings of his violin. His mind went back to the holiday in Spain that Maya had assured him would be the best thing to bring out his tan... and the thong would let the tan spread where it never did usually. He knew he had done the right thing in refusing to go. Spain was an expensive place to visit for any length of time, but more particularly for a month and Maya had already bought him his violin and he just couldn’t accept any more. He had insisted she tell him how much it cost so that he could pay her back in installments, but she refused point blank and told him, with a broad grin on her face, that his services were more than ample repayment. He had even tried buying her little presents like cheap ear rings and the likes and Maya had always accepted them, making a great fuss and saying how beautiful they were, but he never ever saw her wearing them...

  “I can have a holiday any time I want,” he replied to Fiona’s enquiry, “but as you say the money is poor and I don’t want to have any free time until perhaps I can get a better situation with them... behind the tills or something like that.”

  “But you have the money that Maya left you. Surely that will tide you through until you get through music college... will it not?”

  Richard looked at Fiona for a few seconds with curiosity before he replied.

  “Yes, that is true Fiona, but as you know, I want to start a music school when I get through the college and that will take a fair amount of money... at least to start off with until some money comes back in... and anyway, I insist that you take my rent money for my stay here and that‘s only fair.”

  “Don’t think about paying me for the rent then Richard. You know you can stay here for as long as you want and also when you go to college, you won’t need to live in there, will you. You can always stay here, rent free and that will give you a little start in all that you want to do.”

  Richard smiled and Fiona thought she saw something in that smile that she had never seen before.

  “Richard,” she asked, “surely there must be some one... some girl that you fancy... well now that Maya is no longer with you?”

  “No Fiona,” he replied firmly, “I shall never ever find anyone like Maya. She was and still is the love of my life, wretched though I may seem to be. She made me rich in everything she said and did for me.” Fiona was a little upset and then it seemed like a glimmer of light as Richard went on. “I have looked at you often, Fiona... thinking I might recapture something of Maya in how you look... how you smile... anything... and yet, I cannot see anything that resembles your mother.”

  Fiona coughed lightly. Richard had touched on a subject that she rarely discussed with anyone, but she thought this might be the ideal time to tell Richard what was on her mind. It might... just might bring him closer to her.

  “Richard, you will never see anything of Maya in me. You see... Maya was never my mother... not me real mother. My father, Major Morray-Smith, married my mother when I was two years of age, but she was never my mother. I don’t think she could have had children then, but don’t ask me why... ”Fiona wouldn’t disclose the story of little Marianna her mother had and who died so soon after she was born... “There was some trouble and she didn’t like to talk about it. Maybe it was being married to my father. Sometimes that can affect people have children together, if you know what I mean and yet if they chose to have other partners, there would be no problem. I don’t know who my mother is. My father wouldn’t tell me and I was brought up to believe that Maya was the one I should call my mother. Perhaps this is the reason why we never ever really bonded as a mother and daughter usually are. I don’t know, but now you know. Maya and I were STRANGERS nearly all of our lives.”

  Richard rubbed his chin with his fingers as he looked at Fiona. It was as if he was making comparisons between Maya and the girl he thought to be her daughter, but Fiona was glad she had told him her news. It had weighed on her for some time, whether it was the right thing to do or not... but now with Maya gone, she thought that perhaps Richard would see her in a different light; see her as a person in her own right and not an appendage to the woman he adored... but Richard took out his violin and began to play Chopin’s polonaise.

  The news that evening announced that a young woman had been strangled near the local Town Hall and the police were anxious to trace anyone who had been near the scene that evening. They were also anxious to talk to her boyfriend, but he never surfaced and Richard wondered why... Perhaps the lovely Lisa Frankland never actually had a boyfriend, or was that too strange to imagine; p
erhaps she was hoping that Richard would stay with her at the dance for the whole evening, but Richard had his doubts about that when he thought of how Lisa had treated him when she met him in the supermarket and the way she called him the hated name... He knew in that moment when she spoke, he wanted to slap her face, but that would have defeated the purpose of his sweet talk... for what he had intended to do to the lovely Lisa afterwards...

  All had gone according to plan and Richard played happily on his instrument whilst Fiona wondered what was on his mind... hoping it could be her...

  “Are you working this evening, Richard?” Fiona enquired and he shook his head slowly without taking his eyes from his music sheet. “Perhaps we could go out somewhere to eat?” she went on, but Richard continued playing his Chopin piece and even Fiona wondered what was on his mind when his eyes looked so strange; stranger than she had known him to look before. Fiona was a little afraid, but she felt that her heart would resolve the problem and soon Richard and she would be more than friends.

  “I have some more work to do on this piece,” he muttered with his biro stuck between his teeth and Fiona went into the kitchen to make the coffee, but when he knew she was definitely in the kitchen from the sounds of clattering dishes, he took out his little book to have a fresh look

  “Strange,” he muttered, “very strange. Scarlet, Richard Joseph... I have never seen this name under S for sugar, when I looked there before... Wonder why Maya stuck it in the back cover of her book and why there is no telephone number, only an address attached... and with three little asterisk signs at the side.”

  Fiona came in from the kitchen asking what Richard was talking about and he made an excuse he had been counting something on a paper connected to his work in the supermarket, but by this time he had resolved to visit Mr. Scarlet at his home address