Stop! In the Name of Love

by Shiralyn J. Lee

  “It’s sad, he had no one left in his family,” Jeannie whispered back.

  The coffin was carried in and everyone stood up to pay their respects. Cheryl’s dad had a tear roll down his cheek and quickly wiping it away with a handkerchief he pulled out of his pocket, he said to Cheryl, “He was a good man, that one. Never had a bad thing to say about anybody. It’s a real shame, it really is.”

  The pall-bearers carried the casket up the isle and rested it on the stand at the chapel. The vicar read a passage from the bible and a hymn was followed by a prayer.

  It was now raining outside and at the open grave, the coffin was lowered down into the ground. Cheryl held a single yellow rose in her hand and stepped forward to look down. Throwing the rose on top of the casket, she said, “Sorry I never got to say goodbye, Harry. Cheers, wherever it is that you’ve gone.”

  Jeannie stepped forward and threw her rose in with Cheryl’s, and said, “Bye, Harry. It was nice knowing ya an’ all.”

  Chapter Nine

  Cheryl woke up to her parents singing ‘Happy Birthday,’ as they entered her bedroom. Her mother was holding a cake that she’d baked and her father was holding a gift wrapped in pink and orange spotted paper. Cheryl sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes.

  “Happy birthday, Cheryl, luv,” her dad said to her as he handed over her gift.

  “Quick, blow out the candles and make a wish before the wax spoils the cake,” her mother said.

  Cheryl blew on the candles and made her wish. Her mother told her to never reveal what she’d just wished for as it wouldn’t come true otherwise. Cheryl rolled her eyes behind her mother’s back.

  “I ain’t fallin’ for that,” she laughed. She opened her present which was a white beaded metal framed handbag with beaded carry handles. “Oh, it’s smashing. Thanks, mum, thanks, dad.”

  “See, I told ya she’d love it, Freddie,” her mother proudly reminded him. “We got it from one of them shops in Carnaby Street.”

  The letter box flapped with the post being shoved through. “I bet that’ll be cards for you, Cheryl, luv,” her dad said, making his way out of the bedroom.

  “Get dressed, dear, I’ll make you a nice cuppa and some scrambled eggs for breakfast. Does that sound nice?” her mother gestured, taking the cake back to the front room.

  Cheryl dressed in her favourite turquoise mini dress and meandered into the front room where on the table was a pot of hot tea, her birthday cake, a plate of scrambled eggs and toast, a card in an envelope and a letter. Cheryl opened the card. It was from Carry Ann. She had been very subtle with her words that were inscribed inside as she knew that Cheryl’s parents would be reading it. Cheryl stood it up in front of her plate.

  “What’s the letter, luv,” her dad asked.

  Cheryl picked it up and above the address was the senders address. It was from a solicitor. Nigel Grisham and sons. Cheryl ran her hand over it, then looked across the table at her father. “What on earth could a solicitor be writing to me about?” she asked him.

  “I think you better open it, luv,” he told her.

  Cheryl ran her nail under the fold and tore the envelope open. Pulling the letter out and unfolding it, she was faced with a rather important looking document. The solicitors were asking her to come to their office as soon as she possibly could. Cheryl looked puzzled. “Why would they wanna see me?” she asked her dad.

  “Cheryl, you had better not be in any trouble,” her mother scorned.

  “I ain’t done nothing!” she whined.

  “They don’t send out letters if it ain’t serious,” her dad informed her. He snatched it from her hands and studied it. “Doesn’t really say much, does it, luv?”

  Cheryl shook her head and tucked into her scrambled eggs and toast.

  •••

  Walking into the pub with Jeannie, Cheryl was greeted by Carry Ann who had provided a small buffet.

  “Oh, nice, sarnies,” Cheryl said gawking at them as she passed the bar.

  “I made them especially for you,” Carry Ann said proudly.

  They sat down at a table where Carry Ann presented Cheryl with her gift wrapped in white paper with lavender flowers, Cheryl tore it open. Inside the box was an art deco rhinestone bracelet. Cheryl stared at it, then said, “This must ‘ave cost a bomb.”

  Carry Ann laughed politely. “Try it on and see if you like it,” she told her.

  “Oh no, I love it already.” Putting it on, she leaned over the table and kissed Carry Ann on her cheek.

  “Let’s ‘ave a gander,” Jeannie said, grasping Cheryl’s wrist to take a look. “You must ‘ave some lolly to be able to buy this,” she said to Carry Ann.

  “I feel really special, I dunno what to say,” Cheryl said, taking another glace at her beautiful gift.

  “Well I’ve got summat to say,” Jeannie butted in. “Tommy asked me to marry him and I said yes.”

  “Oh I am glad, Jeannie. I thought you was gonna be one of them mums who, well ya know, no bloke an’ all,” Cheryl said to her. She got up and walked over to the cigarette machine. Dropping her coins in, she chose a pack of cigarettes. Opening them up, she offered them around. Carry Ann took one but Jeannie was now thinking of the baby and opted out of smoking until after it was born.

  “I suppose whatever you decided to do, you would have had the support of your parents,” Carry Ann mentioned to Jeannie.

  Jeannie drank her Vimto, then said, “Bleedin’ hell, Carry Ann. You got a lot to learn girl. My parents are waiting for the first chance to kick me out. I brought shame to ‘em. Everyone’s talking about me, I hear ‘em when I walk past ‘em. All gobby, they are, as if they’re any better.”

  “Are you coming back to my flat tonight, Cheryl?” Carry Ann asked her with a look of mischief.

  “Oh I can’t. Got a letter from some solicitor bloke. Dad’s taking me round there tomorrow to see what they want. I’ll be buggered if I got a clue.”

  “You ain’t in no trouble are ya?” Jeannie asked.

  “Well if I am I must’ve done it in me sleep cos I’ve been racking my brains out to think what they want.”

  •••

  Cheryl and Jeannie were walking home and quite close to Chelsea Bridge. The night air was slightly chilly. Cheryl lit a cigarette and Jeannie chewed on her last piece of bubble gum. The sound of motorbikes could be heard coming from the apex of the bridge and Cheryl knew this could possibly mean trouble.

  “Quick step it, Jeannie, will ya. I don’t want no trouble from that lot.” She looped her arm around Jeannie’s and practically forced her to march faster.

  Coming down the bridge was a group of Rockers on their motorbikes. Revving their engines, they sped until they reached the road.

  A wolf whistle came from within the gang.

  “Alright, luv. Fancy a ride with a real man?” one of them shouted.

  “Just keep walking, Jeannie.”

  The girls walked with their heads down. Trying to walk around the gang, they were confronted by one who had jumped off his bike.

  “I asked if you wanted a real man,” he said. His hair was sleeked back, he had a cigarette hanging from the side of his mouth and his black leather bomber style jacket was covered in badges.

  “No it’s alright. We’re on our way home, if that’s alright with you?” Cheryl said, sheepishly.

  “I’ll give ya a lift, luv,” he said.

  “No ta,” Jeannie replied.

  “Don’t ya like blokes or summat?” he asked. “Oi, Mandy, Julie, get ya arses ‘ere.”

  Two women, both clad in the same gang leathers and chewing bubble gum, hopped off the back of two other bikes. They sauntered around to join in the conversation.

  “Yeah, Billy,” one of them said, resting her arm on the shoulder of the other woman.

  “Show these two that thing you do, you know, give ‘em a dekko,” he said.

  The two women turned to face each other. Plucking the gum from their mouths, they leaned in close and kis
sed each other. Cheryl and Jeannie didn’t know where to look. It was hard not to stare and although they made out that they were looking elsewhere, they found themselves with their eyes fixated on the couple.

  “Isn’t that a beautiful sight,” he said.

  “You heard us, no ta,” Cheryl reminded him. They backed away and walked around the front of the gang.

  Laughter came from the gang as they watched the girls run down the street.

  Chapter Ten

  Sitting in the solicitor’s office, Cheryl’s hands became clammy as she waited anxiously. Her father was feeling just as nervous for her as his expectations of this meeting were geared more towards something negative.

  The office walls were covered in dark oak panelling and seated behind a matching desk was an older man in his 60’s. He opened the top drawer of his desk and removed an envelope. Taking out the letter, he said, “This is a legally binding document that was requested by my client, Mr. Harry Morecombe. As instructed by him on your eighteenth birthday…

  “Harry Morecombe? Cheryl…? What’s going on?” her father asked her.

  “I dunno dad. Why ya asking me for?” she said surprised at the mere mention of Harry’s name.

  “As I was instructed to do, upon Cheryl Carter’s eighteenth birthday, she is to be the sole beneficiary of all property and any valuables including monetary policies. If I am deceased, then Cheryl Carter is under no obligation to keep the property and can do with it as she wishes. If I have survived her eighteenth year, then, there are options and clauses.” The solicitor looked up from the letter and glanced at the pair seated in front of him. “Well we can skip over any clauses considering the nature of Mr. Morecombe’s passing recently.”

  Cheryl was confused and looked to her father for answers.

  “Mr. Morecombe was of perfectly sound mind when his request was made. He had no family of his own to hand any of his personals down to. It seems as though, your daughter, Cheryl, was the closest he had to having an heir of his own. In my opinion, I would urge you to take the gift as this is what it is. Purely a gift from an extremely generous man.” He handed over a house key, a cheque for £1,276 and 1 shilling that he pulled from his jacket pocket. “The furniture is still inside the Kensington house.”

  “Well I must say that this is all very sudden,” her father said, sounding unnerved and rubbing his chin.

  “I can assure you, Mr. Carter, that this document was implemented several months ago and with Mr. Morecombe’s deepest wishes,” the solicitor said.

  Cheryl sat holding the key and cheque on her lap. She read out loudly the amount that was written down on the piece of paper, “Dad what should I do?”

  “Cheryl. Luv, just promise me that there was nothing going on. I couldn’t bear it if my little girl had been seeing a man old enough to be her father, I just couldn’t, luv,” he said planting his hands over his face to hide his shameful feelings.

  “Dad, I promise I ain’t done nothing with Harry!”

  “I do understand that this has come as a bit of a shock to you both and from what I can tell, there was never any discussion on these matters with you and the deceased. Although this is rare, it is not unheard of when a person with steady financial means has no immediate family members to pass their wealth on to, and so latch themselves onto someone less fortunate. In this case it was you, Miss. Carter,” the solicitor reassured them.

  “Come on, luv, ya mum’s gonna need a cuppa and a fag in her hand when she hears about this,” her dad said, getting up out of his seat. He shook the solicitors hand and thanked him for his time.

  •••

  Sitting down at the dining table and unwrapping the newspaper from the fish and chips they had just bought, Cheryl and her dad filled her mother in on the unexpected inheritance she had just acquired.

  “Let’s ‘ave a dekko at the cheque, then, Cheryl,” her mother asked, inhaling her cigarette and blowing the smoke out of the side of her mouth.

  Cheryl handed her the envelope. She could hardly contain herself when she read it over and over again.

  “I wanna go round to the house later, just to see what it looks like. Dad, will ya come with us?” Cheryl asked, shoving a chip into her mouth.

  Her dad nodded his head yes as his interest had just been caught by the crumpled newspaper he was about to discard of. An article about the jewellery shop robberies had a picture of some of the stolen items. The bracelet that Cheryl was wearing looked extremely similar to one that he was looking at. “Cheryl, luv, let’s see that bracelet of yours again.”

  Cheryl held her arm out over the table for him to see. Holding the paper against her arm, he compared the two items.

  “What’s wrong, dad?” Cheryl asked him, trying to take a look at the picture with him.

  “I dunno, luv, but there’s something very fishy about this bracelet, that’s for sure.” He handed her the paper to get a better look herself.

  “Dad, I don’t understand.”

  “What’s going on? Why the interest in the paper, Freddie?” her mother asked, snatching the paper from Cheryl’s hand.

  Pointing at the article, he looked at his wife, his face quickly paling in colour, he said, “Our Cheryl’s bracelet, the one she got as a present from her new friend, it might this one in the picture. I think it’s one of the stolen jewellery pieces, just take a closer look at the picture.”

  Her mum scanned the picture, then grabbed hold of Cheryl’s wrist and pulling it closer to her, she studied it up against the identical stolen one. Her eyes widened as the penny dropped. “That girl, the one who gave ya this bracelet, where’d she get it from? ‘Ave you been filling us up with porkie pies, my girl? Did you know anything about this?”

  “No, mum! What ya take me for, I ain’t no idiot, you know. I can tell you and dad think Carry Ann’s no good, but she is. She’s a school teacher, she ain’t no robber,” Cheryl protested loudly. She opened the tomato ketchup, smacked the bottom of the bottle to release some onto the newspaper and then grabbed a handful of chips, dunked them in the ketchup and shovelled them into her mouth.

  “Well there’s summat very wrong about all of this. And don’t let a posh name like Carry Ann fool ya neither. What if the pigs come sniffin’ round ‘ere? The neighbours are bound to get a rise outta this,” she said, slapping her hand over her mouth.

  “We had better go down to the Old Bill and report this before they come looking for ya. Your friend is in a lot of trouble, Cheryl, luv,” her dad said. “Come on, eat up, then we can go.” He broke the battered cod into three pieces and took one for himself. “Better eat loads, ya might be down there for some time.”

  •••

  Walking out of the police station three hours later, Cheryl’s dad told her that she had done the right thing in reporting Carry Ann as the person who had given it to her. The bracelet had indeed been one of the stolen items in the first reported robbery. But Cheryl wasn’t feeling good about it at all and wanted to warn Carry Ann that the police were now interested in her.

  “Dad, I ‘ave to go and talk to Mr. Glenn about work an’ all, I’ll be home later,” Cheryl told him as she began to cross the street without him.

  “But, Cheryl, luv, don’t you want to tell ya mother what happened?”

  “No, she’ll only quiz me over and over again and lecture me on my friends. You can tell her, I’ll see ya later,” she said, quick stepping it to the other side of the street.

  Cheryl had no intention of going to see Mr. Glenn, she was in fact on her way to warn Carry Ann that she was about to be arrested.

  Arriving at the building, she entered and ran up the flights of stairs and banged loudly on Carry Ann’s door.

  “Carry Ann, open the bleedin’ door will ya, the pigs are on their way to arrest ya. Open the door! Carry Ann!” she yelled.

  The door opened slowly and looking completely dumbfounded, Carry Ann asked her to come in. “What on earth are you yelling about out there, Cheryl, you gave me such a fright?�
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  Almost out of breath, Cheryl managed to explain where she had just come from and that she was in deep trouble with the law. “I didn’t wanna tell ‘em but my dad saw a picture of the bracelet in the newspaper and made me do it, I swear I ‘ad no choice. I wouldn’t do that to ya, not on purpose, ya gotta believe me.”

  “Cheryl, you need to calm down. Take a deep breath. Now I’m not sure what you’ve implied to the police about me, I can only guess that it wasn’t good. As far as being a jewellery thief, I can assure you that I gave you that bracelet in good faith.”

  “Well how come it was a stolen one, then?” Cheryl barked at her. “If I’d ‘ave gone down for this, my mum would ‘ave ‘ad a proper heart attack!”

  “I accepted the bracelet in good faith from Bernadette. She wanted to give me a parting gift before she left for Paris and I thought of you when I saw how beautiful it was. I had no idea that it was stolen, you must believe me, Cheryl. The last thing that I would do to you is hurt you in any way.”

  “Then how come she got it in the first place, then?”

  Carry Ann shrugged and looked as blankly as Cheryl did.

  It didn’t take long before the two of them were rummaging around searching through Bernadette’s belongings. She had already packed a couple of suitcases and they were the first things that the girls thought to snoop inside. The cases turned up empty of any evidence. Although Cheryl did take a liking to a couple of dresses that still had the price tags on.

  “I wonder if she can afford all of this stuff because of being a robber an’ all,” Cheryl said, assuming that Bernadette was guilty as charged.

  “I now have to wonder if she has been lying to me all this time. Maybe she is a thief and I stupidly fell for her lies. Oh, Cheryl, what if the police think that I did this too. I couldn’t bear to think what it could do to my parents?” Carry Ann began to cry as she hugged a scarf that she had just pulled out of a top drawer.