Unravel a Crime - Tangle With Women (38 page)

Jonny, I still love you, and it’s
because of this that things didn’t work out with Tony. You are the father of my
children and that makes a bond between us.

Would you consider taking me back,
if only for the sake of your children. I expect that you may have met other
people, and that your life is different. I wouldn’t let that come between us.
We could have separate bedrooms if you wanted. I would just hope that in time
you could forgive me, and learn to love we once more.

Can we talk about this please?

Love

Sophie.”

Brakespeare experienced an icy
hand clutching his chest. Why, now of all times did this have to happen?

Mel came into the room
carrying a bottle of Nastro Azzuro which she carefully poured into a glass. She
watched Brakespeare carefully. He held the letter out to her.

“
I know what it says.” she
said.

He looked up sharply.

“
How?”

“
We had a nice little chat, me
and your wife.” She put the full glass on the table in front of him.

“
What!” Brakespeare shouted.

“
Calm down.” Mel sat on the
sofa, and put a reassuring hand on his arm.

“
This afternoon, I could hear
the sound of someone trying to put something in the letter box. You know how
strong that spring is, and it’s difficult to post anything in it without
getting your finger chopped off. So I went to the door and opened it because
the person was having difficulties, and there was your wife, only I didn’t know
it was your wife at first.”

“
My ex-wife.” He hissed.

“
Well she was trying to put
the letter in the box, but she was crying. I asked her if anything was the
matter, and she really started sobbing so I asked her in. She asked me if I lived
here, and I said I did – only I didn’t tell her who with.” She squeezed his arm
again, as if for her own reassurance.

“
She asked me if I knew you,
which is a bit of a daft question if I lived here, and asked if I would give
you this letter. Then she told me all about it; how she lived with this bloke
Tony, with lots of money, but she wasn’t happy with him, ‘cos you’re the only
one she really loved, and that she and Tony’d split up.”

“
What did you say?” asked
Brakespeare reaching for the glass of lager and taking a sip.

“
I said that I knew what it
was like to feel lonely, but that having met you, I could see why she felt like
she did about you.”

“
Shit.”

“
She’s got your kids, Jonny.
They need a daddy.”

Brakespeare jerked upright,
spilling the lager.

“
That’s a bit rich coming from
you, Mel. Don’t your kids need a mummy.”

Mel looked hurt. “I knew you’d
say that, but I’m going to do something about it. I went to see that solicitor
you recommended. What a cow; I reckon she ain’t getting laid ‘cos she don’t
like men! Anyway I signed up for some Legal Aid, and I’m gonna go for my kids.”

Brakespeare looked alarmed.

“
Don’t worry, Jonny. It don’t
affect you – not if you don’t want. I’ve applied to the Midsummer people.”

“
The Housing Association?”

“
Yeah, for a flat.”

“
But how will you work and
look after the kids?”

“
Social Security said they’ll
pay for the House an all that.”

“
So you’re going to live off
the State.”

“
With my kids. I paid my
taxes. Time for some of them back. Don’t worry, I’ll work when I can; waitressing
- something I can do when I don’t have to look after the kids.”

Brakespeare suddenly felt
vulnerable.

“
Do I fit anywhere in this.”

“
Only if you really want to.
Jonny, I ain’t done this because of this letter. I been planning it all week.
You gotta make your own plans. I gotta make mine. Don’t get me wrong, but I
can’t depend on you. I knows that.”

“
But….”

Mel gently put a finger on his
lips.

“
Hush, baby. You got a lot to
think about with your wife coming at you out of the blue an’ all that. You kids
need a daddy. My kids need a mummy. We gotta do what’s best for them. That
don’t mean we can’t stay friends. It just means that we both got things we need
to sort out, an’ if we don’t, we ain’t gonna be happy.”

Brakespeare didn’t answer. Mel
was being incredibly sensible. He knew that. She had worked things out. Her
children were her priority. That is the advice that he himself would have given
over the desk to anyone in Mel’s position. Children first, lover next.

He put his glass on the table,
and turned to Mel, kissing her fondly but passionately. She responded and soon
their hands were wandering over each others bodies. Mel’s breath started to
deepen with passion, but she suddenly pushed him away.

“
Cone on, lover boy. My
Jamaican lamb is going to get sacrificed unless I pull it out of the oven.
Beside.” she added. “ We’ve the rest of the night for that kind of thing. I
haven’t seen you for five days, and boy am I horny.” She patted his crutch and
stood up. “See you’re ready for me too.”

She paused.

“
You gonna talk to her?”

Brakespeare nodded.

“
Good, then I’m gonna screw
the ass off you first so she don’t get any of it!” and she walked into the
kitchen in peals of laughter.

The two children were excited
that their mother and father should be going for a walk with them. It was a
first for them. They had been very young when their parents had separated. A
walk of two and three quarter miles round the North and South Willen Lakes gave
Brakespeare and Sophie ample time to talk; the conversation being punctuated by
interruptions from the children.

“
I know it’s going to be
difficult for you.” Said Sophie.

It was. He had only seen
Sophie briefly when he had either collected or dropped the children off after
contact. Now that he had the time to study her more leisurely, he could she
that she had put weight on. Her face had become more lined, particularly under
the eyes. It was like talking to a relative he had not seen for years. They had
a lot in the children, but not really all that much in common.

She really did not hold much
attraction for him, personally or physically. Lisa offered the former; Mel had
seen to the latter. He tried to imagine himself in bed with Sophie, but
couldn’t. He tried to imagine sharing the everyday events of life with her, but
couldn’t see that either. He had also lost too much trust in her.

Mel was a more attractive
proposition, but deep down he couldn’t see that working out. Yes, she would
keep him as a lover – until she became bored with him, or found a new father
figure for her children. The lively dancer was being taken over by her nest
building instincts.

Lisa? To soon. Too many
present obstacles. But he didn’t want to lose her; the untried was enticing.

Could he have all three? Of
course not.

Did he really want to go back
where he had left off with Sophie? God, it would be so embarrassing meeting the
relatives again. Friends didn’t matter. As is inevitable in a divorce she had
kept some of their friends; he had kept the others. Only rarely do friends
continue to have the same relationship with both husband and wife after they
have separated.

“
Difficult? You can say that
again”, he eventually replied to Sophie’s statement. “I mean I really don’t
know you any more. I expect that we’ve both changed.”

“
But for the children? They
need a father.”

“
You should have thought about
that before you left me.”

“
I did what I thought was
best. You went bankrupt; lost your career. It was self preservation I suppose.”

“
Didn’t stop you…...” He was
going to say something more graphic, but the thought hurt him to do so.
“finding someone else.”

“
It was security Jonny. I said
in my letter it was my fault. I was on a rebound of my own making. Tony was,
well there.”

“
Nice house, nice car, private
school for the kids.”

“
Yes, yes, Jonny but that’s
the past now. I know material things aren’t everything.”

“
You can say that again. I’ve
had to scrape along upon my bum, and then when I started earning, you wanted
more money.”

“
Only for the kids.” She
stopped walking as they came to the playground. The children ran in screaming
with pleasure. “Look at us, Mummy and Daddy” shouted Kirstin, the eldest.

“
Mummy and Daddy.” Repeated
Daisy, the youngest, savouring the new phrase and repeating it as she ran
around.

Sophie started crying. “Oh,
Jonny.” She went towards him and put her arms round him, leaning her face
against his chest. “Help me. Come back. Please.”

This public display of emotion
made Brakespeare cringe. If she was trying to gain his sympathy, she was
failing. He stood with his arms by his side in embarrassment. There was nothing
that she could offer that made him want to take her in his arms. He pushed her
away gently, not so much for her sake, but to avoid a scene. One or two of the
parents of the other children in the playground were giving them sidelong
glances.

“
I can’t come back Not yet at
least.” he said.

“
Is there someone else?”

“
Nothing serious.”

“
Do I know her?”

“
You met her. You gave her the
letter.”

“
Not the black girl?!”

“
Mel, yes.”

“
Jonny!”

“
She’s company. Someone to say
goodnight to. I have my needs too you know.”

“
You shock me. A black girl.
Well.”

There was a lot that
Brakespeare wanted to say but didn’t. If his wife had her prejudices; well that
was her problem.

“
You’re not planning on
marrying her?”

Brakespeare found it easy to
say an emphatic “No.”

“
Well that’s a relief.”

“
Why?”

“
The kids.”

They were distracted for a few
minutes by continued shouts of “Mummy, Daddy, look at me,” as the children
climbed about on the playground furniture.

“
Come on out.” Called Sophie
to the children. “Let’s go and see the ducks and swans on the next lake.”

The children scampered ahead.
Running in and out of the bushes; always careful to see if their parents were
watching.

“
You wouldn’t have to end the
relationship.” Said Sophie.

“
What do you mean?”

“
What I said. If you came back
I would understand if you still wanted to see her.”

“’
I’m not sure that that would
work.”

“
Jonny, if you don’t want, we
needn’t have a full marriage. We needn’t make love.”

That, Brakespeare knew, was a
recipe for disaster. Sex was the barometer of a relationship. Divorces occurred
when the relationship broke down, usually because one partner was demanding too
much sex, or the other wasn’t getting enough.

“
It won’t work.”

“
Then we’ll make love.” Sophie
replied brightly. Brakespeare glanced at her. There was the longing in her eyes
that he had seen in Lisa.. Odd, because she had always been ambivalent about
sex, especially after Kirstin had been born. Women went off it after they had
achieved their ambition of having a child.

He chose not to reply. She
didn’t push the point and they distracted themselves with the antics of the
children.

It took another hour and a
half to walk round the whole of the two lakes. The afternoon was coming to an
end.

“
What do you want to do now?”
Brakespeare asked his children.

“
McDonalds.” They shrieked. He
had known what the answer would be and dreaded it. McDonalds on a Sunday
afternoon was home to the estranged fathers who had nowhere to take their
children.

“
McDonalds it is.” he said.

The children chatted
incessantly as they nibbled at their burgers, taking them out of the bun for
the operation. Sophie, like all mothers, involved herself in the children’s
conversation. Brakespeare confined himself to the appropriate “Yes” or “No” and
longed for the afternoon to be over.

“
Do you want to come back?”
asked Sophie.

“
What, to your mother’s and
father’s?”

“
They’ll be pleased to see
you. They like you Jonny. They think I should never have left you, and so
they’re on your side.”

“
That’s nice”.

“
Will you?” she pleaded.

Sophie had caused him enough
problems this weekend. He still had to sort out Mel and Lisa in his mind. He
knew that he had to prepare himself mentally for an assault on the Newberry
case. Mel had said that she was going to Watford to see the children and try
and talk to her husband. He needed quality time with himself.