Chapter Ten

THREE WEEKS LATER, Maya Thompson did phone Eric Powel and asked him back to her flat as she had some news for him that was rather important, but he suggested if she wanted so desperately to talk to him that she should come to his office and that afternoon, she obliged.

Powel could tell who was waiting for him in his outside office from the aroma of the expensive perfume. None of his other clients ever smelt like that...

He opened his office door and invited Maya to have a seat in front of his desk.

“You said you have some information that might be interesting to me, Mrs. Thompson,” he said as she sat down and she nodded in the affirmative without saying a word. “Well,” he continued, “I’m listening.”

“Rudolph Barnes... You remember him don’t you. I thought you said he was in hospital?” she said as Powel looked casually out of his office window and tried to remember if he had told Maya Thompson if Barnes was in hospital or not. He didn’t have his notes to hand and he hesitated for a second before he spoke again.

“He WAS,” Powel replied without looking round, “ but they don’t stay in hospital forever and most certainly not in this day and age. You’re out before you get a chance to settle into a hospital bed these days, don’t you know?”

Maya Thompson looked as though she had made a great mistake, but swallowed hard before she started to talk again.

“I saw him yesterday... Barnes, I mean. He came to my surgery and my Receptionist doesn’t know all my clients by name or to look at and she announced him as Mr. Chisholm.”

“Yes, go on...”

“Well this Mr. Chisholm turned out to be Barnes as I’ve said. He asked for a gum massage... and I thought how typically stupid of him to do that. He could have massaged his own gums at home; the silly bugger, but then within a few moments, I knew exactly what he was after and it wasn’t a gum massage, I can tell you.”

“Yes?”

“This gum massage was his way of telling me he needed more dope. Well he wanted me not to press charges with the police for what he had done to me that night.”

“Very thoughtful of him, don’t you think... and what about my client, Richard... er... Ricky-Boy? Will you be dropping the charges against him too?”

Maya Thompson raised her eyebrows and made a strange sound with her mouth.

“Of course I will. I thought you would have known that. I don’t want any more dealings with the police than I have to... and besides... I like the young man. I thought you knew that also”

“Just LIKED him, Mrs. Thompson... How naughty. I thought there was more to your affections than that... and is this? “Powel stood still as he stared into Maya’s face before he went on... “Is this the important information you had to tell me?”

“Well yes. I thought you’d like to know that Barnes is out and about now and they haven’t said anything to him about being a drug addict... and I know he was.”

“I didn’t think you knew anything about Mr. Barnes’s drug addiction, Mrs. Broom... er Maya, but now we are on the subject of drugs... What about you Maya? Are you a drug addict, registered or no?”

Maya Thompson shrugged her shoulders and stared out of the window.

“You know of course that I have to use the stuff in my surgery, but I never use it at home.”

“Never...”

“No never... and you can believe what you like. I know the dangers of that stuff and I’d be a fool to indulge.”

“Somehow or other, from some source or other in my enquiries, you understand, I am led to believe that you DO have some cocaine at your home,” said Powel and Thompson smirked.

“You’ve been talking to my daughter again, haven’t you? She wouldn’t know cocaine from a bloody once of sugar, would that one. Silly bitch, she is, but I‘ve told you... whenever she comes to my place, her bloody eyes are everywhere.”

Powel scratched his head.

“You say you know that Barnes was a drug addict and yet you allowed him to visit you in your flat. I think that is somewhat strange, especially as you now say, you knew the dangers of this drug... surely?”

“I didn’t realize when he first came to see me and then when I did, it was too late.”

“How long has he been coming to see you, Mrs. Thompson... I’m sorry... I’ve forgotten your Christian name,” he lied innocently and looked into her eyes.

“I met him quite some time ago at a night club I used to frequent; The Club Napoli. This was shortly after my second divorce. Barnes was some sort of a bouncer there, as I remember. Well you do realize he’s a big man and well... things went from bad to worse and I think he had the idea that I fancied him.”

“I’m sure he did from what we know now, but how did he find out where you lived and why did you invite him into your home, Maya?”

Maya sighed heavily and bit her lip

“He followed me a few times in the taxi, from what I understand now, but he was persistent and as I have already told you, I was divorced; a free woman again and I could do what I liked... So Barnes ended up in my bed... and I don‘t see that is any business of anyone other than myself”

Powel ignored her excuses as he persisted on his questioning

“Did he still share your bed when young Ricky-Boy came on the scene?” he asked as Maya stared into space and looked bewildered for a few moments before she spoke.

“I’m a bloody idiot for telling you this, but when young Ricky-Boy came to my flat that wet and thunder and lightning evening and I slept with him for the first time. I didn’t want to be involved with anyone else after that.”

Powel’s face showed surprise.

“But I thought you regarded Ricky-Boy as something of a joke... a play thing;... a favourite lollipop?”

Maya smiled, but her face was sad.

“I told you, didn’t I, that I have always been a bit of an actress at heart... but not a very good one, I might add... Well, I really did like what he was... Ricky-Boy, I mean. He was different from all the men I had been with... and that’s some statement for me to make. I wanted him to come back when he left me to go home the following day, but... how can I say this? He had changed my demands. I wanted him more than any of the others I had been with, but I didn’t want to tell him that... did I?”

“No, I think I can understand that, but how DID you meet him again. You didn’t have his address, or he yours, so...”

Maya Thompson cut Powel short in the middle of his sentence as she thrust her hand into the air.

“A woman who wants something will always find a way to get it, Mr. Powel,” she said with a grin. “I put my business card into the inner pocket of his jacket before he left the following morning... It was as easy as that. The difficult part was waiting to see if he would come. After all, how I felt for him wasn’t what he could have felt for me and it was a first time... I just hoped.”

“And he took the bait?”

“Yes,” she replied immediately, “He must have done because he turned up at my surgery two days later.”

“And you resumed your affair after that, yes?”

“Yes we did... and after a few weeks of seeing him, I cut off all my former lovers and told them where to go. That was nearly two years ago and I was happy... Really happy for the first time in my life and I think... well, I’m sure Ricky-Boy was too. It wasn’t just a sexual thing, you know.”

Again Powel raised his eyebrows and grinned.

“You have already told me that it wasn’t love on your part, even if it seemed that he was in love with you. Am I right?”

Maya wet her lips and put her head to one side.

“Mr. Powel, you have already told me that you are a married man with a family, but you don’t seem to know much about woman, do you?”

“Well, I’m sure your ready and willing to teach me anything I don’t know, Mrs. Thompson, but you will be gentle with me, won’t you,” Powel retorted with a sly grin on his face and Maya Thompson raised her shoulders as she rubbed her hands together.

“Well, I told you about our feelings for each other and of course when I realized I was beginning to enjoy Ricky-Boy’s company more than most, I decided to ask him to come and live with me. After all, there were no other flings at that time, as I’ve said, but I never at any time intended that we should get married... NO... no, never ever that... I’ve been there. Got the T-shirt, but I didn’t want any of that again. No way. I didn’t want to be tied down ever again to anyone. Love or no love.”

“Yes, is that so?”

“Yes, it is and well, as I’ve also said, we shared more than sex. There was his music, which I grew to appreciate very much although I had never taken to classical music before.

“Music... I suppose you are referring to his violin, am I right?”

Maya nodded and her smile brightened.

“Yes, he taught me a lot about that. Did you know that a man called Dvorak... I think that’s what the name was although I‘m never sure how to pronounce it... DVORAK... Is that right? Would you know?” Maya asked Powel, feeling sure that he would be more of an authority on that subject then she was herself.

Powel nodded and agreed the name, pronouncing it again exactly as Maya did and she was obviously pleased as she continued to tell Powel her tale. “He... this fellow Dvorak wrote a most beautiful piece of music very aptly for us called ‘Romance’... Did you know that?” Powel nodded again and closed his eyes in amusement...

“Yes, a favourite piece of my wife and myself,” he said and Maya Thompson looked surprised.

“And I thought that was written just for me and Ricky-Boy... what a shame” she said and giggled as she spoke.

“Did you speak much about his music when you were together?”

“Not much at first and after a little while, when I realized just how well he COULD play... I asked him why he didn’t talk about it so much, telling him that if I could play an instrument as well as he could I would tell all my fiends about it... and my enemies as well... but he only blushed when I said that.”

“So you really thought he could play well?”

“Of course I did... and that’s why I bought him...”Maya stopped talking suddenly and put her hand up to her lips.

“What... What was it you bought him, Mrs. Thompson?” Powel asked as he stirred where he was sitting, but Maya looked away.

“I do wish you wouldn’t call me by that awful name. Maya is my name and that’s what I like to be called... PLEASE, if you don’t mind.”

“Sorry, Maya and what was it you bought for Ricky-Boy that’s so hard to talk about?”

“Nothing,” she snapped, “and anyhow it’s none of your business.”

“It seemed to make you happy, whatever it was Maya. Please tell me.”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment.

“A violin,” she said softly. “When he first started to play, I thought it was lovely, but every now and again I could hear a sort of squeaking sound and it spoiled the music for me. He had an old violin that he used to hire from someone who gave him his first instructions in playing, you see,”

“Well violins are noted for their squeaks sometimes. Depends on the quality, I guess.”

“Yes, yes... that was what it was and Ricky-Boy knew that himself, but he never owned a violin until long after he had been practicing. He used to go to a private tutor, you see and the tutor supplied him with one of his old violins which eventually Ricky-Boy bought from him for £20.”

Powel stopped to think for a moment before he answered.

“Couldn’t have been a very good one for that price,” he added and Maya nodded abruptly.

“That’s why I did it,” she said and the penny dropped for Powel when she said that.

“Are you telling me that you actually bought him a violin?”

She lowered her head and sniffed.

“Well, what if I did?” she snapped, “It was my money, wasn’t it? I didn’t steal the bloody thing. I bought it with hard earned cash.”

Powel studied his nails as she spoke.

“For another £20... yes?”

Maya faltered as she looked around the room.

“Four,” she said quickly as if she didn’t want to hear herself in what she had said.

“Forty pounds?” queried Powel and Maya shook her head.

“Four hundred pounds?” he asked again and once more she shook her head so that Powel was afraid to ask the next figure adding an extra O., but he did.

“Are you telling me you paid £4000 for this violin?” he asked.

“£4,600” she added and Powel whistled into the air.

“You must have thought him to be quite professional when you did that,” he asked and Maya nodded again.

“He played beautifully and I suggested he should take a degree in teaching the bloody thing, I particularly loved the Adagio... I think that’s how you say it, but it was composed by Bach and was a violin concerto in some kind of major or other,” said Maya and Powel corrected her in a quiet tone in the event that she might feel belittled in some way by his remark.

“E” he said and Maya looked at him as if he had gone off his head,

“He, what?” she enquired and Powel laughed

“Not HE... but ’E’ as in E major...

“Oh! I see... Well, why you didn’t say that in the first place instead of leading me around in the dark like that, I’ll never know... BIG ’EAD,”

“And what did he say to that?”

“To what...”

“To you proposing you might buy him a good violin,”

“There was no proposing about it,” Maya said with a nod of her head... “I wanted to buy that violin for Ricky-Boy because with the talent that he had, no amount of money would be a waste... and the only reason he couldn’t buy a good one himself wasn‘t difficult to understand... Well, how the hell could he, on money from packing shelves in a bloody super market... and when we are on that subject, I think he gave his old mother most of what he earned at that place. He never ever had much of his own when he came to see me... He didn’t want me to buy it at all and anyway, he insisted he would be laughed at if anyone knew he played the violin,... well, I ask you? I never told him the price I paid for it. I’m only telling you now so that you will realize how beautifully he played and you must promise me never to tell him either, PROMISE?”

Powel nodded again, thinking it would be useless at that point to interrupt the lady talker anyway. She would stop when she was ready.

“That young man was brilliant whenever he took that violin and held it under his chin. He talked about virtuoso techniques and brief double stopping as if he was eating liquorice allsorts.”

“Brief double stopping... What’s that?” asked Powel and Maya stuck out her chin with obvious pride that she at last knew something that Powel didn’t.

“That means playing on two strings at once, fat head. I thought anyone would know that,” she replied with an air of authority in her voice, but Powel just grunted.

“I loved the times when he would play for me. I felt quite privileged,” said Maya, “and one piece that was particularly beautiful was ‘Meditation’... That was written by Jules Massenet... Aren’t I clever?” Maya laughed at her own self-praise before she added, “that’s only because I liked these pieces so much and I couldn’t ask Ricky-Boy to play them for me again if I didn’t know the names of them, could I? But I think I liked the Adagio most of all... It was so sad and made me cry, but I loved it.”

Eric Powel was surprised at how much Maya Thompson knew about music... especially ‘classical stuff,’ as she called it and the more so that it could make her cry. He was aware that she was a professional lady being a dental surgeon which was by no means a trivial achievement, nevertheless he didn’t think that Maya Thompson was the crying kind... but then he attributed her emotions to her feelings for Ricky-Boy, even if she was reluctant to admit that fact and he decided he had enough information for his needs as he draw his interview to conclusion.

“Oh! I could go on forever about Ricky-Boy’s lovely music. You have only to ask,” she stammered, but Powel put his hand in the air.

“Thank you... thank you very much,” he said, “but we have talked enough about my client and I feel the information you have given me will be more than useful if he is sent for trial, Mrs. Broom... er... Maya, thank you again”