Forever Is Over (56 page)

As I was feeling a little tipsy, I was determined to get to the bottom
of exactly what was going on between Richie and Jemma. I had spent
all my alone time up until I reached Anne Frank house trying to figure
it all out in my head and the urge to solve the mystery had come back
to me now. There was just no way Richie and Jemma could have been
an item before Mum died, as Richie had spent every second with me,
but perhaps something had gone on subsequently. The more I thought
about it though, the less likely that seemed. When I thought back to the
evenings over the last few weeks when Richie had opted not to see me,
I had spent the bulk of them with Jemma, so he had not been making
excuses to enable him to see her, that logic just did not stack up at all.
So why had they been together in Coronation Park? I had to find out.
Richie
’
s Mum answered the phone.

“
Hello Dot. Is Richie there, please?
”

“
Kelly, is that you? Are you OK, dear? My goodness we
’
ve been
worried about you! He
’
s been so upset, my love, so upset. Do you want
to speak to him?
”

Had I not just said that!

“
Yes please, Dot!
”

Dot
’
s high pitched shout almost made by ears bleed!

“
Richie! Kelly
’
s on the phone!
”

Richie must have run down the stairs at full pelt, as, after a few
seconds of silence, he arrived at the phone breathlessly, either that or his
Mum had interrupted him mid-bonk with my sister! I gave Richie the
benefit of the doubt this time and presumed it was the former. As well
as being breathless, Richie sounded confused and annoyed,

“
Kelly! Where the hell are you?
”

“
I
’
m in Rotterdam.
”

There was a shocked pause.

“
Why?
”

“
I had to go, Richie.
”

“
To Rotterdam? Why?
”

“
No, I just had to go from Ormskirk. From England. Believe me,
Richie, I just had to go.
”

“
Because Jemma and I were together? Jemma told me you probably
thought something had gone on between us, but it hadn
’
t Kelly, I swear
it hadn
’
t.
”

It felt like we had come full circle. Here we were again, Richie
pleading with me to believe that nothing had gone on between him
and my sister.

“
Something was going on, Richie. I watched the pair of you for a while, it all looked very intimate.
”

“
I was upset.
”

This annoyed me.

“
Richie, this is the bit I don
’
t get. Why would Jemma be hugging
you if you were upset? Hugging one of your sisters or your Mum, that
would make sense, but why Jemma? You don
’
t even like each other!
”

“
I don
’
t dislike her.
”

I was still annoyed. More so now.

“
I know that NOW, Richie. I saw that for myself yesterday! Before
yesterday though, you had always said to me that you didn
’
t like her,
you said she was annoying.
”

“
Kelly, I literally bumped into Jemma in Ormskirk. Knocked the
baked potato out of her hand
…
.
”

“
And you
’
re telling me that
’
s why you were upset!
You must think I
was born yesterday!
”

“
No that
’
s not what I said, Kelly. I bumped into Jemma because I
was upset, I wasn
’
t upset because I bumped into her. I was upset and
Jemma was a shoulder to cry on. Literally, a shoulder to cry on.
”

“
Well, what were you upset about?
”

There was another uncomfortable pause before Richie answered.

“
Come back, Kelly. I need to tell you this face to face. I don
’
t want
to tell you over the phone.
”

If you can imagine a garden at this point. A garden with two trees
in it. One with thirty cats in, the other cat free. If I was a dog, I would
now be jumping up at the catless tree barking.

“
You
’
ve shopped me in, haven
’
t you?
”

Richie did not have a clue what I was talking about.

“
Pardon?
”

“
To the police. It all makes sense now. You
’
ve told the police what
I did, haven
’
t you?
”

“
Kelly, why would I do that?
”

“
I don
’
t know. Maybe you thought you could get into trouble for not
telling them what you knew. That you could be charged with withholding
information. That
’
s why the police were round at the McGordons and
that
’
s why you were crying to Jemma, because you shopped me in.
That
’
s why I
’
ve come away, Richie, not because of things going on
between you and Jemma, but because the police are after me, Richie
and now I understand why.
”

I was talking hurriedly. I always talked quickly when I was nervous
or excitable. At this point, I was both.

“
Kelly, slow down. I did not speak to the police about you. I love you,
I would never do that, I promise you, I would never do that. Never.
”

Richie was either telling the truth or he was a bloody good liar.

“
Promise?
”

“
Kelly, I just did but I swear on my mother
’
s life, I would not tell
the police about your Mum and what happened to her.
”

             
I could tell he was being guarded in case his Mum was earwigging.
She had a tendency to do that, Dot, I had seen her do it to Richie
’
s sister,
when she
’
d been on the phone. I believed him.

“
OK.
”

“
Who are the Gordons?
”

“
The McGordons. They live next door. The police were there
yesterday, talking to them. I saw them.
”

“
That doesn
’
t mean anything. Their car might have been robbed or
they might have had a funny phonecaller, there
’
s a million and one
reasons why the police may have been at their house.
”

“
I don
’
t agree, Richie. It was about Jemma and I. I could tell.
”

“
How?
”

“
I don
’
t know. I could just tell. They will have heard us that night. I
’
m not coming back, Richie! Can you not come out here? I don
’
t like it on my own.
”

“
I can
’
t, Kelly.
”

That
’
s right! He still hadn
’
t told me why he was upset. If it wasn
’
t
because he had shopped me
in to the police, why was it?

             
“
Why?
”

“
I
’
ve got no money for starters! Look Kelly, if you think its right to lay low for a while, you lay low for a few days, but ring me again and if nothing is happening, come back. It
’
s 4
th
July next week, Kelly. We
could meet on the
‘
Sunny Road
’
.
”

Perhaps I was being paranoid. I imagine murderers often were.

What Richie was saying, seemed to make sense.

“
OK. I
’
ll ring you in a couple of days, Richie.
”

“
Yes, do that, Kelly. And you believe me that there was nothing
going on between me and your sister?
”

I probably did, but with everything going on, I wasn
’
t quite sure
what to believe.

“
Yes, but you still haven
’
t told me why you were upset.
”

I was out of money. The phone started beeping.

“
Kelly, we
’
ll sit down on the
‘
Sunny Road
’
next week and we
’
ll talk
this through.
”

“
I love you, Richie!
”

Shit! Why was I saying that?
Twenty four hours earlier I had seen
my sister kissing him.

“
I love you too, Kelly Watkinson. Trust me, everything will work
out fine.
”

Richie

At eighteen years old, when cancer enters your life, you cannot be
expected to know how to deal with it. I treated it like it was the grim
reaper. It had come along uninvited and ruined everything. All my
hopes and dreams lay in tatters because of cancer. Kelly and I had sat
on the
‘
Sunny Road
’
, planning our future together, our full lives were
mapped out as was our happy family home, filled with offspring. Once
I had been diagnosed with cancer, it felt like we had been looking at
the flower but had failed to see the stem which was laden with thorns.
When Kelly had sat on that hill and warned that things change, people
change, little did she know that within months, I would be aware that I
was a cancer sufferer and she would be aware that she was a murderer.

Now though, many years later, if I could find a time machine that
could transport me back to that diagnosis day and I could pause time,
before having a choice of two pathways, one diagnosing me with cancer,
the other giving me a clean bill of health,
I would choose to have cancer rather than not to have it. Does that
sound crazy? It probably does, but what I
’
m trying to say is that cancer
was an awakening for me. It taught me to live life better. To treasure life
more. Not at first, I suppose, but as I grew older it did. I am not saying
that ultimately I would not have wanted to be cured and to have lived to
see my great grandchildren grow up, but I would have rather had cancer
for a short while than not to have had it at all.

Jemma often talks about the day of my diagnosis as being the
day she fell in love with me. I guess a lit
tle bit of me was in love with
Jemma Watkinson from the moment I laid eyes on her, but that was
purely a looks thing. Personality wise, at first, I did not like her. I think
children sometimes find fault before they find positives and I could not
see beyond her brashness and eccentricities. All that happened that day
was that I finally began to see Jemma
’
s positive side, her tactile side,
her loving side, her caring side, but with regards to my feelings for her,
there was nothing romantic that day, my feelings just moved from the
negative side of neutral to the positive side of neutral! The falling in
love process for me probably started up, in some sense, that day, but it
was a continuous development over the next few years, which also had
to link in, I suppose, with the steady process of falling out of love with
Kelly. I know Jemma disagrees with me, but at that stage in my life,
both consciously and sub-consciously, Kelly was everything.