‘Not really, she’s mad. One time she told me she’d leave it to me, another time she said she’d leave me nothing. She hinted that there was someone else, I knew she didn’t mean her.” She shot a look at Bettina who was nursing her drink and leaning forward as if she was watching a good play.
‘Just what did you have in mind then, Miss Reid?’ Bettina purred.
She didn’t answer; she looked at James who was staring down into his glass and at Selby who avoided her eyes. She seemed to know that she’d reached the end of things — a relationship, prospects, a job. Her eyes were empty and dull.
‘I slaved for that old bitch. The wages are a joke. She was always promising things, promising. Well, the place is pretty run down and she hasn’t got any money to speak of. The way things were going she’d have had to sell it sometime.’
‘I get it,’ I said. ‘You could help that process along a bit and Russell here could do himself a bit of good when the place came up for sale.’
‘Yes,’ she said softly.
‘What about Booth, the lawyer?’ Bettina said angrily. ‘He should have been able to protect her, he was my father’s friend.’
‘He’s an old fogey,’ Verna Reid said. ‘She had him completely bluffed.’ The tears that had flowed when I was heavying James had left streaks down her face and they got wet again as fresh tears started. ‘It would have worked, it would have. And then this fool had to play around with this grandson idea.’ Selby poured himself some more brandy and said nothing.
‘They had the grandson idea first,’ I said. ‘You were just a supporting act. They kept both ideas running and couldn’t decide which one to back. You’re a tough nut Miss Reid, you put James on to me and he tailed me down the coast.’ The words mortified me. Being tailed twice by amateurs and not picking it up is bad for the ego. I said: ‘What about the old lady?’ to James and some of the anger in my voice was for myself.
James jerked and held his hands out, palms up as if to ward me off. ‘I didn’t touch her, I swear it. I got scared and came back to talk to Richard and then you were all over the place. We didn’t know what to do.’
Selby had finished his drink and he reached across and took the bottle again. ‘Good on you, Russ,’ he said, ‘you always did drop your bundle. Well Hardy, what are you going to do about it?’
I was suddenly very angry, disgusted with them and part of the disgust was because there was nothing much I could do about them if I wanted to bring things out right for me. But I felt unclean just being in the same room as them. I suddenly wished I was in old Sir Clive’s shoes and had the power to send the whole crew of them to the slammer for a long, long time. But I kept my voice flat and unemotional. ‘You could go up on a series of conspiracy charges apart from Brain’s manslaughter. And there’s the drug angle. I could tie you in with Albie and put you right out of business. Health studios, weight-lifting, see what I mean?’
Selby looked glum. Bettina was showing no interest in him at all and I had the feeling that he’d be a back number pretty soon. She was sipping her drink, not desperately, and looking curiously at Baudin.
‘That brings us up to him.’ I inclined my head at Baudin. ‘What drugs is he on? Don’t tell me you don’t know about that, James. Albie says different.’
‘Speed, lots of pills, Mogadon, Largactyl, you know. Plenty of grog as well. He’s a hopeless case.’
‘You helped him along. Does he know anything about this? Does he know who he is?’
‘I don’t think so. He was on the skids when old Henry saw him. We tried to smarten him up at one stage, Richard had some idea of using him some way, but it fell through. He’s been pretty well out of it since then.’
‘Bit of a Svengali are you, Dicky?’ I said to Selby.
Selby pulled cigarettes out of his shirt pocket and lit up, struggling for nonchalance. ‘I’m not saying a word until I speak to my lawyer.’
‘Lawyer!’ I had to laugh. ‘You haven’t got a prayer there, Dicky boy. When he hears who you’ve been up against your lawyer’ll take his holidays.’
‘Christ,’ Selby said. He puffed hard on his cigarette and looked at Bettina. She studied him as if she was making plans to have him mounted. He looked very uneasy but he still had a bit of fight in him. He pointed to Baudin on the floor.
‘That’s your son, Bettina dear, the one you never told me about. What d’you think of him?’
Bettina didn’t take her eyes of his flushed, angry face.
‘You always were pathetic, Richard,’ she said evenly. ‘I never knew anything you planned to come out right and you’re still at it. If you think I’m going to break down you’ve got another thing coming. Henry Brain was a slug — he’s no loss, by the way, Hardy. Being pregnant to him was like having a belly full of maggots. I just got it over with and tried to get on with my life. I thought about the child a bit at first, but it was all tied up with Henry. I wanted to forget about all that and I did. I’m sorry for him, that’s all.’
Selby shook his head wildly and James gave a thin, bitter smile and winced when the movement hurt his face. He seemed to have accepted the new turn of events. The trouble was, the shape of those events had to be determined by me and I was confused. I had some ethical questions to sort out. I broke the shotgun open, took out the shell and leaned the gun against the wall. That seemed like an appropriate move towards finding a civilised solution. Among the living I had five people to consider — myself, Baudin-Chatterton, Lady C, Bettina and Dr Osborn. There were Brain and the nurse to consider, too; slamming the door on James, Reid and Selby wouldn’t do them any good and maybe there was a nice irony in Henry Brain’s son inheriting the Chatterton estate. As for Gertrude Callaghan, perhaps her memory would best be served by the proper preservation of the doctor’s records. I could help with that.
Bettina finished her drink and rapped the glass on the table.
‘Deep thoughts, Hardy — problems?’
‘I think I’ve got them sorted out. What about you?’
She looked at Selby. ‘I’m going to divorce him. Will he go to jail?’
‘I don’t think so, I think he should go back to his business and concentrate on supporting you and the kids.’
‘So do I.’
She jerked her head at James. ‘What about him?’
‘He should be in a cage but bringing it all out will do more harm than good. I can sew him up in a drugs charge and that should keep him quiet. Besides,’ I looked at James’ cut and bruised face, ‘he isn’t going to be so pretty any more. Miss Reid here is going to resign her post, aren’t you?’
She nodded; she was passive now, which was an unnatural state for her. I wondered how long she’d stay that way. I had a feeling that she would bounce back but there was nothing I could do about it.
That left the grandson and heir, the question was how much of a man was left in him after the drugs and the booze, given that he hadn’t been such promising material to start with.
‘Can you help him, Hardy?’ Bettina said softly.
‘I have to. He’s worth money to me and a bit to a lady in Darlinghurst who needs it.’ I spoke directly to him for the first time. ‘You remember Honey don’t you, Warwick?’
He looked at me for what seemed like an hour and then he nodded slowly.
‘Sure you do. Great days. I’ll give it a try. I’ll need a doctor and some time. I can’t give him to grandma like this.’
‘Goodbye money,’ Bettina said grimly.
‘Maybe not. It looks as if you and yours were out of the picture anyway. Maybe you can get round her if she’s doting on your son. You can try if you feel like it. Anyway, you’ll have Richard here with his nose to the grindstone.’
‘It’s a nice thought,’ she said.
Warwick Baudin started to shake, flesh wobbled on his big frame as his shoulders heaved convulsively. He lowered his head and big, fat tears fell on the floor.
Bettina moved over and put her arm across his shoulders, ‘There,’ she said, ‘there, there.’
24
