‘There are questions to be asked, answers to be given. Is this an appropriate time?’
‘There will never be an appropriate time.’
‘Are you able to elaborate?’ Isaac asked.
‘Another time would be better,’ Grenfell said.
‘The truth will come out sometime. It is best to clear the air now,’ Mavis Richardson said.
She went to make tea for everyone. Isaac accompanied her to assist. She appeared to appreciate the gesture.
Upon their return, Isaac placed the tray in the middle of the coffee table. Everyone helped themselves to the tea and the small cakes. ‘Baked them myself,’ she said.
‘They’re delicious,’ Larry and Isaac said in unison. Everyone knew that it was small talk, the sparring before the main event. There was a secret, possibly secrets that were crucial to solving the murder of Garry Solomon aka Solly Michaels. The person most likely to know had died. Isaac was hopeful that those remaining knew as much.
‘Miss Richardson, were you aware that Garry Solomon was in London during the 1980s, and possibly the years preceding?’
‘I never saw him again, but he knew that he would not be welcome.’
‘Did your sister know of your ambivalence?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can you elaborate?’
‘Must I?’
‘Yes. This is a murder enquiry.’
‘Very well.’ She sat down, perched herself on the edge of a chair. She looked unsure of herself. ‘Garry had always been a disruptive child, even when he was very young. A cruel streak as well. Gertrude always made excuses; Michael always forgave. We were sharing the mansion in Richmond. It was the sixties, the swinging sixties, free love.’
‘You were part of that scene?’ Isaac asked.
‘We were still young enough to enjoy it. We were promiscuous, always screwing around when we were in our teens, and it had carried on as we got older. It was what the elite used to get up to, although most everyone will deny it. We used to have some wild parties. Mainly alcohol, but some drugs, and often people would pair off, car keys in a bowl, that sort of thing.’
‘Gertrude was married,’ Isaac said.
‘So was I, but it didn’t seem to matter. I would pair off with her husband or someone else. She would do the same. No one appeared to be affected by it, apart from Garry. It was our mistake really, too interested in our pleasures at the expense of a minor, although he was in his early teens by then. We always ensured he was at boarding school during the week when we had the parties. Whenever he came home, it was just one happy family: picnics on the lawn, games around an open fire. Even then, he would quickly lose his temper if the game did not go his way.’
‘Why your ambivalence towards him?’
‘He came home early while we were having one of our parties. Supposedly, he had picked up an infection in the school swimming pool. Usually, someone would have gone and picked him up, but for some reason it had not happened this time. It was a long time ago, and I forget the details. He comes into the house; those who are not upstairs paired off are out for the count on alcohol and drugs. Not finding anyone that he knows, he climbs the stairs and enters the first room he finds.’
‘What did he find?’ Larry asked.
‘Two naked bodies entwined.’
‘Who were they?’
‘His father and me, who else?’
‘And then?’
‘He goes crazy, starts hitting me with an iron poker used to stoke the fire. I was on top. Eventually, my husband comes in and restrains him, and I’m taken off to the hospital.’
‘Serious injuries?’
‘Bruising, black and blue for some weeks, but I recovered.’
‘And your husband? What did he say finding you with Michael Solomon?’
‘Nothing. He was off with someone else. Gertrude was with Montague.’
‘So why the ambivalence? It seems he had every right to be upset.’
‘Of course, but then he gets back to his school, and tells all his friends who tell their parents. It is just bad breeding. The upper classes keep their dirty laundry to themselves, but then Garry never understood that. Just common, I suppose.’
Isaac saw clearly that Mavis Richardson was a snob who saw breeding and class as paramount. He decided that he did not like her, regardless of how polite and friendly she had been towards him.
Chapter 9
Mavis Richardson’s husband continued to be an enigma. The name of O’Loughlin did not automatically conjure up thoughts of aristocracy and breeding. Isaac realised that he needed to be found. He was the one person missing out of the key group.
There was also the question of what happened to Garry Solomon, or Solly Michaels as he seemed to have been known. He had come from a privileged background, but police records showed behaviour not akin to influence and importance. There were police reports available, indicating that a Solly Michaels had been picked up for drug trafficking, occasional violence, and receiving stolen goods.
Isaac felt it was necessary to find out more about him. And then the question remained, why a fireplace in a house belonging to the Richardson sisters? It was evident that the body would be found at some stage and an identification secured. Too many variables, too many unanswered questions. He needed Larry and Wendy out and about, aiming to reduce the unknowns. Wendy seemed best placed to find the missing husband, Larry better placed to find out if anyone knew the story of Garry Solomon. From all indications that would require him entering the underbelly of society, going into places where a woman might not be welcome.
‘Surely Garry Solomon is more important,’ Larry Hill said at the evening meeting.
‘Outline your thought process,’ Isaac said.
