‘They are,’ Bridget said.
‘And the house in Bray?’
‘Yet again, paid off.’
‘It’s still suspicious,’ Isaac said.
‘He may have inherited money.’
‘Would Aberman’s ex-wife know?’
‘Maybe. We could ask her.’
‘Wendy, set it up. I’ll go with you,’ Isaac said. ‘Before we wrap up, what about the consortium that took over Aberman’s assets?’
‘I can’t make the connection to anyone. Slater was their mouthpiece.’
‘He’s dead, but the clubs are still running. Who are they reporting to?’
‘Barry Knox would know,’ Larry said.
‘It’s possible, but he’s not talking, or he’s scared.’
Chapter 24
Christine Aberman did not appreciate the visit by Isaac and his sergeant so soon after the previous visit. She was in the garden. As Wendy walked out to meet her, she glanced around at the house next door. She was sure the curtains had moved in the window that Mrs Hawthorne used for spying.
‘You’ve ended up a very wealthy woman. Why have you kept both houses?’ Wendy said.
‘Good fortune, I suppose,’ the woman said as she got up from her sitting position on the ground.
‘It’s more than that. The men who took your husband’s clubs would not have hesitated to take this house. We’ve always assumed it was because Helen Langdon had some relationship with them, but it could be you.’
‘I resent your aspersions. I was a loyal wife to Ben, even when he bought the first club. I didn’t approve back then, I don’t approve now. If this house and the one in Chelsea are the results of those places, then some good has come of them, but that’s all.’
‘Was Gerald Adamant at the parties more than the one time?’
‘I told you I saw him here the one time.’
‘Soon the pieces will fall into place. If we find out you’re lying, it will reflect badly on you. I suggest you tell us what you know before it is too late.’
‘Okay, Adamant sometimes came to the parties. I never saw him with any of the women.’
‘But Adamant is known as a philanthropist,’ Wendy said.
‘He wasn’t back then. Maybe he distanced himself afterwards, but he was up to no good when I met him.’
‘Tell us about him.’
‘He was a charming man, very polite. He’d come to the parties, not every time, and he and Ben would sit down and talk. Back then, they were friends, or they appeared to be.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Adamant had my husband killed.’
‘Are you certain?’
‘It’s the only explanation. I knew Ben had taken up with Helen and he was even considering marrying her.’
‘How do you know this?’
‘We were divorced, but we kept in contact. He phoned to tell me about Helen, told me she was a good woman.’
‘Did he tell you about her working in the club?’
‘He tried to explain that she was a free spirit.’
‘Did you believe him?’
‘I believed it was what he thought, but he was naïve. If she was wrapping herself around a pole with no clothes on, she was more than a free spirit.’
‘What did you think she was?’
‘I didn’t think anything. Ben was keen on her, and there’s no way I was going to dissuade him. Anyway, three weeks later, he’s dead.’
‘Do you believe that Gerald Adamant was involved with the group that took over Ben’s clubs?’
‘He was the group.’
‘This house?’
‘Slater phoned me, asked if I’d accept the house for not asking too many questions.’
‘And you agreed?’
‘Yes. I had committed no crime.’
‘Did you believe Ben to be dead?’
‘I was told he had gone overseas, and that he’d be back one day, but I didn’t believe it. I didn’t know he was buried in this garden.’
‘Why didn’t you move in?’
‘That was the deal. Helen would look after the place for Aberman, maintain the pretence that he was coming back. If I had moved into the house, it would have been suspicious, and one thing Adamant did not want was anything obvious.’
‘The philanthropy of the man?’
‘Gerald Adamant used his charitable causes as the perfect cover. The man enjoyed living on the edge, being smarter than the next man. And then Helen kills him, claims it’s self-defence, even got Adamant’s children to act as character witnesses.’
‘Who’s running Adamant’s criminal enterprises now?’
‘Why are you asking me? Talk to Barry Knox, he’ll know.’
***
The revelations of Christine Aberman had cleared the way forward for Homicide.
‘Bridget, what do we have on Adamant’s children that we didn’t know before?’ Isaac asked.
‘Archie, the eldest. He’s forty-three. Then there’s Abigail, forty-one, and Howard, the younger son, the child of Gerald’s second wife, he’s twenty-nine.’
‘Discount Howard,’ Isaac said.
‘Any reason?’ Larry said.
‘Too young.’
‘But he’s smart. The man can achieve plenty with a computer.’
‘Okay. Leave him in for now. Let’s focus on Archie.’
‘Archie, short for Archibald, is a lawyer, practises in Paddington. He takes care of the family’s business interests.’
‘Any evidence that Archie could have taken over his father’s criminal interests?’
‘Is Christine Aberman’s testimony enough to convince us that Gerald Adamant was behind the takeover of Aberman’s clubs?’ Larry said.
‘It’s the missing link that ties Aberman and Adamant, and Helen to Adamant. Helen knew that Adamant ordered Aberman’s death. She knows where he is and she lays in a plan to snare the man.’
‘But why wait so long before killing him?’
‘Helen’s smart. She knows that if she had killed him before they were married, then it’s murder. If she married him, then killed him on their wedding night, then it’s the same. But she waits, redeems herself in society.’
‘It worked,’ Wendy said.
‘A remarkable woman,’ Isaac said.
‘Do you think so?’ Bridget said.
‘To achieve what she did, even if it was murder. She kept focussed all those years, never once letting her guard drop, and then she
