She came through from the bedroom, obviously the end of her tour of inspection, and said, ‘Why on earth do you need such an enormous bed?’
‘I sleep diagonally.’
I poured whisky into the two glasses.
‘Water, not soda,’ she said.
I went through into the kitchen for water and called back, ‘Thanks for the present.’
‘You seem to take it very much for granted.’
I came back with the water.
‘It’s happened before. People who change their minds sometimes bring a peace-offering.’
I fixed her drink and sat her in my best armchair with it. She looked good against the brown leather; red hair, a green tailor-made with mink collar and cuffs, and crocodile shoes. She smiled at me and then lowered the whisky in her glass in a way which would have made her old father proud of his daughter.
She said, ‘How do you know I’ve changed my mind?’
I said, ‘Where did you get that Phantom Two?’
‘It was my late husband’s. Jan was very fond of it and I’ve never liked to get rid of it.’
I said, ‘Is it really a quarter of a million? It’s important, you know, when it comes to fixing my fee.’
‘Nearer a million.’
‘Good. Now tell me about the bracelet.’
‘You’re a presuming bastard, aren’t you?’
‘I’ve been in this business a long time. I can read the signs like a Master Magi.’
‘Magus. Singular. By the way, is the girl at your office always so cagey about giving your home address?’
‘She can’t get it out of her head that I’m not grown up and don’t have to be protected. She’s seen this, too.’ I handed her the art photograph.
‘Lord, those old things.’ She reached down for the crocodile bag at the side of the chair and slipped the photograph in.
‘Now, what about the bracelet?’
‘It was taken, stolen by my brother. So, naturally, I didn’t want to tell the police that.’
‘How did he manage it?’
‘My maid—the silly old haggis—let him in when I wasn’t there. She dotes on him. He took the bracelet and five thousand pounds in cash from my safe.’
I shook my glass to get the soda bubbles working again. ‘He makes a habit of this kind of thing?’
‘When he gets the chance. But usually only small things like the bracelet. Normally he writes within a week, sending the pawn ticket and apologizing.’
‘And you get them out of hock and forgive?’
‘Normally.’
‘My husband said one should always have a substantial cash float, just in case. Jan was—’
‘I get it. You fond of your brother?’
‘Very.’
‘Why should he steal from you, then? Why not just give him a handout occasionally? You can afford it.’
‘I did. Sometimes a hundred, maybe five hundred, once or twice a thousand. But in the end I got fed up.’
‘Tell me about him.’
‘He’s a dreamer. Not poetic. Big-business dreams, big schemes for making money. It always seemed unfair to him that I had so much from just marrying.’
I stood up, took our two glasses and began to refill them. ‘Well, you’re not going to miss five thousand or the bracelet. Equally, clearly, this isn’t one of the times when you are prepared to forgive—otherwise you wouldn’t be here.’
‘That’s so.’
‘Why?’
‘All this happened two weeks ago. I haven’t heard from him. I don’t know where he is, and I’m worried about him.’
‘Maybe for a bracelet and five thousand he reckons he should wait three weeks, perhaps a month?’
I handed her a drink and sat on the stool. She uncrossed and recrossed her legs for comfort two feet from my nose. I had a controllable desire to reach out and run a finger over the right patella and tibia.
‘But he’s always been very punctilious.’
‘It’s a good word. But you wouldn’t be here, bearing gifts, and with a touch of Femme by Marcel Rochas behind each ear, over a matter of punctilio.’
‘I said I was worried. He’s left his job, and they don’t know where he is.’
‘Who are they?’
‘He was a foreign correspondent for Intercontinental News Services.’
‘Didn’t he give them any reason?’
‘They had a letter of resignation from him. It was written on Excelsior Hotel notepaper—that’s Florence.’
‘Was he based there?’
‘No.’
‘Well, five thousand’s a good reason for chucking a job. When it runs out he can get another. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.’
‘But there is. I’m absolutely sure that something has happened to him.’
‘Sure is a very strong word.’
‘That’s why I used it. He’s missed my birthday. That was four days ago. Ever since we both left home, no matter where he’s been in the world he’s always sent me a cable.’
‘A man of fixed habits.’
‘In some things.’
‘You want me to find him for you?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m expensive—particularly when it comes to foreign travel.’
She stood up. ‘He’s my brother. I don’t care how much it costs.’
I stood up, slopping whisky over one trouser knee.
‘I’ll think it over and give you a ring in the morning. The cost, I mean. What’s his name? Freeman?’
‘Martin, yes.’
‘Where did he hang out in this country?’
‘He had a room in a Dorset Square hotel. The Mountjoy. I phoned them. He gave it up the day after he took the bracelet and the money.’
I cuddled my left palm under her right elbow and led her to the door. For a moment I thought of asking her to stay for dinner, poached eggs on toast, with a thin smear of Marmite on the toast, delicious, and a bottle of Spanish chablis. Then I remembered her flat and the ivory Rolls and decided against it. She’d think I was after her money with some homespun approach.
Her blue eyes frankly on me, her lips slightly parted, the length of her body slightly hipped out in a Vogue pose, she said, ‘You will do your very best?’
I said, ‘Yes—if you’ll tell me what it really was that made you decide to come to me between the time I left your flat today and now. And no malarky.’
For a moment she said nothing.
