Deep Water

youngsters pointed to a fortyish woman with silver hair and dressed stylishly in black. She was talking animatedly about one of the paintings to a fat man in a suit who seemed more interested in her than the art work. That wasn’t surprising. She was strikingly good looking with olive skin, dark eyes and features bordering on perfection. A matronly, overdressed woman led the fatty away and I approached before anyone else could nab her.

‘Ms Montifiore? Cliff Hardy. We spoke on the phone this afternoon.’

It was one of those occasions when you like to present a card to obviate some explanations. It crossed my mind that I should get one-reading Cliff Hardy . . and then what?

She turned her Tuscan eyes on me. ‘Oh yes, about dear Henry McKinley.’

Her voice sounded as if it had been tuned to perfect pitch.

‘I didn’t realise it was an opening night. I’d have come at another time.’

‘No, no, at these things you need all the bodies you can get. I saw you taking an interest in the sculptures. They’re good, aren’t they?’

‘You saw. .?’

She touched my non-drinking arm. ‘I have eyes in the back of my head and at the sides. This is going quite well, I think. I can spare a few minutes. Come with me.’

I followed her through a door off to one side near the bar. The office was small, plain and furnished and equipped in impeccable taste. She sat on the corner of the teak desk; I stood. The chair on offer looked so comfortable I’d have been reluctant to leave it.

‘I’m hoping you can tell me something about Henry McKinley,’ I said.

That brought a frown. ‘I don’t understand. I thought you were going to be able to tell me. .’

I shook my head. ‘I’m sort of acting for his daughter who I met in America. She said she’d contacted you.’

‘She did, but I told her I hadn’t heard from Henry since his exhibition. I said I’d get in touch if I heard anything, but. .’ Her shrug was eloquent.

‘Tell me about the exhibition.’

‘Oh, it was a very small thing-four pen and ink artists with ten pieces each. I’d have to say that Henry’s weren’t the very best but someone obviously thought they were.’

‘How’s that?’

‘Someone bought all ten. No, nine. One was slightly damaged and withdrawn at the last minute.’

‘Who bought them?’

‘I’m not sure I should-’

‘Look, the man is missing. His daughter is worried sick and she’s commissioned a private detective to investigate his disappearance. I’m working with that detective. I can give you a number to check on what I’m saying.’

I must have projected intensity, sincerity, something, because she suddenly looked concerned. The serene, beautiful mask cracked. ‘He. . he paid in cash. It wasn’t a lot. Three hundred and fifty dollars for each. A little over three thousand dollars in all.’

‘Carried them away under his arm?’

‘Of course not. I tagged them and they stayed for the rest of the exhibition period. It was only ten days.’

‘Then what?’

‘Someone came to collect them, showing the receipt.’

‘Is all that legal? What about GST, commissions, certificates?’

‘It wasn’t a lot of money and I knew Henry would be thrilled. Any artist would.’

‘But he didn’t get to see the red stickers.’

‘No. I have to get back.’

‘In a minute. I assume you took your commission. What is it-twenty per cent?’

‘Forty.’

‘Jesus. I’m in the wrong game. Describe the man and tell me about the drawings.’

I’d heard that people in the art business were tough and Marion Montifiore bore that out now. She moved off the desk and towards a cupboard. ‘I haven’t the least recollection of what he looked like. He was unremarkable. As for the drawings I don’t have to describe them. I have the damaged one here. They were all much the same.’

She took something wrapped in brown paper from the cupboard.

‘You can take it. You can tell Henry’s daughter I have several hundred dollars held here which I suppose she can claim if. .’

‘Several hundred?’

‘The total sale amount minus my commission and the rental fee the artists pay.’ She thrust the package at me. ‘Please go!’

The crowd had thinned out a little while we’d been talking. Fatty and his possessive partner had gone and there was almost no one taking an interest in the paintings. I was drawn back to the sculptures-particularly to the largest of the skeleton boats. The artist’s name was Robert Hawkins and what he’d done to this beautiful piece of timber made you feel that something new and fine had come into the world under his hands. With Lily’s money, I could have afforded to buy it, but I had nowhere to put it worthy of its quality.

I saw Marion Montifiore glaring at me from across the room, so I deliberately took my time examining the boat and other pieces. She could hardly order me to leave. I took out my cheque book, but all I did was scribble the artist’s name down on the back of it. Petty, but she’d got under my skin. I didn’t usually rub people up the wrong way as badly as I had her. Had to wonder if I was losing my touch.

4

I restrained my curiosity about the drawing until I got home. I’d left half of my red on Marion’s desk, so I poured myself a glass and took a swig before tackling the wrapping. Her wine was better than mine, but she could afford it. Judging by what she said about her business, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the artists had to pay for the opening.

I slid the drawing, on stiff, high-quality paper, out of its cardboard cylinder, unrolled it and spread it on the table, holding down the corners with books. I stared at the bold strokes, the white spaces and inked-in areas with total incomprehension at first. The more I looked the more certain associations formed. But they were very vague. I had the impression of something spacious, possibly circular and very much part of the physical world. An interpretation, perhaps an imaginative representation of something real. Or was I kidding myself?

Henry McKinley’s signature appeared in small but clear letters near the bottom right hand corner, and the word ‘North’ appeared in slightly larger letters above it. North? What did that mean? I drank some more wine, usually an aid to thinking, but nothing else came to me. Marion Montifiore had said that the drawings were all similar, a set. So were the others South, East and West? And what else? North-east, North-west etc?

A crease ran from a few inches down on the left hand side to a few inches in at the top. It barely touched the drawing and was slight. I’d have been happy to smooth it out, shove the thing under glass and hope for the best. But then, I’m content with prints of the few pictures I like-a bit of Vincent, a bit of Brett, Blue Poles.

I thought it through as I finished the wine and set about making one of my three or four standard dishes- shepherd’s pie. Obviously, the drawings meant something to the man who’d paid a fair amount of money for them. And he didn’t buy them for their artistic merit because if he’d had an expert eye for the work he’d have noticed that the other artists had ten pieces on display and Henry only nine. Where’s the other one? I’d have said. And here’s another two-fifty and bugger the damage.

I needed access to Henry’s house to see whether he’d left any information about the drawings. To be legitimate, that meant getting Hank to follow up the missing persons report and have the police enter the house. Legitimate, but not much use. There was no way the police would allow me to go in and, much as I trusted Hank’s