‘Didn’t Evelyn tell you?’
‘Evelyn left this morning for her home in the south of France, and I’m visiting my mother in Nantucket.’
‘But we’d agreed that I should join you both for dinner on Friday evening, and go sailing on Saturday.’ There was such a long silence, Alex thought the line must have gone dead. ‘Are you still there, Lawrence?’
‘I apologize for asking you this, Alex, but when you left the house on Sunday morning, the butler said you were carrying a package under your arm.’
‘A Warhol,’ said Alex, without hesitation. ‘Somewhat reluctantly, I might add. But Evelyn insisted I take it as security.’
‘Security for what?’
‘I loaned her half a million to invest with Todd Halliday, who intends to back my company.’
‘Todd Halliday is her husband, and doesn’t have a penny to his name.’
‘Evelyn is married?’
‘Has been for years,’ said Lawrence.
‘But she told me Todd specializes in start-ups.’
‘Todd only specializes in break-downs that always involve other people’s money,’ said Lawrence. ‘Yours on this occasion.’
‘But Evelyn assured me he was considering investing ten, possibly fifteen million in Elena’s.’
‘I’m not sure Todd could afford to invest ten dollars, let alone ten million, in anything. I hope you haven’t given him any money.’
‘Her,’ said Alex. ‘My cheque was cashed this morning.’ Lawrence was glad Alex couldn’t see the expression on his face.
‘But don’t worry, I still have the Warhol as security,’ Alex added.
Another long silence followed before Lawrence said, ‘That picture wasn’t hers to give. It’s part of the Lowell family collection, which is held in trust, and always left to the first-born son, who then passes it on to the next generation. I inherited the collection when my father died a couple of years ago, and although Evelyn is next in line, until I have a son, my father made it clear in his will that if I were to die in Vietnam, the collection was to be bequeathed to the Boston Fine Arts Society, and not a single work was to go to Evelyn.’
‘I’ll return the painting immediately,’ said Alex.
‘And I’ll pay you back your half a million dollars,’ said Lawrence.
‘No, you will not,’ said Alex firmly. ‘My agreement was with Evelyn, not you. Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she’s invested my money in a blue chip company.’
‘The only blue chips that woman ever invests in are to be found in casinos. In future, whenever she comes to stay, I’ll have to nail every picture to the wall. But that doesn’t stop us working as a team just as we’ve done in the past, and see if we can find a way of getting your money back.’
‘I’ll do anything I can to help,’ said Alex. ‘And of course I’ll return the painting. I’m only sorry to have caused you so much trouble.’
‘You should have left me to die on the battlefield, Alex. Then you would never have met my sister.’
‘Mea culpa,’ said Alex. ‘Jezebel, Lucrezia Borgia, Mata Hari, and now Evelyn Lowell. She knew a sucker when she saw one.’
‘You’re not the first, and you probably won’t be the last. What’s more, I’m afraid I’ll be away for the next month, as Mother and I always spend August in Europe. Why don’t I send you a cheque now, and you can return the painting as soon as I get back. Then we can go sailing, and leave Evelyn on dry land.’
‘No,’ said Alex. ‘You can give me the cheque but only when I return the painting.’
‘If you insist. Just make sure you don’t lose it, because if you do, Evelyn will deny ever having given it to you.’
‘Lawrence, can I ask why you assumed I was the innocent party, and you didn’t immediately take your sister’s side?’
‘Form. When I was nine, Evelyn used to steal my pocket money, and when she was caught red-handed she blamed it on our nanny, who got the sack. And after a string of similar incidents at school, my dear father had to build a new library to prevent her being expelled.’
‘But that doesn’t prove I’m innocent. Don’t forget, I’ve still got a painting that’s worth over a million.’
‘True, but Evelyn made a mistake when she cast you as nanny on this occasion.’
‘How come?’
‘She told me you’d left the house before she woke on the morning after the party, despite the fact that she joined me for breakfast at around eight-thirty.’
‘You’ve lost me.’
‘But you hadn’t left, because you asked Caxton to call a cab around that time to take you back to your hotel. Much as I admire your nerve, courage, chutzpah, call it what you will, Alex, even you wouldn’t have the gall to walk out of the house with a Warhol under your arm and expect the butler to hold open the door of a taxi for you.’
Alex laughed. ‘So what are you going to do about your sister?’
‘I’ll wait for her to make her next mistake,’ said Lawrence, ‘which, given her past record, shouldn’t be too long.’
25
Sasha
London
‘I now pronounce you man and wife,’ said the vicar. ‘You may kiss the bride.’
Sasha took Charlie in his arms and kissed her as if they were on a first date. The congregation of nearly a hundred people burst into applause.
The bride and groom progressed slowly down the aisle and out into the churchyard where a photographer, tripod already set up, awaited them. The first picture he took was of the new Mr and Mrs Karpenko, followed by group shots with their parents, the rest of the bride’s family, and finally with the best man and the ushers.
The newly-weds were then driven back to Barn Cottage in a Rolls-Royce. On the way, Sasha admitted to his wife that he was a little nervous about his speech.
‘I’d be a lot more nervous about Ben’s speech, if I were you,’ said Charlie. ‘When I heard him rehearsing it in the kitchen before supper last night, I felt quite sorry for you.’
‘That bad?’ said Sasha. When they arrived back at the house, they were surprised to find Elena already checking the canapés.
‘How did she get here before us?’ whispered Charlie as she straightened her husband’s tie, and removed a hair from his jacket.
‘Silly question,’ said Sasha, as the guests began to arrive in dribs and drabs before making their way through to the marquee for lunch.
Sasha quite forgot about the speeches until the plates had been cleared, coffee had been served and Ben rose to deliver his offering.
‘My lords, ladies and gentlemen,’ he began.
‘Where are the lords?’ shouted one of the ushers.
‘Just thinking ahead,’ said Ben, placing a hand on Sasha’s shoulder.
‘Hear, hear!’ cried some of his Cambridge Union contemporaries.
‘You may ask,’ said Ben, ‘how a pathetic illegal immigrant from Leningrad could possibly have captured the heart of a beautiful English girl. Well, he didn’t. The truth is that Charlie, being a good-hearted thing, took pity on him when they first met at a party given at my home to celebrate the end of our school days. Because Charlie is a liberal and therefore a supporter of lost causes, Sasha was in with a chance. But even I didn’t think he’d get that lucky, and end up marrying such a bright and beautiful creature.
‘But there’s a downside, Sasha, that I must warn you about. Charlie was captain of hockey at Fulham High School, and I’m reliably informed that with stick in hand she thought nothing of mowing down any opponent within reach. So stick to chess, old friend. And don’t forget that while the queen can range freely around the board, the king can only move one square at a time.’