by Daniel Kemp
“Oh, I do, David, as do they. We all appreciate your forward-thinking.”
At that time of night the road home was fairly clear of traffic, so I travelled swiftly, without incident. I had checked that no one followed me to the meeting and nobody was following me home. That ease of travel should have allowed my thoughts to straighten out, becoming more fixed on the way ahead in untangling all this conundrum, but the opposite was true. Most of what I'd been told was true, but the omissions were what I could not come to terms with.
At first I guessed Charlie must have sold the photograph to Paulo but if I was right, insofar as it was Percy's sister shown in the photo then surely Charlie would never part with it, as it would sully his close friend and lover's memory. The fact of Percy having blackmailed Montague, driving him to take his own life through the shame of impending bankruptcy, was a different matter all told. Why was it not considered as another Percy Crow killing? Did it all came back to money, and possibly the, as yet not mentioned, Appendia Corporation? Faithful Joseph was waiting at the top of the steps as I pulled to a halt.
“Miss Serena has been crying, my Lord. She is inconsolable.”
Chapter Twenty-Four: Abenazo
At first I thought it was I who had upset Serena, with the frivolous reply I had made to her text. My insensitivity in comparing myself to Adonis was not perhaps what was called for in the circumstances but that wasn't it, as I soon found out. She was, as I think I've said, a petit woman both in stature and build, however, sitting on the edge of the swimming pool, with her legs pulled up against herself, her diminutive frame looked more weak and frail than merely delicate. In her right hand she held her mobile phone which she was turning over and over, in a pool of still water.
“Take this and do to it what I did in New York. Stamp on it, Harry. Crush the life from it. I tried to drown it but I'm frightened that it's not dead.” Without looking, she thrust the phone towards me.
As I wrapped her bathing robe over her shoulders I felt her shiver. It wasn't from being cold, as the inside pool area was kept constantly warm, it was from shock.
“My father is dead, Harry. He blew his head off with a shotgun. What a dishonourable way to die! The Abenazos are cursed with unforeseen deaths and suicides. I wonder which one will be my fate.” More tears were forming in the corners of her eyes. They started to travel along the lower lid and when there was no more room, they fell in a steady stream over the contours of her face. I gently wiped them away.
“I'm so sorry, Seri. I know so little about him and your family. When your father and I spoke recently, he didn't appear to have one worry in the world let alone such a heavy one that would make him take his own life. We joked about retirement, as well as other things. He told me a little bit of his life, but I didn't ask as much as I would now like to have done. I believe it's our past that makes us what we are. What we believe in and hold dear. Was there any reason you know of that could have driven him to do this?”
“None at all, Harry,” her tears had stopped but despair still remained in her voice. “It was perhaps memories that drove him to it. He had never found happiness since Breno died. Breno was my brother. The name stands for King in Portuguese, and he was that in both my parents' eyes. He was five years my elder a truly happy boy, full of fun and mischief but that mischievousness led to his death.” She snuggled further against me as she slowly came to terms with the tragedy that had occurred.
“We were all together at the family ranch, silly name I know but that's what we called it; O Abenazo Grande Rancho. In public we'd drop the Grande bit, simplifying it to the Abenazo Ranch. Breno disobeyed every instruction he'd ever had. I was seven and stupidly admired him for his rebellious spirit. A farmhand saw him galloping towards a wood on the edge of the plantation in the hills above Santa Marta do Pinhal. He was going at a furious speed at the fence that divided the vineyard from the grassed land beyond. His horse caught the fence, falling and landing on top of him. It crushed his head beyond recognition, Harry.
In my memory, I never saw my mother again in any state other than sheer agony and terror. For the next three weeks every day that passed she cried unrelenting tears that Nicolás could not stop, nor could I. Then one morning I was awoken by screams coming from her room next to my father's. She was dead too, only her death was self-inflicted, her body being found by her maid. She'd taken an overdose of the barbiturates the family doctor had prescribed to help her sleep. At the time, apart from feeling the natural sorrow about her passing, I thought it so ridiculous that the drugs that had failed to give her rest from her heartbreak in life, had given the sleep she so desperately needed but only in death.
I told you we're cursed as a family, didn't I, but I didn't add that from that day onwards I have never pitied anyone for anything. I decided that life would be lived to the utmost extent without regret of any nature. But now, Harry, I'm breaking that vow. I feel so much sorrow that it's impossible for me to explain. It's tearing me apart, H. Hold me close and rub away the pain. Kill that phone and make me better!”
“You're bound to feel grief, Seri, you will for a good while, but you're strong. You will get through it, I promise. I'm here, and I'll help you.” She pulled away from me and her reddened eyes looked squarely into mine.
“You misunderstand, Harry. I'm not crying over my father's death, I'm pitying myself for being born an Abenazo! You know in the Jewish faith suicide is called self-murder. I can think of lots of people my…self might murder.”
* * *
When I told Serena that I knew little about her family it was not entirely true, I had spoken with Nicolás on both days of the estates shoot, however, none of what she had told me had been mentioned. What had though, had left me further bemused in this whole unsavoury affair.
“What were your dealings with us back in 1981, Nicolás? You were married by then so presumably stopped playing the field, but were you playing at life in recompense? How did you know Percy Crow?”
“As far as I'm aware I had no dealings at all with him, Harry. I was at the party to meet both Maudlin and Phillip. At the age I was then, twenty-five, I think and newly married, I was being prepared for succession within the shipping company, having already taken control of the wine and spirit distilleries. My next step was into finance where fate had decided my destiny lay. Our family was like your own when it came to inheritance. It would be me as head of the entire business by the age of thirty-five, so where better to learn the art of the financial world than with the present executives at Annie's.”
“What made you say that the two Irish guests were British spies, Nicolás?”
“I made that up about the two Irish MP's being spies. As far as I know they were not. The person I was subsequently involved with through Appendia told me that Percy set them up at that party, and that was why he'd been included, Harry. I wanted to deflect your interest away from Appendia. It was as simple as that.”
“Why, Nicolás?”
“Because it wasn't legit, Harry. Appendia was taken over by the American CIA with me being forced to comply with all their demands. They threatened exposure about my father's brother Gustavo's dealings in illicit drugs if I did not. The family name would not have survived that. A Russian helped me. I became a double agent. Working for the Americans and the Russian. Both wanted bits of the company that at first Simmons supplied then when he died, from me.”
“Go on Nicolás, I want it all. If I'm satisfied that you've told me the truth and left nothing out then there's no reason why Serena should know, but if I think you're trying to deceive me,” I had no need to finish that threat. His raised hands in submission were enough for me.
“The Appendia Corporation had been set up by my uncle, eleven years before I was born, with Douglas Simmons as a trading partner. At twenty-five years of age, Gustavo Abenazo was a far from ambitious follower of tradition in our aged family shipping business. He wanted excitement as well as stability. Portugal, like Ireland, was a neutral country during the Sec
ond World War and as the war drew to an end he saw opportunities that he believed the elder members of his family would fail to profit from in favouring the conventionality of the existing trade in which they were engaged. Simmons and he had first met in 1938 when, as a young man, Gustavo served the Republican cause in Spain and it was he, at Douglas's request, who went to Canada to tell Joshua Simmons of his brother's surrender to the fascists! He stayed in Canada, becoming part of the network of spies that Simmons gathered on his arrival from Nazi Germany. Gustavo held no ideals of loyalty other than his loyalty to the profit of money, and the stimulation from the tremor of danger. When Simmons changed his paymasters so did Gustavo. Together it was they who constructed a postal relaying address in Panama, mail being forwarded on to Gustavo's rented accommodation in Detroit, as money was made, first by Joshua's dealings with Charlie Reilly and then the drug running business that lured the Mafia. Appendia was marketed elsewhere as the first choice of banks for the suppliers of fashionable illegal substances. All was well in the cartel run by Gustavo, Simmons, Ryan and Simms until I took over the reins at ZAR, our parent shipping company, and begin to examine the business thoroughly.”
It took Nicolás eight months to discover his uncle's gradual fleecing of funds, which he put an instant stop to. However, it took another year before he fully understood what Appendia had been used for. At that time he made no attempt to shut the company down, the opposite was deemed to be in everyone's interest. The most interested party in its continuance was one Tovarisch Sergeyovitch Korovin, more simply known throughout the intelligence community as Paulo. Paulo had been the main recipient of Simmons's stolen knowledge gleaned from Canada and Brazil and, as I was later to find out, way beyond. Once again my mind was centred on the Grönwohld house of Dietmar Kohl. It was from a hotel in Brasilia that Paulo had called Dietmar when George, along with Judith and I, confronted him.
“How did you know Tovarisch Sergeyovitch Korovin?”
“He found me, Harry!”
* * *
“Hold me close, Harry. I'm feeling so lonely.”
“Come on, Seri, you'll be fine. If I knew anything of your father then he wouldn't want you to be like this, he'd want you strong to deal with all his affairs. You have that responsibility now.”
“That's what I've never wanted, that was for Breno. My mother had a really difficult birth with me, having to undergo a Caesarean then a hysterectomy. So I was the last child Nicolás would father. Breno was already his heir apparent but after I was born he became so much more than that. They both tried to wrap him in cotton wool, but he was impossible to contain. So often was he breaking bones and twisting things that they banned him from anything remotely dangerous. I don't know what they gave his pony but it was fed a special diet that was supposed to make him docile and quiet, but Breno was a law unto himself when it came to riding. He must have found a way to alter his feed.
Father tried to take him everywhere with himself to watch over, but the business was demanding and sometimes he couldn't. Mother never had the same control. Angelina, that was mother's name, was never well, or at least in my young eyes was not. Father would say it was women's troubles but I never understood what he meant. He and she were not very close at all. I was closest to Breno. I admired him, tried to imitate him in all that he did, often I'd tease him by doing things he wasn't allowed to. Silly things like climbing a tree or diving into the sea from a cliff. He would chase me then tickle my feet to annoy me. I loved him more than I realised. He was a gentle boy full of love and tenderness. My fashion label is named after him, Harry. I wish he was here. He'd know what to do, as I don't want to know.”
I'd never seen such vulnerability in a woman before, it troubled me. She had taken my arm and now we sat in the library with two cups of steaming hot coffee that Steven, a footman, had brought from the kitchen. Mrs Franks was not here as the news of Nicolás's death had come after she had left for the night, but I was told that she had been informed and was ready to return if required. I passed word to Joseph to dismiss the staff and go home, leaving Serena and myself to manage things. He was at the door shortly after Steven left.
“Again I'll repeat my sadness at your loss, madam. I'm here all night if you or his lordship have need of me. I shall be in my office, sir, I won't leave tonight. I'm just so sorry that I can't be of more assistance!” I was about to tell once more to go home and rest when Serena spoke.
“Tanta's on his way, Joseph, as I must go home and he'll go with me, now that all that immigration trouble has been sorted out. I rang him an hour ago, Harry, I hope you don't mind.” I did, in a way.
“I'll go with you, Seri. It's my duty.”
“You are not Jewish, Harry. There will be nothing you could do over there including being with me. Tanta is of our faith and he knows all the strict procedure. I have more need of him than I do of you. I must plead my case to the rabbis. Suicide, of 'self-murder' is the gravest of sins in Jewish law, it means eternal damnation with no chance of seeing God's essence. In today's faith it is not condemned so harshly. There is recognition of the stress in some lives that can lead to intense depression from which some do not recover. Nevertheless, I need permission for father's interment in our family mausoleum, unfortunately that will not be a straightforward process. Angelina was allowed, but only after the strongest of petitions from my father and the elders who had known her, all being acutely aware of her troubles. It could be different for a second application.”
“When will you go, and when will I see you again, Seri?”
“The company jet is flying up to Leeds as we speak. I'll fly out as soon as Tanta arrives, Harry. Normally the body should buried within 24 hours in our faith, but there are mitigating circumstances with a sudden death such as this. We'll speak when I have recovered my composure enough to organise everything. It is tradition that I should stay alone in the house and mourn his passing for a week, but at the moment I'm against that, there's simply too much else going on. I will consider my position whilst there. One thing I'm certain of, and will not change my mind on. I'm selling the business along with the home in Portugal straight away without any fuss being made. Everything in Brazil is company owned, that will go too, but that will take up the time of the lawyers. I shall sever all links with both countries and the ranch. No longer do I want physical reminders of pain. There are too many mental ones to cope with sometimes. I will miss you, Harry P, more than I've ever missed anyone in my entire life. I've fallen in irredeemable love with you. There is no turning back for me from anything now.”
Joseph had heard every word she'd said and as I looked at him his normal composure had left his face, exchanged for an absorbed gaze at neither of us.
* * *
On her arrival later that day she messaged me with the news that she had hired a local events broadcasting company and would have the whole ceremony televised and sent, via the internet, to Brazil for company employees who could not attend the funeral in person.
You can view too, Harry, if you want. I would like you to. It will be as though we were standing side by side.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Bridge Of The Ford
Being a naturally suspicious man I investigated Tanta, finding some surprises. He had trained in the navy as a radar technician but the real bombshell came on discovering that at one time he was the Royal Navy's champion at judo, representing GB at the 2008 Olympic Games. Although he and I had exchanged less than a dozen words on the few occasions we had met, his presence gave me added confidence as to Serena's safety in all senses of the word. Tanta had been dismissed from the navy for improper conduct with a fellow rating, and that rating was not a woman. Not only would Serena be safe so was I.
* * *
The original Harrogate Hall was built in 1503, being extended two hundred years later into what it has now become, a vast, prestigious home of prodigious proportions. When Philip was alive, he oversaw some of the staff quarters being incorporated together, giving far better facilities for the red
uced numbers of the then household. After my mother's, and then Elliot's, demises I had managed to keep the staffing levels in the house the same even though there was only me living in the great mansion. I had every intention of carrying on with that as long as I could, but when I waved goodbye to the parting car carrying Serena and Tanta I felt the loneliness of weighted history decisively on my own shoulders, and they ached with the responsibility.
'Harry, my boy, each one of these master portraits depicts an era of our family's line. Some of them were bad in the lives they led, and some did great things. No matter what you become your portrait will hang in this great hall until the Patersons are no more. When it comes to your time to succeed to the earldom, be fair to others, be punctual and be honest. Nothing else will matter a bean.'
Why grandfather Phillip had included punctuality in his homily is a mystery, but one thing I knew for certain is that he had omitted perhaps the most important prerequisite for the continuation of our line, that was a son to carry the name forward. As of yet there were none. My one remaining brother had not produced a male offspring nor had either of my sisters. Was it now the time for me to settle down and marry? As I glimpsed the departing car for the very last time as it entered that screened drive, my mind was in turmoil dragging through what had been, what could happen and the present; Percy Crow. I was worried by what Nicolás had told me, but more worried by the feelings I had for Serena. Somehow I had to reconcile them all.
