‘Ivan Youlen,’ he replied. ‘Well, you know, Grant. He had hoodwinked us with some baloney about Trevor Mullings the fisherman catching God, so we were nervous that we were walking into a trap.’
‘And did you know Suzie was armed, too?’
‘No, not until we reached Mevagissey. I guess we both feared what might lie ahead.’
Tony listened in silence. He was aware that his sister had once used a gun in Cape Town, firing at an intruder on her property. His brother-in-law had told him about it when he had visited them in South Africa some time later; Frank had said that he had to take the gun off her, as he was sure Suzie was shooting to kill.
The three men were briefly interrupted while they placed their orders for dinner. The menus received scant attention.
It didn’t take Grant long to return to the subject of Estelle’s role in events. ‘So why was her reappearance so distressing to Suzie?’
‘Well, she knew,’ replied Tony. ‘She knew everything. Even though Richard had divorced her after only five years of marriage, she never let go.’ He hesitated, and Grant noted Tony’s use of his father’s first name, recalling how Suzie always referred to him so formally and reverently as ‘Father’. ‘Estelle used to turn up at our home near Croydon and sort of stalked him. We christened her “Estelle from Hell”.’
‘We saw her performance in Cornwall in 1972,’ interrupted Grant. ‘I remember her demanding, “Has anyone seen that bastard ex-husband of mine?” I’m sorry, Tony. I can see this is very painful for you.’
Tony paid no attention to the apology, instead revealing that it was after that incident at the hotel that Richard had taken a restraining order out against Estelle to prevent her constant harassment. He continued to set out the family tale of woe until he arrived at the last piece of the jigsaw. ‘You see, Richard was a control freak. Estelle believed he had both used and destroyed her. Their flat in London was a pretty plush affair in Belgravia. And she never missed an opportunity to belittle him by telling everyone she’d paid for it. They had a busy social life, and he was going through medical school – another thing she said she’d paid for. She started drinking heavily. He rather neglected her as a loving husband, and as her drinking escalated she became increasingly unstable. He was well aware of her mental and physical decline and knew she was having casual affairs, but this suited him fine because it gave him the ammunition he needed to sue for divorce.’
‘Suzie told me some of this,’ interrupted Danny, who had a strong suspicion he knew where this was heading.
‘Ah, yes, I thought she might have.’
As Tony continued, Grant took the opportunity to observe him closely. He was a good-looking sort of fellow, no doubt attractive to the opposite sex. He was somewhat thick-set and lacked his father’s height, but he was an imposing presence none the less. Grant knew he had been a good club rugby player and had once had a trial with the Harlequins. He clearly took himself very seriously. However, what particularly struck Grant was Tony’s apparent lack of empathy. He delivered his story of unhappy family life in a flat, monotonous voice devoid of emotion. The tale he revealed was undoubtedly true and no doubt hugely personal to him, a burden he had carried through life, but he was setting it out as though he was detached from it, as though it were merely some inconvenient truth, someone else’s domestic misfortune. He went on to reveal more about his sister’s life, matters of which Grant and Danny had been unaware. Suzie had been bulimic during her childhood and had twice tried to take her own life. Nobody outside her immediate family knew about this because of the secrecy and closing of ranks deemed essential by the all-powerful Richard.
‘You see,’ Tony was now in full flow, ‘my father thought he was at the cutting edge of advanced medical research, in terms of the heart and the brain. He was a great believer in trialling electroshock treatment and monitoring its results, and he had prescribed and administered it on many occasions.’
Grant was tempted to mention Richard’s role in the treatment of Caroline’s father, but he feared that Tony might take offence and clam up.
‘The second time she attempted suicide Richard took full control. She had been very overweight as a child up to the age of about thirteen. She had as a pet an overfed border terrier called Aorta whom she indulged ridiculously. Later, when Suzie’s eating habits went into reverse and she developed anorexia, Aorta suffered and would have won gold had there been a canine slimmers’ Olympic Games.’ Tony’s remark was delivered without any humorous inflection, but Grant had to suppress an involuntary laugh. ‘Richard used to call them Fatty One and Fatty Two, which didn’t do a great deal for her self-esteem, as you can imagine.’
Grant recalled the spindly border terrier Suzie kept in Cape Town and guessed that lessons, no doubt of a painful variety, had been learnt.
Tony stopped talking as their food was served. When he resumed he had tears in his eyes, and with a twinge of guilt Grant felt he had misjudged him. No doubt he had been very fond of his elder sister, his only sibling, and seeing her in such a tortured state, bulimic and nearly killing herself, must have been incredibly upsetting for him during his formative years.
‘It was just before Christmas,’ Tony continued with bleary eyes, ‘and she couldn’t face the festival of food and television-watching. She disappeared. Just as the authorities were about to issue a national alert and a search party, a voice was heard whimpering in our neighbour’s garden shed. Suzie used to see a lot of Gill, her friend next door, and had decided the best place to take an overdose was concealed in Gill’s family’s shed. It was Gill’s father who first heard her and shouted across to me in our garden, where I was playing football with a friend. We had to smash down the door, as she had locked it from the inside, and we found her curled up in a foetal position emitting tiny moans. She looked half-dead. I will never forget the pleading look in her eyes. I’ll never forget it,’ he repeated. At this point he broke down.
Danny and Grant comforted him as best they could, until he was able to recover his equilibrium, apologizing profusely. He brushed their concerns away by raising his hand. ‘Richard took total control, as usual. An ambulance delivered Suzie to one of those grim-looking mental hospitals that blighted the landscape in the 1960s and 1970s. Six weeks later she was delivered home. In her mind she felt she was coming back to a tickertape parade. She had gone into hospital wailing and broken, but she was returning smiling with a new confidence. She was, however, emotionally walled up. Her love and gratitude to our father knew no bounds, and that was the problem, you see – all she had ever wanted was his approval, and now she genuinely believed she was alive only because of him. In her head …’ Tony hesitated a moment, ‘she didn’t just think Richard played God; she thought he was God.’
The others at the table fell quiet. Danny and Grant felt it only respectful to let Tony’s heart-rending story be followed by a moment of silence.
‘Thank you for sharing this with us, Tony,’ Danny finally said.
‘It must have been very painful to do that, even now,’ Grant offered sympathetically. ‘But we thank you. It now makes some kind of sense. How I wish I hadn’t started the investigation. I feel very responsible, and I’m so sorry.’ He went quite pale, and the others thought he was about to pass out.
‘No, you mustn’t think that. Don’t think that, Grant. I always thought something like this might happen,’ Tony said, ‘as long as Estelle Hughes-Webb was alive, anyway.’
‘Well, that can’t be for too much longer. I’d say we’ve been a bit unlucky there,’ Danny observed.
‘Have we?’ said Tony. ‘To be honest, I don’t bear her any kind of grudge. The real problem was Richard.’ He spat the word out. ‘He caused all this, spreading misery wherever he went.’ He paused for a moment before adding, ‘He deserves to have his reputation thoroughly trashed.’
‘Hear, hear,’ Grant found himself agreeing, in a murmur. Then a final thought occurred to him. He recalled that when Caroline had been haranguing Suzie abou
t Ted’s electroshock therapy Suzie had been downright dismissive, saying, ‘We’ve all got our own stories to tell.’ He now understood what she meant.
43
PRESENT DAY
Grant left the other two at the restaurant. He felt they should have some private time together, knowing their affinity to Suzie was much closer than his own. Tony was departing the following day, returning to New York, although he was already making plans to return for a memorial service the following week. After calling Brigit, Grant headed straight to Justyn’s flat in Maida Vale and yet again was glad of his friend’s company and conversation. He related all that Tony had told them over dinner.
Finally Justyn asked, ‘So how did Estelle know so much about Richard’s medical affairs – in particular the Animal Life Science place and the shock therapy?’
‘That’s a good question. She’d never got over being discarded by Richard and – unusually for a wife in those days – being screwed financially in the divorce. His case against her was well documented, and his lawyer played a blinder. Let’s just say that they played a few cards from the bottom of the deck. Estelle never forgave him and looked for vengeance for ever after.’
‘But how did she find out so much about Richard’s work?’
‘She had a lucky break. She lived in St Mawes near Falmouth, and one of her neighbours, a retired GP from the St Ives area, had been encouraged by Richard to administer electroshock treatment. In fact, Richard was involved directly in some of the treatments. On being introduced to Estelle, and hearing her unusual surname, the doctor had asked if she knew a Richard Hughes-Webb.’
‘Don’t tell me,’ interrupted Justyn. ‘The doctor revealed the treatment meted out to poor old Ted Jessops.’
‘Yes, sirree, and Caroline holds a major grudge against Hughes-Webb to this day. I had no idea and only found out en route to Mevagissey when Caroline was offloading her long-standing grievances against Richard on me. Anyway, Estelle from Hell never stopped stalking Richard after the divorce, even after the restraining order. Her doctor friend had learnt a great deal about electroshock therapy from Richard when he recommended it for Ted.’ At that point Grant noticed that a call from Caroline was coming in, and, despite some misgivings, he decided to take it.
‘So how was dinner with Tony?’ She got straight to the point. Grant had phoned her after the inquest and told her about the evening’s plan with Tony and Danny. He was, however, surprised to receive a call from her at one in the morning.
‘It’s a long story. I’m in the process of telling Justyn right now, but I think you can rest now, Caro. You found a justice of sorts for your dad.’
No sooner had he said it than he regretted it, but Caroline took no offence. She seemed to have recovered her equilibrium after the devastating events of the previous week.
‘Thanks,’ she replied with genuine warmth. Then she added, ‘I guess we have no reason to see each other now.’
Grant glanced again at his watch, checking it really was one in the morning. ‘Let’s meet for lunch one day next week, perhaps in town. For now, how about “the season of all natures – sleep”?’
‘I would really like that. Lunch, that is. I’m still too churned up for sleep,’ she replied, hoping he might continue the conversation. Grant, however, was direct in concluding the call.
Afterwards Justyn was quick to give an opinion. ‘She’d like to rekindle intimate relations with you.’
‘I know, but that flame went out a long, long time ago.’
‘Whatever. Anyway, I still don’t see why Hector had to perish in the sea. And do you have a taste for Van der Graaf Generator now? “Death in the sea, death in the sea. Somebody, please come and help me.”’ Justyn bellowed out the lyrics.
‘No,’ replied Grant. ‘But there is no doubt that Ivan was choreographing the scene that morning with all the ominous, dramatic music. He had chosen it for Suzie’s and Danny’s benefit, of course, and he probably thought he’d scored bonus points when Caroline and I arrived. However, I remain convinced that Hector’s death was an accident. Paul Galvin was very worried about money after the failure of the house-building project, and he knew he had major enemies in the Youlen family. Then word got round that Hector’s Aunt Agatha was terminally ill and that Hector would be the sole beneficiary of her estate. Paul put Trevor and Ivan up to getting Hector drunk, hardly a difficult thing to do, but the high jinks in the sea got out of control when Hector started swimming further out, saying he was going to give that mermaid a good seeing to. I think Trevor Mullings panicked and vanished into the night. He was very lucky no one thought to study your brother’s last film.’
‘What mermaid?’ inquired Justyn.
‘The Mermaid of Zennor, part of local folklore in west Cornwall. Evidently, drunken Hector had been persuaded that if he swam out with a message in a bottle, written in blood, he might get lucky with the mermaid. Incidentally this was the same mermaid that Ted Jessops was drawing on his deathbed.’
‘Weird and sad, but how would getting Hector wasted enable them to inherit Aunt Agatha’s loot, particularly when she was still alive?’
‘It seems it was Paul Galvin’s ruse, attempting to get Ivan and Trevor to persuade Hector to invest his forthcoming inheritance in some dodgy scheme. Paul had offered Hector a “put-and-call option” for twelve months’ time, claiming it was a preferential rate if he signed now. He knew the prognosis on Aunt Agatha was death by Christmas – and he wasn’t wrong there; she died on 23 December. However, the drunken swim to find the mermaid was never part of Paul’s plan. All that came from Mullings and Youlen getting smashed with Hector in the pub.
‘So Paul had the option to “call” on the money any time before the following August, which he knew was a pretty safe bet. He conned Hector that, among other things, out of this fund Paul would pay all future holiday bills at the hotel and at the Office until the end of Hector’s days, taking care of booking his reservation each year, negotiating his rate, sorting out all the extras and thus freeing Hector from all administration. So Hector’s focus wasn’t so much on his investment potential as on his future freedom and having the means to carry on going to Cornwall and getting pissed every night. Whatever happened to the investment, that was a hell of an incentive to Hector. All he had to do was exercise his “put” option for this to work, but he never got the opportunity. No doubt Paul would have presented him with a written document to sign ahead of his departure the next day. But do you want to hear the amusing twist?’
‘Yeah, hit me with it.’
‘When Paul contacted the solicitors acting for Agatha’s estate, having seen the will advertised in the London Gazette, he regaled them with tales of his “put-and-call” option and he was stunned to be advised rather curtly that her debts exceeded her assets. She had run up huge credit-card bills, had bank loans outstanding, and even her house was mortgaged to the hilt.’
‘What the fuck!’
‘It turned out she had been a “Name” in a Lloyds of London insurance syndicate and had suffered several years of successive heavy losses, which continued even after her death and eventually wiped out all her capital and plunged her estate into debt. Evidently Agatha hadn’t taken out an Estate Protection Policy. She refused to change her extravagant lifestyle and for the last few years knew she was on borrowed time anyway. The reason she was so keen for Hector to find a partner was her fear that that she would leave him in the lurch. Hence his message “Tonight I am not alone”. It was his drunken attempt to give her the good news that at least he had some new friends to offer support.’
‘Sad for Agatha, and it would have been tragic for dear old Hector. But, still, it is quite funny.’ Justyn couldn’t suppress a giggle nor Grant a chuckle, and soon they were both laughing uproariously.
Grant continued. ‘Just imagine Paul’s face! And, you know, the probate lawyer to whom he spoke asked him for details of the “put-and-call” option, suggesting he might owe money to Agatha’s estate!’
&nb
sp; This was too much for them; they were pleading with one another to stop laughing. Justyn was rolling around the floor, while Grant had to hold his ribs.
Justyn was the first to get a grip. ‘I guess Paul Galvin got his comeuppance, but I’m glad Danny reverted to being the nice guy we always knew. I suppose he thought he had to play a part to try to put you off and prevent Suzie coming to London. Did I ever tell you that he shared this flat with me for a while a few years back?’
‘No!’
At that moment Grant saw he had a call from Suzie flashing up on his phone. Startled, he answered, only to hear Tony’s voice. ‘Hi, Grant. Just for the record I don’t care if you let the full story about Richard get out. His reputation doesn’t deserve protection, and Estelle doesn’t deserve to go to gaol.’
‘Oh, fine, if you’re happy with that, yeah, sure,’ muttered Grant, relieved that he had not received a phone call from a ghost. As he concluded the brief exchange it occurred to him they might never speak again. He now felt very sorry for Tony, who had witnessed some extreme scenes in his childhood and who had now lost his only sister in such a tragic way. He understood now why Tony had told his family’s tale in such a detached way: he had clearly anaesthetized himself from it all, its impact having long since dulled his capacity to respond emotionally.
44
PRESENT DAY
Justyn interrupted his reverie. ‘One other thing. Who were the Spooks of Zennor you kept going on about?’
‘Friends of Trevor Mullings,’ Grant replied. ‘He didn’t want anyone reinvestigating Hector’s drowning and, according to Ivan Youlen, was tipped off that I was in Cornwall and on the case. He was very concerned that advances in DNA might implicate him in Hector’s death, so he hired a couple of old biddies he knew to put the frighteners on me. They did a pretty good job, too, I have to admit. Fusing the lights in the pub and stroking my face in the dark really gave me the creeps. They were also the DJs from hell on the jukebox. Can you imagine Arthur Brown at full throttle when you’ve just gone to sleep? “I am the God of Hellfire and I bring you …”’
Half a Pound of Tuppenny Rice Page 23
