Percy Crow
Page 31
“I'd say it did more than got your foot through the door.”
“Well, for our amusement I'll tell you of him . Would you care for something to eat, Harry? I don't believe you ate whilst with Katherine. You must be famished, or has your Serena put you on a diet? I seem to remember in Switzerland you had a huge appetite.”
“Perhaps it was the air. I'll eat if you do, Paulo.”
Moments later two plates of bread, meat and cheese were served. As I tucked in to the delicacies, Paulo began again.
“They employed a disabled boy who was a master at binary configuration. By the age of eighteen this boy was destined for great things in Canada, where he and his parents lived in the late 1940s. When the research into atomic energy really started in earnest, his parents were summoned home and assigned to the Manhattan Project in Tennessee. They were both experts in that field of research. He went too and was quickly employed. They skipped some security checks. Mistakes do happen in all walks of life. Douglas Simmons knew him. He was an idealist, Harry, this boy. They make the best spies, you know. Bribes can always be outbid, but an idealist's vision of love never changes, does it?” There was a look in his eyes that so reminded me of Maudlin, asking a question when he knew the answer, it was eerie.
“It was Simmons who told me of him, and I encouraged his work with Soviet money behind me. Over the years he and I built a wonderful tight link of flowing details emanating from locations that the Americans would sooner I had no knowledge of, but nonetheless, I did and still do. Some of it I attributed to my mother, boosting that profile in the early days. Most were shared with fellow travellers back in my days of power, but never the name of my chain, or the name of that first individual. I know your chief of intelligence is here, Harry. I will write the real name of Lionel down for you to give him, but that's all I will give him today, other than what I've already given you. The cell I developed, along with all the rest that I know, I will discuss with Sir David Haig the day I arrive on English soil with an invitation to stay in my wallet. You can come as my chaperon to the discussion Sir David and I will have, Harry. Then we will take one of those iconic London taxis to my apartment in Knightsbridge and play chess into the morning light, drinking Russian vodka and Scottish whisky.”
He laughed in a way I never knew he was capable of, always considering him to be a ruminative man beyond the highs and lows of life, where poker-faces lived trying to outmanoeuvre the forward thrust of pawns in their fight for domination. Katherine had revealed a secret love of his I had imagined him being a maestro at.
“There is one final thing I must disclose, Harry, that's been a secret I've kept on someone's behalf. Not for the want of personal gain on my part, not this time, but simply through lack of a noble way of telling you. I have only bad memories to warm my bones nowadays. Most of my own making. But what I'm about to share is neither a bad memory, nor of my making. I want to see more of my family, now that the two branches are closer than they have ever been.” His stare into my eyes was suddenly razor-sharp in its direction and intent. It never wavered a centimetre as he made his next announcement.
“I have a grandson and you're his father, Harry. Hearty congratulations are due. He had his fifth birthday on the first of July, and like you, I have yet to meet him. His name, incidentally, is Luca, Luca Tovanisch! I never saw that surname coming, nor did I see Katherine slide off to your room at the National Hotel, back in Moscow six years ago.”
On my way back to the Bulgari I met Katherine coming from the opposite direction. She had changed her clothes but not the forbidding look I had left her wearing on her beautiful face.
“I'm sorry about that, Harry. I wanted to tell you myself when you came to rescue me. But when I'd told father he insisted it came from him.”
“You have nothing to apologise about. It's me that should apologise for leaving you to cope without me around to help.”
“How could you have helped if you never knew, Harry? Besides, there was nothing to cope with. It was a straightforward birth and I was rich with Paulo's money to help fund all the help Luca and I needed.”
“It explains why Jimmy was so hostile to me in the beginning, Katherine. He must have thought that I did know, and left you with Luca. That's what rankled him, getting stuck in his throat.”
“Might have been. But he admired you for what you'd achieved within your intelligence community. Told me that many times. I had no way of stopping him knowing as Luca was staying with me when they came knocking at the door.”
“Where's our son now?” I asked without shame.
“In Paris, with his nanny, Harry. She looked after him all the time I was in America. I'm seriously thinking of settling in France when all this calms down. He plays the piano, you know. He's very good at it! I'm flying there tomorrow then taking them both back to New York, at least for a while. How will Serena take this news, do you think?”
“About having a pianist or that I have a son, Katherine?”
“The son, silly!”
“No idea! Maybe a little ruffled,” I smiled.
“I thought you might like that,” nervously she returned my smile. “I suppose the news won't endear me to her, or change her opinion about me being a bitch.”
“Would it trouble you either way?”
“Yes, strangely, it would. I want our story to end in a happy way.”
“Not sure if Paulo's story will finish happily. That rests in the value that others place on what he's got to trade. They call it —Risk and Reward. Callous, but that's the secret world for you, cold and ruthless!”
“He doesn't require anyone's consent. I have held European citizenship since 2008. When I was employed with CNN, I got it. He automatically qualified after my five years' residency, just squeezes in on that one, considering how long the Americans fooled around with me. He doesn't need permission to live anywhere in Europe, Harry, and he knows that, but he wants to be of value. He sees it as his way of repaying Maudlin, who he loved and admired more than most could imagine. Perhaps, you're the only one who can. Something inside of him is English, if that makes sense. He wants to die in the arms of the family he never had, along with the one he turned his back on with a Union Jack wrapped around his shoulders. If the Queen said she wanted to meet him I think he'd die on the spot.”
“Stranger things have happened. I have to make a report to an old friend on Prince Charles's staff, but don't hold your breath though. Paris, you say! One change on a train from Harrogate then, a mystical walk towards a past unseen.”
“Are you sure that you haven't got Russian poetic blood in your veins, Lord P?”
“Absolutely positive, Katherine! Incidentally, is our son a budding Tchaikovsky or more an Elton John?”
“That proves you're not Russian. Tchaikovsky was principally a composer of music. He did not achieve his fame by playing the piano.”
“Ah well! I'll hum Elton John's — I'm Still Standing on the short walk from King's Cross to the beautiful station of St Pancras before catching a train to Paris. Even Charlie Reilly might recognise the beauty of St Pancras now.”
“Who's Charlie Reilly, Harry?” she asked, as I turned to walk away.
“Your father knows. He knows everything. Get him to tell you about Charlie one day, Katherine, after a piano recital.”
“What's the everything you know, Harry?” she asked of me and I smiled, as I blew her a kiss over my departing shoulder. “Ciao Bella” I called out to which she replied, “We will be seeing a lot more of each other, Harry. Spero di vederti presto.”
Chapter Forty-Five: Away
Back at the hotel all was packed and ready to go. Serena had changed clothes but not her hair colouring; not enough time I was told. After parting from Katherine I had tried to think of different ways to tell Serena, but only one way appeared open to me, just come right out and tell it. I didn't have long to wait before an opportunity arose.
“You missed a great steak, Harry. I needed it. The drink has worn off. My head i
s back together, thank goodness. Lunchtime drinking is a bad thing, always has been for me.”
“You're looking wonderful, Seri, as beautiful as ever.”
“Sorry I blurted out about the wedding, H. I know you wanted to keep it a secret until we got home but Tanta won't tell. I made him promise me.”
“Katherine already knew. That's where I've been. Principally speaking to her father, but bumped into her on the way back here. Paulo told her yesterday, after he'd followed us into the church and watched. I've got to tell George that his father was here. Not looking forward to that one, at all.”
“What did you and the Russian woman get up to, Harry, after you met the dad?”
“Not much, Seri. I have a son.”
“Good God, Harry! That was quick, even for you!”
I laughed. I know I probably shouldn't have, but that's what I did. She stood there with a huge grin on her face, hands on her hips, elbow pointing sideways, resembling a two-handled loving cup.
“He's five, Seri, name of Luca.” I'm not sure if that was said as my defence or by way of imparting useful information to be added to an address book.
“Surname of Tovanisch. I know all about him, Harry. Made a detour to Paris when I was rushing here and there getting ready for this show. You were off somewhere playing games with George, tripping over beautiful relatives. I listened to him play the piano at his day nursery, about a month ago. Good-looking little boy! Obviously he doesn't get his talent or looks from you. You should, and I expect will, be proud. I know I'm safe with the nanny. Not even you could fancy her.” Another shared laugh echoed around the room.
“That's Paulo's name, you know; Tovanisch. It came as a shock to him that Katherine had given her son his name. He and she were never that close. I thought it was sweet that she'd used it.”
“Luca is not just her son, Harry. He's also ours.”
Ours, — Luca had suddenly gained a father as well as another mother. I couldn't have been happier. Serena's all embracing acceptance had cleared the path of a huge complication that may have embittered our relationship before it had developed. If my hitherto comfortable world had been rocked by a hammer blow of mythical Greek proportions, at least my foundations were stable. I still had George to face though, with no Paulo as my sacrificial lamb.
“Would you like to go to Paris now, or on our way home, Harry? I can change our flight plan very easily.”
“I'll get to the how did you know in a second, Seri, but aren't you upset just a little by all of this?”
“Upset, good grief no! Why should I be? You had an affair six years ago, I was married five years ago. All this proves is that you're capable of fathering a son. We have to produce a Paterson-named child, H, and I'm streets ahead of you in that department. I've got Tanta lined up for a visit to Harrogate in a fortnight's time. He and I will be designing the new nursery. It will be big enough to take two. You did ask Katherine about Luca coming to stay didn't you? No matter. I'll deal with that. Better you don't see her too often.” She playfully punched me in the stomach to emphasise the point.
“We have to buy a baby piano, the one you have is far too big. And a pony, perhaps two might be best. We'll be busy, Harry.”
“Go on then, how did you know?” I asked, falling onto the bed a helpless wreck of a man. She lay beside me telling her tale.
“I started to get suspicious when you first went to America to see her. Trying to trace a missing member of your family, what an excuse. Off to see an old girlfriend more like, says me. I heard you use the name of Katherine on that secret phone of yours, so I asked George about her and he told me all I needed to know. The most important part being where you'd first met; Vancouver. It didn't take me long to put it all together, Mr Detective man. That's when I started to look into Katherine Friedal, big time. CNN kept very precise records of what they covered, and where they sent their journalists. Mrs Friedal changed her name soon after the Canadian trip and then had a two month holiday. Leave of absence for maternity reasons, it read. There you go, I had you.
Next entry was the Paris home address, added in August that year. Local register said three occupants. Two female, one male, newborn! How's that for tracing a missing relative? A lot quicker than you, my liege Lord. We'll set up a private detective agency when I'm washed up from being number one in the fashion hit parade, which will happen pretty soon if I don't get a holiday. Let's get going and make babies, H. You need a bit of exercise to get rid of that excess weight you've put on. Paris first or last? Your choice, husband and commander.”
I chose Hydra with its crystal clear waters and the soft welcoming bed of the villa we had rented. I told George of Paulo, and my son, his nephew, before we left Milan, in Serena's jet. The reaction I thought I'd get from both him and Serena was completely wrong. Both embraced it wholeheartedly. George particularly liked the closeness of Knightsbridge to Eton Square.
“It's within walking distance, Harry. Sophie and I will be there almost everyday. Won't we, my love?”
“Perhaps, George! We'll see,” with none of her brevity removed, she'd replied.
I sent reports to both Clive Townsend and David Haig, together with copies of the names contained on the plain slip of paper Paulo had given me along with details of his request to live out his remaining days at his London address. Sir David had called me at Linate Airport before our departure, positively drooling from the mouth with Lionel's real name in his back pocket, begging an audience with Paulo. But I had to wait for the Royal Family's reaction until I arrived at Highgrove, and my audience at the home of Prince Charles.
Joseph hadn't got round to telling the stable manager of my new marital state by that eventful Sunday. She had been hired by the estate manager on the day Seri and I signed the register at All Saints' Anglican Church, and the request he'd made of an opinion about something he wanted to discuss on my arrival back at Harrogate, was on his and Mrs Frank's retirement. My world was changing in ways I could never have envisaged.
Luca is a wonderful child. If I'm not sent to The Tower of London straight from Highgrove, and left waiting for my head to be chopped from my shoulders for the crime of caring, then I will again see him on Monday morning, when he is due to arrive at The Hall with his nanny and stay for a few days. One day perhaps I'll write a tale of his growing alongside an heir to the Harrogate throne and that too will end on a happy note. Incidentally, Serena has chosen the name of our first born son. She wants Breno, and I see no point of arguing.
THE END
About the Author
Danny Kemp, ex-London police officer, mini-cab business owner, pub tenant and licensed London taxi driver, never planned to be a writer, but after his first novel —The Desolate Garden — was under a paid option to become a $30 million film for five years until distribution became an insurmountable problem for the production company what else could he do?
Nowadays he is a prolific storyteller, and although it’s true to say that he mainly concentrates on what he knows most about; murders laced by the intrigue involving spies, his diverse experience of life shows in the short stories he compiles both for adults and children.
He is the recipient of rave reviews from a prestigious Manhattan publication, been described as —the new Graham Green — by a managerial employee of Waterstones Books, for whom he did a countrywide tour of signing events, and he has appeared on ‘live’ nationwide television.
http://www-thedesolategarden-com.co.uk/
Books By This Author
Heirs and Descendants
The Desolate Garden
Percy Crow
Lies and Consequences
What Happened In Vienna, Jack?
Once I Was A Soldier
The Widow's Son
Novellas
The Story That Had No Beginning
A Shudder From Heaven
Why? A Complicated Love
Three Children's Stories
Teddy And Tilly's Travels
Dear reader,