Bede was thoughtful, ‘Yes, he tried to suggest depression to me, but there was no evidence of that. Dad was still fully engaged in the business, and although he missed Mum, he was still really alive and vigorous. I suspect that’s why, with the lack of evidence to the contrary, they left an open verdict.’
Hera moved restlessly in the chair. She was feeling caged and needed to move. She pushed back from the table and paced to the window, then turned back to Meredith. ‘That evening at dinner, Dad was not talking about New York, but before, when both of you were growing up in Sydney. He talked about one of the uncles and some cousins and an uncle who still lived in Europe, but I can’t remember his name.’ She looked at Meredith. ‘Can you remember who he was talking about? You should remember the name. It would have meant something to you. He was angry, and it seemed to have something to do with the new contract.’
Meredith looked worried. ‘Do you know, I really can’t remember, it’s as if that whole period is a blank. Maybe it has something to do with shock, but I really have no memory. I do remember dinner, and the fact that James was angry about something, but it’s all blurred in my mind, dreamlike, there are no details at all.’
Bede no longer had any appetite. She stood and wandered into the office and called out. ‘That old contract will still be here somewhere, and Meredith, please try to remember which uncle he meant.’
Hera continued to pace around the room, frowning, and trying to reconstruct details of that last evening.
‘I don’t remember much about that night, but I do remember the afternoon before. Dad had a phone call at around two. I remember because I was trying to write an essay. The mobile network was down, and only the landline was working, so he took the call in the office. He became quite agitated. In fact, at one point, he shouted at whoever was on the phone, saying no, no, no over and over again. He finally slammed the receiver down, and stalked out of the office. I had forgotten about it, I should have paid more attention.’
Meredith looked up. ‘Hera, was it an overseas call, do you know?’
‘No idea, but it did seem as if he was expecting the call because he stalked in and answered on the second ring. But that may have been because he knew I wouldn’t answer it.’ She grimaced.
Bede came back into the room. ‘That contract is nowhere in here, did you move it, Hera?’
Meredith surged to her feet. ‘We must find that contract immediately. Come on, Hera, we’ll help Bede search.’
Hera narrowed her eyes while following Meredith into the office. ‘I haven’t seen it since that night at dinner. Meredith, you must tell us about these obscure relations of ours. I suspect it might be important. Was there someone in particular James would not have been happy dealing with?’
Meredith looked up from the desk where she was helping Bede search again through the many drawers. She frowned. ‘I must think about it, and decide how much I can tell you.’
Both Hera and Bede turned toward her. ‘No way, we need to know all of it, and now,’ they spoke in unison.
They stood shoulder to shoulder the way they had when children. Bede taking the lead as always, glared, ‘We’ve had enough secrecy Aunt Meredith, we are both mature adults and need to be told all the history, all the mythology, and even all the gossip about all the various branches. It seems to me that there are our relatives, and then there is a darker more threatening side of the family. And we need to know what it all mean. And if you won’t tell us, then I’ll start searching myself online.’ She stood with her hands on her hips and glared at her aunt. Bede continued, ‘I suspect there’s a lot you don’t know either, and we need to stick together with this. For a start, who is Justin? And if he’s so important, why have we never met him?’
Meredith looked at the two girls, and seemed to collapse in on herself—she looked older and very tired suddenly. She realised she had made a tactical error with her automatic response to keep the girls in ignorance. In fact, she mused. They were adults and needed to know everything she knew about their extended family. It was obvious they would need that information. The world was shrinking, and Australia was no longer cut off, isolated, or ‘too far away’. James had tried to keep them invisible, but the world had come to them and James was now dead.
‘Okay, I will tell you all I know and all I suspect, but it will take some time, so we’ll stick to your father’s accident and what I suspect about that.’ She dropped into an armchair angled beside the desk, and the two girls perched on the arms beside her. ‘Back to that night, I think he was probably talking about George, a great-uncle on your mother’s side, your grandfather’s disreputable brother. He is the proverbial black sheep of that side of the family, and yes, if James discovered that George was involved in that last contract, he would have been furious. But what I can’t see is why. We’re talking about exporting native flowers for goodness sake. I would have thought flowers would be a bit beneath George.’
Bede frowned. ‘But he would be really old now. Why would James be worried about him?’
Meredith smiled slightly. ‘Well, the truth is that George was the last of the children born in that family. He was a very late, late mistake if you like. In fact, he’s only a few years older than James.’
Bede and Hera started pacing, passing each other, going in opposite directions. Meredith threw her hands in the air. ‘Stop moving you two, you’re making my head spin.’
Bede asked, ‘This Uncle George, is he Mafia or something? How does he get to be the black sheep? What did he do? And why would Dad not want to deal with him? That’s a few questions that need answers. And how does my incredible dream fit into all of this? Come on, we need details.’
‘Also, is Justin from Mother’s family or from yours?’ Hera asked.
Bede snorted, ‘She already said he’s a great-uncle from Mother’s side of the family. Pay attention Hera.’
Hera snarled. ‘She was talking about George, Bede, not Justin. You pay attention.’
‘Girls, squabbling isn’t helping.’ Meredith sank further into the chair, leaned her head against the back of the seat, and closed her eyes. Taking several deep breaths, she calmed her agitated nerves and started talking almost to herself in a quiet, serene voice. ‘Twenty odd years ago, we were all living in New York. Bede, you were only a few months old. George is a thief. He steals art works mostly, and he’s extremely good at it obviously, as he’s never been caught or, rather, has never actually been charged. He stole a painting, a Turner, had it copied, and then sold the copy back to the original owners. Or, rather, he ransomed the copy back to the original owners. Somehow, he implicated James when the switch was discovered, but it took quite a while to sort out exactly who did what. The police finally cleared James of any involvement, but I think that was the catalyst for him to make the move back here. He wanted a clean start completely away from anything to do with George or the Family. Your parents, as you know, were distantly related. There are the common great, great-grandparents.’ She paused, looking into the distance. ‘For quite some time, your mother’s side of the family believed the lies George was spreading about James. He and your mother were furious, and as you know, James doesn’t forgive easily. After the police finally sorted it all out and cleared his name, he declared he wanted nothing to do with any of them. George, smarmy character that he is, disappeared for a few years, but then came back like the proverbial prodigal son and took up his life as if nothing had happened.
‘Both sides of the family were involved at one time with ostracising him for his criminal ways. But what they were mostly angry about was the potential for the family name to be cited in the newspapers. That, of all things, is the worst crime. At that point, all the forged documents implicated James. It really did take quite a few months to sort out the false trails George had laid down. And by that time, James and Penelope had had enough of the innuendos directed at James. They couldn’t actually prove anything in the early days.
It was Justin who finally managed to sort out exactly what George had done, and by that time, the original of the Turner had completely disappeared. It was a mess, the Family compensated the original owners of the Turner, but to this day, no one knows where it is. The copy is on display at the Louvre, but of course, no one is talking about it. The authorities were furious, the original owner was furious, the potential buyer was furious, and James and Penelope left New York with you, Bede, and refused to return ever. They did take you to a few family gatherings in Europe, particularly after Hera was born. But basically, they had very little to do with Penelope’s side of the family again.’
Both Bede and Hera, by this time, were looking intrigued. Hera spoke first, ‘Dad must have been furious. He has had such a strong sense of ethics in all his dealings whether business or personal.’
Meredith looked thoughtful. ‘George is such a slimy character. Nothing could ever be proved conclusively about his involvement, so James hoped never to have anything more to do with him.’
‘If James had learned that George was involved with that contract in any way, he would have been ropeable. As for Justin’, Meredith continued, ‘he is a cousin of your father and mine, twice removed. Really girls, the family is very complicated, and you almost need a degree in mathematics to work it out.’ The two girls glared at her and she continued, ‘Justin is an extremely clever man, sits on a few boards, but mostly, he’s a sort of trouble-shooter for the Family.’ She frowned. ‘Although I’ve heard that he’s retired now, and Gabriel and Martin, his two nephews, have stepped into that role. They now keep various business aspects of the Family functioning and are the official trouble-shooters, I think, but I’m not sure about that either. Justin and his brother, Dominik, are identical twins. Gabriel and Martin are also twins, but they’re fraternal twins.’
Bede, glancing now at Meredith, thought she was looking sheepish or embarrassed. There’s something she’s not telling us again, she mused.
‘What exactly do you mean by various business aspects of the Family? And do they have anything to do with us now?’ Hera paused for a moment, and then continued, ‘If the original owners of the Turner were compensated, that involves a huge amount of money! There are two questions there, Aunt Meredith.’
‘Well’, Meredith temporised, ‘in answer to the first implied question, the Family as an entity, are fabulously wealthy. And in fact, yes, you both derive some benefits, as do I. Every member, no matter how distant, receives some benefits, in fact, quite a lot sometimes. The money you both inherited recently from a distant Aunt was actually a proportion of the sale of one of the Family companies.’
That statement was greeted with a stunned silence.
Hera erupted, ‘That means that both you and Dad colluded in keeping us in the dark about something that is obviously really important, and something we should have been told about at the time.’ She shouted, ‘What were you both thinking?’ She paused to take a deep breath, then went on more quietly, ‘And where does the herbalist aspect come in? Are we talking drugs here?’
Bede moved over, putting her arm around Hera’s shoulders, ‘Hey, calm down, getting into a temper will not solve anything.’ Hera glared at her, but turned back to Meredith.
Meredith looked stunned and outraged. ‘Of course not, as if James would ever allow his business to be used in that way. Whatever made you think of such a thing?’
‘What about this awful great-uncle named George?’ Bede demanded. ‘Would he be involved with drugs?’
‘No,’ Meredith laughed. ‘He’s too much of a snob. He deals only with artworks of various sorts. I believe he’s dabbled in jewellery, but he much prefers to keep with the two dimensional stuff.’ Meredith continued, ‘As to the answer of the second implied question, yes, the Family holding is fabulously wealthy. I have no idea of the details, and I don’t know who does.’ Meredith was looking very pale and drawn. She waved her hand at the two girls. ‘James would have dealt with all of this if he hadn’t died, and I do think it was murder. I’m sorry girls.’ She dropped her head into her hands. Bede looked across at Hera briefly, shrugged, and without another word, both turned immediately and put their arms around her.
Bede contemplated Meredith thoughtfully. ‘I think the most productive way forward at this point, Meredith, is for you to make some sort of list of the family members. Detailed notes, gossip and innuendo even, and no editing.’ Meredith looked into Bede’s blazing eyes, and with a sinking feeling in her stomach, realised Bede no longer trusted her unconditionally. ‘And in the meantime, I’ve had enough. It was a long drive yesterday, I’m angry, and not entirely sure why. I suggest Hera and I take off for a bit, and leave you to sort out the list, which is important.’ She paused briefly, and with a sigh, continued, ‘Then you can come clean finally, and we will have no more secrets in this branch of this mysterious family that we seem to belong to. But be assured we love you, and I am not furious at you. At least I don’t think I am.’
Meredith smiled gently and got up from the chair. ‘You’re right, my pet. I’ll put my mind to the list, but we do need to find that missing contract.’
Chapter Four
Gabriel
Gabriel indicated a table just vacated along the wall opposite the band where they could keep an eye on the door. It was early yet, but this was their best option for finding Justin tonight. It was frustrating when they were so desperately short of time and needed the information he obviously had, but traipsing all over Prague on a night like tonight was counterproductive. They sat quietly with every expectation of a few quiet moments to enjoy the music and collect their thoughts.
Martin looked across at Gabriel. ‘I don’t like anything about this, Gabe. I have the distinct impression no one is being honest. We don’t have all the relevant details. And there is a hidden agenda to all of this. There is something other than the book and Justin that we’re expected to find.’
‘I agree there’s something’s definitely not right about this bloody assignment.’
Gabriel let his thoughts drift back to their arrival at the airport. Neither of them had come prepared for the icy weather—Martin less so than Gabriel. They were dressed for the office, which in fact was where they had been. Trendy suits and leather-soled shoes were not the attire needed to wander around the freezing streets, but there had only been time to grab passports, various reports, and head for their respective airports. The summons had been explicit and startling enough to have them rushing from different parts of the world to meet, incredibly enough almost simultaneously at Ruzyne Airport.
They had greeted each other with laughter, hugs, and much backslapping. There was a major problem looming, but the thought of spending a few days together was a bonus.
It had been over twelve months since they’d managed to catch up in person. E-mails were fine, but they didn’t quite convey the intimacy of their usual communication. Fraternal twins were not as close as identical twins according to medical reports, but he and Martin had always had an awareness of the other’s state, especially any injury or excessive anxiety experienced by either.
Gabriel grabbed Martin’s arm and dragged him laughing toward the nearest trendy clothing store. ‘You, my friend, are not dressed for this weather. You look suitably debonair, but decidedly chilly.’
They bought heavy padded jackets, gloves, scarfs, and woolly hats. The boots had been a little more difficult to purchase. While indulging in a spot of shopping, they exchanged lurid details of their latest ‘conquests’ and were delighted to be in their favourite city if only for a few days.
‘We can get a drink, something to eat, and exchange a bit of gossip before heading to the first meet,’ Gabriel had declared. ‘Do you have any idea what this is really about?’
‘Not a clue, old sod, but it’s a welcome change to what I have been doing for the last two years. Istanbul is exciting, but it’s not Prague.’
Gabriel pulle
d himself back to the present as Martin spoke softly, ‘I’m looking forward to some snow for a change. Let’s try to spin this out when we’re finished. I missed the family gathering at Christmas, as did you. We’re entitled to some R & R. I would love to spend some free time here just indulging in a bit of nostalgia. We could catch up with old friends, get roaring drunk, and pretend we’re still in our early twenties, instead of heading fast towards the big thirty.’
Martin signalled to the waitress. ‘We may as well have a beer and nostalgia dictates a Pilsner.’ Laughing, they settled into the recently vacated table in a secluded corner.
‘All jokes aside Martin, do you have any idea what this is about?’ Gabriel took a small sip of his beer. ‘The directive that came through was idiotic. Find Justin, but first meet up with Uncle Stefan at the office. What the hell does that mean, and why can’t Uncle Stefan find Justin? Were you given anything more explicit?’
‘Not much, but I did overhear something between Marina and Josephine. Something to do with the Family archives, I think, or maybe family history, but they slammed the door on me. They may be getting old, but they still have minds like steel traps. It doesn’t make sense. If we are supposed to solve some problem, we need more detailed information. Unless Uncle Stefan knows more than he’s telling, in which case, we just have to wait a little longer. It’s a mystery, but it does mean we’re here. All expenses paid for a few days at least, so let’s find Justin, sort out the book, whatever it is, and get down to some serious socialising.’ He grinned.
The band continued to play quietly as Gabriel continued his musing. They had a very frustrating meeting with Stefan, who alluded to difficulty contacting Justin, but didn’t say why, stated the missing ‘book’ Justin was tracking down had to be found, as it was extremely important to the Family archives, smiled benignly at both of them, and showed them out of the office. Gabriel almost expected to be patted on the head.
A Conundrum Page 3