Chapter 25
Lara was tempted to say something very rude in reply, possibly in Arabic (which she found a satisfyingly expressive language). But then she remembered that Abby spoke Hindi, and she didn’t put it past her to have mastered this language as well. So instead, she simply repeated, ‘The Lost Vermeer?’
‘Whoa! And you think this could be it?’ Lara exclaimed.
‘Well…’ Abby replied evasively.
‘How much do you think it could be worth?’ Lara demanded.
‘As to that, it would be hundreds of millions of pounds, I imagine.’
‘Now, that feels like a proper motive,’ Lara declared.
She had always thought the tea service was a bit of a red herring, whereas a painting worth millions?
‘Although…’ she continued, and her thoughts became muddled.
Was this even the lost painting? Wasn’t that a bit of a leap?
And why would anyone need to kill Lady Porter for it?
Maybe Dr Patil if he knew he was inheriting it?
Or someone who just wanted to get their hands on it?
The more she considered it, the more confused she became.
Meanwhile, Abby sat straight-backed on a chair imitating the playing of a harpsichord. She started to hum.
‘You know something about it, don’t you?’ Lara demanded suspiciously.
‘Not precisely,’ was all the reply that Lara could get from Abby who finished her imaginary playing, turned and bowed her head to Lara, then disappeared into thin air.
A split-second later, Kate popped her head around the door. ‘Oh, there you are! Sarah and I were worried about you. You okay?’ Kate queried, stepping closer to look at Lara.
Lara stooped to pick up an empty wine bottle to avoid her gaze. ‘I’m fine. Just coming back to get more wine.’ For some reason she felt reluctant to talk about her ‘fall’.
She followed Kate back to the Dress Circle Bar where Sarah was talking about the startling performance that had taken place in one of the boxes. ‘Even the management didn’t know it was planned,’ Sarah told them. ‘Did you see it?’
Not wanting the ensuing fuss Lara denied all knowledge of it and hoped word would not spread of her nose-dive.
She was pretty confident that no one would have recognised her from below.
At least she sincerely hoped so. Instead she drew Sarah and Kate aside and told them about all she had ‘overheard’.
As this covered Richard and Pinky arguing about the fraudulent power of attorney and the second will this took some time.
‘Joe?’ Sarah and Kate kept declaring in unison. ‘You mean, gardener Joe?’
‘But he’s so… I mean, harmless,’ Sarah added.
‘I know he once got done for drugs,’ Kate commented.
‘But it was only weed,’ Sarah insisted. ‘And old Mrs Dune who said he’d stolen her garden statue was as mad as a box of frogs. The next day she said the postman had done it.’
All of this was news to Lara.
‘But Joe?!’ her companions repeated.
‘Yes, Joe,’ Abby corroborated, wandering into the small kitchen where the three women were cloistered. Lara gave her the shadow of a smile.
‘For myself, I never approved of him calling Lady Porter…’ Abby paused and shuddered slightly, ‘…“the old girl”.’
Kate and Sarah then spent several fruitless minutes discussing Joe’s possible link to Lady Porter.
Neither of them had ever got any inkling of this and struggled to see a family resemblance.
‘But half a million?!’ Kate finished, clearly astounded.
Lara had decided to pretend she had overheard a lot more than she (or rather Abby) actually had, so she could bring the two women fully up to date.
When Richard, Pinky and Joe’s inheritance had been exhausted, Lara quickly filled them in on the other parts of the legacy, Mrs M’s pension, the proposed gift for the church and specifically, the paintings to Dr Patil.
Again, she made it sound like she had ‘overheard’ Richard Porter and Jason Honeybourne talking and found herself commenting, ‘You must have heard of The Lost Vermeer,’ studiously avoiding Abby’s eye as she said this.
‘Boy, you’ve been busy,’ Kate exclaimed. ‘I hardly heard anything. Just Pinky arguing with someone, I presumed Richard, but I couldn’t see them.’
‘What was she saying?’ Lara asked.
‘Couldn’t really hear that either, but she was pissed off, that’s for sure.’
Sarah looked thoughtful. ‘I did hear Richard complaining to Jason Honeybourne about money going out of his mother’s account.
It sounded like he was accusing him of selling her stuff she didn’t need.
Jason denied it, of course.’ She glanced at Lara.
‘You once mentioned blackmail. Is that what you were thinking of?’
‘I guess it’s a possibility,’ Lara replied vaguely, knowing she couldn’t mention the bank account, but pleased that this was yet another thing she could now talk about openly with Sarah and Kate.
By now more people were drifting back to the bar, so Lara speedily filled them in on her conversation with Dr Patil about flowers and names, before straightening her apron and grabbing two full bottles of wine.
She felt she had given Sarah and Kate a lot to think about and was aware of a feeling of relief that she was sharing it.
Abby had stood silently apart, watching Lara’s face as she talked in conspiratorial whispers to her companions.
Absorbed in the conversation, it appeared that Lara had momentarily forgotten about her Kindred Spirit.
Abby stood with her head slightly on one side. Her expression was difficult to read.
It was as Lara was leaving the kitchen area that she remembered something else. She called over her shoulder, ‘Oh, and by the way Julian is shagging Pinky Porter.’
Lara just heard Kate’s ‘Mother of God, that man doesn’t know when to stop!
’ before heading into the main body of the bar.
She thought for an evening that had initially seemed so lacking in opportunity, they had discovered an awful lot.
She was unsure where it left them in finding Lady Porter’s killer, but, she reflected, someone had definitely wanted her out of the way.
And that must mean they were getting closer.
After five minutes of circulating and pouring, Lara collected fresh bottles and headed further into the theatre. However, it was not long before she began to think she should have taken Dr Patil’s advice. Her legs were starting to shake and her arm was throbbing painfully.
Abby, who had been following closely behind her, stepped forward and wordlessly motioned her to follow her up into the wings of the stage where they would be hidden from view.
Abby settled herself on one of the reproduction Regency chairs that formed part of the props and nodded at the chair next to her.
‘You need to rest for a moment,’ she said firmly.
Before Lara could slip out of sight there was a call from people on the stage for more wine.
Jessica was standing near the footlights holding her glass out imperiously.
She was part of a group of six or so guests still milling around.
Sebastian and Julian were standing by her side chatting.
There was no sign of Pinky. Lara glanced around helplessly.
There was no alternative, she didn’t want to let Sarah down, so she would just have to brave it.
Lara walked across to Jessica, keeping her head turned away.
She kept her back to Julian and Sebastian and tried to pour the wine as inconspicuously as possible.
‘My goodness the flower business must be bad,’ Jessica proclaimed loudly. So much for waitresses being invisible, Lara thought bitterly.
In a loud stage whisper that would not have been out of place in a farce, Jessica added, ‘No surprises there then.’ By now the whole group was staring at Lara.
She found her hand was shaking as she poured Jessica’s drink and she could have cried with rage for allowing this woman to see how upset she was.
As the last of the wine filled her glass, Jessica took the opportunity to step closer to Lara and nudge her trembling hand.
Keeping her eyes on Lara, but her back to the others, she tipped the full glass of wine down the front of Lara’s apron.
A pale yellow stain started to spread out over the white fabric.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake!’ Jessica cried irritably.
‘Is there something wrong with you or are you drunk?!’ She turned to the others.
‘You just can’t get the staff these days,’ she said, laughing immoderately at her own joke.
Lara had never been so close to doing another human being physical harm.
Only the thought of what it would do to Sarah’s business stopped her launching herself at the smirking Jessica.
Lara’s knuckles were white as she held on to the wine bottle and she thought if she pressed any harder she would break it.
Julian pushed past Jessica and strode towards Lara.
For one mad moment she thought he was going to help her.
Instead, he stood looking down at her frowning.
‘Blimey, Lara, I think you should stick to the day job.’ He shifted slightly to make sure none of the spilled wine came anywhere near his clothes.
‘Look, I’m saying this as a friend. You should think about the people you hang out with.
This sort of thing,’ he said, indicating her outfit, ‘is doing you no good. What you have to realise is, there are people in this town who you pass the time of day with but they’re not the sort of people you make friends with.
Sarah? Kate? Really?’ As he finally turned away to leave she heard him say to the others, ‘I’m trying to think which TV character she reminds me of. ’
Jessica giggled, ‘Mrs Overall?’
Julian guffawed with laughter, as he and the others headed towards the exit.
Lara was left alone in the middle of the stage holding tight to her bottles of wine. ‘Why didn’t you help me?’ she asked. It was said very quietly but it was certainly loudly enough for a ghost to hear. ‘You could at least have stood beside me.’
Abby did not say anything but just watched from the wings as Lara walked off stage.
How could she tell her that Lara needed to see for herself what this man was really like?
That despite all that Kate had said she felt Lara was still deeply affected by Julian.
Plus, Abby knew from bitter experience that interfering between an infatuated woman and the man she thought she loved would only ever lead to disaster.
Her too-short time with her best friend Emma had taught her that.
It was a very subdued Lara who appeared back in the Dress Circle Bar. She joined Sarah and Kate and explained a bit of what had happened.
‘The bitch!’ Sarah said loudly.
‘She dyes her hair so much it’s going to snap off at the roots soon,’ Kate offered.
Sarah nudged Lara’s arm, making her wince. ‘Thank you for not hitting her,’ she whispered gratefully.
‘I don’t know. You could have pretended it was part of the show,’ Kate suggested, grinning.
Sarah didn’t say anything, but studied Lara thoughtfully as she rubbed her sore arm.
‘Look,’ Sarah said suddenly, ‘I’ve got an idea. One of my main wine suppliers is sponsoring the Estate Ball this year. He owes me a favour and I’m sure I could wangle three free tickets. Why don’t we all go?’
Kate looked doubtful.
Lara looked horrified.
‘Not sure…’ Kate ventured.
‘Oh, come on,’ Sarah insisted, ‘it’ll be fun. We can get dressed up and dance like idiots. I know Mum will have Rory so I can be as late as I like. And I’ll organise taxis – it will be my way of saying thank you.’
‘I haven’t got anything to wear.’ Lara knew she was trying to find excuses. But it seemed that Kate was weakening. ‘It would be good to have a night out. I guess I could make myself something.’ Then looking at Lara’s unhappy face added, ‘I could do your hair for you.’
Lara thought of Kate looking after her mum. She wondered how often she had a night off.
Sarah joined in the persuasion, ‘We could all meet at mine first to get ready – and drink Champagne or cocktails,’ she added, temptingly smiling at both of them.
‘Okay,’ Lara agreed, trying to smile back. ‘Thank you,’ she added after a pause.
As they cleared the glasses and sorted out the rubbish, the discussion turned to Lady Porter, although none of them could come up with a clear plan of what to do next.
Of Abby there was no sign, and Lara was relieved, even though she felt the three of them would have benefited from her input.
In the end the consensus was they should sleep on it.
As she left the theatre, Lara felt too weary to worry about her safety on the way home. She hoped if she kept to well-lit roads she would be okay. Her cottage was too close to warrant a taxi and Kate and Sarah were driving some of the younger waitresses home and their car was already full.
Abby watched her leave from behind the stage door. She sensed that Lara would not welcome her company tonight. That still did not stop her following her and watching her progress from the shadows.