Bright Young Things by Jane A. Adams

Author:Jane A. Adams [Adams, Jane A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2021-05-17T00:00:00+00:00

TEN

Monday 13 January

They had returned to London on the Monday morning and mid-afternoon found Henry back at his flat contemplating a lonely few hours until it was time to go to bed. He was still finding it hard to settle and, unusually for him, hard to be alone. Mickey had invited him back but Henry had declined. Monday evenings were one of the few times that Mickey and Belle could actually claim as their own, when the theatre was dark and she was not performing. He knew they treasured the time that they could spend together and he would not willingly have intruded upon that even though he knew that he would have been welcome.

He telephoned Cynthia, eager for the sound of a familiar voice and for ordinary news and for a while they talked about random things.

She joked that Henry Johnstone’s return from retirement in order to take on this new and mysterious case shared billing on the front page with Pope Pius XI’s proclamations about the sinfulness of co-educational schools.

‘Are you coping with this, Henry?’ she asked him.

‘So far I am. I confess I’m still finding it hard work, just being on my feet all day and thinking what I must ask people, what questions come next. I think if Mickey wasn’t present I would struggle but Mickey knows how I work, how I think, what needs to be done and that helps to keep me moving in the right direction.’

‘It will take time, Henry. Be patient with yourself.’

Henry smiled. ‘Patience was never one of my virtues,’ he confessed.

‘Cynthia, have you ever had dealings with a Mr Benjamin Caxton? His name has come up and I had this vague memory that Albert did business with him at one time.’

‘On one occasion, yes. But he is not a man we have cultivated. He does not have the best of reputations for honesty, Henry, and he is very much the politician these days. I believe his business affairs have been handed over for others to manage. It was his father that we had more connection with. Cyril Caxton was a nice man and Albert’s father and he were great friends at one time.’

‘And did something happen to end that friendship?’

‘No, I don’t believe so. I think it was simply that neither was as active in business. Both had retired and Cyril retreated to the countryside. He took a great interest in hunting and local politics and I believe in fishing. Essentially he retired and became an English gentleman in habit as well as in family name. Albert’s father, as you know, took to travelling, so I don’t think there was any great falling out, more a simple drift apart.’

‘But you’ve had no real dealings with the son.’

He could sense Cynthia thinking about this, carefully considering her response. ‘You know that Ben was wounded, badly so. He barely made it home with his life. There is no doubting his courage.’

‘But?’

‘But he’s a predator, Henry.’

‘Predator? What exactly do you mean?’

‘I think you know what I mean.

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