Madam Tulip and the Bones of Chance by David Ahern

Author:David Ahern [Ahern, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery, thriller, Suspense, female protagonist, amateur sleuth, crime fiction, Humorous
ISBN: 9780993544842
Publisher: Malin Press
Published: 2018-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

19

As she changed and brushed up in Vanessa’s elegant apartment, Derry congratulated herself on being entirely presentable. She had brought her fifties floral tea dress with the high neck and shaped waist—maybe a little summery for Edinburgh in late October, but versatile, that was the point. Combined with Victorian-style button-up ankle boots, the effect was, Derry thought, highly satisfactory. She was keenly aware that going anywhere with a mother who could afford to collect Dior posed a special challenge.

As Derry and Vanessa taxied from Vanessa’s apartment to a restaurant across town, Derry had to admit that Edinburgh was pretty. Even in the dark and rain of an October evening, she could make out battlements, turrets and quaintly pointed roofs. Surprisingly, these defences belonged not to castles and fortresses but to hospitals, banks, schools and apartment blocks. In the eighteen hundreds, the cabbie explained, Edinburgh architects had hallucinated themselves into the fifteenth century by reading too many novels. Imagine, he wondered, what the city would look like if they’d had television.

The restaurant was surprising. Not least because Mikayel, the owner, appeared in full Armenian national costume, wore moustaches of heroic proportions and seemed besotted by Vanessa. So extravagant was his devotion that before showing Derry and her mother to their table, he dropped to one knee proposing that he and Vanessa should ride off into the mountains together. Vanessa smiled indulgently, an artfully raised eyebrow suggesting she might consider the proposition, if her suitor tried much harder.

Derry looked the other way, pretending to inspect the venue. On the walls hung ancient framed portraits of bearded Armenian generals in furry hats and bandoliers. Dusty Victorian volumes filled battered bookcases. An old iron bicycle hung from the ceiling. A collection of vintage glass bottles confirmed Derry’s suspicion the place had been furnished from the back room of a bric-a-brac shop.

Vanessa patronising such an unlikely establishment was a puzzle. She was known to choose restaurants solely on the grounds of decor and clientele—a strategy laden with culinary risk, but consistent. Derry wondered, could her mother have been charmed out of her insistence on taste at all costs?

‘Please, I show you and your friend to your table,’ said Mikayel, his voice husky, his eyes blazing.

‘Thank you, Mikayel,’ said Vanessa, bestowing on him a gracious smile. The misunderstanding about friend she let go uncorrected.

Only as they were ushered down the length of the busy dining room and on to an annex did Derry grasp why they had come to this particular restaurant. There, hung haphazardly on bare granite walls, frames almost touching, were a dozen or more startlingly modern paintings. Derry saw right away they included three of her father’s works as well as others she recognised as artists also commanding serious prices. She wondered did the regular clientele have any clue what these walls were worth.

Their table was for four, the seats hard church pews that their host assiduously buffed with his cloth for the sake of Vanessa’s costume before disappearing to fetch the menus.

‘Gordon suggested we meet here,’ said Vanessa.

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