Part 19 (1/2)
I nodded, and he said, ”You mentioned in your e-mail that you would be staying here, so I dropped by on the chance you might be in and perhaps free for a drink. And before I forget, thank you for what you said about my father and for your concern. I was very touched.”
”How is he? The news stories say he's quite ill.”
The look in his eyes told me it was even worse than that. ”My mother arrived this morning. She was on a cruise with friends off the coast of Turkey and this was the soonest she could get off the s.h.i.+p and catch a flight to London. He's doing poorly, but he's fighting.”
”I'm so sorry. I hope he'll pull through.”
”So do I.” He sounded upbeat, but his smile was strained. ”Are you all right? You look a bit pale yourself.”
”Me? Oh, it's nothing. I was out today and didn't dress warmly enough. It's chillier here than at home.”
”Come on,” he said. ”I think we could both use a drink. There must be something on the Coburg Bar's ma.s.sive drinks menu that can warm you up and give me a bit of liquid courage.”
We sat at the same table next to the fireplace where Harry and I had sat the night before. Like Harry, Victor had Scotch, but didn't make his choice until he'd had an intense discussion with our waiter about the finer points of Highland and Lowland malts. I had a gla.s.s of sherry.
”Why do you need liquid courage?” I asked as the waiter set down our drinks and we touched gla.s.ses. ”Is it something to do with your father?”
He shook his head. ”I think Yasmin and I should postpone the wedding.”
I set my gla.s.s down. ”What does she think?” One look at his face, and I said, ”She doesn't know.”
”Not yet.”
”When are you going to tell her?”
He looked like a man who just heard bad news from a jury. ”We moved out of my parents' house on Eaton Square this morning over to the Goring and were planning to have a quiet dinner in the hotel tonight. I thought I'd tell her then.”
Eaton Square was one of London's posh addresses in Belgravia, an elegant residential garden square faced mostly by terraced white stucco Regency buildings. I hadn't realized Archduke Orlando and his wife owned a house there, but they were in good company since it was a neighborhood known for its famous residents, real and fictional.
”How do you think she's going to take it?”
Victor drank some Scotch. ”I think she'll be okay. My father's illness, Kevin's death, her mother's political campaign, all the problems with that . . .” He made a face like the Scotch tasted off when he mentioned Ursula.
”You mean Ursula's primary? She told me she has a tough fight against a wealthy opponent.”
”Brutal would be a better word. Elections in America, my G.o.d, they cost so much. Ursula just hired a new media consultant, and all the campaign language makes it sound like this is some kind of war. I'm absolutely stunned.”
”You mean David Arista's media company?”
He nodded. ”He's supposed to be the best. He works with Yasmin on the Creativity Council.”
If he thought there was something between his fiancee and his future mother-in-law's media consultant, he was too much of a gentleman to let it show.
I made a small circle on the table with my gla.s.s. ”I didn't know your parents had a house in Eaton Square. That must be quite a large place. Did you think your mother wanted privacy and that's why you moved to the hotel?”
He gave me a piercing look. ”I should have realized you'd pick up on that remark. My mother is not . . . overly fond . . . of Yasmin. Sometimes even the largest houses can seem small when there is no harmony among the people who live there.”
”Is the feeling mutual, if I'm not being too nosy?”
He propped an elbow on the table and rested his chin on his hand. ”Actually, I'm glad to have someone to confide in. And, yes, it's mutual, unfortunately.”
”What about your father?”
”He is concerned about the age difference, but he likes Yasmin.”
”Maybe postponing is a good idea with all the stress everyone is dealing with.” I touched my gla.s.s against his again. ”Look, you have the rest of your life to be married. A few months isn't going to change anything. Perhaps Yasmin will take the news better than you expect.”
I hoped she would, for his sake.
His smile didn't make it all the way to his eyes. ”Of course.”
”Where is she now?”
”Working, believe it or not. You'll never guess who is in town. Edward Jaine.”
”Good Lord, what's he doing here?”
”He has meetings, I believe, with some financial people in the City. Yasmin has been courting him to get him to become part of the Smithsonian Creativity Council. They're having tea together this afternoon.”
I thought about the intimate exchange I'd witnessed between them at the engagement party and wondered if they were just talking business. ”He'd be an interesting addition,” I said.
Victor smiled. ”I take it you're not a fan?”
”I'm not being fair because I don't actually know him.”
”I do know him and I resented the way he treated Kevin.”
”You knew he was Kevin's benefactor?”
He nodded. ”I spoke to my father and asked if he'd be interested in the two of us underwriting Kevin's expenses so he wouldn't have to deal with Edward Jaine anymore. Kevin and I flew over here to discuss it with my father the week before Kevin died.”
The conversation between Ursula's neighbors at the engagement party came back to me: The husband had remarked that Victor would inherit the old archduke's art collection . . . and his library.
Was Archduke Orlando the other interested party in Kevin's copy of Adam in Eden?
”Did Kevin bring a book with him for your father to look at?”
He sat back in surprise. ”How do you know about it?”
”It's a long story. I found it.”
His eyes widened. ”My G.o.d, I've been wondering what might have happened to it. Where is it now?”
”In a vault. Don't worry, it's safe.” Though I already could guess the answer after what Zara Remington had said at the Chelsea Physic Garden the other day, I asked anyway. ”What happened when your father examined it?”
”He made a few discreet inquiries and told Kevin it was quite valuable, one of a kind.”
”Did he offer to buy it?”