“Yes, but don’t get on his bad side,” Lester replied. “You don’t go from army captain to millionaire many times over by being nice to everybody.”
“I suppose not.”
“Have you had the beautiful homes tour?”
“I was just starting to have a look around when the speeches started.”
“I’ll escort you, shall I? An antique dealer’s guided tour? Let’s get some more of that vastly overpriced champagne to take with us.”
Lester was very amusing and also very knowledgeable. It was fun, really, seeing the place through his eyes, and he seemed to enjoy it, too. I knew enough about the stuff he’d sold to the Alexanders to make the appropriate appreciative noises, and so he was happy as a clam. They had clearly spent millions on the place, but all in very good taste, and Lester had helped him do it. It made me think of my former relationship with Blair. I wished I could be as proud of that as Lester seemed to be.
The house really was open for everyone to see. I was in heaven. I love open houses. I drop in at real estate open houses all the time, just to see how other people live. I insisted upon looking in every corner, every bathroom, any room that wasn’t locked, and there really weren’t any that I could find. Yes, there were people who were obviously making sure we guests didn’t abscond with the Meissen porcelain, but it was all very tastefully done. You’d hardly guess the gorgeous young people in artistic black were security guards.
Upstairs there were many bedrooms. The master bedroom was all Art Deco, and really spectacular with a huge balcony that ran the length of the room. There was also an upstairs den, and in it a couple of Charles Rennie Mackintosh chairs, both with neat little signs on them asking us to please refrain from sitting on them and a bookcase, also Mackintosh. Bingo, I thought.
“I see you do know your Mackintosh,” Lester said, as I walked right over to them.
“I’ve become something of an expert in the last few weeks,” I said. “Did you sell them these?”
“I regret to say I didn’t. In fact, this is the first time I’ve seen them.” He peered at them carefully. “Undoubtedly authentic.”
“Authentic, I’m sure, but I must say those chairs look uncomfortable. What do you bet even their owner doesn’t sit in them?”
“They were designed to be uncomfortable. Miss Cranston, for whose tearooms Mackintosh designed these chairs, thought her staff sat around too much, so she asked him to design uncomfortable furniture for the staff room.”
I laughed. “You obviously know a lot about this.”
“I’m Glaswegian,” he said. “I love the way he has these doors on the bookcase. Every detail is perfect. All that hand work. You just never see something like this these days. Look at these hinges and the lock.”
“Oh, believe me, I have,” I said. “I wish I had a photograph of the writing cabinet,” I added half to myself.
“What writing cabinet?”
“Umm, I mean the kind of writing cabinet my client would be interested in. Maybe Alexander has one in his basement or something.”
“Why don’t you get a book on Mackintosh and copy a photo of something similar so you’ll have something to show?” Lester said. “I’d be happy to take it to Alexander for you, for only a small commission if he sells it to you.”
“I’ll do that. Have we seen the whole place?”
“Just about,” he replied. “Now, come and meet a few people.”
Lester knew everybody. He introduced me to various people whose names I would never remember, and finally, in the dying minutes of the soiree, he introduced me to the Alexanders themselves. We were admiring what Lester referred to as the garden room, furnished with lovely old rattan with lots of orchids everywhere, when the Alexanders walked in.
“Lester!” Robert said. “Good of you to come.”
“Entirely my pleasure. May I present Lara McClintoch,” Lester said. “Ms. McClintoch is an antique dealer from Toronto.”
“Welcome to our home,” the great man said.
“Ms. McClintoch is interested in Charles Rennie Mackintosh. She’s looking for a writing cabinet for a client.”
“We know an antique dealer from Toronto,” Maya said. “Don’t we?”
“I’m not sure whom you mean,” Robert said. “We have some Mackintosh upstairs. I hope you saw it: a couple of supremely uncomfortable chairs and a bookcase in my office cum den.”
“You know,” she said. “That cute young man who came to see us.”
“Maybe I wasn’t here at the time,” Robert said, putting his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “There are always cute young men around my wife, I have to tell you.”
“Not really,” she said in my general direction.
“Have you seen upstairs?” Alexander said. “And the kitchen? The kitchen is Maya’s domain. I think it’s officially off-limits, but given you’ve come so far, we’ll make an exception, won’t we, darling?”
“Trevor somebody or other,” Maya said. “He was admiring our stuff. He liked Mackintosh, too.” She slurred her words very slightly and was leaning against her husband. It occurred to me that this party, like Blair’s, came complete with a dipsomaniacal spouse. Like Leanna the Lush, Maya must have started into the champagne before the rest of us got there.
“Doesn’t ring a bell,” Robert said. “You, Lester?”
“Not to me,” Lester said.
“You’ll be making Lester jealous, darling. He’ll think we’re fickle, dealing with other antiquarians.”
“Heaven forbid,” Lester said.
“I must say this one is much better looking than you, Lester,” Robert said. “Toronto, did you say? Do you have a card, Ms…”
“McClintoch,” I said. “And yes, I do.”
“You traitor,” Lester said, but I could tell he was kidding.
“Wylie,” Maya said. “Trevor Wylie. Do you know him?”
“Actually, I do. At least I did.”
“Did?” Maya said vaguely.
“Unfortunately he’s dead.”
“Oh, no,” she said. “Wasn’t he awfully young? He can’t have been much more than forty, could he?”
“An accident, I expect,” Lester said.
“Mmm,” I said.
“I don’t recall the name at all,” Robert said. “Would you like some more champagne?”
“I thought he was really cute,” Maya said. “What happened to him?”
“Aren’t you being a little ghoulish, darling?” Robert said.
“Urn, he was murdered,” I said.
“No!” Maya gasped. “That can’t be possible. How? Was he shot?”
“My word!” her husband said.
“He was, er, sort of stabbed,” I said.
“I had no idea Toronto was such a dangerous place,” Lester said.
“Did they catch the person who did it?” Maya said.
“They have charged someone, yes. How do you know Trevor?”
“I can’t really recall, but I’m sure he was here.”
“Perhaps he’s an old boyfriend,” Robert said. “Maya and I are still in the honeymoon phase of our life together. I’m afraid there were other men before me, Ms. McClintoch.”
“I’m certain we met him together,” she said. “Didn’t we? I suppose I’m a little under the weather right now.”
“These evenings are so difficult for my wife. She really prefers to just putter in the garden. Come, darling, we must say our good-byes. The buses are scheduled to arrive about now to take everyone back into the city. Lovely to meet you, Ms. McClintoch. If we’re ever in Toronto, we’ll look you up, and do give us a call if you’re back in Glasgow.”
“Or maybe he came to our place in Orkney,” she said, as her husband lead her away.
“The buses are here,” someone called out in the next room.
“Yes, I’m sure that’s it. Orkney. We have a place there,” she called over her shoulder. “We’ll be there this weekend. Come and visit, and you can tell me about Trevor.”