I was convinced that he had the money in the bank to cover the cheque, but even if I hadn’t been, I’d still have taken the cheque because it’s nice to have your client’s name on a piece of paper if you have to yell for help. I agreed to keep him regularly informed and not to worry Susan unduly. The only thing he said about his father’s second wife was that I was on no account to bring her to his house. I agreed. Giles showed me out through the corridors and ballrooms saying just what he’d said on the trip in, which was nothing.

I’d been in the house for over an hour so the gardener looked at me with new respect. I tried to look as if I always spent my Monday mornings with millionaires but I didn’t quite bring it off. My car betrayed me by refusing to start. It caught just as the gardener was sauntering over with a supercilious smile on his face to give me a push. I sprayed a little gravel over him and took off on the long drive to the front gate. I didn’t have to move over an inch to allow a white Bentley to go through the gate in the opposite direction at the same time as I did. The car was driven by a guy in a cap and through the grey tinted glass I caught a glimpse of a man whose face must have been paper-white in the sunlight, if he ever went out in it.

2

My first stop was the Public Library. I parked the car over near Mrs Macquarie’s chair and walked through the Gardens. There were people in shorts, shirt sleeves and light cotton dresses sprawling on the grass and eating lunches. Flights of gulls came wheeling down when they spotted bits of thrown and discarded bread. I felt like telling them to stick to the public parks, they were safer there than at millionaires’ mansions although the pickings mightn’t be so good.

Who’s Who and Who Was Who confirmed the outlines of the Gutteridge family picture as Bryn had given it to me.