Chapter Seventeen
"This is so kind of you" Margaret said as they were shown to their table. "We're often out, but this is still a treat!"
"If this is what we get every time, you can stay again!" Hugh laughed.
Dickie smiled "I've wanted to try the Ritz for a while, and our visit to you seemed like a good excuse. There's just one condition Hugh: no cricket!"
Hugh held up his hands. Margaret laughed "You can definitely come again!"
As the waiter gave them their menus and asked about drinks, Isobel said to Dickie quietly "Did you see Tim is here tonight?"
Dickie nodded slightly "I acknowledged him and he ignored me. I will take that as my cue".
-TW- -TW- -TW-
"Why did you invite me here tonight?" Julia asked pointedly.
"What? What do you mean? I wanted to see you!" Tim answered.
"And yet you've barely spoken to me since you picked me up." Julia was clearly annoyed "You've been drinking like your life depends on it all evening and now, since that table arrived, you can't take your eyes off them. What's going on Tim?"
"Nothing" Tim muttered sullenly.
"Tim, tell me what.. is.. going.. on… or this is the last you will see of me." Julia threatened.
"S'none of your business!" Tim snarled.
"Right. Suit yourself" Julia stood. "Don't bother calling." And with that she stormed out of the dining room.
-TW- -TW- -TW-
Isobel was having a lovely evening and very much enjoying her meal, but she couldn't help keeping an eye on Tim's table. She knew Dickie was doing the same, and when the girl he was with stormed out they shared a look.
"Did you manage to find any of those Paris photographs you mentioned" Margaret asked.
"I did, and some postcards I bought as souvenirs as well. Have you been back since the war at all? I can't help but wonder if it's changed much since we were there?" Isobel replied.
"I went back with Barbara in '21..." Margaret began.
"This is all your fault!" A drunken Tim leaned on the table and pointed a finger in Isobel's face.
Dickie stood "Tim, I made my position quite clear when we met before. I will not tolerate this behaviour. Apologise at once!"
A worried waiter appeared beside the table. Isobel noticed another heading to look for help. "Excuse me Sir, can you please lower your voice and return to your own table."
"Go away! This is between me and them!" Tim said loudly.
"Timothy, I will not have this discussion here and while you are drunk. You will apologise for your un-gentlemanly behaviour and leave. Immediately." Dickie pressed.
The Maître d' and another waiter arrived. "Sir, I will have to ask you to leave."
"If it wasn't for you and HER, Larry would still be here. Everything would be alright." Tim swayed on his feet.
"Sir, that's enough. If you won't leave, we will remove you" the MaÎtre d' insisted.
"Oh go to hell!" Tim countered.
At a nod from the MaÎtre d', the two waiters picked Tim up and carried him from the room, with vocal protestations from their charge. "I'm very sorry for the disruption m'lord."
"Please, the miscreant is my son. It is I who should apologise to you" Dickie replied.
The MaÎtre d' bowed and left as Dickie sat down, and the chatter in the dining room rose a few decibels. Dickie sighed.
"I'm sorry for spoiling your evening." Dickie apologised. "Things are a little fraught at present."
"I'd seen that stuff in the papers and heard some rumours in the Club, but I assumed you would tell us if you wanted to talk about it" Hugh said quietly.
"I saw Tim last time I was here because I was helping with some fact finding." Dickie admitted. "My relationship with the boys has always been distant, but since Isobel and I became engaged it's been much worse. I haven't had much contact with them in the last couple of years and they seemed to be quite happy with that."
"So what has changed? If he hasn't had any contact, how can Tim possibly think you have anything to do with what's going on?" Margaret asked.
"From what Dickie has told me, at their last chat Tim was told some things that he didn't believe. It would appear that he is just another person that Larry has lied to." Isobel confided "If you ask me, this is most likely a reaction to finding out that his idolised big brother has feet of clay."
"So, are these rumours true then?" Hugh queried.
"That depends what you've heard." Dickie quizzed with a smile "Tell me the rumours and I'll tell you if they're close."
"Pfft, where to start!" Hugh tapped his chin "You've disinherited Larry? Larry's not your real son? You're a serial womaniser who has a string of mistresses all over London? (Isobel snorted in amusement) You've been running the black market in hosiery since 1915? You're richer than the King, but won't share? You own half of Mayfair and want to knock it down to build a new hospital? You're a body snatcher? Ada is still alive and you have her locked up in a secret location? You're bankrupt? Ooh, my favourite, the real Dickie Merton died in a cricket accident 30 years ago, and you're an impostor?"
"Always the cricket!" commented his wife in exasperation. Isobel laughed.
Dickie smiled and took a sip of his wine. "How far does this go Hugh?"
"Chatham House rule? There are some chaps I think might need to know things that concern Larry, but I don't have to say where it came from." Hugh replied.
"I happen to know that the real rumours you have heard likely started with a particular individual. If you have people who need to know information about Larry, they may need to talk to him directly. I can give you those details at home" Dickie alluded, Hugh nodded. "I am not bankrupt. When Isobel and I married, I thought I had a terminal illness. I signed over all my London holdings to Larry outright and the running of Cavenham as well. My own fortune is untouched."
"All of it?" Margaret whispered, shocked. "You signed all of it away, just like that?"
"We didn't need it." Dickie shrugged "Things with Larry had been difficult and the inheritance seemed to be in the way. It would be his in a few months anyway, was my reasoning. It was one less thing to worry about."
"So, Larry's bankrupt?" Hugh tried "That's a guess based on what you've said, rather than the rumour. The rumour is he has cash flow problems and that's why Merton House will be sold."
"We don't know where he or Amelia are. The police are trying to trace them. We suspect they have left the country." Dickie answered. "Anyone who knows anything about where they might be should talk to my contact."
"Last I heard, they were just travelling on business" Margaret said, shocked "That was the reason their usual Tuesday night parties hadn't happened."
"Tuesday night parties?" Isobel queried. "Who on earth has a party on a Tuesday night?!"
"Well, they did." Margaret replied. "Used to be a good turnout of influential people. One could make good contacts, raise some funds for good causes. Everyone who didn't want to be at home or in their Clubs would be there because there was nowhere else to go on a Tuesday night. There would usually be some sort of entertainment too. Bands, an opera singer, magician, roulette: something to do if you weren't talking business, you know?"
"Cards often too. There were a big crowd of heavy gamblers at those parties." Hugh mused. "One of the rumours is that some money lender may be after him?"
"I don't know about that one. That may be true, but I have no detail in any way." Dickie admitted. "All I know is the cash is gone, there's a mortgage on Merton House and we don't know where he's gone."
"But you have the boy?" Margaret asked "You said your grandson is with you in Yorkshire?"
"Yes, his nursemaid brought him to Yorkshire that same day that Larry and Amelia left on business" Isobel confirmed.
"I see" Margaret mused. "That's interesting." Isobel got the distinct impression Margaret may know something about John's appearance in Yorkshire. I'll ask her later she thought to herself.
"Well, what a to-do!" Hugh exclaimed. "And you think Tim may have been fouled up as well?"
"I honestly haven't seen or heard from him since before I saw you last, but if he's ignoring his dinner partner and is clearly drinking heavily, then there's obviously something wrong." Dickie looked worried. "I think I may need to pay him a call tomorrow while the Ladies are at that luncheon party."
"Yes, there's some people I need to see as well." Hugh muttered, making a mental list "Oh, don't look so worried! I knew your opinion of Larry, and I had my own opinion of his Mother. I've always steered clear of that particular catastrophe!"
"I'm glad to hear it" Said a relieved Dickie.