Faces in the Pool (24 page)

She hated that. ‘I shall look out for you, Lovejoy, for
when our paths cross. Oh, some messages. A lady called Chloe says please call. Lear has an urgent message.’

Dear God. Who from? ‘Er, right.’

‘About Veronica, your agent.’

‘Eh?’ I only knew one Veronica, and she…

‘She’s been involved in disturbances. A brawl with Penny Castell, who left an invitation. Then actual fisticuffs with Colleen, who is suing you for two forged ghost paintings.’

Who could remember lies after the sort of month I’d had? Colleen always wanted promises kept. Joanna’s crack set me thinking. I could do a stunning ghost painting, pour my heart out as a tribute to Tansy, showing her all saintly and beautiful in lovely Mehala Bay. Time the Great Healer? Time heals nothing, just cools lies.

‘Ugly to see women fight, Lovejoy. That Veronica is a virago.’

‘Is that it?’

‘And Daniella, your favourite sex pole therapist.’

‘What the hell for?’

‘Daniella’s the one who bought your cottage. Veronica had barricaded Daniella out and the police were called. Your past sins are starting to annoy us, Lovejoy. Straighten things out, soon. Have a pleasant stay.’

‘Joanna,’ I barked just in time to prevent her ringing off. ‘Look. Could I ask a favour? In the interests of, er, cooperation?’

‘Go on,’ she purred, enjoying herself. I shouldn’t have made that crack about speed-dating scrubbers.

‘Could you say you don’t know where I am? Just for a few days?’

‘Judging from the pleasant slumber you enjoyed with Jonetta Farnacott, you are fully recovered, Lovejoy. So, no.’

Gulp. The swine were watching me. Well, in for a penny. I wheedled, ‘I’ll help you with the antiques frauds, Joanna.’

‘Until all these combative women flit from your rafters, you mean?’

It took me three goes to say it. ‘Yes.’

‘Say “yes, please, Joanna”.’

Four goes this time, and a long swallow.

‘Yes, please, Joanna.’

‘Good,’ she purred. ‘Want a lift back to Jonetta’s?’

‘No, ta. I know the way.’

She laughed and said, ‘Welcome home, Lovejoy.’

The ‘Faces in the Pool’ Lovejoy meets in this tale of antiques mayhem are no mere myth. They are features of history.

Called by modern chroniclers the ‘Last Colonials’, they were displaced from their homelands centuries ago yet remain the most staunchly independent of all ethnic groups.

The Germans of Jamaica, the Yiddish of Soviet Birobidzan, the Welsh of Uruguay, clusters of Old Confederates who took refuge in Brazil from America’s Civil War, the Poles sent by Napoleon to Haiti, or the resolute Basters of the ‘Free Republic of Rehoboth’ in Namibia, the myriad remnants survive in almost every corner of the world. They live uniquely independent lives.

In his years working and living overseas, the author encountered many such admirable peoples, and his memories of them are the inspiration for this story. If his tale offends any, he is sorry; if it pleases, he is glad.

The words of the modern historian Riccardo Orizio say it well: ‘But all of us, beneath our apparent normality, belong to a lost tribe.’ However bizarre the origins and opinions of the Lost White Tribes, Lovejoy admired every single one he met.

Jonathan Gash

J
ONATHAN
G
ASH
is an award-winning author who has been writing for thirty-five years. A retired doctor, he worked for many years in the Middle and Far East.

The Lovejoy Series

The Ten Word Game

Faces in the Pool

The Dr Clare Burtonall Series

Bone Dancing

Blood Dancing

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Finding Davey

Bad Girl Magdalene