Beggars Banquet

Number 10 sparkled. Every surface was gleaming, and the place seemed nicely undersized for the scale of the event. The PM moved amongst his guests, dispensing a word here and there, guided by the man he’d called Charles. Charles would whisper a brief to the PM as they approached a group, so the PM would know who was who and how to treat them. I was way down the list apparently, standing on my own (though a minion had attempted to engage me in conversation: it seemed a rule that no guest was to be allowed solitude), pretending to examine a work by someone eighteenth-century and Flemish – not my sort of thing at all.

The PM shook my hand. ‘I’ve someone I’d like you to meet,’ he said, looking back over his shoulder to where Joe Hefferwhite was standing, rocking back on his heels as he told some apparently hilarious story to two gri

‘Joseph Hefferwhite,’ the PM said.

As if I didn’t know; as if I hadn’t been avoiding the man for the past twenty-eight minutes. I knew I couldn’t leave – would be reminded of that should I try – until the PM had said hello. It was a question of protocol. This was all that had kept me from going. But now I was determined to escape. The PM, however, had other plans. He waved to Joe Hefferwhite like they were old friends, and Hefferwhite broke short his story – not noticing the relief on his listeners’ faces – and swaggered towards us. The PM was leading me by the shoulder – gently, though it seemed to me that his grip burned – over towards where the Voore hung. A table separated us from it, but it was an occasional table, and we weren’t too far from the canvas. Serving staff moved around with salvers of canapés and bottles of fizz, and I took a refill as Hefferwhite approached.

‘Joe, this is our man from the Tate.’

‘Pleased to meet you,’ Hefferwhite said, pumping my free hand. He winked at the PM. ‘Don’t think I hadn’t noticed the painting. It’s a nice touch.’

‘We have to make our guests feel welcome. The Tate has another Voore, you know.’

‘Is that so?’

Charles was whispering in the PM’s ear. ‘Sorry, have to go,’ the PM said. ‘I’ll leave you two to it then.’ And with a smile he was gone, drifting towards his next encounter.

Joe Hefferwhite smiled at me. He was in his seventies, but extraordinarily well preserved, with thick dark hair that could have been a weave or a transplant. I wondered if anyone had ever mentioned to him his resemblance to Blake Carrington…

He leaned towards me. ‘This place bugged?’

I blinked, decided I’d heard him correctly, and said I wouldn’t know.

‘Well, hell, doesn’t matter to me if it is. Listen,’ he nodded towards the painting, ‘that is some kind of sick joke, don’t you think?’

I swallowed. ‘I’m not sure I follow.’

Hefferwhite took my arm and led me around the table, so we were directly in front of the painting. ‘Ro

‘What?’

‘I’m not sure. It’ll take some thinking. You British are devious bastards.’

‘I feel I should object to that.’

Hefferwhite ignored me. ‘Ro

‘Who?’ The champagne flute shook in my hand. Death, I thought, would come as some relief. And not a moment too soon.

‘Some guy we shared rooms with, never knew his second name. He said second names were shackles. Not like Malcolm X and all that, Herbert was white, nicely brought-up. Wanted to study Sartre, wanted to write plays and films and I don’t know what. Jesus, I’ve often wondered what happened to him. I know Ro

He kept looking at the painting, and I could feel the memories welling in him. I let him look. I wanted him to look. It was more his painting than anyone’s. I could see that now. I knew I should say something… like, ‘that’s very interesting’, or ‘that explains so much’. But I didn’t. I stared at the painting, too, and it was as though we were alone in that crowded, noisy room. We might have been on a desert island, or in a time machine. I saw Herbert ru

To go on living.

My eyes were filling with water. I was about to say something crass, something like ‘thank you’, but Hefferwhite beat me to it, leaned towards me so his voice could drop to a whisper.

‘It’s a hell of a fake.’

And with that, and a pat on my shoulder, he drifted back into the party.

‘I could have died,’ I told Jance. It was straight afterwards. I was still wearing the Armani, pacing the floor of my flat. It’s not much – third floor, two bedrooms, Maida Vale – but I was happy to see it. I could hardly get the tears out of my eyes. The telephone was in my hand… I just had to tell some body, and who could I tell but Jance?

‘Well,’ he said, ‘you’ve never asked about the client.’

‘I didn’t want to know. Jance, I swear to God, I nearly died.’

He chuckled, not really understanding. He was in Zurich, sounded further away still. ‘I knew Joe already had a couple of Voores,’ he said. ‘He’s got some other stuff too – but he doesn’t broadcast the fact. That’s why he was perfect for Herbert in Motion.’

‘But he was talking about not wanting to be reminded of the suicide.’

‘He was talking about why the painting was there.’

‘He thought it must be a message.’

Jance sighed. ‘Politics. Who understands politics?’

I sighed with him. ‘I can’t do this any more.’

‘Don’t blame you. I never understood why you started in the first place.’

‘Let’s say I lost faith.’

‘Me, I never had much to start with. Listen, you haven’t told anyone else?’

‘Who would I tell?’ My mouth dropped open. ‘But I left a note.’

‘A note?’

‘For my boss.’

‘Might I suggest you go retrieve it?’

Begi

The night security people knew who I was, and let me into the building. I’d worked there before at night – it was the only time I could strip and replace the canvases.

‘Busy tonight, eh?’ the guard said.

‘I’m sorry?’

‘Busy tonight,’ he repeated. ‘Your boss is already in.’

‘When did he arrive?’

‘Not five minutes ago. He was ru

‘Ru

‘Said he needed a pee.’

I ran too, ran as fast as I could through the galleries and towards the offices, the paintings a blur either side of me. Ru