Lovers and Liars (65 page)

re no use to her at all. Thanks to his lateness, she was now nning out of time. What she needed, she decided, was some verage.

‘So/ she began carefully, raising her eyes to his, ‘when you d that conversation with James McMullen, and you were telling about your work, did you mention your other activities, or t the ads you make for TVT

There was a small silence. Kent put down his beer. ‘Other tivitiesT

‘Your less public activities. The ones you don’t list for Salamanr Films in the trade directories. The sex education videos you ke, for instance. Or the escort agency your company runs from e same address. Or your telephone sex line operations. Did you

The question had been risky, and the silence following it was long. Gini would not have been surprised had Kent ended the .I terview there and then, but he did not do so. He gave her a

ng, considering look; she saw amusement begin in his eyes; he smiled, and then he laughed.

‘Oh fuck. Oh bloody hell.’ He sighed. ‘Mistake, Jeremy, my old on. Rule number one, never talk to reporters. Rule number two, be especially wary if they have blond hair and beautiful eyes and a sweet smile. I suppose I should have known. Ah well, I guess it

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had to happen sooner or later. What am I facing now, a full-scale expos6 in the News? The porn-king revealedT

He gave her a sidelong glance. ‘I suppose there’s no way to head you off? Think of my poor old white-haired mother, Genevieve, explaining this one to the neighbours. Think of my rather rich accountant trying to cope when the Revenue investigators start knocking on his door.’ He smiled. ‘Are you sure you have it in your heart to do this, Genevieve? It’s all legal and above board, you know.’

He put his hand on his heart as he said this. He wrinkled his freckled nose, and gave her a look of mock pleading. ‘Come on, Genevieve. Do you really want to leave me a broken man? Bloody hell - I don’t think I can take this. On top of a screaming hangover too. Meeting my nemesis at the Groucho. It’s too much. Maybe I’ll have a gigantic gin and tonic. How about youT

He rose to his feet as he said this, and ambled his way across to the bar. He returned with two very large gins and one small bottle of tonic. He slid into the seat opposite her, still with an air of contained amusement. He lit another cigarette, took a large swallow of neat gin, and shuddered.

‘Fine. I feel much stronger now. Maybe I’ll enjoy being notorious, you never know. I expect I’ll learn to live with it. So tell me, where do we go from hereT

Despite herself, Gini was amused. She looked at Kent carefully. He gave her a nonchalant smile.

‘Well/ she began, ‘it may surprise you to hear this, but I do genuinely want to know about James McMullen.’

‘You do?’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘But not for the reasons statedT

‘No. For other reasons. I need background. I need information. Now I could write a pretty good story about your business empire, but as you say, it is legal - just about. And it’s not top of my list of priorities right now.’

‘Ah, I begin to see.’ His smile broadened. He began to look relieved. ‘So you thought, to get that information, you’d pressure me just a little? Bad, Genevieve. Bad . He shook a reproving finger at her. Gini smiled.

‘Listen, I’d pressure you any way I can. Whatever it takes. 1 need this information, and I need it fast. If the only way to get it from you involves upsetting your poor white-haired old mother-‘

‘And my accountant. Let’s not forget him.’

‘And your accountant. if that’s what it takes to get your assistance hLn too bad. On the other hand, if you were to co-operate .

10h, I’ll co-operate.’ He leaned forward. ‘Have dinner with me . ht, and I’ll co-operate a whole lot more … No? Shame … I stretched, added a little tonic to the gin in his glass and sipped -You needn’t have gone to these lengths, you know,’ he went

‘I’ll answer any questions you have about James. Why not? I It know anything about him that reflects on him badly. James ibly upright, you know. Not like me at all.’

you will answer my questionsT

Can’t wait.’ He stretched. ‘Give me the third degree. What a

ini took out her notebook.

,‘No tape recorderT Kent smiled.

5t’s too noisy in here. And I don’t need it. I take shorthand.’ “You do? What a marvellous girl you are. Has anyone ever told that your eyes He broke off and laughed. ‘OK. OK. . Go on.’

‘Can we start with the meeting you had with James McMullen t summer? Can you date it more precisely? Was it July or gustT

owl think about it, it must have been August. Yes, that’s right. s had just come back from some shooting party in Yorkshire Is a very good shot, you know. Loves that kind of thing. Blasting

s out of the sky. The grouse season doesn’t begin until August Ifth, so it must have been later that month. Yes.’

After the meeting with Lise, Gini thought. She tapped her notek. ‘At the meeting, did McMullen ask you specifically about r escort agencyT

‘Let me think… ,Kent frowned. ‘He knew about it anyway, t of my friends do. I’m not its sole owner, by the way s more of a sideline from my point of view. It’s the films

t make the really big money. I know we discussed those. e escort agency … You know, we did discuss it, I remember I because James was asking me questions - what kind of men d it, that sort of thing. And I was rather surprised. James is a tty straight-laced kind of guy, doesn’t approve of that kind of

9-‘

.‘So he knew about the agency, and questioned you about it. ‘d he know its name and locationT

“Oh Yes. Sure.’

‘He didn’t suggest he might ever make use of its servicesT

‘James? Good God, not even as a joke. No way.’

‘He didn’t imply he knew of someone who might like to make use of its servicesT

‘No. Definitely not. I told you, James disapproves of anything like that. He has a very strict moral code.’

‘Did he talk about his own personal life at all? He didn’t mention any emotional entanglement, any involvement with a woman, for instanceT

‘No.’ He grinned. ‘I banged on quite a lot about my love life, which tends to be a bit operatic. In James’s case,’ he frowned, ‘I guess I’ve always rather assumed there wasn’t anyone. There never seemed to be. He’s not terribly good at dealing with women - can’t talk to them. A legacy from the Army, maybe, or school. Except it didn’t affect me that way - school, I mean. All those years in a single-sex boarding-school. The minute I left I made up for lost time.’

‘All right/ Gini looked at him thoughtfully, ‘fill me in just a little. You were at school with James McMullen, and you went up to Oxford, the same college, the same year - autumn nineteen sixty-eight, is that right?’

‘That’s right. Sixty-eight.’ He smiled. ‘That glorious year. I wasn’t in James’s league academically, needless to say. He had a scholarship, I just scraped in. But I’d known James for a very long time by then. We first met when we were sent away to prep school. We boarded together aged eight onwards, you know. One of those English barbarities. All that regimentation. All that manly propaganda.’

‘So can you tell me what happened once you went up to Oxford? If James McMullen was such a high-flier, how come he leftT

‘Oh that. You didn’t knowT He gave her a glance. ‘Well, James was ill. He was whisked back home by that dire mother of his. Everyone thought it was just temporary. But it wasn’t. He left, and he never returned.’

‘So it was a serious illness? What kind of illness? Physical? MentalT

‘I’m not too sure.’ He shrugged. ‘James never discusses it. None of his family ever does, not even that sister of his.’ He gave her a glance. ‘The sister from hell. Have you met herT He paused. ‘No, the official line was James had one of those vague lingering things. Hepatitis? No. Rheumatic fever? I think that was it. I can’t really remember the details. It was a long time ago.’

‘If that was the official version, what was the true reason? Do you know?’

‘No. Not for sure. I always suspected he had a breakdown of me kind. But if he did, they kept it very quiet. James was swept to the depths of Shropshire. He wrote to me occasionally, but I n’t see him after he left Oxford. Not for two or three years.’ He used. ‘If it was a breakdown, then it’s all a bit odd. On the one nd it was serious enough to end his time at Oxford. On the other nd, it can’t have been that serious. He was accepted by the Army the end of nineteen seventytwo. And the British army isn’t too n on officer recruits who’ve put in time in a funny farm.’

‘So what’s your personal opinionT

‘I think he was badly stressed out. I think the parents coped, mehow, and presumably he got better. When the Army came check his medical records, they must have been satisfied. And they had any doubts, well, half James’s family have heavy

y connections. Grandfather, uncles, cousins: generals to the t of him, lieutenant-colonels to the left of him. They could ays have pulled strings.’

‘I see. That’s interesting.’ Gini looked at him thoughtfully. ‘So, a friend, how did you find him? Then and later. Would you ve said he had a tendency to mental instability? Did you ever

him obsessional, say? Would you ever have described him as fantasist, or a bit paranoid - anything like thatT

‘No.’ Kent did not even hesitate before he replied. ‘No, not t all. Quite the reverse. James is frighteningly rational - he mean, we can all get a bit paranoid, can’t we? I

rtainly do. But James isn’t like that. In fact’if he has a weakness, s that he doesn’t understand grey areas. He likes everything be clear, cut and dried, desperately factual. He does have an agination, but I think he suppresses it. It alarms him. He was ways like that, even at school. There’s a wild side to James, a

d of passionate romantic crusading side to him. But he keeps A under very strict control.’

‘So he is the kind of man who might be directed towards causes, for instanceT

‘Oh sure. It’s why he joined the Army. The Army gave him sense of purpose. Something very simple with very definite onourable objectives. Defending his country, and so on. He clung

that idea.’ He gave a smile. ‘I was always rather touched by that. seemed so oldfashioned. But by the time James was claiming enjoy Sandhurst training, I was pounding the King’s Road in

sandals and Indian beads. Peace and love. Turn on, tune in and drop out. Flower power, Genevieve.’ His smile broadened. ‘Then time passed, of course. I discovered capitalism and commerce had some advantages after all.’

Kent gave her a little glance. He sighed. ‘You don’t remember, and why would you? You’re far too young. And you’re making me feel desperately old. But that’s how it was, Genevieve. The wonderful world of the late Sixties and early Seventies. One long glorious trip. I took that voyage, but James didn’t. Not at all.’

There was a silence. Gini scribbled a few notes. She looked at some of the paradoxes here: Kent, an ex-hippie now transformed into an Armani-clad high earner, boosting his income and staying just inside of the law; and McMullen, a rationalist, a self-disciplinarian, who saw joining the Army as a cause.

She turned a page of her notebook, and looked back at Kent, who was now checking his watch.

‘You’re making me late for my lunch/ he said, ‘and I really don’t care. What the hell. It’s fun, remembering. You’d have really liked me then, Genevieve. I had a Che Guevara beard, and hair down to here … ‘ He gestured somewhere mid-chest.

Gini returned his smile. ‘OK/ she said. ‘Can we take a closer look at that period. Nineteen sixty-eight, the year you and McMullen went u to Oxford. He left the following year. You think he p

could have had some kind of nervous breakdown. Were there any signs of that, prior to his leaving Oxford? Did he seem under strainT

‘Not exactly. He was miserable, unhappy - that was obvious. He tried to throw himself into things - he worked desperately hard. But then he was expected to get a first, so he had to do that. He became a bit solitary, actually. You know - never went to parties, never took girls out, never got drunk. I should probably have made more effort to talk to him but you know how it is. I was too busy having a good time. Then, next thing I knew, he’d gone.’

‘Right. Then can we look a little further back? If he seemed miserable at Oxford, was he before? Did he have moods, depressions, at school for instanceT

‘At school? God no. Not at all.’

‘So he changed in other words? Try to remember - when did that change begin? Did you see him at all between school and Oxford, for example? There’s a nine-month period there, when he was in Paris, taking courses at the Sorbonne.’

‘Oh, we were both in Paris then,’ Kent said. ‘Didn’t you realize? spent that time together. I went under protest, under persion from James, but it was really all his parents’ idea. They

both culture-mad. Totally determined that James wouldn’t r away the months before Oxford. So they fixed up for us tay with this family in Paris, the Gravelliers. Marc Gravellier an art gallery on the left bank, so James’s mother thought d be perfectly placed to soak up high culture, improve our c , et cetera. I went along because James talked me into

And because I thought Paris was bound to be full of pretty see. So you were there together. For how long?’

‘About six months. January through to July. We had a whale a time.’ He leaned forward. ‘James’s mother hadn’t done her ework thoroughly enough. She thought the Gravelliers were

1, bon genre. And so they were - up to a point. What she n’t realized was that Madame, in particular, was this wonderful sionate Bohemian French intellectual. Lots of leftist friends. .es until three a.m. jean-Paul Sartre for supper. No house rules. curfew. Can you imagine - after an English boarding-school? ent totally wild … In fact, looking back.’ he grinned, ‘that’s en I probably started on the downward slope. I smelled freedom the first time. No doubt very bad for the soul.’

‘So you kicked over the traces? What about James? Did he do t as welIT

“Oh James.f H laughed. ‘Well, he started off taking it all very usly. Courses at the Sorborme, for God’s sake. I avoided all e like the plague.’ He paused. ‘I think he could scent it too, gh, that other world. Well, you couldn’t exactly miss it. By , May, the whole of Paris - it felt like not just the city,