‘To a degree. Anthony doesn’t say a lot, but he picks up the vibes when the others are in a flap.’
‘Does he ever get violent?’
Douglas hesitated. ‘He’s a single-minded chappie, is our Anthony. It’s not a good idea to cross him, but I don’t think it’s ever come to blows, if that’s what you’re asking.’
‘And Cat? How is she behaving?’
‘On the surface, no different. She makes light of everything in the interest of harmony. She’s a good balance for Ivan, a positive force. However, I do detect some real concern underneath all the levity. There’s a look in her eye I haven’t seen since Harry went missing.’
‘No one is threatening her. I haven’t spoken to her for days.’
‘Yes, but any threat to her boys, as she calls them, makes her anxious. The quartet is her lifeline.’
‘Would she fight to defend it?’
‘Like a tigress.’
‘I’ll watch out, then,’ Diamond said as he took another mouthful. ‘This is good. The chef gets five stars from this critic.’ He looked straight into Douglas’s brown eyes. ‘And what’s in it for you, apart from your twenty percent?’
For a moment, Douglas was lost for words. He wasn’t used to such bluntness. ‘The quartet are my friends, for one thing, and immensely talented for another. They need a manager, and I do my humble best for them.’
‘Isn’t there ever a time when you wish you were one of them?’
‘Not in a million years. I don’t have a musical bone in my body. Between you, me and the blessed Valerie, it’s an ordeal sitting through their concerts, but I have to show the flag.’
‘Yet you know the music business.’
‘From top to bottom. That’s my job.’
‘Your talent.’
Douglas smiled. ‘Kind of you to say so, but I don’t think one should confuse the gift of the gab with the gift of the gods. What they have is genius.’
More than a hint of envy lay behind those words, in spite of what had been said, Diamond decided. ‘Are they your biggest earners?’
‘I shouldn’t really say, in fairness to my other clients, but it’s blindingly obvious. Yes, they keep the wolf from my door, bless them.’
‘If they stopped performing for any reason, you’d feel the draught?’
‘And I’d know the door was open and the wolf was coming in. It happened, of course, when Harry went AWOL. Quite a crisis, that was.’
‘What’s your theory about what happened?’
Douglas leaned so far across the table that he had to stop his tie from straying onto his raspberry tart. ‘This is strictly between you and me. Not even the sainted Valerie should be a party to it. He played a heck of a lot of poker, rather badly. You know what they say? If you’re invited to join a game, look around the table and if you don’t see a sucker, get up and go, because it’s you.’
‘He lost badly?’
‘Catastrophically badly and the sort of people he played with let the debts run up to a ridiculous level and then called them in. Several times he asked me for payment in advance for concerts that weren’t even in rehearsal yet. I did my best to help him out, poor fellow, because I could tell he was terrified.’
‘Under threat?’
‘No question.’
‘Do you think his creditors killed him?’
‘Sadly, I do.’
‘How would that have helped them?’
‘Pour encourager les autres. You don’t mess with the mafia.’
‘Is that who they were?’
‘He called them the mob. “The mob have called time on me,” were almost the last words he used to me. When I told the Budapest police, they seemed to take it as a reason to drop the case.’
‘When exactly did he speak these words?’
‘On the phone shortly after they arrived in Budapest.’
‘Did the others know he was in hock to the mafia?’
‘It’s hard to tell. The group dynamic is complex. They appear to respect each other’s privacy, but they spend so much time together on tour that they must have an idea of everyone’s comings and goings. I’m in a privileged position because I hold the purse-strings. Occasionally they need bailing out. I’ll get a call asking if I can transfer some funds urgently.’
‘Which of them have called you?’
‘All, from time to time.’
‘What does Cat spend her money on?’
‘You name it. She’s a shopaholic. You should see the luggage she brings back.’
‘And Anthony?’
Douglas gave the benign smile of a father figure. ‘The poor boy is hopeless with money. He’ll give it away. He visits call-girls and the smart ones get the measure of him and demand gifts of jewellery and exorbitant fees. It’s happened in several cities. Cat tries to keep tabs on him, but it’s not possible all the time and she can’t follow him into all the sordid addresses he visits. I wouldn’t ask her to.’