Kane & Abel (1979) Read online

  William soaked in the tub for more than half an hour, and Kate had to drag him out before he fell asleep. Despite her prompting, they arrived at the MacKenzies’ twenty-five minutes late, to find that Matthew was already well on the way to being inebriated and was trying to pick up a congressman’s wife. William wanted to intervene, but Kate prevented him.

  ‘Don’t say anything,’ she said.

  ‘I can’t stand here and watch my closest friend going to pieces in front of my eyes,’ said William. ‘I have to do something.’

  But in the end he took Kate’s advice, and spent an unhappy evening watching Matthew become progressively more drunk. From the other side of the room Tony Simmons was glancing pointedly at William, who was relieved when Matthew left early, even if it was in the company of the only unattached woman at the party. Once Matthew had gone, William started to relax for the first time that day.

  ‘How is little Richard?’ Dr MacKenzie asked.

  ‘He can’t count yet,’ said William.

  ‘That’s good news. He might end up doing something worthwhile after all.’

  ‘Exactly what I said,’ said Kate. ‘What a good idea, William, he can be a doctor.’

  ‘He should be able to manage that,’ said MacKenzie. ‘I don’t know many doctors who can count.’

  ‘Except when they send their bills,’ said William.

  MacKenzie laughed. ‘Will you have another drink, Kate?’

  ‘No thank you, Andrew. It’s time we went home. If we stay any longer, only Tony Simmons and William will be left, and we’d have to listen to them talk banking for the rest of the evening.’

  ‘Thanks for the party, Andrew,’ said William. ‘By the way, I must apologize for Matthew’s behaviour.’

  ‘Why?’ said Dr MacKenzie.

  ‘Oh, come on, Andrew, not only was he drunk, but there wasn’t a woman in the room he didn’t proposition.’

  ‘I might well do the same if I were in his predicament,’ said Dr MacKenzie.

  ‘What makes you say that?’ said William. ‘You can’t approve of his conduct just because he’s single.’

  ‘No I don’t, but I try to understand, and realize I might be a little irresponsible faced with the same problem.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ said William.

  ‘Oh, my God,’ said Dr MacKenzie. ‘You’re his closest friend, and he hasn’t told you?’

  ‘Told us what?’ said Kate and William together.

  Dr MacKenzie looked at them with disbelief in his eyes.

  ‘You’d better come to my study. Both of you.’

  William and Kate followed him into a small room, lined almost floor to ceiling with medical books interspersed with occasional photographs of Dr MacKenzie’s student days at Cornell and the odd framed certificate.

  ‘Please sit down,’ he said. ‘William, I make no apologies for what I’m about to say, because I assumed you knew that Matthew was gravely ill, suffering from Hodgkin’s disease. He’s known about his condition for over a year.’

  William fell back in his chair, for a moment unable to speak. ‘Hodgkin’s disease?’

  ‘An almost invariably fatal inflammation and enlargement of the lymph nodes,’ said the doctor rather formally.

  William shook his head incredulously. ‘But why didn’t he tell me?’

  ‘My guess is he’s too proud to burden anyone else with his problems. He’d rather die in his own way than let anyone know what he’s going through. I’ve begged him for the last six months to tell his father, and I’ve certainly broken my professional promise to him by letting you know, but I can’t allow you to go on blaming him for his behaviour without knowing the truth.’

  ‘Thank you, Andrew,’ said William. ‘How can I have been so blind and so stupid?’

  ‘Don’t blame yourself,’ said Dr MacKenzie. ‘There’s no way you could have known.’

  ‘Is there really no hope?’ asked Kate.

  ‘None. It’s only the length of time I can’t be sure about.’

  ‘Are there no clinics, no specialists? Money wouldn’t be a problem.’

  ‘Money can’t buy everything, William. I’ve already consulted the three best surgeons in America, and even one in Switzerland. I’m afraid they all agree with my diagnosis. Medical science hasn’t yet discovered a cure for Hodgkin’s disease.’

  ‘How long does he have to live?’ asked Kate in a whisper.

  ‘Six months at the outside would be my bet, but more likely three.’

  ‘And I thought I had problems,’ said William. He held tightly onto Kate’s hand. ‘We must be going, Andrew. Thank you for telling us.’

  ‘Do what you can for him,’ said the doctor, ‘but for God’s sake, be understanding. Let him do what he wants to do. These are Matthew’s last few months, not yours. And don’t ever let him know I told you.’

  William and Kate drove home in silence. As soon as they reached the Red House, William phoned the woman Matthew had left the party with.

  ‘Would it be possible to speak to Matthew Lester?’

  ‘He’s not here,’ said a rather irritated voice. ‘He dragged me off to the Revue Club, and after a couple of drinks he left with another woman.’ She hung up.

  The Revue Club. William looked it up in the phone book, then drove over to the north side of town and, after questioning a taxi driver, eventually found the club. He knocked on the door. A hatch slid open.

  ‘Are you a member?’

  ‘No,’ said William firmly, and passed a ten-dollar bill through the grille.

  The hatch slid shut and the door opened. William walked across the middle of the dance floor, looking slightly incongruous in his three-piece banker’s suit. The dancers twined around each other and swayed incuriously away from him. William’s eyes searched the smoke-filled room for Matthew, but he wasn’t there. Finally he thought he recognized one of Matthew’s more recent girlfriends, sitting in a corner with a sailor. William went over to her.

  ‘Excuse me, miss.’

  She looked up, but clearly didn’t recognize William.

  ‘The lady’s with me. Beat it,’ said the sailor.

  ‘Have you seen Matthew Lester?’

  ‘Matthew who?’ said the girl.

  ‘I told you to get lost,’ said the sailor, rising to his feet.

  ‘One more word out of you and you’ll be back on deck,’ said William.

  The sailor had seen anger like that in a man’s eyes once before in his life, and had nearly lost an eye for his trouble. He sat back down.

  ‘Where’s Matthew?’

  ‘I don’t know a Matthew, honey.’ Now she sounded frightened.

  ‘Six feet two, blond hair, dressed like me and probably drunk.’

  ‘Oh, you mean Martin. He calls himself Martin here, not Matthew.’ She began to relax. ‘Now let me see, who did he go off with tonight?’ She turned her head towards the bar and shouted at the bartender. ‘Terry, who did Martin leave with?’

  The bartender removed a dead cigarette butt from the corner of his mouth. ‘Jenny,’ he said, and put the unlit cigarette back in place.

  ‘Jenny, that’s right,’ said the girl. ‘Now, let me see, she’s short sessions. Never gives a man more than half an hour, so they should be back soon.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said William.

  He took a seat at the bar and a scotch with a lot of water, feeling more and more out of place by the minute. Finally the bartender, the unlit cigarette still in his mouth, nodded in the direction of a girl who was coming through the door.

  ‘That’s Jenny, if you still want her,’ he said. Matthew was nowhere to be seen.

  The bartender waved for Jenny to join them. A slim, short, dark, not unattractive girl winked at William and walked towards him, her hips swinging.

  ‘Looking for me, darling? Well, I’m available, but it’s ten dollars for half an hour.’

  ‘No, I don’t want you,’ said William.

  ‘Charming,’ said Jenny.

  ‘I