Dead Man's Dinner - Una Gordon Page 0,7

The conversation which had been rather stilted over dinner dried up completely. Derwent had loved to invite an odd mixture of guests, then he would fuel the fire by introducing topics which he knew would lead to argument. He loved to watch people squirm when he deliberately said something to embarrass them. Derwent had lost many friends in this way, but there were those who clung to his company because of his great wealth. There were others, like Gresham, whom Derwent would not let go. Gresham alternated between feeling sorry for Derwent, who was a victim of his own personality and being completely exasperated by him. Their tenuous relationship had lasted since student days, but their meetings had been spasmodic and sometimes acrimonious.

Guy and Derwent had been quite similar in character and each enjoyed pitting his wits against the other, with Guy sometimes winning their financial battles of wits and sometimes Derwent winning. Guy had often suspected that beneath Derwent's good loser attitude there festered a desire to get the better of Guy once and for all.

Gary had met Derwent through a business deal and was a protégé of Derwent. At one time he had almost knelt at Derwent's feet in deference to, what seemed to him then, Derwent's sage opinions. As Gary gained in experience, his dependence on Derwent's help diminished; his occasional visits to Derwent's office became rarer, but they had remained friendly, at least on the surface. Gary was too naïve to realise that Derwent thrived on the adoration of his young friend.. He recognised what Derwent had done for him and was grateful, but did not realise he was expected to pay homage to Derwent for the rest of his life.

Peter did not like and had never liked Derwent, but Derwent was rich. Peter had borrowed from him more than he cared to remember. Derwent occasionally reminded him of his debt, but never pressed him for repayment, so Peter went on borrowing from and disliking Derwent and now Derwent could no longer ask for his money back. As far as Peter was concerned the slate was clean. He just had to find someone else from who he could borrow.

Marcus was the only one of the six to have had a proper business relationship with Derwent. Several years previously they had set up an art gallery together and it had prospered. It had taken some time for Marcus to cotton on to Derwent's shady dealings, but once he did he lost no time in severing the connection. He had no intention of landing in jail for fraud or anything else. Marcus had allowed Derwent to buy him out and then had set up his own gallery. Marcus had no interest in being left any of Derwent's money since it had probably been acquired by dubious means.

Graham was a lawyer and had ceased to handle Derwent's affairs when he, like Marcus, had discovered that everything was not above board. He had his reputation to consider and he had no intention of acquiring a criminal record in order to oblige a friend. Graham and Derwent had not parted on very good terms and it was some time since they had met at all and even longer since they had met socially. .

A ripple of relief ran through the company when Benjamin Carmichael called them to order. He had tried his best throughout the meal, not very successfully, to keep the conversation going, but now everyone's attention was on him as he started to speak. Everyone expected something spectacular – something worthy of Derwent as a showman.

“Gentlemen,” began Carmichael, “I expect you are all curious to know why you have been called here tonight in the flat of Derwent Mollosey who is now dead.” A murmur of assent arose from the six invited guests. “Derwent thought that he would rather be remembered in this way rather than by a memorial service because, of course, he was not a religious man.

Surrounded by his nearest and dearest, thought Gresham, casting his eyes to the ceiling.

I wonder why an honest chap like Benjamin agreed to look after Derwent's affairs,” thought Graham. Ben is very astute and must have realised that Derwent was on the fiddle in a big way.

“I was asked by my client, the late Derwent Mollosey, to invite you all here this evening, and I am pleased, as Derwent would have been, that you all accepted the invitation.”

The tension in the atmosphere was electric. Everyone was wondering what was to happen