David’s story answered so many questions, but raised even more.
“You speak of your father as ‘Mr Redhead?”
“Indeed. That was our name.”
“But you are David McKennah.”
“Indeed I am.”
“Why?” I had to ask the question directly because he was not going to volunteer the information.
He thought for a while before answering.
“For many years I was both David Redhead and David McKennah. They had separate work, separate lives and in the end I preferred to be David McKennah. David Redhead was not a particularly nice man.”
“Will you tell me?”
“Not now. I am not David Redhead. David Redhead was the product of a time now, thank God, a part of history.” He drank the cold cup of tea that had been sitting untouched on the table and continued. “It was not unusual for people to change their identities. There were very few demands to prove that you were who you said you were. Many men in the great strikes of the 1920s and the depression of the 30s moved from area to area using different names whenever it suited them. Many people during and after the war disappeared and re-appeared with a completely new name. They did it for many different reasons.
“Was Max one?”
“Of course. Max’s real name was not Fischer. He chose that name, just as many, many people did in those years.”
Again David was not going to volunteer any information, again I was going to have to ask the question directly. “What was it?”
He teased me for a while pretending not to remember.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to realise there was no such man as ‘Maximilian Fischer’ before the 1930s.”
“Would you have let me waste my time?”
“Probably not.”
“Well… what was it? You’re not going to make me guess are you?”
“I’m sure you could get close.”
“I don’t know any Austrian surnames.”
“You know one.”
“Monika? Heller?”
“When Max brought Monika to this country after the war he gave her a new name. She didn’t remember her old one after the awful experiences she had had. Her couldn’t give her his name so he just adapted it. His name was Hellermann.”
“You seem to know a lot about Max. I thought you hadn’t met till the funeral.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Well you said so.”
“Did I say that?”
“And you hardly talked to him.”
“Do you know what we all did those two days? Do you know I didn’t spend many hours in Max’s study that night talking until we both heard your brother drive away?”
I tried to remember that morning and I wondered if I had imagined the door to Max’s study closing as I came down the stairs just before being greeted by David.
“Do you know we didn’t talk? No. Of course you don’t. You have assumed things Annie. You must not assume. You must know and until you know you must not think you do. What do you think you know of Max?” David slowly changed his focus from the sky to my face.
He really wanted to know my answer.
“The bare bones I suppose. He was a refugee from Austria in the early days of the war but he wasn’t interned. He should have lost everything but seems to have limitless funds because he not only bought into the firm of solicitors Ted and my father worked for but also purchased Millcourt, a substantial house on ‘Millionaires Mile’. He was married and had a daughter, but they died.”
“Are you fond of him?”
“I wouldn’t say that. I suppose I’m a bit afraid of him. He always seems to have so much control and so much power. But he’s never been anything but kind and generous to me. Look at what he’s doing for me now.”
“You’re going to spend a year working with Joy and then go on to study for your degree. You will no doubt spend much of that time finding out more about Max.”
“Will I?”
“You are an inquisitive lady, you have an inquiring mind.”
“You’ve known each other for years?” I asked tentatively.
He nodded. “Yes we have known each other.”
“But you don’t like each other?” It seemed obvious now.
“Liking each other doesn’t come into it my dear Annie. We have known each other for five decades, but, until your mother’s funeral, we had not met for more than half that time.”
“You worked together?”
“Yes, we worked together.”
“But you worked for the government.”
“Indeed I did.”
“Does that mean Max did too?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“Will you tell me something about him?”
David at first seemed reluctant to talk, taking a few moments before he composed himself.
“In the beginning Max and I were very alike. We both had the disadvantage of fighting class prejudice, we both had to work to rise above the station in life our birth should have dictated. As I have just told you I had the assistance of an older man who felt obliged to sponsor me. It was the same for Maximilian.”
“I always thought Max was an aristocrat..”
“You assumed he was. I have told you not to make assumptions and not to think you know until you do. You must ask particular questions about him, and me, and you must find the answers to those. Have you any in mind?”
“I suppose it’s where he came from, why he came, how he got his money, why he’s so ashamed of his money, why he’s so mysterious about himself, why he gave a home to Charles, why…”
“That should keep you busy.” David was smiling.
“If you know all the answers why don’t you tell me now?”
“I do not know all the answers. You must find out for yourself and then ask me specific questions. It is the only way.”
“What do you want me to find that you don’t know?”
“Well done, my dear Annie. You have seen through me.” He laughed but didn’t answer my question. “You know Annie, you will find out so much about this man but you will find out about other people too.”
“You?”
“And people you do not know.”
“Is there much you wouldn’t want me to know? David Redhead?”
“But you want me to get involved don’t you? When you started talking to me about that lovely picture. You were trying to get me interested.”
“Annie. I wish that things were that simple. I want someone to know what we did, it should not be forgotten. Also, I am hoping that you might find another man who worked with us.”
“Then you must tell me everything you know.”
“That isn’t possible.”
“Why not?”
“There is such a thing as honour and, incidentally, the Official Secrets Act. I consider myself bound by that. I will tell you what I can, Annie dear, when you ask me, but you must find out what I know but cannot tell you.”
“It sounds like what you were all doing wasn’t particularly legal.”
“It was …” He paused as if he wasn’t quite sure how to answer. “… They were different times, they cannot be judged by the standards of today.”
We had been in the garden for a long time and I noticed David glancing at his watch, I wondered how long it would be before Edith and Maureen arrived back.
David also seemed to be calculating whether he had time to tell me another part of his story.
“Shall I tell you how I met my wife?”