Chapter 8

The front door opened and there stood a beaming Elizabeth Harris. She put her arms out and gave Andrew a hug, drawing him close to her. It had been over three years since Andrew had seen Elizabeth and she was just as beautiful as he remembered her. Her fiery red hair was tided up in a ponytail, her emerald eyes sparkled. She was smiling broadly, genuinely happy to see him. Andrew did not know her exact age, he judged it to be in the late fifties or even sixty. The years had been kind to her. She looked at least twenty years younger. She was wearing a white blouse, the top two buttons undone, revealing just a hint of cleavage, the tight blue jeans accent­uating her slim figure.

‘Andrew, it’s been too long. I’m so sorry that we haven’t had you around sooner but it’s a madhouse here. Jeffrey is busier than ever and there never seems to be enough time.’

‘I understand completely Elizabeth. You must be so proud of what Jeffrey has achieved.’

‘Oh, I am. Very proud. I just wish he didn’t have to work so hard. I hardly ever see him. Come in Andrew and welcome to our little cottage.’

The little cottage that Elizabeth was referring to was a five bedroom mansion in St George’s Road, Toorak, complete with a four car garage, grass tennis court and a twenty five metre pool.

‘Look at this place Andrew. I don’t know what we are doing here. It is just the two of us. Oh, and the maid, and the cleaner, and a cook and a gardener and a man who looks after the pool. I told Jeffrey I was perfectly happy with our old house but he insisted. I didn’t have the energy to argue.’

Andrew was standing in the entrance hall which was probably larger than his whole flat. A crystal chandelier hung overhead and the marble floor was covered by an exquisite Persian rug.

‘Come on, Andrew. Let’s go to the sitting room. We can catch up over a drink. Jeffrey will join us soon, I hope. He’s in his study, where else. He is on a conference call, I think with New York, London and Tel Aviv. He promised it wouldn’t be long but with Jeffrey you never know.’

Andrew followed Elizabeth into the sitting room. The first thing that struck him was the artwork. Almost every centimetre of wall was covered by paintings. It was too much to take in. They sat down opposite each other on black leather armchairs. On the glass coffee table between them was a decanter filled with what appeared to be whisky and three crystal glasses.

‘A drink Andrew? I know you love scotch. I hope you like this one. It’s a single malt, quite different to the blended whiskies. A bit of an acquired taste. This is Jura. It comes from the Isle of Jura off the West Coast of Scotland. This is one is Superstition, my favourite.’

Elizabeth poured them each a generous measure of scotch, held up the glass and said, ‘Welcome home Andrew. It’s good to see you. I’ve missed you. You know I always thought of you as the son I never had. Pity Lisa couldn’t make it.’

‘She really did try Elizabeth, but couldn’t get anyone to swap her shift. Not many takers for a Saturday night.’

‘I will try and catch up with her one-on-one soon. I was thrilled to hear that the two of you are back together. I hope you’ll make an honest woman of her this time.’

Andrew blushed. ‘We haven’t discussed anything like that yet. We’re taking it slow. I’m just grateful that Lisa could forgive me for what I did to her, but marriage, it’s a bit too soon to talk about that.’

‘Nonsense Andrew. You two are meant for each other, always were.’

‘Are you in here?’ It was Jeffrey.

‘Welcome Andrew. Welcome to our home. I understand Elizabeth has been plying you with booze already.’

Having shaken Andrew’s hand, Jeffrey poured himself a generous amount of whisky, took a long gulp and sat down.

‘You two catching up? Elizabeth has missed you. By the way, where is Lisa?’

‘Had to work. She tried to change her shift, but no luck.’

‘She is a gem that one. Don’t you dare let her go this time. But I suppose Elizabeth has already bent your ear about that.’

Before Andrew could reply, Jeffrey continued.

‘You will be interested in this Andrew. Just got off the phone from Ted Gray in New York, Howard Bannister in London and Ilan Tamir in Tel Aviv. They are planning a multi centre trial of Amaradine in prostate cancer. There have been five case reports of apparent responders and they are planning a multi centre trial. They are unsure of the dose to use, that’s why I’m involved.’

Andrew felt that this gave him an opening and ventured. ‘The dose was a problem with your trial too. Isn’t that why the results were initially equivocal? The dose was too low.’

Andrew could see a change coming over Jeffrey’s face, he looked momentarily stunned but quickly recovered.

‘You’re right Andrew. We did use too low a dose back then. Did you know, before we started the trial, I treated four patients after Lionel Myer and none responded? If it wasn’t for Winston Heathfield, I would never have got the trial off the ground. No one was interested in funding it, not the hospital, not the NHMRC. Winston put his faith in me and with his money we got it done. But you’re right, we did use too low a dose and the results could have easily gone the other way and the Amaradine would have been consigned to the dustbin.’

Andrew did not reply. He noticed Jeffrey’s initial reaction to what he’d said but then Jeffrey spoke freely about the trial. He did not seem like a man with something to hide. Andrew was relieved. He could not bear the thought that Jeffrey Harris would have done something unethical.

His thoughts were interrupted by Elizabeth.

‘Come on my men, to dinner. Andrew you must be starving.’

She led them into the dining room. In the centre of the room was a magnificent mahogany dining table surrounded by 16 equally magnificent upholstered mahogany chairs. Andrew could not help but stare.

‘I know, Andrew,’ Elizabeth said. ‘It’s just the three of us but Jeffrey insisted that we eat in the dining room and not in the kitchen.’

Andrew noticed three plates sitting to the one end of the huge table. The three of them sat down. Elizabeth picked up a tiny silver bell, rang it twice. A uniformed maid came in.

‘We are ready now Annabelle. Apologise to chef. I hope we haven’t kept him waiting too long. He hates his food to be overcooked.’ Elizabeth said.

Andrew felt a tinge of disappointment. He was actually looking forward to Elizabeth’s cooking. His disappointment was quickly quelled as the meal began to arrive. There were three magnificent courses accompanied by exquisite wines. Annabelle served the food whilst a tall, handsome man whose name was Deon served the wine and ensured that their glasses were regularly topped up. Several times during the meal he caught Elizabeth glancing in his direction and he smiled approvingly. Perhaps he should have complimented the food but as Elizabeth had not actually cooked it, he wasn’t sure that it was ­appropriate.

As they finished the meal and were having coffee, Andrew did manage to say, ‘Thank you. That was the most wonderful meal.’

Elizabeth was quick to respond.

‘We must do this again and soon. The next time I’ll check with Lisa to make sure that she can make it. And Jeffrey, we will eat in the kitchen and I’ll cook.’

Jeffrey did not argue.

‘Now I’ll leave you men. I’m sure you have important medical matters to discuss and you don’t need me for that.’

Elizabeth walked over to where Andrew was sitting. He stood up as she gave him a peck on the cheek, said goodbye and left.

‘Let’s go to my study. We’ll have a chat. I have got a great cognac hidden in there.’

Andrew followed Jeffrey into the study. Like everything else about the house, it was huge. Three of the wood panelled walls were covered in books and the fourth was full of paintings. There was an oak desk behind which was a studded black leather chair and on the wall behind that were framed degrees, certificates and commendations.

Jeffrey directed Andrew to one of the two leather armchairs on the other side of the room. As Andrew sat down, Jeffrey pushed one of the panels in the adjoining wall, a door swivelled open and a shelf silently slid out on which was a crystal decanter filled with what Andrew assumed was cognac. There were four crystal glasses on the shelf. Jeffrey sat down, poured the cognac into two of the glasses, handed one to Andrew, lifted his glass and said:

‘Cheers. Great to have you in our home Andrew. And great to have you back at Prince Charles. I’ve been hearing good things about you Andrew. Not that I’m surprised. You have got a solid career ahead of you. We will look after you at Prince Charles, you know that. You are a Junior Consultant now but you never know how high you will end up. I won’t be here forever my boy.’

Jeffrey gave Andrew a slight grin. And then his tone changed completely.

‘By the way Andrew, how did you know about the issues with the trial? It is not common knowledge.’

Andrew was momentarily taken aback by the question. He stammered what he was sure was a pretty unconvincing reply. ‘I’m not sure Jeffrey. I think I just heard it somewhere around the department.’

‘Andrew, remember who you are talking to. That information is not around the department.’

A pause, then ‘It wouldn’t have been your old schoolmate, the statistician, would it?’

Andrew was stunned. Was there anything that went on in the department that Jeffrey did not know about? He knew there was no point in lying.

‘Yes it was Jeffrey. We were catching up over a drink, a few drinks actually and I guess he did mention it. He’s not in trouble is he? I would hate to be responsible for causing him any problems.’

‘Don’t be silly Andrew. It’s no big deal. It’s not actually a secret, I was just puzzled, it really wasn’t public knowledge. No drama. No harm done.’

And with that the conversation turned to more mundane matters. Jeffrey brought Andrew up to date with developments in the department. Andrew promised he would involve himself more in the research activities which caused Jeffrey to smile. They each had a second cognac, Andrew declined a third as he was driving and at 10pm bade Jeffrey goodnight. He headed home to an empty flat, Lisa would not be back until midnight.