It was towards the end of November that my brother in law died. It wasn't any great surprise. Rick had been seriously unwell for several months.
'It would be nice to make it to Christmas,' he told me one afternoon when I went to visit him in hospital.
'Oh? Is Santa on a promise to deliver you something special?' I asked.
'I've managed to track down a couple of bottles of Chateau Lynch-Bages,' Rick said. 'The 2001 vintage. They should be just about coming to their peak. And I'm sure I can count on you to help me drink them.'
'Well... when you put it like that,' I said. But even then, I could see that it might be a near run thing.
'And if I don't make it... you can, of course, drink my share too,' he said. 'For some reason, Jillian has never really taken to the Bordeaux reds. She prefers new world sauvignon blancs. And Champagne, of course.'
'You'll make it,' I assured him. But I was wrong. On a rather dull November afternoon, one of those gloomy afternoons when it couldn't seem to make up its mind whether to rain or perhaps even snow, Rick dozed off and never woke up again.
Someone -- I can't remember who -- once said that the worse thing about dying was that you didn't get to hear all the nice things that people said about you at your funeral. The people who gathered for Rick's send-off certainly had plenty of nice things to say about him. Not that the things they had to say weren't thoroughly deserved.
'I've suggested that Jillian come and spend a few days with us,' Monica said after we left 'the wake' and headed back out to Chalfont. (Jillian was both Rick's wife and Monica's twin sister.) 'Even though the inevitable was perhaps inevitable, these last few weeks have not been easy for her.'
'No,' I said. 'And I think you're right. A bit of a break might do her the world of good.'
Rick's last few weeks had not been easy for Monica either. Jillian and Monica were twins of the closest kind. The happiness that one felt was also felt by the other. But, regrettably, the same was true of the pain felt by one or the other of them.
'In case you've forgotten, I'm off to Milan on Monday,' I told her. 'Just for three days. I should be back on Thursday. But I can put it off until after Christmas. If you need me here.'
'No, no. You go,' Monica said. 'I suspect Jillian and I will just take things quietly. Probably very quietly. You know.... Watch a few girly movies. Perhaps grab a bite of lunch. Do a bit of shopping. Give Jillian a bit of a chance to unwind.'
It made sense.
My main reason for going to Milan was to meet up with the new CEO of our largest customer in that part of the world. Carlo had a bit of a reputation for keeping supplier organisations at arm's length until he actually needed something specific from them. So, rather than trying for a formal meeting, I told his Executive Assistant that I was going to be in Milan for the opera. (My spies had also told me that Carlo was a big opera afficionado.) 'If there was an opportunity for a quick cup of coffee...,' I told his EA. 'While I'm in your beautiful part of the world.' And it worked.
But then, as Robbie Burns once observed: 'the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley'. Carlo had a fall. Right outside his office. And he ended up in hospital with a broken ankle. I sent him some flowers, but the coffee would have to wait for another day. And then I called my own EA, back in London, and asked her to see if she could get me home again.
'Nothing into Heathrow,' Susan said when she called me back twenty minutes later. 'But I've managed to get you on a late afternoon flight into London City Airport. Rufus will be waiting to drive you back out to Chalfont.'
'Cheers, Susan,' I said. 'You're a star.'
'Do you want me to let Monica know that you're going to be home a day early?'
Did I? 'Umm... no. I think I'll surprise her,' I said. 'She has her sister staying. Jillian. Her twin. The one whose husband died. If the traffic's kind to me, I might take them both out for a bite of supper.'
'Would you like me to make a booking somewhere?'
'No. But thank you. If the traffic's kind, I'll call somewhere from the car.'
But the traffic wasn't kind. First, the flight from Milan was late in leaving. And then, possibly because we were late leaving Milan, we missed our slot at London City and had to 'go round' a couple of times, making us even later. Mind you, even if we had been on time, I would still have had to wait for Rufus.
'Pile up on the 406,' Rufus said. 'Lorry jack-knifed. Boxes all over the road. Might be quicker to take the A40.' And he described a map in the air with the forefinger of his right hand.
'You're the expert, Rufus,' I told him.
Things started out a bit slowly, however once we got onto The Western Way it could just as easily have been a Sunday. But our good luck didn't last for long. From The Hangar Lane Gyratory all the way out to the Derham Road roundabout we were pretty much back down to a crawl.
When we finally pulled up outside the house, all was in darkness. Either Monica and Jillian had gone out, or they were already in bed. On the off chance that they were already in bed, I let myself in quietly so as not to disturb their sleep.
Their overcoats were hanging on the coat stand just inside the front door, so I assumed that they were in fact home and that they were having an early night.