So, one day, when she was out of the study. I peeped at the papers on her desk.
It was all crap!
A renewal of an annual deer-shooting permit; confirmation of a penalty on two kids for kicking a football in the main street of the village; approval of transfer of one of the principality’s four taxi licences; and, here’s a beauty, confirmation of a fine on a farmer for not putting his cow away one night. He had. The beast had escaped and wandered the village streets, shitting on what were usually pristine cobblestones.
There were dozens more decisions like that.
This place had become a Chocolate Kingdom.
And I knew that Tessa, being who she was, would take every decision seriously, mulling over each one and even worrying. She sometimes discussed the bigger decisions with me, in bed at night, and I knew she didn’t go to sleep easily, afterwards.
I buzzed for Gerhardt who came running, responding to the firm and constant pressure on the button.
I tossed him a handful of the papers with a Queensland Police expression.
‘I know, Bart. The counsellors used to handle those things but there was a lot of graft, despite all that’s happened, so Her Royal Highness decided to handle them herself. Didn’t she tell you?’
‘No. Tess isn’t a complainer. She’s the suffer in silence type. I could have helped. I will help. Could you investigate and report back to me, not Tess, what we have to do to get rid of the counsellors and how the business can be run without them. I want a secretariat to run the principality in practice with only the major decisions coming to Tess. When you’re ready we’ll find a place for their office. The counsellors don’t do anything now, so it shouldn’t be hard to suggest they walk. Talk about looking Tessa’s gift horse in the mouth! If you need staff, get it. I want a hard package to present to her, to ease the burden.’
‘Would five days do?’ he asked.
I was thinking two weeks, but stayed silent. He was brilliant.
When Tessa returned, she sat at her desk and looked at it in surprise, and then looked across at me.
‘I’ve decided to act to help my over-burdened wife. I like our four o’clock rides, darling, and I’m beginning to miss them. Gerhardt has everything in hand. I want my beautiful girl back again. Soon you’ll see a plan for helping you and helping the business we call Bassenburg du Mont. And sometime soon I’d like to go home for a short while to smell the gum trees. We’ll come back, don’t worry, but I do miss it all.’
She heard all this in silence and then hugged me.
‘I love you so much, Barton. How lucky I am!’
I told her what I planned, including dismissing the counsellors. She was shaky about that so we agreed to wait three months to see how the secretariat went.
It went like a charm and so she agreed that the counsellors should be invited to leave. I had no love for these guys so undertook to break the news.
Then a big shock! I had no idea where they all lurked. They were in the Palace during the day, going home at night, but where in the Palace was a mystery.
I didn’t bother Tessa about this. I was disturbing an ancient practice and she was understandably disturbed herself. So I went searching by myself.
It was interesting because, despite my various explorations of the Palace, with and without Tessa, I had no idea of all the nooks and crannies. But I kept at it, and, not too far away from the Royal quarters I came across a guard, outside a door.
I went to enter but he put his lance across to bar me. I was Knight Barton and if he didn’t recognise me, too bad! I took his lance, of the best timber, and bent it on the stone floor with my foot until it snapped. Then I gently put him aside, unhooked a key from his decorative belt and opened the door. He’d recognised me by now.
The six counsellors were sitting in leather lounge chairs, ancient ones, sipping wine and reading papers of some sort. One leapt to his feet and made for me. That was ok. I’d never liked these blokes anyway and wouldn’t mind hanging one or two on a jaw or two.
He recognised me and stopped.
He said, in German, ‘You are not permitted in these rooms. They belong to the Counsellors. Leave immediately, Knight Barton.’
My German was improving because I knew what he’d said. But this was my game not theirs.
‘Let’s all speak English. You are now dismissed as counsellors and your functions, such as they are, have been assumed by a new secretariat. But I’m guessing you know that. It’s all over, fellas, pack up your old kitbags and leave with a smile. I speak with the authority of Her Royal Highness but I am Knight Barton so I also speak with the authority of Richard Coeur de Leon. You were appointed by verbal authority and I dismiss you all the same way.’
I got on the phone to Gerhardt and he was soon with me, with a little group of fit and healthy staff from the secretariat. They gently helped the counsellors pack things in cartons and some more staff came in and moved the cartons out of the Palace. These guys weren’t aged—more middle-aged. I was offering the assistance to clear them out quickly, not out of generosity of spirit.
The leader of the counsellors said, ‘We’ve been expecting this. From the time you started to control Her Royal Highness. You are bad for her and our country. You’re uncouth and do nothing for the Royal Family. We hope you don’t destroy everything but we fear that you will.’
And then Tessa walked in. Where she’d been I had no idea, but she was imperious.
She said, ‘He is the best thing ever to happen to me and our country. He has brought control and honesty and the old days have gone, Herr Smid. Go while you can. Go!’
They left quickly.
Tessa took my hand, a little firmly I thought and led me to our bedchamber. She pulled me down on the bed, not for sex, but to cry into my shoulder about the end of the old days and in relief that all was now under control and she had no fear of more arguments with the Counsellors, which had gone on for years. Now she was in control with me at her side.
‘Thank God for jillaroo schools. Thank God for you, darling. I love you.’
****
We’ve all had ‘if onlys’ in our lives and came a time when I had more than my fair share. And Tessa.
If only Tessa had not suggested that we needed a week in Vienna, to be away from the dramas that I’d instigated in the control of the Principality;
If only she hadn’t suggested that we should attend a major performance at the Opera House;
If only, on the morning of that event she had not gone to the hairdresser and other places to be prepared for this major event, where a promenade preceded the performance, and so she wanted to look her Royal best. She looked beaut at any time, I thought;
If only I hadn’t found myself at a loose end, gone for a nice tram ride on the Ringstrasse and had departed the tram at a spot where I saw a nice sidewalk cafe;
If only, while drinking my coffee, I hadn’t looked across the strasse and spotted the headquarters of the Viennese Police;
If only I’d buried the thought that arose about Prince Harold’s death, Tessa’s father, and the later death of her mother, Princess Marie;
If only I’d stopped being a copper when the Counsellors’ matter was finished and had not linked Harold’s death to the counsellors;
If only the Commander had not been in his office when I inquired, or had refused to see me.
Then Tessa and I would not have had our disastrous parting. But all those things happened, and my wife and I separated, with me departing the family pile.
The Commander, General Weidman, agreed to see me and was polite and curious.
‘I wonder if I could have a look at the file on the death of Prince Harold, sir. About ten years ago was it?’
He went pale.
‘Why, Knight Barton? That file would be the most closely guarded in Austria. Not even you can see it. I’m not sure that it would be open even to Their Royal Highnesses. Does the Princess know you’re doing this?’
‘No. But, as a Policeman, you would share my conviction that, if a crime is suspected it should be investigated and I wonder that the counsellors were difficult with Prince Harold and then he died. The Princess is my wife and I feel I have a commitment to investigate his death, even though I have no jurisdiction here in Austria. But, once a copper, always a copper.’
‘My advice to you, sir, is to stop being a Policeman and a detective and leave all that to us. Find something else to relieve your boredom. Go for another tram ride.’
I blinked at that and then realised that he could see right down to the street from his office chair. He’d seen me depart from the tram and have coffee and then cross the strasse. He was waiting for me.
But I’m stubborn.
‘I’m committed. I’ll find another way.’
‘Go home to your wife, Knight Barton. Turn over no more stones in Bassenburg du Mont.’ He held the door open for me and I left.
Tessadonna was a sight worth waiting for when she arrived home and I was proud to have her on my arm at the opera. Often, I lifted her hand and kissed it during the night and the lovemaking was great after we got home.
In the morning, we’d had breakfast, and then, at 9 am, on the dot, Tessa’s phone rang and she listened for a while and then turned to me. She didn’t look happy.
‘Play it again for me, Commander,’ and held the phone out to me to listen…. My voice was saying, ‘No, but as a Policeman, you would share my conviction that, if a crime is suspected it should be investigated and I wonder that the counsellors were difficult with Prince Harold and then he died. The Princess is my wife and I feel I have a commitment to investigate his death, even though I have no jurisdiction here in Austria. But, once a copper always a copper.’
And then… ‘I’m committed. I’ll find another way.’
She said into the phone, ‘Thank you. I’ll handle this now. The file should be kept the way it has been.’ She hung up and looked at me with a face so sad that I felt a little sick. What had I done?
She said, ‘How dare you? How dare you feel that you have the right to intrude into things that don’t concern you? If I’d wanted you to know these things I’d have told you, Bart. Once a copper always a copper and this is what I’ve watched develop in our marriage for some time now. The Inspector gets bored and finds crimes to solve even though they probably should be left alone. But he’s a Policeman and must act as a Policeman while I watch, wondering what next. So, what next, Barton? I am not going to spend our time together waiting for each great discovery and then the conviction and punishment. What next, Bart?’
I said, ‘I made a mistake, and I’m sorry. I apologise and ask for forgiveness. I love you and thought I was helping. That’s all I ever did, Tessadonna. Tried to help you.’
She said, ‘My father died of a heart attack, making love to his mistress in a hotel in Vienna. She was the wife of his best friend, a high-ranking Austrian official. It was hushed up and he was buried with full honours. My mother lasted six months and then died of pneumonia, but she didn’t fight the illness and Dr. Elmaden told David and me that she really died of a broken heart. There, Inspector Corrigan, I’ve done your work for you! Mystery solved. Something I’d hoped never to revisit. And the counsellors that you abhor so much took David and me into their homes and comforted us and saw that we had good childhoods and were prepared for our roles when we came of age. It changed later on, but I remember them as they were then.’
‘Could I try, Tessa? Try to fix all that, with an apology to all. I’d be willing to.’
‘Too late, Barton. And now I think you’ve driven something into our marriage that can’t be removed. I want you to leave, Bart. Go back to Australia. I need time and space to work things out and I’m sorry to say I have an awful feeling that we can’t be married any longer. I don’t want to be married to a cop, waiting for the next period of boredom and then sudden action which could destroy all that I hold dear. You’ve nearly done that now. Gehen schnell, Bart. Ich bin wutend und traurig!’ That meant ‘Get out fast, Bart. I am angry and sad.’
I didn’t delay. I didn’t want to look upon that huge sadness of her any longer, so I turned and packed some clothes. I caught a taxi outside the hotel, to the airport, and waited until I could catch a plane that would connect me to Aussie flights.
I did a lot of thinking. When I finally reached La Maison Grunge, I turned on her computer, but the screen was blank. What did I expect? What dragged me down was the finality in her voice. I wasn’t going to give her up, but it seemed that she’d have no trouble giving me up.
All your own work, Inspector!
****
I spent some weeks reading and just drifting around Brisbane. I didn’t contact anyone…just drifted. No computer at her end.
Then I rang Dennis, told him some of what had happened and for the next few weeks, worked hard as a stockman again. It didn’t fix anything but I’d stopped drifting. Dennis tried to speak to me but I shut him off. Josie wisely didn’t raise the subject after I’d eventually told them both what had happened, accepting the blame.