Read London for Free Online Page A

boys in the old photo, though I’d still have to confirm this.
    Also, according to his Wiki page, tragedy was a strong feature of Johnny’s childhood:
    Johnny Vane’s father, James Vane (from a junior branch of the Somerset Vane family), died of a heart attack in 1973, while having supper at his London club. Johnny’s twin brother, Julian, drowned in 1977, and his mother, Clarissa Vane, the famous fashion model and muse, died in an accident at their home a few months later.
    Apart from these two sentences, no other details were given about the deaths. Even so, my head was buzzing just from reading the word “drowned.” My mind jumped back to Gavin’s photo of the two boys standing knee-deep in water. Could Julian have drowned in the Thames? I saved my questions for later as I finished reading the article, which went on to tell me:
    Johnny Vane’s younger sister, Georgiana Vane (born 1973), works in PR for Johnny Vane Ltd.
    I clicked on the link to Georgiana Vane’s page, but it was notably brief. Apart from confirming that she worked for the publicity department of her brother’s fashion company, no other information was given.
    I learned more about Johnny’s mother on her Wiki page:
    A renowned beauty and model, Clarissa Vane (née Ryder) was, and still is, often cited as a muse to many of the most influential London fashion designers and fashion photographers from the 1970s to the present… Entire fashion collections have been dedicated to her beauty and style.
    I wasn’t sure what a muse was exactly, not in the fashion sense, at least—although I’d heard the word used, especially in connection with Kate Moss. But presumably a modern muse was to fashion designers and stylists what a classical muse was to poets and artists: someone who inspired creative types to, well…create.
    Wiki confirmed that Clarissa Vane had appeared at the most glittering jet-set parties of the late 1960s and early 1970s, not to mention in front-row seats at all the Paris fashion shows. She had certainly traveled—from Marrakesh to Gstaad to Jamaica. No destination seemed too far away for a party.
    And: Two portraits of Clarissa Vane, dating from 1975, are on view at the National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London…
    Hmm…muse and sometime model…how tragic to have died so young , I thought as I looked at various images of her beautiful, symmetrical face and lithe figure. Ironically, her face was serene and classical, with a halo of thick, shoulder-length, dark-blond hair and large, long-lashed blue eyes. It gave no indication of the nomadic and bohemian existence she’d lived. She seemed otherworldly, almost like a beautiful statue.
    Fleetingly, I wondered when—or if—she’d seen much of her children. My mom was hands-on. (I had the impression she was also feet-, arms-, and legs-on.) What would it have been like to have a mother who was always on a plane, jetting off to a party or photo shoot? And then to be orphaned so young?
    According to the dates given, Johnny must have been about five years of age and Georgie three, nearly four, when they’d lost Clarissa. I wondered who’d cared for them after that. Had there been anyone else in the family to look after them?
    I went back to Johnny’s page to take a look at one other fact that had leaped out at me: Johnny Vane grew up in Notting Hill.
    Considering that I’d spent my entire life in Notting Hill, this intrigued me.
    The train had started moving at some point in my research and was now pulling into Embankment Tube station. I quickly put my tablet and notebook back in my shoulder bag, and Halley and I jumped off the train. My mind was still on Johnny Vane as I climbed the stairs out of the underground station and onto the pavement. Who, I wondered, could introduce me to Johnny? It would certainly help with my investigation if I could meet him…
    One name came immediately