'How very tragic.' Charles Harris looked distressed. 'One tends to think the type doesn't exist anymore, certainly not amongst the young. I suppose we must blame Dickens for creating so extreme an example that the rest pass unnoticed.' He saw the Superintendent's perplexed expression. 'Scrooge,' he explained. 'Misers. People who need to hoard wealth but can't bring themselves to spend it. You come across them in the newspapers from time to time, old people who've died in shocking squalor only to leave a fortune behind.' He folded his hands in his lap. 'As I say, not something one associates with youth, but presumably a miser is a miser all his life. Poor Leo. What a sad, sad state of affairs.'
His wife began to scream. It was a piercing terrible sound that curdled sympathy and frayed nerves.
THE NIGHTINGALE CLINIC-12:45 P.M.
'Let's try a different tack,' suggested Alan. 'You said you and Leo were supposed to be staying with his parents for the weekend. Have you any recollection of doing that, or was the whole idea abandoned when you decided you weren't going to marry him?'
Jinx's expression cleared. 'No,' she said, 'we did go. I had a row with them. I seem to have had rows with everyone that weekend.'
'It's not surprising. You were under a lot of pressure. The wedding was only a few weeks away and you were having second thoughts about going through with it.'
'But why did I go down there with him if I knew I wasn't going to marry him?' It was a puzzle, but not one she thought Protheroe could solve.
He recalled her acceptance of Matthew Cornell's invitation to lunch. 'Presumably they were expecting you, so perhaps you thought it was the polite thing to do.'
'Yes,' she said in surprise. 'I didn't think it would be fair to Philippa not to go.'
'Tell me about the row.'
'I remember it so clearly,' she said. 'It was after lunch on the Monday and I blew my stack when Leo asked his father for some money and Anthony said he was a bit short because he'd been forced to pay for some building work he'd had done.' She shook her head. 'The job had been completed six months before and he was angry because the builder had gone to a solicitor.' She pulled a rueful face. 'I'd been holding myself back for twenty-four hours, and I went berserk. I called him every synonym for 'skinflint' I could think of, then turned on Leo and let rip at him. Poor Philippa looked mortified, and I was sorry about that because she'd always been so sweet to me.' She sighed. 'I wish I'd had the sense not to go in the first place. It wasn't a very dignified display. I kept spitting saliva all over the place because I couldn't get the words out fast enough.'
'Was that when you told Leo it was all off?'
A look of irritation crossed her face. 'I never got the chance. I just made an awful lot of noise, screaming and yelling and calling them names. I don't know what I thought I was doing really except getting all the poison out of my system. It was Leo who said he wasn't going through with it.' She gave a small laugh. 'He said he'd been having an affair with Meg and was planning to marry her instead.' She looked at him. 'I did tell you I wouldn't have wanted to kill myself over Leo and Meg. Do you believe that now? I can remember my relief when he said it. Thank God, I thought. I'm off the hook.'
'But it must have been a shock.'
'I suppose it was. I never thought she'd do it again, not after what happened to Russell.'
He was lost. 'Do what again?'
She looked at him rather blankly. 'It was history repeating itself,' she said impatiently, as if it was something he ought to have known. 'Meg was having an affair with Russell when he was murdered.'
Mystery Surrounds Murdered Couple's Relationship
Hampshire police revealed this afternoon that the murdered couple, Leo Wallader, 35, and Meg Harris, 34, had kept their eleven-year relationship secret from their families. 'It is not clear at this stage,' said Detective Superintendent Cheever, leading the investigation, 'why secrecy was important, but we hope that by publishing photographs of them someone may come forward who knew them as a couple.'
Further mystery surrounds Leo Wallader's estate, which has been valued at over one million pounds. 'He told friends and relations that he was in financial difficulties,' said Det. Supt. Cheever, 'and it came as a surprise to everybody to discover how much he was worth.'
Sir Anthony Wallader, Leo's father, who accused Hampshire police yesterday of lethargy, refused to comment on his son's financial affairs. 'My wife and I are too upset to talk to anyone,' he said. In the absence of a Will, Sir Anthony and Lady Wallader, as next of kin, will inherit their son's fortune. Sir Anthony is believed to have a substantial fortune in his own right.
Det. Supt. Cheever agrees that Hampshire police were unhappy about the accusation of lethargy. 'We have been working very hard to find Leo and Meg's murderer,' he told journalists, 'but cases like this are never easy. The length of time that the couple knew each other clearly puts a different emphasis on what has happened here, and we need to establish why they felt it important to keep their friendship secret.'
He went on to say that he recognized the pressure both families were under and regretted any insensitivity Hampshire police may have shown. 'We have a tendency to assume,' he admitted, 'that the families of victims understand we are working hard on their behalf. Clearly this is not always recognized, and we will make sure there is no misunderstanding in future.'
*16*
TUESDAY, 28TH JUNE, THE NIGHTINGALE CLINIC, SALISBURY-12:50 P.M.
Alan Protheroe wiped a weary hand across his face, then pushed himself out of his chair and wandered restlessly towards the window.
