'I'll be out of a job.' She leant her head against the back of the seat. 'Anyway, I have a problem with the moral majority. I don't like it. I'd rather have free-thinking individuals any day than politically correct mobs who behave the way they're told to because somebody else has decided what's socially acceptable.'
'Is that why you liked Mrs. Gillespie?'
'Probably.'
'Tell me about her.'
'I can't really add anything to what I've told you already. She was quite the most extraordinary person I've ever met. Completely cynical. She had no respect for anyone or anything. She didn't believe in God or retribution. She loathed mankind in general and the people of Fontwell in particular, and she considered everybody, past and present, beneath her. The only exception to that was Shakespeare. She thought Shakespeare was a towering genius.' She fell silent.
'And you
Sarah laughed. 'I suppose I enjoyed the anarchy of it all. She put into words what most of us only think. I can't explain it any better than that. I always looked forward to seeing her.'
'It must have been mutual or she wouldn't have left you her money.'
Sarah didn't answer immediately. 'I had no idea what she was planning.' she said after a moment or two. She thrust a hand into her hair, fluffing it skyward. 'It's come as a nasty shock. I feel I'm being manipulated and I don't like that.'
He nodded. 'According to Duggan, Mrs. Gillespie instructed the two executors to keep the whole thing secret.' He examined the glowing tip of his cigarette. 'The trouble is, we can't be sure that she herself didn't tell someone.'
'If she had,' said Sarah, 'she would probably still be alive. Assuming she was murdered, of course.'
'Meaning whoever killed her didn't know you were the beneficiary but thought they were?'
She nodded. 'Something like that.'
'Then it must have been the daughter or the granddaughter.'
'It depends what was in the previous will. She may have made other bequests. People have been murdered for far tinier amounts than Joanna or Ruth were expecting to get.'
'But that's assuming she was murdered for her money. It's also assuming that neither you nor anyone dependent on you murdered her.'
'True,' she said unemotionally.
'Did you murder her, Dr. Blakeney?'
'I wouldn't have done it that way, Sergeant. I would have taken my time.' She gave a light chuckle. A little forced, he thought. 'There was no hurry, after all. I've no outstanding debts and I certainly wouldn't want to link her death so closely to a will changed in my favour.' She bent forward, clasping her hands between her knees. 'And it would have looked very natural, too. Doctors have a built-in advantage when it comes to committing the perfect murder. A period of illness, followed by a gentle death. Nothing so dramatic or traumatic as slitting the wrists while wearing an instrument of torture.'
'It might be a magnificent bluff,' he said mildly. 'As you say, who would suspect a doctor of doing something so crass within hours of an old lady making over three-quarters of a million pounds?'
Sarah stared at him with undisguised horror. 'Three-quarters of a million?' she echoed slowly. 'Is that what she was worth?'
'More or less. Probably more. It's a conservative estimate. Duggan's valued the house and its contents at around four hundred thousand, but the clocks alone were insured for well over a hundred thousand and that was based on a ten-year-old valuation. I'd hate to guess what they're worth now. Then there's the antique furniture, her jewellery and, of course, Mrs. Lascelles's flat in London, plus innumerable stocks and shares. You're a rich woman, Dr. Blakeney.'
Sarah put her head in her hands. 'Oh, my God!' she groaned. 'You mean, Joanna doesn't even own her own flat?'
'No. It's part of Mrs. Gillespie's estate. If the old woman had had any sense she'd have made it over to her daughter in annual dollops to avoid anyone having to pay inheritance tax on it. As it is, the Treasury's going to have almost as big a windfall as you're getting.' He sounded sympathetic. 'And it'll be your job to decide what has to be sold off to pay the bill. You're not going to be very popular with the Lascelles women, I suspect.'
'That must be the understatement of the year,' said Sarah bleakly. 'What on earth was Mathilda thinking of?'
'Most people would see it as manna from heaven.'
'Including you?'
'Of course, but then I live in a very ordinary house, I've three grown-up children who touch me for money whenever they can, and I dream about retiring early and taking the wife on an extended cruise round the world.' He glanced about the garden. 'In your shoes, I'd probably react as you are reacting. You're not exactly short of a bob or two, and your conscience will stop you spending it on yourself. She was right when she said she was laying a burden on your shoulders.'
Sarah digested this for a moment or two in silence. 'Does that mean you don't think I murdered her?'
He looked amused. 'Probably.'
'Well, thank God for small mercies,' she said dryly. 'It's been worrying me.'
'Your dependants, however, are a different matter. They stand to benefit just as much as you do from Mrs. Gillespie's death.'
