'Have you made a will, Dr. Blakeney?'
'Yes.'
'In favour of your husband?'
She nodded.
'So, if you die tomorrow, he gets everything, including, presumably, what Mrs. Gillespie has left you.'
She started the car. 'Are you suggesting Jack is planning to murder me?'
'Not necessarily.' He looked thoughtful. 'I'm rather more interested in the fact that he is-potentially-a very eligible husband. Assuming, of course, you die before you can change your will. It's worth considering, don't you think?'
Sarah glared at him through the window. 'And you say Mathilda was evil-minded?' Furiously, she ground into gear. 'Compared with you she was a novice. Juliet to your lago. And if you don't understand the analogy, then I suggest you bone up on some Shakespeare.' She released the clutch with a jerk and showered his legs with gravel as she drove away.
'Are you busy, Mr. Blakeney, or can you spare me a few minutes?' Cooper propped himself against the door-jamb of the summer-house and lit a cigarette.
Jack eyed him for a moment, then went back to his painting. 'If I said I was busy would you go away?'
'No.'
With a shrug, Jack clamped the brush between his teeth and took a coarser one from the jar on the easel, using it to create texture in the soft paint he had just applied. Cooper smoked in silence, watching him. 'Okay,' said Jack at last, flipping the brushes into turpentine and swinging round to face the Sergeant. 'What's up?'
'Who was lago?'
Jack grinned. 'You didn't come here to ask me that.'
'You're quite right, but I'd still like to know.'
'He's a character from
'Was Othello the black bloke?'
Jack nodded. 'lago drove him into such a frenzy of jealousy that Othello murdered his wife Desdemona and then killed himself when he learnt that everything lago had said about her was a lie. It's a story of obsessive passion and trusts betrayed. You should read it.'
'Maybe I will. What did lago do to make Othello jealous?'
'He exploited Othello's emotional insecurity by telling him Desdemona was having an affair with a younger, more attractive man. Othello believed him because it was what he was most afraid of.' He stretched his long legs in front of him. 'Before Othello fell on his sword he described himself as 'one that lov'd not wisely but too well.' It gets misused these days by people who know the quote but don't know the story. They interpret 'lov'd not wisely' as referring to a poor choice of companion, but Othello was actually acknowledging his own foolishness in not trusting the woman he adored. He just couldn't believe the adoration was mutual.'
Cooper ground his cigarette under the heel of his shoe. 'Topical stuff then,' he murmured, glancing towards the sleeping-bag. 'Your wife's not loving too wisely at the moment, but then you're hardly encouraging her to do anything else. You're being a little cruel, aren't you, sir?'
Jack's liking for the man grew. 'Not half as cruel as I ought to be. Why did you want to know about lago?'
'Your wife mentioned him, said I was lago to Mrs. Gillespie's Juliet.' He smiled his amiable smile. 'Mind, I'd just suggested that if she were to die an untimely death you would make an eligible catch for someone else.' He took out another cigarette, examined it then put it back again. 'But I don't see Mrs. Gillespie as Juliet. King Lear, perhaps, assuming I'm right and King Lear was the one whose daughter turned on him.'
'Daughters,' Jack corrected him. 'There were two of them, or two who turned on him, at least. The third tried to save him.' He rubbed his unshaven jaw. 'So you've got your knife into Joanna, have you? Assuming I've followed your reasoning correctly, then Joanna killed her mother to inherit the funds, found to her horror that Mathilda had changed her will in the meantime, so immediately made eyes at me to get me away from Sarah with a view to topping Sarah at the first opportune moment and then hitching herself to me.' He chuckled. 'Or perhaps you think we're in it together. That's one hell of a conspiracy theory.'
'Stranger things have happened, sir.'
He eased his stiff shoulders. 'On the whole I prefer Joanna's interpretation. It's more rational.'
'She's accusing your wife.'
'I know. It's a neat little package, too. The only flaw in it is that Sarah would never have done it, but I can't blame Joanna for getting that wrong. She can't see past her own jealousy.'
Cooper frowned. 'Jealousy over you?'
'God no.' Jack gave a rumble of laughter. 'She doesn't even like me very much. She thinks I'm a homosexual because she can't account for my irreverence in any other way.' His eyes gleamed at Cooper's expression, but he didn't elaborate. 'Jealousy over her mother, of course. She was quite happy loathing and being loathed by Mathilda until she discovered she had a rival. Jealousy has far more to do with ownership than it has with love.'
'Are you saying she knew about your wife's relationship with her mother before her mother died?'
'No. If she had, she would probably have done something about it.' He scraped his stubble again, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. 'But it's too late now, and that can only make the jealousy worse. She'll start to forget her mother's faults, fantasize about the relationship she imagines Sarah had with Mathilda and torment herself over her own missed opportunities. Let's face it, we all want to believe that our mothers love us. It's supposed to be the one relationship we can depend on.'
Cooper lit another cigarette and stared thoughtfully at the glowing tip. 'You say Mrs. Lascelles is jealous of your wife's intimacy with Mrs. Gillespie. Why isn't she jealous of her daughter? According to the young lady herself
