‘I shouldn’t think for a moment Guy knew the man was still alive. Everyone, apparently, believed he was dead.’
‘The police won’t trouble poor Guy about it?’
‘Oh, the police won’t bother him now. Especially at his age.’
‘What a woman,’ said Mrs Mortimer, ‘that Lisa Brooke was. Well, I expect her money — Oh, what will happen to her money, now? Guy Leet is surely —’
‘That’s a question, indeed. Lisa’s fortune belongs to Matthew O’Brien by rights, sane or insane.’
Henry went out into the garden and said to his squealing grandson,
‘What’s all this racket going on?’ He rolled him over and over on the warm stubbly grass. He picked up the child and threw him into the blue sky and caught him again.
‘He’ll throw up his breakfast,’ remarked Emmeline, who stood with her head on one side, and smiled proudly at the child.
‘Up-up-ee,’ demanded the child.
Henry rolled him over and over, left him yelling for more, and went indoors to catch Alec Warner on the telephone before he should go out.
‘You’re interested in the St Aubrey’s Home at Folkestone?’ Henry said.
‘Yes. But only in the older patients. I’ve been visiting them on private research for ten years.
‘Do you know a man there called Matthew O’Brien?’
‘Matt O’Brien, oh yes, a private patient. A dear old chap, nearly eighty. He’s bedridden now. Quite batty, of course, but he always knows me.
‘Were you thinking,’ said Henry, ‘of going down there any time this week?’
‘Well, I only go once a month, as a rule, and I went last week. Is there anything special?’
‘Only,’ said Henry, ‘that Janet Sidebottome has agreed to go down to Folkestone tomorrow to identify Matthew O’Brien. I won’t go into details, but if you would care to accompany her, since you are acquainted with the Home, it would be a kindness to Janet who will probably be distressed. Ronald can’t go with her, he’s in bed with a chill.’
‘What has Janet Sidebottome to do with Matt O’Brien?’
‘Can you go?’ said Henry.
‘Yes,’ said Alec.
‘Then Janet will explain everything. Do you know her number?’
‘Yes,’ said Alec.
‘And one of our men will be there to meet you.’
‘A copper?’ said Alec.
‘A detective,’ said Mortimer. ‘The affair might be of some incidental interest to you.’
‘That’s just what I was thinking,’ said Alec.
Janet said, ‘It is all most distressing. Ronald should have been here to assist me. He met Matthew several times. I can’t think why Ronald should have a chill in this fine weather.’
Alec shouted above the rattle of the taxi.
‘No need to be distressed. I shall do my best to replace Ronald.’
‘Oh, no, don’t distress Ronald,’ she said. ‘I only meant —He gave her a smile. She sadly adjusted her hearing equipment, and said, ‘My hearing is rather poor.
‘You may not be able to recognize Matt O’Brien,’ he articulated. ‘He’s an old man, and the years of insanity may have changed him beyond recognition. They get drugs, you know, and then the drugs have an effect on the appearance. But don’t worry if his features are not familiar to you. I think the authorities already have evidence that he’s Lisa’s husband. They have Lisa’s signature, for instance, from the time of his admission.’
‘I will do my best,’ said Janet. ‘But it is a distressing experience.’
‘He is gentle,’ shouted Alec. ‘He thinks he is God. He has never been violent.’
‘I am distressed about my late sister,’ Janet said. ‘I don’t like to admit it, but I must; Lisa was never straight in her dealings. It is a blessing she was never found out in this business.’
‘It would have been bigamy,’ said Alec.
‘It was bigamy,’ she said. ‘There was no excuse for Lisa, she had every opportunity in life. But it was the same when she was a girl. She caused our dear father a great deal of sorrow. And when Simon Brooke divorced her, there was all that scandal. Scandal was serious in those days.’
‘What did you think of Matt O’Brien at the time?’
‘Well, he was an Irishman, a lawyer. He talked a great deal, but then he was an Irishman, and he was quite charming. And do you know, when Lisa told me he was dead, I could hardly believe it. He had seemed to me so lively. Of course, we did not suspect the truth. It is very distressing.’
‘It will soon be over,’ said Alec. ‘We shall not be with him for long.’ The interview with Matt O’Brien was soon over. The detective met them in the hall and a nurse took them up to Matt’s room where he lay on his pillow among his loose white hair.
‘Hallo, Matt,’ said Alec, ‘I’ve brought two friends of mine to see you.
