‘And they believed it?’
‘No reason not to. The man’s an oddball, and he can talk. No doubt they weren’t checking too hard either. There was another celebrity checking in, one of those holier-than-thou types. Outside there were some reporters and cameras. The centre was under pressure, and Helmsley took the opportunity.’
‘Any damage?’
‘To the centre?’
‘To your son?’
‘Michael started on about the cause again. I don’t know why, as he was a smart enough lad when he was young, and then there’s the nurse. If he could stay on the straight and narrow, she would do him a world of good, but there you are.’
‘Like father, like son,’ Caroline said. ‘You had it made with Ralph’s mother, but you blew it.’
‘There was more to it than that. You only saw one side. She used to play around, did you know?’
‘So did a lot of people back then, especially the crowd you hung around with.’
‘Maybe, but she left us high and dry. Michael wants to see her.’
‘What have you done about it?’
‘I found her. I don’t know why, but I thought she may have calmed down, not that I want to see her, but I had spoken to Michael’s doctor out at Waverley Hills Centre. He agreed, even spoke to her on the phone. She’s arriving in the country in two days’ time.’
‘Where’s she staying? Not with you, I hope.’
‘She’s booked herself into a hotel. Apparently, she’s got money, although not much else. She sounded upbeat, but it was a pretence.’
‘Is she pleased to be seeing her son?’
‘With Yolanda, it’s hard to tell. Maybe she regrets what happened.’
‘And maybe she realises that you’re on the cusp of a financial windfall,’ Caroline said.
‘Am I?’
‘Dundas is dead, his daughter’s in charge. We can deal with her.’
‘How? She’s been schooled by her father, and she’s no pushover.’
‘We’ll find out. The next meeting, you’re coming as my adviser.’
‘And Michael?’
‘One week at the same hotel as his mother. We have the funds to do that. After that, we’ll meet with him, as well as Yolanda if necessary. Leonard Dundas’s death couldn’t have come at a better time.’
‘We still need to know where the money and the assets are,’ Ralph said.
‘We can afford to give it a couple of weeks. Jill Dundas may prove to be more flexible.’
Chapter 16
Graham Picket raised his eyes from the desk and let out a deep sigh. There, standing in front of him, DCI Isaac Cook and DI Larry Hill.
‘Wouldn’t it have just been easier for me to send you an email with my report attached?’ Picket, a humourless man of few words, said.
‘Probably, but you’re a busy man. Rather than waiting for the full report, we were just interested in your professional opinion,’ Isaac said. Neither Picket nor Isaac had much in common. Isaac was personable, the sort of person that people opened up to; with Picket, most people turned away, and the man knew it, but he had come from a dour family, and he wasn’t going to change, the reason he was a lifelong bachelor.
‘Seeing that you’re here. If Dorothy Lawrence had been murdered, there’s no way that I can ascertain the truth. Analysis of the bones reveals nothing, other than she had broken her left arm as a child and a leg in her thirties. Approximations though, and no doubt you can check the records. But you’ll not bring a case against her husband even if you wanted to. Unless you have any reason to delay, it would be possible to release what remains of her for burial.’
‘Cremation? Larry said.
‘I would suggest burial,’ Picket said. ‘That way if you need to exhume her remains, they’ll still be there. Gives me the creeps thinking about her in that house.’
‘Hold off for now with Dorothy Lawrence. What about Leonard Dundas?’
‘Apart from the normal ailments of a man in his late seventies, Leonard Dundas was in good health. He suffered a heart attack, nothing more. I’ll send you a report, more technical, but his death is not suspicious.’
‘His body can be released?’ Isaac said.
‘I’ll sign a death certificate and release the body to his family if that is what you want.’
***
It was clear that Leonard Dundas’s death was going to have repercussions. As had been suspected by Homicide and the Lawrence family, the man had been calling the shots for a long time.
Isaac and Larry visited Dundas’s house, found the man’s daughter dressed in black. ‘Sorry about your loss,’ Isaac said.
‘He was a great man, always cared for his family,’ Jill Dundas said. It was the first time for the two police officers in the house, and it was, as expected, impressive.
The woman was on her own in the house, save for a cat asleep in one corner of the room.
‘You live here on your own?’ Isaac said.
‘With my father. I’m not married, but you know that already.’
‘Your career took precedence?’
‘I was married once, but it didn’t work out. He wanted children, I didn’t. Nothing sinister, and we keep in contact, the occasional weekend away together.’
‘It’s unusual.’
‘Not to us, it isn’t. He’s still single, so am I. We should never have married, stayed as lovers.’
‘And his wanting children?’
‘He had them with another woman, but it was me he wanted, not her. She was purely the vessel.’
‘It sounds cold-hearted.’
‘I suppose you harbour illusions of romantic love, happy families, the children with their friends, birthday parties. None of that drives me, apart from the romantic love, and I have that from Carl.’
‘Do you have someone coming over to be with you?’ Isaac said. He had met the woman on a couple of occasions, but this time she seemed
