As it turned out, it wasn’t just his voice. George Keast, although having attained his twenty-seventh year, looked ten years younger. When the youthful secretary showed Amanda in, he stood up to shake hands, revealing himself to be of medium height, with large anxious dark eyes in a thin face. Most noticeable was his hair, which had a tendency to break free from its calming product and send up a plume of dusky brown.
Keast’s age and pallor contrasted with the office. It was dark, with oak furniture, small windows and an air of antiquity that would have not looked out of place in Dickensian London.
‘How do you do, erm, Miss Cadabra?
‘How do you do, Mr Keast,’ Amanda greeted him affably.
‘Please sit down, Miss Cadabra. Oh, you have a …’
‘Yes, this is Tempest. He likes to keep me company.’
‘Erm, right, yes, of course … We don’t normally allow … that is ... of course. Well … may I first offer my condolences on the loss of your family.’
‘Thank you, Mr Keast.’
Amanda lowered herself onto a brown leather seat pad that had long since been flattened by a succession of clients. Tempest took the chair next to it, and wound himself into a sleeping position, but kept one eye open. The young solicitor did his best to ignore Miss Cadabra’s companion.
‘Thank you for making the journey. Now, erm, do you have any experience of probate?’
‘Very little.’
‘Well, in order to, er, apply for probate, it is necessary to fill in forms IVD131D and P31UP which asks for a valuation of the estate. Inheritance tax will have to be settled before probate can be granted, you understand. However, your late great-grandmother made provision through the trust she set up to defray this expense, in order to ensure the estate remained in the hands of ... her descendent.’
‘I see. Well, that’s a relief.’
‘The contents of Cardiubarn Hall were placed in storage many years ago. They can be valued along with the monetary assets. However, regarding Cardiubarn Hall itself, to assess its current value it needs to be inspected.’
He paused.
‘Do you need my permission for that?’ asked Amanda, in an attempt to help him make progress.
‘Yes, but … we would need the valuation agent to have access to the property.’
‘Don’t you have the keys?’
‘Unfortunately, we have been unable to penetrate the perimeter without setting off an alarm. In spite of considerable effort, it has been impossible to enter the Hall. My, er, former partners assured me that your presence was essential to gaining entry to the house.’
‘Former partners?’
‘Mr Mortlake and Mr Dowr have, er, recently retired.’
‘Oh.’
‘On Friday to be precise. They made me a partner and, er … left … Cornwall … er, actually, the UK, I believe.’
Mortlake and Dowr had only needed the veriest whiff of the information that the Cardiubarn death certificates were being issued. The ink on them was barely dry before Mr Keast received the startling news from his senior partners.
Meredith Mortlake had said, in fact, that at his age the last thing he needed was as nasty a can of worms as could be opened. Mr Dowr had been less frank about his extreme aversion to any further involvement with Cardiubarn affairs.
He claimed that Mrs Dowr had been insisting for years that he retire. She had inherited the family home in Cyprus, and they were now finally moving out there. He protested his reluctance to leave, but explained that this was overborne by his affection for his wife and the desire to fulfil her wishes. At once.
Mr Mortlake and Mr Dowr informed the bemused Mr Keast that he would be delighted that he was now being promoted to senior partner. Ownership of the firm would be a parting gift from his soon-to-be former employers.
Miss Parch, who had run the office for the past half a century, claimed that her aged mother (who George had understood to have been deceased for a number of years) was now in urgent need of support. Miss Parch handed in her resignation, arranged for a neighbour’s hapless school-leaver daughter to take her place, and promptly vanished.
Before Mr Keast had any opportunity to calculate what other emotions were leavening his delight over his ascension to senior partner, Mortlake and Dowr had packed up and gone, carefully avoiding leaving any trace of a forwarding address.
‘So, it’s just … me,’ finished Mr Keast, smoothing down his unruly hair. ‘I hope that’s all right, Miss Cadabra.’
He looked so out of his depths, even Amanda could see it. Her own anxiety was replaced by sympathy, and a wish to reassure the rather lost young man on the other side of the wide expanse of oak desk.
‘I’m sure that together we can manage. So, you need me to visit the Hall and do what precisely?’
‘Well, I haven’t actually been able to get anyone to agree to survey the property. But if you could take —’ Mr Keast unearthed a sheaf of drawings from the pile of papers on his desk and moved it towards Amanda — ‘these. You see here on this top one … it’s a plan of the ground floor, and these others are the other floors. If you could just confirm that no alterations have been made and perhaps check for any structural decay. It doesn’t have to be exhaustive. Just enough for valuers Whathall and Dorb to set a price on it.’
‘I’m not an expert, you know, Mr Keast. Are you sure this is all …?’
‘Oh yes, quite all right. Mr Dowr did, at least, tell me that much. Can you … could you?’
‘I’ll do my best,’ she promised him. ‘Erm … when?’
Keast immediately produced a heavy bunch of keys.
‘Now … please?’ George’s eyes were full of entreaty.
‘Right now?’ Amanda asked gently.
‘If you please, Miss Cadabra. It would be awfully nice if we could get this form sent in and settle the whole disas— business as soon as possible.’
‘May I make a call first?’
He agreed and eagerly
