“My solicitor seems to think that the wrong will was submitted and that the estate was distributed incorrectly according to Mildred’s actual wishes,” Roland explained. “In the later will, Mildred left her entire estate to me.”
Janet took a long slow breath and then swallowed hard. “Perhaps we need to ring our solicitor,” she said to Joan.
Joan nodded. “I agree.”
Roland chuckled. “I don’t mean to stir up trouble, dear cousins,” he said quickly. “I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement without dragging solicitors into it. We’re all family, after all.”
“You’ve already involved your solicitor,” Janet pointed out.
“But he’ll do what I pay him to do,” Roland replied dismissively. “I can tell him not to pursue things through the courts and save all of us a great deal of money in court and solicitor’s fees, at least.”
“We’ll need to see a copy of the will, of course,” Janet said.
“You sound as if you don’t trust me,” Roland replied, sounding shocked and hurt.
“We’ve only just met you today,” Janet reminded him. “We’ve no proof that you’re even who you claim to be.”
Roland took a deep breath and then sighed. “Is that how this is going to progress, then? Are you going to start accusing me of lying or misrepresentation? I came here to meet you both because I was so excited to find that I had family. Now you’re making me feel as if I was better off on my own.”
“You must try to see it from our perspective,” Joan said. “The idea that Mildred had another will is something of a shock for us.”
“Yes, I suppose I can see that,” Roland conceded. “You did say that inheriting her estate was a surprise as well. Perhaps your solicitor didn’t do as much work as he could have in searching for other wills or other relatives.”
“Our solicitor didn’t do either of those things,” Janet told him. “Those were jobs for Mildred’s solicitor. As far as we know, he did his best to track down other relatives. While the will he presented for probate was several years old, he had done other legal tasks for her over the years between the writing of the will and her death. I don’t think he had any reason to believe that Mildred would have sought other legal advice if she’d decided to change her will.”
“As I said earlier, I’d rather not fight all of this out in the courts,” Roland told them. “If you truly insist on involving solicitors, I can have mine here tomorrow with a copy of the newly discovered will. Perhaps he can stay in your other guest room while he’s in the area?”
Janet shook her head. “There are hotels in Derby. I’m sure he would be more comfortable there.”
“Janet, we’re family,” Roland replied. “Eldridge has been my solicitor for years. It will be much more convenient for everyone if he simply stays here.”
“But then where would our solicitor stay?” Janet asked. “I’m afraid we’re going to need that other room for him.” Or her, whomever we can find, she added silently.
Roland frowned. “I assumed you’d be using someone local,” he replied tightly.
“We’ll have to discuss that,” Janet said, nodding towards Joan. “Privately,” she added.
Roland sighed. “You’re making this sound as if it’s a battle. I don’t want anything to come between me and my newly discovered cousins.”
“So tell your solicitor that you don’t care about the will,” Janet suggested.
Roland chuckled. “I wish I could afford to be that generous, dearest cousin, but it seems to me that a good deal of money could be at stake here. Obviously, I don’t want to do anything to interfere with your happy lives here in Doveby Dale, but if I truly was meant to have Mildred’s money, well, surely you won’t deny me my rights to my inheritance?”
Janet pressed her lips together and then looked at Joan. “We’re going to have to consult our solicitor,” Joan said.
“Oh, dear, I do hope I haven’t ruined your evening,” Roland told her. “Eldridge is going to ring me back shortly, so I think I’ll retire to my room to wait for him to do so. Shall I invite him to come up to Doveby Dale tomorrow or do you need more time to work out what you’re going to do before he arrives?”
“We won’t be ready tomorrow,” Janet said quickly. “It’s too late to ring anyone tonight.”
Roland glanced at the clock and then nodded. “I may still have Eldridge join me tomorrow if he can. If nothing else, he’ll liven the place up considerably.” With that, he turned and headed back up the stairs. He wasn’t even out of sight yet when Janet heard his mobile buzz again.
“Eldridge, hello,” she heard Roland say as he disappeared towards his room.
“What do we do now?” Joan asked as she sank onto the nearest couch.
“Now we ring our solicitor,” Janet said firmly.
“Except we don’t have a solicitor, not really,” Joan reminded her. “We’ve never needed one, aside from when we had our wills drawn up thirty-odd years ago. I don’t have any idea whom to ring.”
“So we’ll start by ringing our friends and asking for advice,” Janet suggested. “Maybe Robert can suggest someone.”
“Maybe Robert can investigate Roland,” Joan said tartly. “I don’t like him and I don’t trust him.”
Janet nodded and then headed for the phone in the kitchen. She was going to ring the police from somewhere where she couldn’t be overheard. It may have been too late to try ringing solicitors’ offices, but she had Robert’s mobile number and she knew he wouldn’t mind, under the circumstances, if she rang him at home.
Chapter 5
“Obviously, don’t agree to anything without your own solicitor present,” Robert said when Janet was done telling him the story. “Doveby Dale’s only solicitor is Peter Plumber. He handles wills and estate planning and helps people set up small businesses. I’m not sure that he’ll be able to help with something like this, but you can ring him and ask.”
Janet took down the solicitor’s number. “I’ll ring him first thing tomorrow morning,” she replied. “As I don’t expect to sleep tonight, I’ll probably start ringing him far too early.”
“Try not to worry,” Robert told her. “I’m going to do some investigating starting tonight. The first thing we need to work out is whether or not Roland truly is related to you. If he genuinely is your cousin, then we can move on to worrying about the validity of the newly discovered will.”
“I hope he isn’t really our cousin. Neither Joan nor I liked him before he told us about the new will. Obviously, we like him even less now.”
Robert chuckled. “Just don’t panic or do anything in haste. If he truly is who he claims to be and the will is indeed valid, the entire affair will need to go through the courts and that will take time. Don’t let him pressure you into agreeing to some sort of quick settlement, not until I’ve completed my investigation.”
“Joan and I are worried, though. We don’t want to lose Doveby House.”
“I understand, but you are a long way from losing anything at this point. Take a few deep breaths and promise me that you won’t sign anything until I’ve finished my investigation.”
“We won’t, “Janet agreed. She put the phone down and then rejoined Joan in the sitting room. It only took her a minute to tell Joan what Robert had said.
“I can’t imagine anyone deliberately pretending to be someone’s cousin,” Joan said when Janet was done. “I don’t understand how people can be so cruel to other people.”
“I just hope he isn’t really related to us,” Janet sighed.
“Even if he is, the will might not be legitimate,” Joan said. “Mr. Dickerson has a lot of things he’s going to have to prove to us before we even consider discussing any sort of settlement.”
Janet nodded. “It would have been nice if he’d waited until after Christmas to spring all of this on us.”
“Except that would have meant spending the rest of this week taking him around and showing him the area. Now we’ve the p
erfect excuse to leave him to his own devices.”
Janet smiled. “Every cloud has a silver lining, doesn’t it?”
The pair talked for a while longer, but there seemed little to say, really. Until Robert had done some investigating, things felt as if they were on hold.
“Get some sleep,” Joan told Janet eventually. “Tomorrow is another day.”
“I’m going to try, but I doubt I’ll sleep. I’m going to set an alarm for seven and start trying to reach Peter Plumber as soon as I’m out of bed.”
“You’d probably be better off waiting until eight to try to reach him,” Joan suggested. “Although from what I know of solicitors, he probably doesn’t start work before nine.”
Janet nodded. “I’ll feel better if I’m doing something, though. Right now I feel as if we’re simply sitting around waiting for something awful to happen.”
“Something awful already happened. Mr. Dickerson is here. Now we just have to deal with it,” Joan said grimly.
Janet was sure that she’d never sleep, but she got ready for bed anyway. Aggie was curled up on the pillow next to Janet’s on the large bed when Janet climbed under the covers.
“You won’t mind if we have to move, will you?” Janet whispered to the kitten.
“Meerooww,” Aggie replied. She crawled off her pillow and settled against Janet’s chest.
Janet felt herself being lulled to sleep by the cat’s slow and steady breathing. Her alarm seemed to go off only a few minutes later.
“It can’t be morning already,” Janet complained. “I only just closed my eyes.”
She showered and dressed and then headed for the kitchen. Joan was already there, baking more mince pies, even though they had several boxes of them already.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d bake,” she told Janet. “I tried making a Victoria sponge, but I mistimed the baking and scorched the cakes.”
Janet stared at her. Joan never burned anything. She’d been baking for far too many years to make a mistake like that. “Are you okay?” she asked.
Joan shook her head. “I’m a mess, really. I didn’t realise how much Doveby House means to me, not until our ownership was threatened.”
“It’s going to be okay,” Janet said firmly. “Is something burning?”
Joan gasped and pulled open the oven. When she pulled the tray of blackened mince pies out, Janet could see tears in her eyes.
“Never mind,” Janet said firmly. “We didn’t need more mince pies anyway. I’d only eat them if you’d made them.”
Joan chuckled, but the sound was clearly forced. “I’m afraid to offer to make you breakfast,” she said sadly.
“I can have cereal for today. We have several types that I like, and I never have them because you’re always cooking. It will be nice to have a change.”
Janet poured herself a bowl of cereal before Joan could object. As soon as she’d eaten, she grabbed the phone and dialled the number that Robert had given her the previous evening.
“This is Robert Plumber,” a deep voice said. “I’m not available at the moment, but if you leave a message, I’ll ring you back.”
“This is Janet Markham. I’m afraid my sister and I need some legal advice,” Janet told the answering machine. She left her number and then put the phone down.
“How long do we have to wait before I can ring again?” she asked Joan.
Before Joan replied, the phone rang.
“That was quick,” Janet said happily.
“Janet? It’s William. I just purchased a desk from Stanley in Derby. I thought it might be perfect for Joan.”
“Oh,” Janet said flatly.
“What’s wrong?” William demanded.
“All sorts of things, but nothing I can discuss right now,” Janet replied. “I’ll try to come over later.”
“If you come around midday, maybe we could have lunch together,” William suggested.
“There are some things going on here that might get in the way of that, but I’ll try.”
“That sounds very mysterious. Are you okay?”
“Not really, but I’ll tell you about it later,” Janet replied. She put the phone down and then held up a hand to Joan. Walking as quietly as she could, she crossed to the kitchen door and pushed it open.
“Ouch,” a voice said from behind the door.
“If you weren’t lurking behind the door, you wouldn’t have been hit with it,” Janet told Roland sharply.
“I wasn’t lurking,” he replied. “I stopped because I thought I needed to sneeze, but then I didn’t.”
Janet didn’t bother to reply.
Roland walked into the room and smiled brightly at both sisters. “Good morning, dear cousins,” he said. “What are the plans for today, then?”
“Today we need to talk to our solicitor,” Joan replied.
“Oh, don’t worry too much about that,” Roland said airily. “I’m sure it will all be okay. Eldridge will be here this afternoon. We should be able to come to some agreement quite quickly. Let’s not let this little hiccup ruin our visit together. I thought maybe we could tour a stately home this morning, before Eldridge arrives.”
“I’m sorry, but we’re keeping the morning available for our solicitor,” Joan said. “We aren’t sure when he’s going to have time to see us. We have maps if you need directions to any of the stately homes, though.”
“I want to spend time with my dear cousins. Visiting stately homes isn’t even something I particularly want to do, you understand. I just thought it was something that you and Janet might enjoy. I’m not terribly excited about just sitting around the house all day.”
“Maybe you should drive into Derby and explore the city,” Janet suggested. “There’s a good deal more to do there than in Doveby Dale.”
Roland hesitated and then shrugged. “Are you both truly determined to waste the day waiting to talk to your solicitor completely unnecessarily?”
Janet and Joan exchanged glances. “Yes,” they said together.
He sighed. “I shall have to go and entertain myself, then, I suppose. I’ll shall be back around half one. I don’t expect Eldridge here before two, anyway.” He turned and walked out of the room. Janet followed him a second later, nearly tripping over him, as he hadn’t gone very far.
“Something here makes me feel as if I need to sneeze,” the man complained before marching briskly through the house. Janet watched in the doorway as he climbed into his car and drove slowly away.
“He’s the first guest we’ve had that I’ve not even offered breakfast,” Joan said when Janet rejoined her in the kitchen.
“He isn’t a guest. He invited himself to come and stay. He isn’t paying for his room and he’s threatening to try to get Great-Aunt Mildred’s will overturned. He doesn’t deserve any breakfast.”
When the phone rang again a short time later, it was Peter Plumber. Janet quickly told him everything that was happening.
“Yes, well, Constable Parsons is quite correct. You mustn’t agree to or sign anything, not without consulting me first. I’m not really an expert in such matters, but I have a number of contacts who may be able to help. Let me ring a few people and see what I can find out. When did you say his solicitor is arriving?”
“Some time after two, I believe.”
“And you didn’t get a surname for him?”
“No. Roland always refers to him as Eldridge.”
“I’m going to see what I can find out about him, but having only his Christian name isn’t much help. I will be at Doveby House at two o’clock. If nothing else, it will show Mr. Dickinson and his solicitor that you aren’t going to be rushed into anything.”
“I’m sorry, but how much is this going to cost?” Janet asked nervously.
“My fees are very reasonable, but if I have to work with another solicitor with more expertise in the area, it could get expensive. Let’s call today an initial consultation. I don’t charge for initial consultations within Doveby
Dale.”
“Thank you,” Janet said, feeling relieved. It wouldn’t do them much good to fight Roland if they ended up owing more in legal costs than they’d inherited from Mildred.
“I’ll see you at two,” he concluded. “In the meantime, try to relax.”
“He told me to relax,” Janet told Joan. “He’ll be here at two to meet Eldridge and Roland.”
“So there’s nothing we can do until two o’clock, is there?”
“I’ve half a mind to do some of my own investigating,” Janet said.
“I won’t even complain if you do, but where would you start?”
“I’ve no idea,” Janet sighed. “Maybe I’ll just go and have lunch with William.”
“If you’re going out, I may go and talk to Michael.”
“That’s a good idea,” Janet said. There was a good chance that Michael would be able to make Joan feel better about everything that was happening. She could only hope that William would do the same for her.
After starting and discarding a dozen or more books, Janet finally gave up and headed into Doveby Dale only a short time later. It would be too early to have lunch with William, but she really needed to get out of the house.
“Janet, how nice to see you again,” Amanda said as Janet walked into the shop a short time later. “The desk that William rang you about is just over here.”
She led Janet to a corner of the room and pointed to a small desk with a “sold” sign on it.
“I hope it isn’t sold,” Janet said.
“William did that so that no one could buy it before you came in,” Amanda laughed. “If you don’t want it, I’m to take the sign off.”
“Is William here?”
Amanda glanced at the door to the room in the back and then shook her head. “He hasn’t come in yet today,” she said. “He should be here around midday, I think.”
“He said something about our having lunch together, but I needed to get out of the house,” Janet muttered. She looked at the desk, pulling open drawers and measuring dimensions. “It’s perfect,” she said sadly. Buying the desk would just add to the problems if they did have to sell Doveby House.
The Quinton Case: A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella Page 4
