Chapter 21 #2
Gently Alec led Ruby through the previous evening.
If anything, she remembered less detail than Daisy and Sybil about people’s movements.
She had been happy about Humphrey’s unusual vigour and good spirits—“He very much enjoyed talking to Mrs. Fletcher,” she said apologetically, with a glance at Daisy—and she hadn’t noticed much of anything else.
“Your son poured the drinks?”
“He usually does. But he wouldn’t—he wouldn’t harm his father.
They had their disagreements, but it’s not as if Humphrey threatened to throw him out of the house, or cut him off without a dime, or anything like that.
Simon has a comfortable home. He has as much leisure as he can possibly want for writing, if he ever decides to get down to it seriously, and time to find out whether he can make a go of it.
He had no serious quarrel with Humphrey and he has nothing to gain by his death. ”
“He doesn’t gain by Mr. Birtwhistle’s will? It’ll be public eventually, but it might help us to know right away how he left things.”
“He told me all about it when he had it drawn up. It’s complicated by provisions of his father’s will though. I’ll have to explain that.”
“Go ahead.”
“It was one of those ridiculously complicated Victorian wills. The estate was left to the three siblings, half to Humphrey as the eldest son, one third to Norman, and one sixth to Lorna, the only daughter. Humphrey would have it he was just being ornery—that’s an American word meaning—”
“I know it.” Alec smiled. “No need to explain.”
Returning his smile, Ruby began to relax a little.
“The lawyer had some complicated explanation of the old man’s reasons, the details of which escape me, except that if Lorna married her share was to go to Humphrey, to keep the farm in the family.
There was a proviso that if Humphrey hadn’t turned up within two years of his father’s death, the property would revert to two thirds to Norman, one third to Lorna, though again she’d lose it if she married. ”
Daisy was indignant. No wonder Lorna was such a wet blanket.
Her father had ensured her a home for life, but materially reduced her chance of finding a husband.
She would have had more say in running the place, though, if Humphrey hadn’t come home, and brought his bride.
It wasn’t surprising she had resented his return, but to hold a grudge for three decades and then decide to do away with him seemed beyond the bounds of likelihood.
Ruby continued, “I haven’t read Humphrey’s will, but he told me he left his share of the farms to Simon, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Norman’s going to expect him to pull his weight if he wants to live here.
No more relying on daddy’s royalties. Any money that continues to come in from the books goes half to me, half to Sybil.
Humphrey’s life insurance and savings come to me.
I don’t know how much that will be. Certainly no fortune.
I doubt it will be enough to support my son in idleness. ”
“You don’t sound dismayed at the prospect.”
“Where I was brought up, in the West, everyone worked. There was plenty to do on the ranch for both men and women. My father paid for me to go to college back East, but then I found myself a job, and believe me, teaching in a one-room schoolhouse was no picnic. Here in England, you’re used to people with money not lifting a finger, and I’ve heard it’s like that some places in the States.
Simon’s not in that position. With his share of the farm, he won’t starve, but he’s going to have to make his own way if he wants any more than that. ”
Alec summed up. “So neither of you is materially better off. I assume your husband made his most recent will fairly recently.”
“Yes, but how did you … Oh. You’re right, he wasn’t quite so generous to Sybil in the previous will.” Ruby sighed. “I don’t know what we’d have done without her. I hope she’ll marry Roger and have just as much success writing her own books.”
That would be perfect, Daisy thought. She wrote down the bit about Sybil being indispensable but not Ruby’s hope for her future, which she didn’t consider to be any business of the police.
Returning to the sequence of events on the previous evening, Alec had Ruby start again at the beginning, but no further information emerged.
What with Simon, Myra, and Lorna all helping to serve, “and Myra’s young men were very good-natured about lending a hand, too,” she had no idea who had brought Humphrey his drinks.
“Who was seated next to you, Mrs. Birtwhistle?”
“I was at the end of the table, opposite Humphrey, with Mr. Ilkton and Mr. Carey on either side. In spite of their helping, they never left me alone. One or the other was always there for me to talk to. Very mannerly, if only to impress Myra.”
“Are they both regular visitors?”
“This is Neil’s third or fourth visit. He’s really a friend of Simon’s, not Myra’s.
I think this is the first time they’ve been here at the same time.
Mr. Ilkton’s been once before, calling on Myra on his way to see his uncle at the Hydro in Matlock.
You’ll think me very slow, Mr. Fletcher, but after three decades in this country, I still feel an obligation to invite callers to stay the night, as we used to in the West, where the next homestead might be a day’s travel or more.
So each time he turned up, I offered Mr. Ilkton shelter for the night, and …
well, he’s rather taken advantage to stay for several days.
He’s very taken with Myra. Captivated, even. ”
“So the visit to the uncle is just an excuse?”
“Oh, I believe he exists. A cousin, actually, I think he said. Mr. Ilkton spent an hour visiting him at Smedley’s Hydro yesterday, when we all went to Matlock.
Whether, if Myra were not in the neighbourhood, he would be quite so assiduous in his attentions to an ancient relative who, I understand, is wandering in his mind, it’s not for me to judge. ”
In Daisy’s view, something else Ruby hadn’t lost over the years was a touch of the tart schoolmistress. When it emerged, she tended to sound more American. However, the Northern English influence became more pronounced when Alec asked how Humphrey had got on with his brother and sister.
“He had as little to do with them as possible. They made it plain when he first brought me here, in 1897, that the prodigal brother and his bride were not welcome. He had a bit of a nest egg, and they had no objection to his spending it on putting in running water! Humphrey was already eager to write about his experiences in the ‘Wild West.’ He had no interest in interfering with the way Norman ran the farms. Over the years, he’s pretty much left me to work out a fair financial modus vivendi with Norman and Lorna. ”
“They didn’t quarrel? At least, not openly?”
“Norman’s the silent type. He’ll drop an occasional snide remark, but Humphrey never had the slightest difficulty in ignoring him.
Lorna— Well, to tell the truth, Lorna complains so constantly, about everything under the sun, that after a while one ceases to hear her.
I wouldn’t expect people who vent their grievances gradually and continually like that to build up enough steam to suddenly …
But someone killed Humphrey.” Ruby’s calm dissolved in fresh tears.
“I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. ”
Alec passed her one of his large linen handkerchiefs to replace the sodden scrap she had screwed up in her fingers.
Daisy wondered with a silent sigh how many he would hand out during the course of this case.
She always packed half a dozen in his travelling bag.
Sometimes he came home with none at all, an expense Scotland Yard didn’t reimburse.
Not that she begrudged a grieving widow a handkerchief in time of need.
Whatever Alec thought, Daisy was convinced that Ruby genuinely mourned her husband.
She wouldn’t have murdered him. What she might conceivably have done was obtain chloral for him.
Suppose he had tired of his half-life lived in the shadow of constant lassitude.
Suppose he had decided to end it at a moment when he felt well, before he slipped down again into lethargy.
Would Ruby have helped him to commit suicide?