The Good Sister the Mother-In-Law the Family Next Door by Hepworth Sally

Author:Hepworth, Sally [Hepworth, Sally]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789123472611
Amazon: 9123472618
Goodreads: 121125011
Publisher: Hodder Paperback/St. Martin's Griffin Ltd
Published: 2022-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

24

Lucy

The present …

The next day, we go to the lawyer’s office. I try to get out of it, but Gerard, Diana’s lawyer, told Ollie it would be a good idea for us all to attend, so even though Diana’s funeral is tomorrow and I have several hundred funeral booklets to fold, readings to choose and catering to confirm, I go. But as we sit in the waiting room, my mind is a Newton’s cradle, flicking back and forth over everything I know. Diana was found dead with an empty bottle of poison in her hand. But there was no sign of poison in her system and there is a missing cushion and evidence of smothering. Even I can see that it’s starting to look like someone staged Diana’s death to look like a suicide. But, if that was the case, why would they hide the letter away in a drawer instead of leaving it in plain sight?

None of it makes any sense.

When Gerard appears in the foyer of his office, Ollie, Nettie, Patrick and I are in opposite corners of the room. The arrival of Gerard, however, brings a welcome focal point and we shuffle together.

“My condolences,” he says.

“Thank you,” we mutter.

Gerard went to school with Tom, but they were probably more acquaintances than friends. Ollie and Nettie have met him many times, and I have met him briefly once or twice. He’s always seemed harmless if a little dull. I have a vague memory of Tom telling Diana that he’d invited Gerard over for a Christmas drink once and Diana groaning. Clearly she thought Gerard was dull too.

Gerard ushers us into his office and then, noticing we are two seats short, pops out into the hallway again. Ollie, Nettie, Patrick and I remain in the room in excruciating silence, looking everywhere but at each other. Nettie, I notice, doesn’t even look at Patrick.

“Right, then,” Gerard says, returning pushing a wheely chair, “thank you for coming in. Usually we mail out letters to our clients letting them know they are the beneficiaries of an estate but I wanted you to come in to the office because this estate is a little more … yes, in here, Sherry,” he says to the flustered middle-aged receptionist who appears, pushing a second wheely chair. She stops it in front of Ollie and scurries out again. “Thanks, Sherry. Sorry, as I was saying, your parents’ estate is a little more complicated than most of our clients’.”

This isn’t news to us. An estate as large as Tom and Diana’s is bound to be complicated. It’s the reason, I assume, that Tom had Gerard act as an executor, rather than Ollie or Nettie.

“Why don’t you go ahead and sit?” he says to Ollie, who is still standing despite the chair in front of him.

“I’m good here,” Ollie replies.

“As you like. Anyway, as you know, Tom and Diana have a sizable estate. There are the properties, the cars, the boat. There’s the share portfolio, the furniture, home décor, jewelry, and personal effects.

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