Deliberate Cruelty by Roseanne Montillo

Author:Roseanne Montillo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2022-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Elsie Woodward was not told about her son’s death right away. At seventy-two, she was grieving the loss of one of her sisters. Her family had decided to let her sleep until morning, but by nine o’clock they knew they couldn’t delay the news any longer. Billy Bancroft arrived at Elsie’s house on Eighty-Sixth Street and presented himself to her along with other relatives, a few friends, and Elsie’s butler.

Confusion and grief contorted Elsie’s face when she learned of Billy’s death. People in the room would remember the hard lines that formed when she was told that Ann had been the one who pulled the trigger. Elsie believed that the malicious girl from Kansas who had conned her son into marrying her had now shot and killed him on purpose. Elsie, and most of the Woodward clan, would always believe that Ann had murdered Billy, although to the outside world they would claim otherwise. They were a family who did not appreciate interferences, and Elsie feared that if Ann were investigated for murder, people would begin to question the family’s other ghosts and indiscretions, something that she intended to avoid at all costs. Elsie had always guarded the family’s privacy. She certainly did not intend to have a murderous profiteer ruin it now.

Elsie Woodward immediately called Walter Gray Dunnington, the family lawyer, and told him that Ann had murdered Billy. Dunnington was stunned and, after expressing his condolences, asked Elsie what she wanted him to do. She instructed him to make sure her grandsons were protected. Dunnington immediately understood her meaning and promised Elsie that Billy’s children would no longer be in Ann’s custody, and that he would make certain that they would continue to live with their grandmother. They were already safely in her house.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.