Guilt at the Garage by Simon Brett

Author:Simon Brett [Brett, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2020-09-24T23:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

‘Well, Shannon wasn’t going to get any cooperation out of her, was she?’

Jude was once again exercising her palliative-care skills at Waggoners. And Rhona Hampton was once again denigrating Bill Shefford’s widow.

‘So, what, you say Shannon asked if she could look through the house for a will?’

‘Yes, well, that’s reasonable, isn’t it, Jude? She’d been on to Bill’s solicitor and they had no record of him having made a will. He never was that good with paperwork. Never much bothered about paperwork, come to that. He relied on Frankie to keep the business on the right side of the law. You know, she looked after the invoices … and the tax … and the Health and Safety Executive stuff …

‘So, anyway, Shannon rang Malee and asked if she’d found some informal hand-written will round the house … because they can be legal, you know. There was a case recently where some old bloke had scribbled his will on a McDonald’s paper napkin and that was legal, so it can happen. And Malee had said she’d looked round the house and found nothing. So, then Shannon asked if she could have a look. And Malee said, “No.” Just like that. I mean, what kind of a way is that to treat your … what? Stepdaughter-in-law?’

‘She’s within her rights. It is her house.’

‘But is it, Jude? Is it? Surely that depends on the will. And if there isn’t a will, then who knows whose house it is?’

‘I think you’ll find, Rhona, that under British law, if a woman is legally married at the time of her husband’s death, and he’s intestate – in other words, he hasn’t made a will – then she inherits all of his estate.’

‘That’s not fair, is it?’

‘It may not be fair, but it’s the law. And I take it Malee was legally married to Bill?’

Rhona grimaced. ‘Yes. Only a registry office thing. Back last February. I was invited, but there was no way I was going. Shannon and Billy went. They said it felt more like a funeral to this side of the family.’

‘And what about her side of the family? Were any of Malee’s relatives there?’

‘No.’

‘Must’ve been fun for her,’ said Jude wryly, trying not to visualize the grisly details of the occasion. Malee’s progress in becoming part of the Shefford family cannot have been easy, and having no backup from her own side could only have made things worse.

‘No,’ Rhona went on, ‘her people were no doubt back in Thailand, busy on their calculators, working out how much money they’d get when Bill kicked the bucket.’

Jude knew there was no point in saying anything. Rhona Hampton was not about to change such entrenched attitudes at this advanced stage of her life.

‘Shannon’ll try again,’ Rhona went on. ‘Not easily put off, my daughter. She’ll be back at that house and she’ll get in, even if she has to break in. She’ll find the will that Bill drew up before he met his “Mail Order Bride”.’

‘Could you just move on to your other side?’ asked Jude.

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