A cold treachery - Charles Todd [52]
“What did he say to that?” Rutledge turned as he finished washing his hands and drying them on a towel by the sink. The fragrance of wood starting to burn filled the room, but no heat reached them yet.
Elcott shrugged. He didn't seem to be able to focus his mind. “Have you seen the house?”
“I've been there. Yes.”
“God! You should have been there before Miller and Jarvis took them away!” He shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold room.
“How are you managing, getting this place back on its feet?”
“It's not going to happen,” Elcott said harshly. “I've tried, but there's precious little money, and no hope of business picking up until late in the spring. I'm worn out with the effort.” He had the air of a defeated man who had lost the ability to believe in himself. Or was it assumed?
“Will you inherit the farm, now your brother and his children are dead?”
Elcott looked at him in surprise. “I hadn't even thought about that—”
“It gives you a motive for murder,” Rutledge pointed out mildly. He was watching Elcott's eyes. But they seemed more annoyed than unsettled by his words.
“Yes, well, I'm sure a hangman's noose would put an early end to that, if it were true,” the other man answered sourly.
“Did Jarvis tell you? Miss Ashton, Grace's sister, is at the hotel. If you'd like to call on her. Do you know her well?”
Elcott's glance sharpened. “Oh, dear God, I never thought to send word to her! Or to Robinson. It never occurred to me. I expect I've Jarvis to thank for attending to it. Or was it Inspector Greeley?”
“She was already on her way here when she had an accident on the road. It was Dr. Jarvis who broke the news to her.”
“I wonder what went through her mind when he did.” Elcott rubbed his face with his hands. “She and Grace were as different as two sisters could be. It always struck me that if they hadn't been related by blood, they'd have nothing to say to each other.”
“She told me that Grace was afraid of you. And she believed that you were jealous of her and her family.”
“Well, there's a blood lie!” Paul replied. “I never liked Janet, and she never cared much for me. The ne'er-do-well brother who needed bucking up to make a man of him. She'd even told Gerald that in her opinion I was malingering, that the Army would set me straight. I never told her it was the Army's doctors who turned me down. Janet's the sort of managing woman I never cared for. Always wanting her own way, always seeing what she wished to see. But I never expected her to go this far!”
“Did Grace get along well with her?”
“Grace was blind to her faults. But then Grace was sweet-natured and saw no wrong in anybody. Myself, I don't know how Gerald put up with the woman. But he did, probably for his wife's sake. I'd wondered a time or two if Grace realized Janet had had her eye on Gerry long before Grace met him. If anyone was jealous of Grace Elcott, it was her loving sister!”
Surprised, Rutledge said, “I hadn't heard anything about that.”
“No, she wouldn't have told you herself, would she? Well, she'd got to know Gerald when he was in hospital in London, recovering from surgery. She would come to write letters for the wounded, or read to them. And she fell in love with him. You didn't know my brother. Women liked Gerry; he had a way with him that attracted them whether he wanted it or not. Ask Elizabeth Fraser, she's had an eye for him, too! He did his best to discourage Janet, and was glad when they shifted him to the convalescent home in Hampshire. And there, quite by accident, he met the other sister.”
“How did you learn this? Did your brother tell you—or more to the point, write to you?”
“I'm not a fool. I could see for myself. And Gerry did write part of the story to me when he was considering proposing to Grace. He was afraid it might present a problem because of Janet. But as she was living in London and the doctors were expecting to release him to come home to Urskdale, he thought it could be worked out.”
“Do you still have