A Letter of Mary - Laurie R. King [111]
You will no doubt ask yourself why, if I intend to change my will, I do not do so openly. I have asked myself the same question, and although there are several valid reasons for it, they boil down to two: First, I need to witness the state of my family's affairs before I can make any final decisions; second, I am quite honestly torn between the absurdity of my premonitions and the urge to action. This is a compromise, and puts it into the hands of God. That I say this would certainly amaze some of my acquaintances, but I think that you, Miss Russell, will understand when I say that faith in a divine force and the ability to think intellectually are not necessarily incompatible. I am tired, I am uncertain, and therefore I will arrange this all so that God can make the final decision.
I should dearly love to see your reaction to that, and I admit to a sense of frustration and regret when I realise that I will not witness the machinations by which this letter again sees the light of day. However, the pleasures of imagination will fill the spare moments of my next days.
Thank you, Miss Russell, Mr Holmes, for your faithfulness to me, a near stranger. The box and the manuscript are not to be regarded as payment, for I would have given them to you in any case, and I know that payment would be neither required nor accepted. I hope that Mary's graceful hand brings you as much pleasure as it has me.
Yours in friendship,
Dorothy Ruskin"
The will began: "I, Dorothy Elizabeth Ruskin, being of sound mind and body," then went on to state simply that the entirety of her estate was to go to support the archaeological effort in Palestine, with specific names and locations given.
* * *
When a copy of the will was shown to Erica Rogers, she said nothing, but that night she suffered a massive seizure and spent the remaining months of her life in a nursing home, next to her mother. When agents from Scotland Yard went to arrest the grandson and his accomplice, Jason Rogers escaped. His body was found the following day by two hikers, in the wreckage of a very expensive car that did not belong to him. The problem of Erica Rogers's apparent alibi was solved during the subsequent interview with Jason's wife, when she confessed tearfully that she had taken Erica's place in the home for the two nights Mrs Rogers was away, caring for old Mrs Ruskin and turning the lights on and off at the appropriate times. She, however, was not charged with participation in the actual murder, as it became obvious that she had been accustomed to do just as her husband ordered.
The other partner in the killing, whose name was Thomas Rand, never confessed his part in the murder, but he was eventually brought to trial, convicted, and hanged.
Lestrade came down from London himself to tell us about Rand's arrest, wishing, I think, to remove the aftertaste of failure from his mouth in front of the headmaster. He came for tea, looking more dishevelled than ever and yet oddly more competent for it, and he recited each detail of the evidence against Rand, up to and including the man's possession of my camera, my odds and ends of manuscripts, and Mrs Hudson's jewellery.
"Only one thing I can't figure," he said finally. Holmes shot me a sardonic glance.
"Glad you've left me with something to explain, Lestrade," he growled, which remark alone put half an inch on Lestrade's stature.
"It's Mrs Ho— Miss Russell's papers. If they weren't looking for the manuscript, the pie— what'd'ya call it?"
"Papyrus," I said.
"Right. If they weren't