Faith - Lesley Pearse [175]
‘What pleasure is there in giving something away if you aren’t around to see the effect it has?’ she said to him. ‘I shall either spend every penny I’ve got, or give everything away to the people I love well before I snuff it. I want to see their gratitude and have them kissing my feet.’
Of course, not many people could afford to give away a valuable property like Brodie Farm, especially when they were only in their late forties and might well fall on hard times later. But Jackie could. Her other properties in London and the cottages in Cellardyke had to be worth in excess of a million and a half and she had a good income from them too.
Ted said Jackie didn’t mention the deed of gift again after he’d witnessed it. He didn’t know whether that meant she’d sent it on to her solicitor, changed her mind, or just shelved the idea until she and Ted were ready to up sticks and go off to the Highlands.
Stuart didn’t think it was likely that Jackie had gone through with it. Knowing her as he did, the moment all the legal stuff was done she would have tied up the deeds with flamboyant ribbon and presented them to Laura herself. But he could get a solicitor to check with the Land Registry to see if she had.
Yet he couldn’t see her thinking better of her plan. He never knew her do that about anything.
His guess was that she had just shelved it until she was ready to leave. She had a soft heart, and however much she wanted and intended to run off with Ted, she was probably very anxious about how his dependent, disabled wife would cope without him, and estranging Ted from his son and daughter. Stuart didn’t think she’d start packing up until she knew all the arrangements for his wife’s care were in place and he’d explained things to his children.
The question was, did she tell anyone other than Ted about this intended gift? And what happened to the signed and witnessed document if she didn’t send it off to a solicitor?
When Stuart got home to the second-floor flat he’d rented, he smiled at the sight of David asleep on the settee in front of the television. At the time Stuart had taken the two-bedroom flat he was pleased by the starkness of it as he thought it would be easy to keep it tidy. Magnolia walls, beige carpet, the kind of cheap furniture which looked good in shop windows but could never be comfortable and would be worn out within two years.
But he and David hadn’t made any effort to tidy up after themselves; shirts were hung over chairs, the table littered with books, maps and notes they’d been making. There had to be a week’s supply of newspapers on the floor, and their bedrooms and the kitchen were even more untidy. But it was home for now, and Stuart was glad to be back here with his friend.
‘Wake up, you lazy bastard,’ he said, giving David a thump on the chest.
David rubbed his eyes. ‘What is there to wake up for?’ he said with a yawn.
‘News,’ Stuart said, and perching on the edge of the settee recounted everything he’d been told by Ted.
David’s eyes were like saucers. ‘Why didn’t her solicitor come forward with this information? It proves there was no animosity between the two women,’ he said. ‘Even if Jackie eventually decided against it, ripped it up or chucked it on the fire, and so it never got legally registered with the Land Registry, her solicitor would have done all the searches and suchlike before he drew up the document. Did Ted tell you who acted for her?’
‘He didn’t know, but he said he thought it was someone in Edinburgh. Goldsmith could find out, I expect. We’ll have to see him tomorrow – with this and Ted’s other input I think we’re nearly there with grounds for an appeal.’
‘I’ve got a bit of interesting news too,’ David said, getting up and stretching. ‘The Langdons, the couple who stayed at Kirkmay House the night before the murder, didn’t leave Crail first thing in the morning. It was about one.’
‘So did they see what Charles was up to?’
‘They didn