Veronica mellowed a little. "What is so important that it can't wait till tomorrow, Mrs. Kingsley?"
"Meg and Leo," she said. "Me and the boys read they'd been murdered, but her Daddy's refusing to do anything about it. Seems to me someone should give the poor kid a cuddle, even if it is only me."
Veronica agreed with her, and if she thought it a little odd that Betty had waited twelve hours and got herself drunk before she put the idea into practice, she didn't say anything. Instead she sent Amy down to find out if Jinx was still awake, before escorting Betty to number 12 and leaving the two women together with the door wide open. "I'll be just along the corridor," she informed them. ' 'You have fifteen minutes, Mrs. Kingsley, and I do not expect to hear any raised voices. Is that understood?''
Betty waited till she'd gone, then gave a disparaging sniff. "She's a right bitch, that one." She staggered to a chair and collapsed into it, staring morosely at her stepdaughter, who was already in bed. "I suppose someone's told you Meg and Leo are dead."
Jinx hid her dismay. "Who brought you, Betty?"
"I made Jenkins do it." She waved a meaty hand towards the door. "He's waiting outside."
"Does Adam know you've come?"
"Course not." She shook her head. "He's in London. The shares have been sliding all day. He's trying to repair the damage."
"I saw it on the news."
"Oh my, my. You're a cool one. Always were." She blew her nose. "D'you know why they're sliding? Because Leo's dead and Russell's dead, and fingers are pointing."
Jinx watched her for a moment. "It won't affect you or the boys," she said calmly. "The company's sound and Adam won't let the slide continue indefinitely. Your shares will go back up again, so you won't lose out."
"And how's your precious Adam going to stop the slide?" she hissed, her little eyes like flints. "You tell me that. There's me and the boys worrying ourselves sick, while you and your daddy behave as if nothing's happened."
"If necessary, he'll resign." A small frown creased her forehead. "You know that as well as I do. It's what he's always said he would do in a crisis."
"And where will that leave us?"
"With all the shares Adam gave you ten years ago."
Betty took out a compact and floured her ravaged face. "No," she said tightly, "it'll leave me with no home to call my own. It's not ours, remember, belongs to the company. An asset-that's what they call it, isn't it? Did you think of that when you brought this crisis on our heads? If your daddy resigns we lose the Hall. The boys'll be out of a job, and none of us'll have a roof over our heads. What've you got to say to that?"
"I'd say it means you've sold your shares and you're afraid Adam's going to wash his hands of you." Jinx rested her head against her pillows. "And about time, too. He deserves better than three dead weights who know only how to drag him down. You should all be standing by him, instead of crying about what's going to happen to you." She smiled to herself. "Do you know what? When you came in, I thought, my God, one of them has come to hold my hand. One of them has come to say, 'We believe in you, Jinxy. We know you must be going through hell, but we're here for you.' What a mug, eh? Why on earth should I have imagined for one minute that you or your good-for-nothing bastards could change the habits of a lifetime?"
"Don't you call my sons bastards."
"Why not?" said Jinx, pressing the bell beside her bed. "It's what they are. You've never been a wife to my father."
Betty's eyes filled with tears again. "I hated you the first time I saw you."
"I know. You always made that very clear."
"You hated me, too."
"Because you were so stupid." She turned to Veronica Gordon, who had appeared in the doorway. "My stepmother's leaving," she said.
"I did my best," said Betty. "I wanted to love you."
"No, you didn't. You wanted to displace me. Jealousy is a disease with you. You knew damned well that Adam loved me far more than he would ever love you."
She smiled coldly, and Veronica found herself reassessing every opinion she'd ever had of the young woman. This was no dewy-eyed victim, she thought.
MEMO
From: Det. Supt. Cheever
To: C.C.
Date: Wednesday, 29th June, 1994
Re: Wallader/Harris
Detailed below is all relevant information, as of 09:00 hours today.
· Despite extensive inquiries, we can find no witnesses to an individual wearing bloodstained clothes in the vicinity of Ardingly Woods on 12/13/14 June. Ho weapon has been found. Reports of several oars in the area, but no effective leads. (NB: Forensic examination of Jane Kingsley's oar reveals no bloodstains)
· Wallader 4 Harris's personal effects have been located at 55 Eaglet on Street, Chelsea.
· Wallader"s two cars have been located. One at Eagleton Street and the other in a rented garage in Camden. Harris's car was located in the street outside number 35. All three cars are undergoing forensic examination today, but a preliminary examination revealed nothing of significance.
· A reading of Harris's diaries, in conjunction with the evidence of friends and relations, suggests that Harris & Wallader had an ongoing, if spasmodic, sexual relationship for some eleven years. In addition, it is now clear that Harris was sexually involved with Russell Landy both before and during his marriage to Jane Kingsley.
· There is evidence that Harris had an abortion in February 1984, some five days aifter Landy's murder, although it is unclear who the father was. Some indication that it may not have been Wallader or Landy. Her diaries reveal a promiscuous personality, as borne out by her brother's evidence.
· There remain question marks over the Harris family. Clear indication of tension, neither Simon nor Rev. H. had much time for Meg, with both expressing preference for Jane Kingsley (bizarre in the circumstances); Mrs. H., on the other hand, seems overly fond of Meg and angry/jealous (?) of Jane.
· A twenty-five-year-old psychological assessment of Wallader, supplied by his mother, describes a child with a severe personality disorder.
· The Walladers mention an argument on Monday, May 30, during which Leo claimed he planned to marry Meg instead. He phoned later that evening to warn his parents not to say anything until he gave them the go-ahead. In the event, the go-ahead was not given until Saturday, June 11, although Sir Anthony & Lady W. cannot account for the delay.
· Current estimate of Wallader's wealth, held in property, stocks and shares, and gold: Ł1.1 million. According to his solicitor, Wallader consistently refused to make a Will, so there is none in existence.
· Harris informed her parents of events on Saturday, June 11. On the same day she also phoned her business partner and two friends, with the information. We can find no one who was privy to the facts prior to Saturday, June 11. She told her business partner she would be in the offtoe on Monday, June 13. (NB: Harris's diary entries are erratic. There are empty weeks, followed by a day, or days, fully recorded. There are no entries after Monday, May 18, and no mention of Leo Wallader, by name, since December 1993, when she writes that after all these years she has finally introduced Leo to Jinx.)
· According to her partner, she did not visit her office on Monday, June 13.
· NB: Entry in Harris's diary, following Kingsley's marriage to Landy, reads as follows: "Since becoming unattainable, Russell is so much more attractive." Echoed, in April 1994, by the following: "Jinx tells me she is taking the plunge again. I knew I would live to regret that introduction."