Jane finished her sandwich. ‘What about the two bruises around her neck? What did the prof say about them?’
‘He said they came from two of her left-hand knuckles. When she fell her hand had been beneath her neck. So, end result is natural causes.’
‘But you said suffocated?’ Jane asked, draining her cappuccino.
‘Yeah, now I think of it, it’s a rather grim coincidence, isn’t it? She must have been wearing a pale blue cashmere shawl, so when she fell, she had fallen on to the knot of the shawl that must have been round her shoulders.’ He cocked his head to one side. ‘That little baby had ingested wool fibres, hadn’t it?’
Jane pulled a face.
‘Not what you wanted to hear?’ Paul asked, half smiling.
‘Not really. I thought the two bruises on her neck may have come from a pearl necklace being snatched. Are Sussex paying for the post-mortem?’
Paul smiled. ‘Although you raised it as a suspicious death, they requested the PM, so the prof said they have to foot the bill.’
‘That’s a relief,’ Jane smiled.
Paul closed his briefcase. ‘Listen, I have to go. I have another case over in Islington.’
‘Thank you, Paul. I really appreciate your time, and as soon as my house is straight, I’d love you and your partner to come over for dinner.’
‘That’d be nice, thank you. Are you seeing anyone at the moment?’
Jane laughed. ‘Actually, I am... he’s my decorator.’
‘Well, I look forward to meeting him.’
After Paul had gone Jane sat thinking, wondering if there was any way the professor could be wrong. As it was now almost five, Jane decided she would go home and call in to the station from there to see if there was anything they needed her for.
Jane was surprised to find that the house was empty. There was a note from Eddie to say he was collecting new paint samples for the spare bedroom, and could she give him a ring at his flat later if she wanted dinner. She had just changed into her dressing gown and was making a cup of tea in the kitchen when her phone rang.
‘Good afternoon. Am I speaking to Detective Tennison?’ Jane recognised Arnold Hadley’s voice.
‘Yes, Mr Hadley, it’s me. I was actually going to call you about the post-mortem examination that has been completed on Miss Lanark.’
‘Yes, I know. I have already been informed. I’m calling to say that I received a message from my chambers that Beatrice Thorpe called to speak to me. I hadn’t let her know that I had retired. Apparently, she has asked for them to organise the funeral. It’s not something a legal firm is often asked to do, but as her sister had been a client for so many years, they have agreed. I felt I should let you know, in case you wanted to attend.’
‘Thank you,’ Jane said. ‘Mr Hadley, how long had you represented Helena Lanark?’
There was a slight hesitation before he replied. ‘I’d known Helena for some years before I started representing her when she was in her early thirties.’
‘How did you get to know her?’ Jane asked.
‘She was a neighbour of my mother’s. She was very kind to her when she became ill.’
‘I see. Were you aware that Jason Thorpe sold Helena’s Stockwell property well below the market price?’
‘Yes, I raised it with him at the time. He said it was because he wanted a quick sale and was acting in Helena’s best interests. There wasn’t much more I could say or do as he had power of attorney.’
‘Did you know Jason bought shares in the development company?’
‘No. If he did it wasn’t with money from the sale as I know it was paid into Helena’s bank account.’
‘Do you think the developer might have given Jason cash or shares as an incentive to drop the price of the Stockwell property?’ Jane asked.
‘I suppose that’s a possibility. No doubt Jason will say he bought them with his own money or as an investment for Helena’s benefit... and proving otherwise would be difficult.’
Jane decided not to pursue it further. She was fairly certain now that if there had been any kind of fraud, Hadley wasn’t involved.
‘When is the funeral going to take place, Mr Hadley?’
‘I believe it will be on Monday, at St Martin’s Church, with a small reception at the Gore Hotel.’
‘Just a thought, Mr Hadley, is Helena due to be buried?’
‘Yes, there’s a family crypt at Highgate.’
‘In that case, I was wondering if you would like me to see about arranging for the baby to be released for burial as well? I’ve discovered that the youngest Lanark sister, Marjorie, gave birth to the baby and I thought it might be some sort of closure for the family as—’
Hadley quickly interrupted. ‘That won’t be possible.’
‘I’m sorry?’ Jane said.
‘Marjorie wasn’t buried in the family crypt. She was cremated. However, I will forward your suggestion on to Mr Thorpe.’
Jane ended the call. If Marjorie had been cremated, then when Beatrice had said that Marjorie’s strand of pearls had been buried with her, that was another lie. Jane wondered how many other lies Beatrice had fed her. She checked her watch and put in a call to the Sussex police, who she presumed would now be investigating the theft of the necklace. The duty officer she spoke to could give her no further details as he wasn’t involved in the case but suggested that if she called the station the following morning she could speak to a DS Simpson, who had been at the care home making inquiries.
Jane still felt very jet-lagged, but in the end agreed to dinner with Eddie. They went to the Italian restaurant they had been to previously and Jane perked up as soon as they sat down, even though she didn’t have the energy to contribute much to the conversation.
As they were being served coffee, Eddie gave her a quizzical look.
‘Can I say something? You seem quite distracted... I mean, I’m sure you’re probably feeling jet-lagged, but if there is anything wrong with any of my work, I need you to let me know.’
‘Oh, Eddie,’ Jane exclaimed, ‘I can’t fault anything you’ve done for me. In fact, I can’t believe how little time it’s taken to get the house into such fabulous condition. We must be nearly finished now?’
He nodded. ‘Yeah, I would say by early next week. If you’ve decided on the stair runner, blinds and curtains.’
Jane grinned. ‘Fantastic. But I do need to bring something up,’ she said, her grin fading. ‘I’ve just been thinking about how to say it.’
He shrugged. ‘I’m all ears. Anything that’s bothering you, I’m sure I can fix.’
‘It’s not about your work, Eddie. It’s just that I found the remains of some joints in the ashtray.’
He looked aghast. ‘You are kidding me.’
‘No, I’m not. Now, I don’t know who was doing it, but you have to realise how it looks, smoking cannabis in my house. I am a police officer, for God’s sake, Eddie.’
He frowned. ‘It’s not me, but I think I might know who it is and I’ll have words with him or fire him if it comes to it.’
‘Well, I don’t think you need to go that far. Just make sure it never happens again.’
‘Done. I won’t be using the full load of guys again anyway, unless you want your garden sorted? I won’t be doing that, but I know a bloke who does that kind of work.’
Jane yawned. ‘Yeah, OK... whatever. I need to throw out a lot of the furniture and look at replacing it with some more contemporary stuff. I can wait for the garden to be sorted though.’