For a moment nobody spoke. Then Kingston cleared his throat. ‘The letter,’ he said. ‘You said you were shocked when they showed it to you.’
‘Yes. I was coming to that.’ She pursed her lips and looked away from him for a second or so. ‘It was a shock,’ she said, her eyes reddening. ‘Quite a blow.’
Kingston uncrossed his long legs and shifted his position on the sofa. ‘You had no idea what Graham was up to, then? What his plan was?’
She shook her head, then said, ‘I knew what Graham had in mind, but I had no idea he would go this far with his self-serving scheme. That he would go against my wishes, behind my back.’
Mrs Cooke took out the handkerchief tucked into the cuff of her sweater and proceeded to dab her eyes. Alex and Kingston waited for her to regain her composure.
She looked down in her lap, twisting the handkerchief nervously around the rings on her fingers. Then she looked up at them.
‘He came to me a while ago and told me that he suspected one of Jeffrey’s roses to be valuable and that he would soon have proof positive.’
‘Did he say how valuable?’
‘No, he didn’t. I told him to forget all about it. As I just mentioned, I knew, basically, what he wanted to do – what his intent was. But I had no idea that he would actually do it. We had quite an argument about it. I’ll be honest and tell you that, in the last few years, Graham has been less than truthful with me about a number of things. Most of them were trivial – about money-type things – but this one was serious. It caused a big rift between us. I was furious with him. I made it clear that I was vehemently opposed to any such action and that if he pursued it I would have nothing to do with it. Not only that, I would also do everything in my power to stop him.’
She took a breath, then continued. ‘I was devastated when that policeman told me what was going on – to learn that Graham was greedy enough and malicious enough to carry out his nasty little plan. I thought that, after our last set-to, he would have dropped the whole despicable idea. It really had nothing to do with him anyway. But he kept throwing it in my face, since his uncle created the rose, as the only other surviving member of the family on my husband’s side, he was entitled to a share of the money. He also argued that he was the one who found out about the rose.’
‘I can imagine how you must have felt,’ said Kingston. ‘It was a shameful thing to do.’
‘Yes,’ she said, nodding. ‘I reminded him that when the house was being sold the man from the estate agent’s office asked me whether there was anything in the garden I wanted to keep – chairs, tables, planters – things like that. I said, no, everything should stay in the garden, where it belonged. So should the rose, I told Graham. In his mind he obviously felt that he had every right to it.’
For a few seconds, she gazed into space, then back to Alex. ‘He must have told his lawyer not to discuss it with me,’ she said, as though the thought had just occurred to her.
‘Did Graham say anything about the particular rose in question?’ asked Kingston.
‘Not really – except, as I said, that it was valuable.’
‘I’m sure you can imagine what a nasty jolt it was, too, when Graham sprang it on Alex and Kate,’ said Kingston, with a sideways glance at Alex.
‘It still is – particularly for Kate,’ Alex added. ‘She’s still worried to death about losing the house.’
‘Regardless of what ultimately happens with the rose, we’d like to be able to tell her that that won’t happen,’ said Kingston.
‘It won’t, I promise you,’ replied Mrs Cooke. ‘The sale of the house was final.’
‘She’ll be very relieved to hear that,’ remarked Alex.
‘Has this lawyer, Stanhope, contacted you, Mrs Cooke?’ asked Kingston.
‘He hasn’t, no. What with Graham’s death and the police and everything, I haven’t had time to call him, either. But if you talk to him, tell him to forget that he ever talked to Graham. I don’t want that on my conscience. No, it’s over with – finished. I’m not interested in money at my age – do as you wish with the confounded rose.’
Kingston watched the relief wash over Alex’s face. ‘Thank you for being so candid, Mrs Cooke,’ he said.
‘It was rude of me and I apologize,’ she said, placing a hand on her bosom. ‘I completely forgot all about the tea.’
‘None for me, thanks,’ said Alex.
She looked at Kingston.
‘No thanks, Mrs Cooke,’ he said. ‘I’m fine, too. In any case, we’ll be leaving soon.’
He leaned forward, chin resting on his clasped hands. His expression hinted that he was about to say something serious. ‘Mrs Cooke,’ he said, ‘the main reason we came today – in addition to offering our condolences – was to clear the air with regard to this whole rose business. To let you know exactly what’s been going on over these last few weeks. Since Kate and Alex discovered the rose in your former garden, a number of disconcerting incidents have taken place – some of them very serious. I won’t go into details right now, but I’m not exaggerating when I say that the rose has become somewhat of a curse.’
Mrs Cooke frowned. ‘A curse?’
‘I know it sounds melodramatic, but, yes, a curse. Alex and I are convinced that Graham’s death, one way or another, can be attributed to the rose. Oh, and Graham was right, by the way – the rose is much more valuable than he led you to believe. Whoever eventually controls the reproduction and licensing rights will become very wealthy.’
Mrs Cooke, who had become very still, regarded him with a doubting gaze. ‘Good gracious,’ she said.
Kingston shrugged and continued. ‘However, the question of ownership has become moot, I’m afraid, because somebody else has the rose now. It goes without saying that whoever took it is only too aware of its value.’
‘You mean it’s been stolen?’
‘I’m afraid so,’ said Kingston. ‘As a precaution against that happening, we’d taken the rose out of the Parsonage garden and replanted it in a well-hidden garden in Shropshire. But it didn’t make any difference. It was stolen anyway. It’s certain that The Parsonage has been under surveillance. It’s the only explanation.’
‘My goodness, how strange,’ she said.
‘Strange is right,’ said Alex. He could see that Mrs Cooke was grappling with the implications of what Kingston had just told her.
She twiddled her rings, then said, ‘So all this business with the lawyer – it becomes irrelevant, then. Graham’s scheme would have come to nothing, after all.’
‘In most ways, yes,’ Kingston replied.
‘Most ways?’
‘Perhaps Graham didn’t tell you. There was no mention of it in Stanhope’s letter, but it seems he had also managed to unlock your husband’s hybridizing formula that created the rose in the first place. It was entered in code, in one of the journals.’
‘But Graham told me he gave you all the journals, Alex.’
‘All except one,’ Alex replied.
She frowned and shook her head. ‘This is starting to get very confusing.’
Alex nodded in agreement. ‘It is, I know. Graham told us that, a long time ago, just after your husband’s death, you found one of the journals in a safe deposit box. That was the one that contained the formula to replicate the rose. The one that Graham kept.’
‘I see,’ Mrs Cooke replied. But it was clear she didn’t, fully.
Kingston gave her one of his kindly looks. ‘We were wondering whether you could do something for us, Mrs Cooke. If the journal shows up among Graham’s effects, we’d like to take a look at it, if that would be all right with you. It could be very helpful to us.’