The Devil in Disguise Read Online Free PDF Page B

understanding that to ridicule them was unthinkable. But now Charles was dead and he had gifted his fortune to a blowsy gold-digger whilst the trustees were left with a house full of junk.
    â€˜You wouldn’t be saying that if Luke was here,’ Tim said reproachfully. ‘He’s always a stickler for the proprieties. And Charles is barely cold in his grave. I rather think the chairman would want us to show our respect.’
    Roy said, ‘But the Dinosaur isn’t here, so we can all have our say. And frankly, the one thing that has always baffled me is this. How did Charles manage to accumulate so much stuff without even stumbling on anything of the remotest merit?’ He laughed. ‘I mean, whatever happened to the law of averages?’
    Frances gave him a fierce look and said, ‘Harry, you were interrupted.’
    Roy gave an elaborate sigh and picked up his pencil again. He always doodled his way through trustees’ meetings, covertly sketching caricatures of his fellow board members. Luke had once caught sight of Roy’s portrayal of him as an immaculately groomed Tyrannosaurus Rex and had not been amused. These days he eked out a precarious living as a cartoonist for one of the local free sheets, although he’d trained as an accountant after university before spectacularly failing his exams. On that slender basis, he’d been asked to act as honorary treasurer to the Trust. After glancing at the last balance sheet, Jim had said it was like appointing a train robber as Lord Chief Justice.
    Harry said, ‘We’ve always known that Charles intended to donate his collection of artistic ephemera...’
    â€˜Crap,’ Roy murmured, directing a provocative wink at Tim.
    â€˜...or whatever you may like to call it, to the Trust, in the fond belief that the sale proceeds would generate substantial funds. Obviously a fantasy. But he always led everyone to believe that was merely the icing on the cake. He never married, there were no children, nothing but the Trust to carry on the Kavanaugh name. There was every reason for him to leave his estate to the Trust to make sure that it was able to keep up its good work. Until he met Vera Blackhurst.’
    â€˜I still say she’s on the make,’ Matthew burst in. He thrust out his lower lip, as if daring anyone to disagree. ‘She was a housekeeper, nothing more, the latest in a long line.’
    â€˜A housekeeper with peroxide hair and tits that Juno would die for,’ Roy said. ‘Don’t underestimate her. She’s as tough as a Birkenhead barmaid. Let’s face it, she had to be. Living with Charles for forty-eight hours would be enough to send most people off their head.’
    â€˜He wasn’t so bad,’ Tim said defensively. ‘Granted, he had his funny little ways, but most of us do.’
    Roy gave him a withering look but Harry said quickly, ‘Miss Blackhurst’s story is absolutely clear. I’ve discussed the position at length with her solicitor. She’s instructed my old boss, Geoffrey Willatt, of Maher and Malcolm.’
    â€˜A very prestigious firm,’ Frances said grudgingly.
    Harry nodded. Like Jim Crusoe, he’d been recruited by Maher and Malcolm at a time when the demand for trainee solicitors had far exceeded the supply. It had been rather like a couple of kids from Toxteth being offered a scholarship to Eton. ‘And correspondingly pricey. She means business, all right. Geoffrey tells me he’s convinced she would make a first class witness, should it ever come to that. Besides, the will is crystal clear.’
    â€˜She made sure of that,’ Matthew muttered.
    â€˜Are you suggesting she forged it?’ Frances asked.
    â€˜Why not? Charles was a sick man. He’d scarcely had a chance to get to know this Blackhurst woman before he fell ill. Soon he was in a nursing home and never left it again. What had she ever done for him? Yet we’re