The Ardmore Inheritance by Rob Wyllie (reading the story of the .txt) 📕

'There was something else,' Maggie said, 'if you can spare another five minutes. Something Jimmy's been asked to look at.'

'Yes, I've got five minutes, sure,' she said, evidently relieved to be talking of something else, 'and sorry I've been so rude. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee or some water perhaps?'

'Tea would be great,' Jimmy said, Maggie giving a nod of confirmation.

'Ok, just be five minutes,' Alison said, disappearing into the kitchen.

He reached over and scratched Flossie under the chin, who gave a quiet woof of satisfaction.

'And I bet you'd love to stay here, wouldn't you my girl?' he whispered. 'See out the last of your days in the beautiful Highlands. That would be nice, wouldn't it?'

'Shush,' Maggie said, struggling to suppress a laugh. 'You'll upset the poor thing.'

'She doesn't look very upset to me,' Jimmy grinned. 'She's loving every minute of it.'

Alison had returned with a tray containing a china teapot, three matching cups and saucers, and a plate of chocolate biscuits.

'That's why I love coming back to Scotland,' Jimmy said, smiling up at her. 'You always get biscuits or a cake with your tea. Down south, you've got to bring your own.'

'Not in Yorkshire,' Maggie said, 'and if you're very lucky you'll get a slice of fruit cake with cheese on top. Delish.'

He gave her a mildly disbelieving look. 'Aye, if you say so. But Alison, if you don't mind, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about the funeral. If that's not too painful for you of course.'

She shrugged. 'Fine by me. I only went because it seemed to be the right thing to do, and of course I wanted to pay my last respects to Peter. So yes, I'll help you if I can.'

'Well what it is, we've been asked by Elspeth to help her with a matter that she has brought to our attention. I don't know if she might have mentioned it to you at all?'

Clever boy, thought Maggie. This might help to tease out which of the twins she was in cahoots with.

'No,' Alison said, her expression impassive, 'no, Elspeth hasn't said anything to me about any matter.'

'Well, there were some photographs taken at the funeral that were a bit embarrassing for the twins. They found their way into a newspaper and then onto the net, and let's just say they didn't exactly show the girls in the best of lights. I wondered if you saw any of them?'

'They're always in the papers or on Instagram or whatever it is,' she said, her tone dismissive. 'It's what they do. I never look at any of it. It doesn't interest me in the slightest.'

'The thing is,' Jimmy continued, 'they were obviously taken by someone at the funeral, and I just wondered if you noticed anyone who was taking a lot of pictures.'

'Who takes pictures at a funeral?' she snapped.

'Someone did,' Jimmy said simply.

'Well I didn't notice,' she said, this time more conciliatory. 'I'm sorry, I don't think I can help you.'

Jimmy took a sheet of paper from his pocket, unfolded it and placed it on the table.

'I drew up a wee diagram. From photographs I found on the hotel's website, you know, of the wee function room where you held the wake.'

'So?' Alison said, disinterested.

'The person who took the pictures would have been about here,' he said, pointing to his diagram. 'Leaning against the bar I would have thought. Do you remember who was standing there that afternoon?'

'No, I don't,' she said, shaking her head. 'I just wanted the whole damn thing to be over with, so I wasn't paying attention to what was going on. I'm sorry.' To Maggie's ears, she didn't sound it. And now it seemed their short meeting was over.

'I think we're probably finished here,' Alison said, unsmiling, 'unless there's anything else?'

Maggie shook her head. 'No Alison, I think we understand where you're coming from. All I'd say is as a member of the legal profession, I've got a general duty of care in any of my dealings, and so I'd urge you to be cautious before taking this to court. And I mean that genuinely.' And it was true, she did mean it. Roderick Macallan's ex-wife was blinded by a dangerous mixture of revenge and avarice, unable to see the risks involved in the path she had chosen, and her little Glasgow law firm would be keen to skate over all of that. And there was one particular risk that she was anxious to make sure Alison understood.

'Naturally we'll be continuing our parallel investigations, which is our duty as executors of the will. That's where we're going next in fact, to see Dr McLeod. I guess he's your GP too, is he?' Without waiting for a response she said, 'It seems a reasonable assumption there might be something in the twins' medical records which might prove which is which, don't you think?'

'He won't tell you,' Alison said, suddenly sounding rattled. 'Isn't he bound by confidentiality or the Hippocratic oath or something like that?'

Jimmy smiled. 'He's not going to tell us anything with regard to their medical history, obviously, but we're not interested in that. And we don't even need him to actually tell us which is the oldest. All we need to know is if he knows which is which.'

'Yes, that's right,' Maggie said, cottoning on to where he was coming from. 'Then we can go through the official legal channels, so that it's all above board.' She wasn't quite sure what these official channels were or if indeed they existed at all. This was a potential problem she hadn't thought of before. What if there was no way to force Dr McLeod, or any other medical authority for that matter, disclosing what they knew? They'd just have to face that if and when it arose.

'Right Jimmy, time to go,' she said, smiling at her colleague. 'We probably won't meet again Alison,