Only Jan knew about it, but then, as
far as she was concerned it was no body else's business but hers. Aunt
Hester-her late father's sister- was in the process of changing her Will, and
she wanted to know why, and how it would affect her; that had been the
main reason for her last visit.
Her Aunt, a formidable woman of
strong opinions, had once been a famous concert pianist; now crippled with
arthritis, she lived almost as a recluse in the country. Jan had always been
secure in the knowledge that, as her only living relative, one-day she would be
the sole beneficiary, apart from a few bequests to charities, of her 2.7 million
assets. She had been curious to know why the change of mind, but her Aunt had
not been forthcoming, and had changed the subject whenever she had broached it.
She had also been severely lectured on the way she had handled her own affairs
Determined to know what was in the new Will, Jan had rummaged
around until she'd found it in a bedside drawer, amongst her Aunt's belongings,
forcing her to the decision that she had to do something drastic, and fast,
before the Will was signed or witnessed.
In no time at all she'd set
wheels in motion, she felt sure would put an end tothe problem.
The only child of elderly parents, Jan had spent her early years
spoilt, and pampered. No expense had been spared on her education. At the age of
eight her doting parents, encouraged by her Aunt, had introduced her to the
delights of classical
music and ballet, both of which she hated. From a spoilt child she had grown
into a disagreeable self centred woman.
Her first marriage, after only two years, had ended in an
acrimonious divorce that had cost her dearly. Her second husband she was still
madly in love with, and the split had not been of her choosing. She had invested
heavily in more than one of his
hair brained, 'get rich quick' schemes, all of which had come to nothing. She
wasconvinced that once her financial situation improved, he would be back.
Now she paced the floor of the luxurious penthouse apartment she
rented, in nervous apprehension, waiting for someone she didn't know, someone
she had only spoken to on the phone, to arrive.
The Gucci watch that adorned her slender wrist she shook
impatiently, and held to her ear. Regardless of the fact the watch had cost a
small fortune; she still questioned its accuracy. Ten minutes past nine, and the
person she was expecting, still hadn't put in an appearance.
The intercom buzzed a little before ten announcing the latecomer.
Jan unlocked the door and
flung it open. Framed in it was a man in his late sixties. He coughed, and
looked round for somewhere to stub out the cigarette he'd just removed from the
comer of his mouth. For a few seconds Jan stared at him without speaking.
Everything about the man disgusted her, from his rheumy eyes to his badly
fitting suit she found repulsive, yet this was the man she had to do business
with, the man who would hopefully, put
an end to her problem.
"You know why I asked you here don't'
you?" She said inviting him in.
"Lady," the man walked over to the
settee, and settled himself, legs sprawled, down on it. "I only know that..." he
paused "You want me to do something that is not quite, shall we say, legal."
"I just want you to retrieve something, that I can assure you, is
rightfully mine, from my Aunt's house." Jan walked over to the window and looked
out, but she was too preoccupied to hear the traffic, or notice the bright city
lights.
"House breaking doesn't come cheap. It's money up front or I'm not
interested." The man gave a crooked smile, and looked around, taking in the
opulence of his surroundings. He knew that if he played his cards right, there
was serious money to be made, and he intended to milk the situation for every
last penny.
"It's only an envelope I want you to retrieve for me," said Jan,
turning to face him. "You will find it in the drawer next to my Aunt's bed. My
Aunt is housebound," she continued. "She's an old lady who takes sleeping pills
so there will be no danger
of you waking her." She recalled how whilst her Aunt had been taking an
afternoon nap, she had tiptoed into her room, and rifled through her personal
belongings. She had known what she was looking for, and she’d found it.
"Does she live on her own?" The man
took a cigarette out of a crumpled packet, lit it, an inhaled deeply.
"She has a cook and gardener who both live out," she confirmed, "so
you will not be disturbed." The Gardener and his wife had worked for her Aunt,
for as long as she could remember, and as a little girl she had always
considered them part other
Aunt's family.
"As I said Lady," the man got to his feet and stood with hand
outstretched. "It's half now, and the rest when the job is done."
Jan took two thousand pounds out of her handbag, and placed it on
his palm, his fingers closed over it.
"You'll be hearing from me," he said, and without so much as a
backwards glance, he crossed over to the door, opened it, and walked through.
Jan rushed to lock it, and after pouring her self a glass of wine,
sat down and began to laugh. "You bet I will," she spluttered.
It was in the early hours of the morning the phone rang, and Jan
took her time answering it. "Yes," she said, holding it fractionally away from
her ear, as if the very voice might contaminate her. She knew who her caller
was, had been expecting him.
"It's all gone pear shaped," a panic stricken voice wheezed back at
her.
"What do you mean?" Jan knew exactly what he meant, it was what she
had been expecting, what she had planned for.
"I couldn't find the envelope, and whilst I was searching, the old
lady woke up, started to scream, took some sort of fit. I got out as fast as I
could, but you had better phone an ambulance. Look Lady, I want nothing more to
do with this..." With
that the phone went dead.
Jan got back into bed and pulled the duvet over her head, tomorrow
she would phone her Aunt, that's if the house Keeper hadn't phoned her first.
Her sleep was deep and untroubled, the fact that her Aunt suffered from a weak
heart, was something she
hadn't mentioned.
Jan knew there had been no chance of the man finding an envelope,
because after she'd found it, and read the contents, she had put it through the
shredder. The house, and a hundred thousand pounds, was all she could have
expected from this
second Will, the rest of the estate being divided between various charities and
the cook, and gardener.
Jan wanted more than that, she wanted her old life style, and the
man she loved back. A measly hundred thousand was nowhere near accomplishing
that.
The funeral was quiet and dignified. Jan, pale faced and tearful,
looked every inch the grieving niece.
At the reading of the Will Jan sat quietly, hands in lap, listening
to the droning voice of the Solicitor. Several Charities benefited under her
Aunt's Will, Jan listened patiently as they were gone through. Then came the
moment she had been waiting for.
"To my darling niece. . ." The Solicitor paused, before continuing.
"As she has already been well provided for under my deceased brother’s Will. I
leave my Steinbeck and the sum of twenty thousand pounds, which I feel sure she
will find
something frivolous to spend on."
Jan was on her feet. "What the hell do I want with a grand piano?"
She cried.
The solicitor beckoned her to sit down before continuing. “My
house, contents and the rest of my Estate I leave to my faithful. . . "
Jan was no longer listening. She had lost everything, as she was
the only one that knew there had been a second Will. The old saying, ‘A bird in
the hand..." trickled slowly through her numbed mind.
