The Devil in Disguise by Martin Edwards Page A

motive for this unwonted generosity.
    â€˜This Kavanaugh business. The caveat the trustees have lodged. They surely aren’t going to contest the will, are they? There are no grounds.’
    So that was it. Harry pursed his lips and thought about having to fill in his income tax return. It was his foolproof method when he wanted to assume a sombre expression. ‘They’re not happy, Geoffrey. Not happy at all. There is a good deal of money at stake. Charles Kavanaugh had promised it all to them, then your client turns up and five minutes later she’s copped for the lot.’
    â€˜I’m sure she would be happy to reach an accommodation with them,’ Geoffrey said, smoothing down an errant strand of grey hair. ‘I can assure you, she is a very reasonable person. Very reasonable indeed.’
    â€˜Well, I’ll put it to my clients, but I can’t make any promises. Now, if you’ll excuse me.’
    â€˜Of course. I must let you get back to Ms Lawrence.’ Geoffrey coughed. ‘Perhaps I may expect to hear from you in early course?’
    â€˜Perhaps,’ Harry said with a sweet smile and returned to Kim’s side.
    â€˜What are you looking so cheerful about all of a sudden?’ she asked.
    â€˜Oh, just solved a little puzzle, that’s all.’
    It was true. He did not yet know why Vera was so keen to do a deal when all the cards seemed to be stacked in her favour. But he had at least worked out the identity of the companion whom he had half-recognised following her out of the Ensenada. Of course, it hadn’t been Luke Dessaur, but another distinguished member of the Liverpool establishment, the famously respectable Geoffrey Willatt. And to add to his amusement, he’d also remembered Roy Milburn’s joke about lawyers who went around screwing their clients.
    Chapter 6
    The death of Luke Dessaur was a nine day wonder. For a while people in Harry’s circle talked of little else and although he now had other things on his mind he noticed how quickly shock gave way to speculation. Some argued that Luke had simply been the luckless victim of a tragic accident. He’d had too much to drink and not realised the risk he was taking when he opened his bedroom window and leaned right out to get a breath of air. Others reckoned it must have been suicide. Why else would he have booked into the Hawthorne Hotel? Presumably he could not face ending it all in the house he had once shared with his late wife. On a cold winter’s night, there would have been little reason for him to open the window, let alone lean out so far that he lost balance and fell to his death.
    Yet why should a pillar of the community have killed himself? As Jim Crusoe said, the explanation must lie in Luke’s own personality.
    â€˜He often seemed remote, but that may date back to the time when he lost his wife.’
    â€˜She died of leukaemia, didn’t she?’ Harry asked.
    â€˜That’s right. It was years ago, but everyone agrees he was devoted to her. Nursed her all the way through a long final illness. After that, he threw himself into his work.’
    â€˜You think he never stopped grieving?’
    â€˜Sometimes it’s impossible to forget.’ Jim spoke in an uncharacteristically gentle tone and Harry realised that his partner was thinking of the scars left by Liz’s death.
    â€˜If it was suicide, then he must have had a breakdown. Why else would he behave so oddly in the days leading up
    to his death and finally leave home and check into the Hawthorne?’
    â€˜His mind must have been in turmoil.’ Jim’s face clouded. ‘Frances said he’d seemed afraid. We know why now, don’t we? He was summoning up the courage to kill himself.’
    â€˜Doesn’t make sense to me.’
    â€˜Still looking for mysteries?’ Jim considered him. ‘Is everything all right?’
    â€˜Yes, any reason why it shouldn’t