The Ardmore Inheritance, Rob Wyllie [best novels for students TXT] 📗

At that moment, Jimmy's phone rang. Or at least, it blasted out one of the many musical ringtones he liked to attach to his regular callers. What he had chosen for her, she couldn't say, although it had to be a good fifty-fifty bet it was his namesake Rod Stewart's Maggie May. Frank's was the strident opening riff of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. This one was altogether gentler and instantly recognisable. Let It Go, Let It Go, The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway. That bloody song from Frozen, an ear-worm if there ever was one.

He gave a coy smile. 'It's Elsa, from the office.' Of course. Elsa Berger, native of the Czech Republic, the sweet and efficient administration manager of Riverside House. Elsa Berger, who was hopelessly in love with Jimmy Stewart.

He laughed as they shared some private joke and then she saw him raise an eyebrow in evident surprise.

'Really?' he said. 'Tell him not to go anywhere. We'll be there in five minutes.'

'Well?' Maggie asked impatiently, after Elsa had finally allowed him to hang up.

'We've got a visitor. It's Rory Overton, and he says he wants to do a deal.'

◆◆◆

Elsa had managed to secure one of the shared meeting rooms at short notice, and was now bustling around clearing up the empty coffee-cups and mineral water bottles that the last occupants had thoughtlessly left behind.

'You want drinks?' she enquired, without interrupting her labours. 'Coffee, tea, water?'

'Mr Overton?' Maggie asked. 'Would you like a drink?'

He shook his head. 'I'd just like to get on with it if you don't mind.' The tone was smoother than usual, which made her suspicious. He must want something.

'I'm so terribly sorry for your loss,' she said. 'We both are, especially poor Jimmy, given how close he was to the terrible events. And I can't even begin to imagine how your wife must be feeling right now. To lose a close family member is just so awful, but to lose your identical twin is simply unimaginable.'

'Thank you,' he said, giving her a sad look. 'She's coping, that's the best we can say. Just taking every day at a time. I know it's a cliché, but that's exactly how it is.'

'Aye, it must be incredibly tough for her,' Jimmy added, 'especially the way poor Elspeth died. I didn't get to know her very well, but she was a lovely girl.'

'Yes she was,' Overton said. 'It's been a terrible loss to everyone. Which I suppose is why I'm here. There's been quite enough suffering you see, and I don't want Kirsty to face any more of it.'

Maggie gave him a quizzical look. 'Everyone would agree with that sentiment, but I'm not sure how we can help.'

'You can help, I think,' he said. 'It's Alison you see. We want to do right by her. And a court battle won't help anyone. Not now. There's been enough bad feeling and we don't want any more on top of what's happened.'

She nodded. 'So would you like us to try and draw up an arrangement that would be agreeable to both parties? Is that what you want us to do?'

'Yes, in a nutshell. That's it. And we want it wrapped up as soon as you can. In days, if that's possible.'

Maggie furrowed her brow as she tried to work out what this meant. They knew one of the twins had already done a deal with their stepmother that basically said you tell the court under oath that I'm the elder and we'll see you are all right. So did this mean that it must have been the late Elspeth who had come to that arrangement with Alison Macallan? Whatever the case, surely it didn't matter now that there could be no dispute as to who would inherit Ardmore House and the estate? And yet here he was, in their offices, anxious to do a deal.

'Yes, well I'm sure we can come up with something,' she said, smiling. 'So do you have anything in mind? A starting point for the negotiations?'

'We'll leave the details to you,' Overton said, 'but you can go up to a million.'

'A million quid?' Jimmy said, unable to hide his surprise. 'That's a hell of a lot of money.'

Maggie caught the faintly pitying look that flashed across Overton's face. Not to us it isn't. Not now that we've inherited a country estate.

'There's just one condition,' Overton said, 'and just so you're absolutely clear, it's a deal-breaker.'

'What's that?' Maggie said.

'She can't live on the estate. She'll need to give up the lodge house and find somewhere else to live. I know she likes Edinburgh. I'm sure she could find a very comfortable place there with that sort of money.'

She gave him an uncertain look. 'Well, yes, but Alison really loves Ardmore, I know that from when I spoke to her at the start of all this. And it's been her home for twenty-five years at least.'

'So?' Overton said. 'There's nothing to keep her there now, and a new start is probably exactly what she needs. I mean, who would want to live somewhere where there's so many unhappy memories?'

Well you would for a start, Maggie thought, or so it seemed. But then she already knew his desire to be lord of the Ardmore estate trumped any other considerations in his life. She wondered if Kirsty Macallan shared the same desire. Somehow she doubted it, but it was Rory Overton who called the shots in that marriage and Kirsty would have little option but to go along with it.

'Very well,' she said, 'I'll see what we can do. But it might not be as easy as you think.'

He smiled. 'I'm sure you can work something out, both of you. I have every faith. And as for your fee, how about five grand plus expenses?'

'We charge by the hour,' Jimmy said. 'Two hundred pounds plus expenses. But yes, five grand might just about cover it.'

'Fine, whatever,' Overton said dismissively. 'So we're good to go then?'

'Agreed,' Maggie