you if I hear anything.’ She marched off down the hall and the door slammed behind her. The air seemed to quiver before settling into quiet again.
‘Well,’ Arthur said into the silence, ‘that was interesting.’
Lizzie took a deep breath to try and regain her self-control. ‘I shouldn’t have snapped at her,’ she said wearily. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘She asked for it,’ Arthur said. ‘Anna always pushes to get a reaction. Sometimes she goes way too far.’ He shifted a little. ‘I’m sorry for all the stuff she said. She’s upset and worried – we all are – but it’s no excuse.’
‘I understand,’ Lizzie said. She folded her arms and rubbed them although she wasn’t cold. ‘I know it’s hard to believe I might want to help Johnny,’ she said, ‘but I do.’ She spread her hands in appeal. ‘I helped you the other night, didn’t I?’
Arthur drove his hands into his pockets. ‘Yes, you did,’ he said slowly, ‘but I still don’t really know if I can trust you. Hell, Lizzie—’ he ran a hand through his hair, ‘no matter what I feel, I don’t know you. It’s entirely possible that you and Dudley might be in cahoots and have cooked up this whole business between you to get rid of Amelia and now to silence Johnny.’
‘That’s exactly what the police were getting at when they interviewed me last night,’ Lizzie agreed pleasantly. She took a deep breath. ‘Everyone’s watched too many box sets, I think. But let’s indulge your theory for a moment.’ She caught the glint of amusement in Arthur’s eyes and carried on doggedly: ‘Leaving aside the fact that I’m not a psychopath, I’ve also no motive to kill Amelia. It’s not as though we’re in the Middle Ages, is it? Dudley and Amelia were getting divorced. If he and I had wanted to get together – which we don’t – there wasn’t anything stopping us.’
‘Bumping off Amelia would save Dudley having to pay alimony,’ Arthur said, ‘but actually it’s more likely that Dudley’s motive would be financial gain in a different way. Dudley’s lost – or rather, he’s spent – almost all he ever earned. He’s close to bankruptcy. Whereas Amelia was a very rich woman. Perhaps you didn’t know, but our father left her a fortune. She inherited just about everything from him.’
Lizzie was taken aback. ‘No, I didn’t know that,’ she admitted. ‘Dudley never mentioned it.’
‘Well,’ Arthur said, ‘I don’t suppose he would. Amelia was always portrayed as the clinging one, wasn’t she, living off Dudley’s money and success. It was far from the truth.’
Lizzie felt a judder of remorse. That was exactly how she had viewed Amelia. She’d made assumptions because Dudley was so brash and full of his own importance. Suddenly she didn’t feel as confident that Dudley had no motive. She’d viewed any involvement on his part in Amelia’s death as fantasy, but if he was going to inherit a fortune from her that didn’t look good at all. She could see why the police would be suspicious.
‘Inheritance is a minefield, isn’t it?’ she said with feeling. ‘Didn’t you mind being cut out of the will? And what about Anna and Johnny?’
Arthur laughed. ‘I’m not big into inherited wealth, to be honest. I wanted to make my own way. I talked about it with Dad. He left Anna and Johnny a trust fund each for school and university fees but we felt Millie was the vulnerable one who might need it one day.’
‘Because of Dudley,’ Lizzie said bluntly.
Arthur didn’t deny it. ‘We all thought the marriage wouldn’t last long,’ he said. ‘They were very young, Dudley has a short attention span, and Millie never really found anything she was good at. Dad gave her the money to buy Oakhangar Hall and left her his investments to give her an income. It’s all Johnny’s now,’ he added. ‘He was the sole beneficiary of Millie’s will. She rewrote it to cut Dudley out when he asked for a divorce. He gets nothing.’
‘Whoa,’ Lizzie said. ‘Does Dudley know that?’
‘He’ll know now,’ Arthur said drily.
‘And Johnny?’ Lizzie asked. ‘Not that he’d care. I imagine he’d return it all in a heartbeat if he could have Amelia back.’
Arthur gave her a curious look. ‘Did Johnny tell you that last night?’
‘Yes,’ Lizzie said. ‘He said he’d do anything to have Amelia back again.’ She sighed. ‘OK, well I get that you don’t like Dudley and that you might even believe he would want to get rid of Amelia somehow