At five o’clock, Thomas Madison entered the Grove Real Estate office. At the motel in which he had stayed overnight he had changed from the dark blue suit he wore when he had been interviewed on Channel 12 into slacks and a light sweater, which made him look younger than his fifty-two years. His lean frame was not the only genetic heritage he shared with his late cousin. Like Georgette, he was very clear about what he wanted.
Henry and Robin were just about to lock up when he arrived. “I’m glad I caught you,” Madison said. “I originally thought I’d stay for the weekend, but there really isn’t any point, so I’ll go home and come back Sunday night. We’ll all be here for the service—I mean by that, my wife, my sisters, and their husbands.”
“We’ll be open tomorrow,” Henry told him. “As fate would have it, we seem to be about to close several sales. Have you been to Georgette’s house yet?”
“No. The police haven’t finished going through it. I don’t know what they’re looking for.”
“I would imagine any personal correspondence that might give them a lead to her killer,” Robin said. “They went through her desk here as well.”
“It’s a lousy business,” Madison said. “I mean, they asked me if I wanted to see the body. In all honesty, I didn’t want to, but it seemed wrong to say so. I did go to the morgue. I tell you I almost got sick. That bullet hit her right between the eyes.”
He noticed that Robin winced. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just . . . ” He shrugged, a gesture that conveyed his dismay at the circumstances. “I’ve really got to get home,” he said. “I’m the coach of my kid’s soccer team, and we have a game tomorrow.” For a moment a smile played on his lips. “We have the best team in our division in all of Philadelphia, if I do say so myself.”
Henry smiled politely. He had absolutely no interest in whether Georgette’s cousin had the best or the worst soccer team in Philadelphia, or in the United States for that matter. What he did care about was immediately nailing down business details with Georgette’s heir. “Tom,” he said, “from what I understand, you and your two sisters will share in Georgette’s estate.”
“That’s right. I dropped in on Orin Haskell, her lawyer, this morning. He’s right down the block here, as you know. He has a copy of the will. He’s submitting it for probate, but that’s the way it reads.” Madison shrugged again. “My sisters are already arguing about who gets what. Georgette had some nice family pieces that go way back. Our great-grandmothers were sisters.”
He looked at Henry. “I know that you own twenty percent of both this place and some property on Route 24. I’ll tell you this—we have absolutely no interest in continuing the business. My suggestion is that we get three appraisals, then you buy us out, or if you’re not interested in keeping the business going, we close the office and sell everything, including Georgette’s house, which, of course, was completely in her name.”
“You do know that Georgette intended to deed the property on Route 24 to the state,” Robin said, ignoring Henry’s angry glance.
“I know all about that. But fortunately she never got around to it, or maybe she couldn’t because you didn’t go along with it, Henry. Frankly we’d all like to kiss your feet for not letting her play Lady Bountiful to the state of New Jersey. I’ve got three kids, my sisters each have two, and whatever we get from the sale of Georgette’s real estate will go a long way toward paying to educate them.”
“I’ll start getting appraisals immediately,” Henry promised.
“The sooner, the better. I’ll be on my way.” Madison turned to leave, then stopped. “The family will be having lunch after the church service. We’d like to have you join us. I mean, you two were Georgette’s other family.”
Henry waited until the door closed behind Madison. “Are we her other family?” he asked dryly.
“I was very fond of Georgette,” Robin said quietly. “As were you at one time, or so I gather,” she added.
“Were you so fond of her that you don’t mind the fact that when she stayed late Wednesday night she went through your desk?” Henry asked.
“I wasn’t going to say anything about it. You mean she went through your desk as well?”
“She not only went through it, she removed a file that belonged to me. Did she take anything from yours?”
“Not that I’ve noticed. There’s nothing in my desk that would be of any interest to her, unless she preferred my hair spray or perfume to hers.”
“You’re sure of that, Robin?”
They were still standing in the reception room. Henry was not a tall man, and Robin’s three-inch heels put her at eye level with him. For a long moment they looked directly at each other. “Want to play I’ve Got a Secret?” he asked.