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On Sunday, Sally told Philip she was leaving.
"Greg and I went to Court on Friday. Social Welfare had tried to take Lance away, but the Judge over-ruled the officer concerned and fired the Court officer for falsifying a report about Greg's anger."
Philip knew that. He had fielded an angry call from John Hopgood. However, Philip had pointed out that their delivery business would continue, paying far more than a civil servant's wages.
"Philip, our time has come to an end. I am grateful for you taking me in when I was so desperate, and for the care you have given me. Greg and I have decided to give marriage another go now that the farm is profitable and I can pay for help with Lance. The Judge also demanded that Social Welfare provide support for Lance, so things are looking good."
"What about Ashleigh?" asked Philip, fighting hard to keep his voice and his temper even. "Won't she object to you crashing her scene?"
"Ashleigh is my best friend. She and Greg were never heavy, not like us. She brought energy and knowledge to the farm at a time when I couldn't but now she's ready to move on. She's bought a farm of her own. I would leave here earlier than Monday, but Ashleigh is staying until Monday morning. The deal went through on Friday afternoon. She gets the keys to the farm house from the lawyer tomorrow morning. I don't want to move in until after she moves out," said Sally.
Philip was very angry. His face was dark but he controlled his temper. He told Sally he had to move stock, and left on the tractor. He drove it past Georgina's grave and up the hill. The bank looked quite natural. He had root raked it, harrowed, then sown rye grass on the whole slope. You just couldn't tell the earth had been disturbed.
His plan had been simple and credible. Having got rid of Georgina and kept her money in their joint account, he had enough money to buy Greg out. To persuade Greg to sell, Zinsli had conducted a campaign of vandalism and fear. That had been successful in adding to Sally's stress at living in Te Kouka but seemed to have little effect on Greg. When Ashleigh Moffit had come along Zinsli had been more careful when he destroyed something of Greg's because she was out and about and sometimes slept in the house but more often in the cottage. Zinsli had cut fences, broke pipes, set fire to scrub, pout sand in sumps and gear boxes and created as much havoc as he could but with a neutral party on the property hr had curtailed his activity, relying instead on rustling Greg's stock, which he disposed of immediately to well-paying customers.
While Sally had been with Greg, the police treated the incidents as rows between neighbours. They believed Zinsli when he said that someone, possibly Greg, was vandalising his farm. The damage to Greg's farm was either a third party waging war on the two farmers, or Greg damaging his own property to cover up for his acts against Zinsli. The police really had more to do with their time. Now Ashleigh was with Greg, the police would look more carefully as she was a totally different person to Greg and to Sally. She would have credibility as a neutral employee.
His second plan had been to disrupt Greg's life by taking Sally from him, leaving him to care for a wilful child, and to do the work that a wife normally did on the farm. Philip knew how tough that was. He had become a midnight butcher as a result.
Zinsli's scheme had been successful. Philip had been living with Sally for almost two years. Zinsli had not expected Greg to be able to continue living next door to his ex-wife. Nor did outright confrontation produce a result.
He had one more ace up his sleeve; the deaths of all three Somervilles. Greg and the boy had to go first so Greg's estate went to Sally. He would do that in the dark hours of tomorrow morning. Meantime, he would keep Sally locked in the store room. The she could commit suicide because she was so overcome with grief at losing her son and the husband she was returning to. Neat.
First, he had a lot of preparation. He had to get Sally to complete a new will, he had to get witnesses to the new will, and he had to establish an alibi.