Treasure by Degrees Read online

  Bantree looked less uncomfortable at this intelligence than Treasure had expected. ‘If Mrs Hatch really had died after the fireworks,’ said the policeman, ‘in a room she appeared to have locked herself, and with all remotely interested parties accounted for, then assuming the medicos are even marginally wrong about the effects of the drug – the timing, I mean – we could very well have assumed suicide. Circumstantially it could have been an open and shut case.’ He gave Treasure what could only be construed as an encouraging glance.

  ‘Goldstein . . .’ the banker began tentatively.

  ‘Goldstein,’ took up the Superintendent, ‘was thoroughly engaged at the real time of the murder making all kinds of inflammatory phone calls from his study. He’d only admit it if we had him on a murder charge, of course, but it would put him in the clear all the same.’ He looked sternly at Hassock. ‘Vicar, this is a very private conversation – may I rely on your keeping it so?’

  ‘As in the confessional, if you say so, Superintendent.’ There was not much demand for the confessional sacrament amongst the Anglicans of Itchendever, but Hassock invested the statement with a gravity that suggested devout queues of penitents. ‘I’m not quite clear, though . . .’

  ‘I think I am.’ This was Treasure. ‘I believe Colin is suggesting he could manage to close this case with the minimum of fuss and hurtful implications for the people and the institutions involved – as well as to the memory of two old ladies who weren’t much longer for this world anyway.’ He glanced tentatively at Bantree. ‘Miss Stopps has paid her penalty. Amelia Hatch’s time must have been pretty limited.’

  Bantree picked up the letter. ‘I believe this was addressed to you, Vicar?’ Hassock nodded. The Superintendent passed the two handwritten sheets to the priest. ‘Then I don’t remember seeing it. Keep it in a safe place for a bit, will you – just in case the coroner’s jury encounters any difficulty reaching a verdict of suicide, I don’t think it will.’ And sure enough, it did not.

  Margaret Stopps was sorely missed at Itchendever – both at the College she had done so much to foster and by her adoring grandson who, for a time, was inconsolable. But wounds heal. What remained of Miss Stopps’s private fortune – after provision for Andy – proved, after all, to be an insignificant amount. Clearly her resources had not been large enough to cover financial support for both her great loves – a fact that went some way to explain – if not to justify – the desperate course she had adopted.

  Through the intervention of Treasure and the wise exercise of the discretion at their command by the new Trustees of the Funny Farms Foundation, not only did UCI receive its half-million dollars, but Andy and Peter Gregory were also included as beneficiaries: each received one-eleventh of the Foundation’s capital. As Cyrus Hatch’s natural grandson – and his only known direct descendant – Andy, or those acting on his behalf, might well have pressed for a larger sum. In consultation with Mark Treasure it was Marcus Hassock who decided not to pursue this course – in deference to the memory of Miss Stopps and the certainty of what her attitude would have been.

  Witaker had no hand in these arrangements. The new and responsible trustees at the Pittsburgh bank sensibly decided on a thorough examining audit of the Foundation’s affairs. Although a scandal was averted, Witaker was obliged to make good the shortfall of assets out of his own resources and to resign his position of trust. The fact that all this did not entirely ruin him financially was a measure of greed as unnecessary as it was insatiable.

  Eric Ribble and the Crown Prince of Abu B’yat were excused further embarrassing confrontations about a takeover of UCI following the assassination of the Emir in December. Relieved of the need to cultivate the esteem of a father he had not much cared for anyway, the new Emir graciously accepted an honorary fellowship at the College in return for a generous donation to its Charitable Trust and a tacit understanding that all his sons would be welcome as undergraduates – but not those of his brothers. This arrangement suited him admirably since he did not care for his brothers either, and as Emir he could afford to offend them. It was Daniel Goldstein who actually conferred the fellowship on Sheikh Al Haban in a colourful little ceremony during the Lent term and as an announced contribution to Arab-Jewish understanding – the announcement coming as something of a surprise to the company assembled to hear it, and later described by Goldstein, who had made it, as his pound of flesh.

  On his return from Australasia, Lord Grenwood expressed himself well pleased with the situation at UCI. He and Treasure discussed the matter briefly after lunch one day. The Chairman of Grenwood, Phipps was somewhat preoccupied at the time with choosing a new secretary, but on hearing the facts, he did remark that following the suicide of Mrs Hatch and Miss Stopps’s sad accident Treasure might well have had a tricky situation on his hands.

  Treasure had felt bound to agree.