Who's sorry now? by Jill Churchill Read Free Book Online Page B

isn’t it?” Mr. Prinney agreed. ”The intention of his will is that you have to earn your own living for ten years. However, whatever money is here wasn’t accounted for. I’ll have to think this out carefully. But first, we need a complete account of how much cash is here.”
    ”How are we going to explain this to the rest of the residents? We need to lock them out,” Lily said in her usual practical manner.
    Robert said, ”Couldn’t we just say that the library is out of bounds until some important estate business is completed?”
    ”We could,” Lily said, ”but this seems to be everybody’s favorite room in which to sit and smoke, read, play cards, listen to the radio, or have a drink. Besides, Mimi would go haywire if she couldn’t dust and polish in here every day.”
    ”How’s this?” Robert suggested. ”We let Mimi come in to clean first thing in the morning, then we lock it up for a couple of hours a day. Lily makes a detailed account of how much was in every book. After she’s done, we put the books back. Then Mr. Prinney locks the records up in the safe at his office. We just keep adding to the records.”
    Lily gawked. ”Robert, that’s brilliant. I applaud you for this idea. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to spend whole days counting money. Much as I like cash.”
     

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    DR. MEREDITH, the pathologist, had packed up and left early that Wednesday morning, saying to Lily as he saw her come down the stairs, ”Dr. Toller isn’t going to release that skeleton until he’s through with it.” He clearly disapproved of this behavior. ”I could see him last night from my bedroom window. He was crouched over the hole where the second bush was with a lantern, digging around. I do appreciate your letting me stay overnight, and have thanked Mrs. Prinney for putting me up and feeding me, and left a tip for the maid. I wish I had time to stay and thank everyone.”
    ”No thanks are required, Dr. Meredith. Mrs. Prinney loves to cook, and the maid loves to clean. It was nice to meet you. Have a good trip home.”
    As the residents assembled for breakfast, Mr. Prinney announced that the library would be closed and locked for several days from eight in the morning until eleven. It would be open for Mimi to clean or anyone to visit until one in the afternoon. It would be locked again at that time and be free to use by four-thirty. He emphasized that he, Robert, and Lily had important information to go over regarding the estate. It wouldn’t interest or influence anyone else who lived at Grace and Favor.
    Everyone was naturally curious. Emmaline Prinney took her husband aside in his home office and asked, ”The estate isn’t in financial trouble, is it?”
    ”Don’t worry. Quite the opposite is true. But I can’t tell you more,” he assured her.
    When Chief Walker, Mrs. Tarkington, and Phoebe Twinkle left for work, Mr. Prinney joined Robert and Lily in the library, saying, ”Robert, get your lock picks and open this first door again. Lily, would you use the fresh ledger I put on the big table to take down what Robert and I count and name the book the cash came from?”
    ”I’d be glad to be the one sitting down comfortably,” Lily said with a sigh. ”My back hurts a bit from bending down yesterday to wash off all those beads.”
    Robert already had the hang of the lock picks, and they got started.
    After the third book in the row, which contained well-used one-dollar bills, Elgin Prinney took down the fourth one, and it was half full of fifty-dollar bills. There was, to his surprise, a sheet of paper in Horatio Brewster’s handwriting on top of the fake book.
    ”Hmm,” Mr. Prinney said. ”It was as I suspected. He did leave money in the market until it reached its last peak and demanded cash for what remained. But there’s more.”
    He handed the sheet of paper to Robert to read the rest. ”It reads as this,” Robert said. ” ‘If either of my heirs are canny or ambitious