Alex Harris 00 - Poisoned

Bradley to just keep his mouth shut on that first night, but that wasn’t Bradley’s way. Stuart counted on the fact that no one else knew who really owned the land and, with Bradley dead and the papers destroyed, no one would ever find out. But I think it went beyond just the money. I think Stuart really hated his brother and in a sick way, he finally felt he had a justifiable reason for getting rid of him.”
    “That still doesn’t mean his grandmother would decide to sell,” I said.
    “I think he figured she would eventually wear down. And ironically, Bradley’s death made her want to just be rid of the whole thing. So she probably would have sold out before too long,” John explained, “if for no other reason than to be done with her sisters once and for all.”
    I sighed. “John, I hate to ask this but I have to know. Did Mrs. Brissart know Stuart killed Bradley?”
    “Yes, she did. She never asked him outright, but she figured he did it.”
    “Is she in trouble?”
    “We’re not going to arrest her, if that’s what you mean, but she lost one grandson at the hands of another. Her life is pretty much ruined, wouldn’t you say?”
    “I guess I would lie, or at least not tell anyone what I suspected, to protect my family. John, what about Steven? He’s quite a gambler as well, isn’t he? Will he be hounded for Stuart’s debts?” I asked, anxious to talk about anyone other than Mrs. Brissart.
    “You got that wrong. Steven does not gamble.”
    “But I saw him at my club, and Ann....”
    John held up his hand. “I suggest you find yourself another source. Steven went to the club because he wanted to buy Trish a membership. She doesn’t like his country club, thinks it’s too uppity, and Steven thought maybe if she got out more, she might meet some people and have more of a life. Your club has a young crowd and he thought it would be perfect for her. She stays home and takes care of him and that’s about all she does.”
    I wouldn’t give up. “Ann said a guy at the health club saw Steven several times at one of the tracks in New York.”
    “Yeah, he went several times to keep an eye on Stuart. He was worried about him. Had a good idea about the kind of characters he was getting mixed up with.”
    “So this murder comes downs to money.” Mary-Beth said. “Well, I hope I never have the kind of money that I get myself into so much trouble over.”
    Her husband patted her hand. “I don’t think we have to worry about that, honey. Between car payments and mortgage, we’ll never have any to gamble with.”
    “Stuart’s pathetic.”
    “Yeah, Mary-Beth, he is that. And there’s something he didn’t know. Mrs. Brissart knew all along about the history.”
    “She did? “ I asked, almost falling off the sofa.
    John nodded. “She’s always known. She knew about the letters, but she never knew where they were. Bradley found them up at the house. Stuart went up there looking for them as well. I found the house ransacked when I went to Farmington.”
    “There’s something that Winston said that I think fits here.”
    “What’s that,” Mary-Beth asked me.
    “ If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future . I don’t know if it really fits, but I think she just wanted to let the past be the past. I can’t believe she knew and wasn’t going to say anything.”
    “She’s probably more like her sisters than she wants to admit.” John took a small bite of the cheesecake. “She wanted to protect the family from scandal, but she felt giving the house and land to Bradley and Kendra as a wedding gift would make up for it.”
    “If word gets out, would Kendra’s family have any claims to it?” Mary-Beth asked.
    “Maybe,” John sighed, “but it’s going to take forever and a lot of money to sort it all out through the courts. I don’t know what’s going to happen now. Mrs. Brissart’s family can argue that Lucien wrote those letters because he was crazy with sorrow over the death of his friend. That he really didn’t have Raymond killed. Or that the letters are fake. Who knows?”
    “How are June and May taking all of this?” I asked.
    “As suspected, they’re more upset over the loss of the land than they are about Stuart and Bradley. May said something to the effect the reputation of the whole family would be ruined by the actions of their ancestor, and that Stuart had to go and inherit Lucien’s murdering ways. She also hinted