Finishing Touches (61 page)

Knowing the dissent it would cause, she would have been just as happy to go by the original will.

‘You’ll do no such thing, Cassie Jordan!’ David exclaimed, when he heard Cassie say that for the sake of peace and family harmony she was proposing to abide
by the terms of the original will.

‘Your mother must have had some premonition of the sacrifices you were going to have to make and this is her way of making it up to you. Your mother is giving you the chance to reclaim
your life. Sell the house, use the money to do something you’ve always wanted to do. Grab this chance with both hands, Cassie, and make her smile in heaven!’ David argued passionately,
holding her very close.

She raised her face to his and said, ‘I love you so much, David. You’ll never know how much.’

‘If you love me, then accept your mother’s will in the spirit it was made. After all, it was what she wanted,’ he advised.

John said exactly the same, as did Laura and Aileen. Irene told her to do what she thought was best, which was no help. Martin said he wasn’t happy about it and wanted to
talk to her and Barbara sent a solicitor’s letter stating her conviction that the will was null and void due to the mental incapacity of her mother and that if Cassie were not prepared to
accept the terms of the first will, Barbara would see her in court.

‘How would you describe your mother’s state of mind when she came to stay with you after her heart attack?’ The barrister who was questioning Cassie on
Barbara’s behalf smiled suavely at her.

‘She was tired. She had hated hospital, but once she started getting back on her feet we had some good laughs, and I think she enjoyed her stay with me very much.’ Cassie said
quietly, facing her tormentor.

‘Did you notice memory loss?’

Cassie sighed. ‘Well, it wasn’t something I was really aware of at the time, but looking back, yes, my mother’s memory was not as good as it had been. I had to give her a
little map when she went down the High Street, and she was cooking a dinner once and forgot about it and burnt the saucepan.’

‘So you would agree, Miss Jordan, that your mother had Alzheimer’s disease at that point.’

‘I would say,’ said Cassie, ‘that my mother was in the early stages of the disease, yes, but that she was by no means incapacitated.’

‘My question was: had your mother got Alzheimer’s disease when she was with you in December 1984 and January 1985. Yes or no!’ he shot back.

‘Yes,’ Cassie said, lifting her chin and staring the obnoxious man straight in the eye.

Facing her, Barbara smiled triumphantly. On the same bench, Jean and Martin stared stonily ahead. Glancing a little to Barbara’s left, she saw John and David sitting together. David gave
her an encouraging wink and she knew that whatever happened here, he and John would be waiting for her. It was because of them that she was sitting here today fighting for her mother’s
wishes, although, if Nora had known the family was going to be so bitterly divided, maybe she would have left things as they were.

‘I will repeat the question!’ the barrister barked, as Cassie forced her thoughts back to the present moment. ‘Would you say your mother was more suggestible than usual during
the period when she was staying with you immediately after her heart attack?’

‘I wouldn’t ever say Mam was
suggestible.
She had a mind of her own,’ Cassie retorted. Who did he think he was, talking so knowledgeably about
her
mother.

‘But did she agree to do things she normally wouldn’t agree to? She did spend a long time with you. Was that of her own choice?’

‘If you’re implying I kept Mam in Liverpool by force . . .’ Cassie said furiously.

‘I am not implying anything. The facts will speak for themselves.’ The barrister was coldly courteous.

Don’t get rattled; he’ll try to rattle you, her own barrister had warned. Keep your cool. Cassie took a deep breath. ‘It was the middle of winter, my mother had had a heart
attack, she needed someone to take care of her. Barbara wouldn’t,’ she glared at her sister, ‘John and Karen weren’t in a position to, Irene and Martin were abroad, so that
left me. Mam agreed to come to Liverpool with me. By the end of January she was feeling much better and anxious to get home, although I would have preferred for her to stay a little
longer.’

‘I see!’ Barbara’s barrister drawled. ‘I put it to you, Miss Jordan, that in the time she was in your . . .’ he paused and glanced around the court,
‘care,’ he paused again and looked at the judge, ‘you persuaded your mother to make a new will leaving her house to you, a house, I may add, that was recently valued at seventy
thousand pounds.’

‘That is
not
true!’ Cassie said heatedly.

‘Well, how do you explain the fact that your mother changed her will and made a new one within days of coming home after staying with you in Liverpool!’

‘I have no explanation for it!’ Cassie said firmly.

‘Oh come now, Miss Jordan. You surely don’t expect the court to believe that.’

‘It’s the truth!’

‘I’d like, if I may, to move on to the period when you were at home in Port Mahon taking care of your mother.’

Oh must you, Cassie thought wearily, wishing this whole ordeal could end.

‘During this time you purchased a tumble-dryer. Is that correct?’

‘Yes! My mother needed several changes of clothes and in the winter it wasn’t always possible to get her clothes dry, so I bought the dryer,’ Cassie explained.

‘And paid for it out of your mother’s income. Isn’t that the case?’

‘I had no income of my own, I had given up my job. So it had to be out of Mam’s money.’

‘And did you use this tumble-dryer for your own clothes?’

Cassie gave the barrister a scathing look. What the hell did he think, that she left her own clothes out in the
rain
to dry! ‘Of course I did.’

‘And you found it convenient?’

‘Very!’ she gritted.

‘I see!’ Cassie wished he’d stop saying ‘I see’ in that sceptical drawl. He really was a loathsome man, Laura had warned her about him when she heard the name of
the barrister Barbara’s solicitor had instructed.

‘You installed oil-fired central heating in the house despite the fact that there was a perfectly good back-boiler system in operation already. This was also paid for out of your
mother’s income. Why?’

‘I was afraid that my mother would get burnt at the fire. She was fascinated by the chimney. She thought people were talking to her down it. I was afraid she would get burnt.’

‘Did your sister, my client, Mrs Jordan Murray, not suggest you install a fireguard?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why didn’t you?’ he probed. ‘Surely it was the obvious solution.’

‘I didn’t want to take the chance.’

‘And central heating is so much more convenient than having to light a fire every day, isn’t that so?’

‘Yes,’ Cassie agreed wearily.

‘So it was for the convenience as much as anything else.’

‘My mother’s wellbeing was my prime concern,’ Cassie snapped.

‘You spent several thousand pounds having aluminium windows and doors installed.’

‘Yes.’

‘Again paid for out of your mother’s income?’

‘Yes.’

‘What’s your . . .’ he smiled insincerely, ‘explanation for this?’

‘Mam was always wandering. She climbed out the windows a few times. The doors and windows I had fitted had excellent locks.’

‘Couldn’t you have changed the locks on the doors and windows? Wouldn’t it have been far cheaper than spending your mother’s income on a whole new set?’

‘I could have done that, yes. But the existing doors and windows were quite old. The man who installed the heating told me that in the long run it would be a saving to get double-glazing,
as otherwise I was going to lose a lot of the heat because of draughts.’

‘Best for
you
, you mean,’ Barbara’s barrister accused.

‘Look, I didn’t know Mam was going to leave me the house. I thought her estate was to be divided equally and therefore whatever improvements I made would increase the value of the
house and benefit everybody.’

‘Instead it benefited you!’

‘I didn’t know it was going to do that!’ protested Cassie, nearly in tears.

‘I submit to this court that, having in the most devious way persuaded your mother to make a new will in your favour, you then in the most calculating way set out to improve the value of
the property by spending your mother’s income while she was alive, knowing that it would all accrue to you in the end. I submit, Miss Jordan, that you are a calculating woman, who would
swindle your own brothers and sisters out of their just inheritance. And I submit that this will was made while your mother was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and was mentally
incapacitated and is therefore null and void.’

‘No!
No!
’ Cassie protested.

‘Your Honour, I have no further questions for this witness.’ The barrister swept away. Barbara was over the moon with his performance.

‘Look, calm down, Cassie,’ John comforted her. ‘Doctor Tyne has to give his evidence and Mam’s solicitor, and the witness to her will. You know that Mr
Kenny has told us that Mam was perfectly clear about what she wanted to do the day she made her will and that in his view it’s legal. So stop worrying.’

‘Did you hear the way that man twisted everything I said and made it look as though I were out to line my own pocket. I’m sure the judge will believe him. The way that barrister put
it the evidence is overwhelming. He doesn’t know me. I’m sure things like this
do
happen and people are manipulated to change wills. He probably thinks I’m one of those
manipulators, especially since Martin is siding with Barbara. I can’t believe Martin would think I’d do a thing like that to Mam and the family!’

‘It’s that Jean. She and Barbara are as thick as thieves!’ John said in disgust.

‘Come on, Cassie, eat a bit of something,’ David urged as he noticed her pushing her plate away without touching her food. They were having lunch at a hotel near the court. It was
the final day of the hearing.

Cassie smiled at him. ‘I’m sorry, David, I’m not hungry. Maybe when it’s over.’

‘It will be over soon,’ David promised, squeezing her hand.

Barbara tucked into a plateful of mussels in garlic on a bed of pasta. She was starving. And very hopeful. Miles Regan had
crucified
Cassie on the witness stand.
No-one in their right senses could fail to doubt that her sister had indeed persuaded their poor addled mother to change her will. God, she hadn’t even shed a tear at the funeral, while she
and Irene had been in floods. Oh, Cassie was as cute as they come despite her saintly demeanour. And she was not the only one who thought, so; Martin and Jean were firmly committed to proving the
same point. Jean had proven herself a gem in this case. She had been as angry at Martin’s being done out of his inheritance as Barbara had been on her own account.

The judge would
have
to rule in her favour. Ian had told her it was practically a foregone conclusion. He had seen enough court cases to know how it was going. By tonight Barbara would
be a wealthier woman than she was this morning.

‘This is lovely, isn’t it, Jean?’ she smiled at her sister-in-law, who was relishing her plate of smoked salmon.

‘Very nice indeed, I must say,’ the other woman agreed. ‘Martin, eat up; the food is very tasty!’ she admonished her husband.

‘I’m not hungry,’ Martin said glumly.

‘Well,
I
certainly am!’ laughed Barbara. ‘Here, pass it over to me.’

‘It is clear to me,’ said the judge, smiling at Cassie, ‘that Miss Jordan acted in her mother’s best interests at all times in a very kind and caring
manner. From the evidence presented to me by Mrs Jordan’s solicitor and GP, I believe that, although in the very early stages of Alzheimer’s disease Mrs Jordan made her will under no
duress and was quite clear and specific about her wishes. And her wishes were that the business be sold and proceeds divided equally between her children, and that her house be left to Miss
Catherine Jordan, her eldest daughter, as a token of her gratitude for the care she has always received from her. Miss Jordan can leave this court with her head held high knowing that she cared for
her mother admirably.’ He scowled at Barbara. ‘The will is upheld.’

‘Congratulations!’ David swept Cassie off her feet and swung her in the air before kissing her soundly.

John laughed. ‘Cassie, it couldn’t have gone any other way, so put the matter behind you now and get on with your life.’

‘I will, oh I will!’ Cassie vowed. ‘Barbara has upset me for the last time!’

‘We’ll appeal it!’ Barbara said hysterically. ‘She’s
not
getting away with it!’

Barbara’s solicitor looked enquiringly at Miles Regan, the barrister.

‘I would have to advise that you run the risk of incurring major losses should you fail to win an appeal against today’s decision. Your solicitor and I will, of course, be instructed
by you. The decision to appeal is yours. I must repeat, however,’ he looked straight at Barbara, ‘that your losses would be quite substantial if you failed in your attempt to overturn
today’s verdict.’

‘You can appeal yourself, Barbara. I’ve had enough!’ Martin announced.

‘
Martin!
’ exclaimed his wife. ‘You can’t leave Barbara in the lurch like that.’

‘I can and I will. It’s already cost me a fortune. I’ve no intention of throwing good money after bad.’

The barrister said snootily, ‘As you wish!’

‘But Martin—’ protested his wife.

‘The answer is no and that’s final. We should never have taken this case in the first place. Cassie would never have swindled Mam or us. And I’m ashamed I was persuaded
otherwise. Come on, Jean, we’re going home!’

Jean and Barbara stared at Martin in dismay.

‘Martin’s right!’ Ian muttered. ‘It would only cost us more money. If you want to spend your own money, Barbara, that’s up to you. But count me out!’ her
husband declared, adding, ‘I’d cut my losses if I were you!’ Barbara couldn’t believe her ears. She was being deserted by everyone. Only Jean was prepared to stick to the
bitter end and she had no money of her own.