He relaxed slightly, but didn’t lower the gun.
“Do you realize there is still a lot of money to be made out of this set-up if you throw in with me?” he said. “We can still get it under control. Where I went wrong was to let her have so much freedom. I didn’t think she was quite so dangerous. I knew she was unbalanced. Her mother was. But I thought they were harmless. I would have acted sooner, but Sherrill blocked me. Now he’s dead it’ll be easy. You are the only obstacle now. Will you take fifty thousand and keep your mouth shut?”
I raised my eyebrows.
“She’s just offered me a million.”
He made an impatient gesture.
“Look, this is a business proposition. Don’t let’s waste time. She hasn’t a million. She wouldn’t have given you anything even if she had anything to give. She’s not in the position to collect the insurance on the Dream Ship. I am.”
“What’s going to happen to her?” I asked, and glanced across at Maureen who gave me a blank empty look from blank, empty eyes.
“I’ll have her put in a home. She has no alternative unless she wants to be handed over to the police and prosecuted for murder,” Willet said, speaking softly and rapidly. “It can all be arranged quietly. Janet isn’t likely to make trouble. I can persuade her to do what I say. She will have the Trust money. You and I will have the insurance on the Dream Ship.”
“Just let me get this straight,” I said. “Did you hatch this little plot from the beginning?”
“We needn’t go into that,” he said curtly.