Masters And Lovers 1-4 novel Chapter 11

“How about the bar and a beer?”

“A beer?”

“I really appreciate the help you’ve been giving Elizabeth with those old papers of Albert’s. The least I can do is buy you a drink.”

“Thank you, Richard. That’s a great idea.”

“This round’s on me.”

*****

“So, are you finding anything of interest in that appalling pile of garbage from Elizabeth’s old uncle?”

Michael muses into his glass. “Depends what you’re looking for I suppose, but it’s actually quite interesting, seeing someone else’s life like this. Once you get past thirty-year-old bus tickets, you find the things that really tell you something.”

“Like what?”

“Did you know he was a bankrupt?”

“Was he now…”

Wonder if Elizabeth knew that….

“…. That could explain a lot. What little I saw of him was mainly complaints that things weren’t as they should be, and everything was better in his day.”

“Mind you….” Michael gulp at his beer. “…. he must have recovered from it. At least enough to have owned his own home when he died.”

“Ah-ah.” I shake my head. “That house came from his second marriage. His first wife left him apparently. There was talk in the family that he married the second one because she was quite well-off.”

Michael regards me from over his glass. “It doesn’t sound as though you liked him much?”

“Well, the old boy didn't like me much either. Not that he had much to say. He was already pretty addled by the time I first met him. When she went to visit him, I’d just drop Elizabeth off, and return a couple of hours later to collect her. And since I was paying his care bills by then, it hardly mattered what he thought of me. Elizabeth knew I was doing the right thing by him and that’s all that matters to me.”

Michael nods, apparently deep in thought.

Time to change the subject….