I was still scratching my head in disbelief at what they’d managed to get away with, when Leah appeared at my door. “I think you should come down and hear this.”

Frowning, I followed her back down the stairs. Obeying her instructions, I put the dictation headphones on. They were hot. Marina’s soft voice came through.

Firstly, can you do up an attendance, Leah, as follows? Bob Jameson attended at the office on the twenty-third of April to give instructions for a will. Can you do up a draft will as follows? I Bob Jameson of Station Road, Salthill in the county of Galway make this and for my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills and other testamentary dispositions at any time heretofore made by me …

I pulled the headphones off. “So, that’s why he came in? To make a will?”

It seemed even more odd now that Marina hadn’t told me he’d been in. Surely, she would have known I’d discover that she’d dictated his will.

“I wonder what it says,” I said as I moved to put the headphones back on.

But Leah pushed a sheet of will paper towards me. “Way ahead of you. I know he won’t be coming back in to sign it, but I thought you’d want to see it typed up.”

I picked it up. The will began with the standard “commorientes” clause.

If my wife Amanda survives me by a period of thirty days, I give devise and bequeath the whole of my estate to her. I appoint her my executrix and I direct her to pay all my just debts funeral and testamentary expenses. If my wife does not survive me, the following provisions shall apply …

There followed various legacies, which I read through quickly until I came to one that made me catch my breath.

I give devise and bequeath the sum of twenty thousand euros to my daughter Sue Burns.

I sank my elbows back into the counter. Sue Burns was Bob’s daughter? What the hell was going on? I read it again and again until Leah’s voice broke into my thoughts and I remembered that none of this meant very much to her, having been absent all weekend.

“Lunch,” she said firmly, already putting on her coat. “Come on. I can’t wait for food these days. If I don’t eat, I get faint.”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” I put down the will, got my coat and we headed out to the Oak.

My head was spinning. One thing was for sure – the Burns family and the Jamesons were a hell of a lot more entangled than either was prepared to admit.

Chapter Twenty-Three

TOWN WAS BUSY again, I was glad to see, with the usual Monday lunchtime bustle. The roads were still wet, but it hadn’t rained for almost thirty-six hours, so it seemed we were on the home straight.