Chapter 12: The Inheritance Decision

They had been in Ireland for four days when Rennie called with a question they had almost forgotten. The inheritance. Seven strangers had been summoned to a Scottish estate to solve a forty-year cold case, with the prize being Lord Hirst's fortune. They had solved the cold case. They had done it together. And now Rennie, who had been patient with the proceedings and deeply relieved at their outcome, needed to know what happened next. 'The will specifies a single inheritor,' he said. 'The conditions were solving the case and presenting evidence sufficient to initiate formal proceedings. You have done both.' The seven of them were in Rowan's cottage sitting room, having not discussed this at all since the day Rennie had read the will. 'Who solved it?' Penny asked. The question was genuine. The silence that followed had the quality of people who genuinely did not know how to answer. 'Yuna found the transaction documents,' Bea said. 'Dell found Rowan,' Yuna said. 'Westfield provided the prosecutor contact,' Dell said. 'Douglas and Hamish identified the discrepancy that led to the archive,' Douglas said. 'Penny made the connection to the 1984 guest list,' Hamish said. 'And Rowan kept the evidence for forty years,' Bea said. The room was quiet. Then Bea looked at all of them and said: 'I have a proposal.' She laid it out. The estate sold, the proceeds split seven ways with Rowan receiving a full eighth share, and the two surviving charities receiving the equivalent of their stolen endowments, inflation-adjusted, from the civil recovery. The remainder, if any, to be held in a foundation with a mandate to support cold case research. The vote was unanimous. Rennie, when Bea called him, was quiet for a moment. 'Lord Hirst,' he said finally, 'would have approved of this.' 'I think he designed for it,' Bea said. 'Seven people with seven different skills. He knew none of us could solve it alone.'