Writing for Fun
April 2015
The Telephone Call - Jeanette Rothwell
'Hello, can I speak to Mrs. Clover, please.' The male voice was mature and positive.
'Speaking,' answered Mrs Clover.
The voice on the telephone went on to explain that he, John Blane, represented the firm of Hill and Sons who were a family research company, investigating the history of individuals who had recently died intestate, that is without leaving a will. They were currently looking for the relatives of a Mr. Tony Archer, who at the age of 69, had been found dead in his home in Brighton. He had lived alone and the neighbours had only been able to tell them that he had a sister who had visited him occasionally but they did not know her name.
Their investigations had led them to a sister named Elsie and, lots of research later, they had found her marriage to a Mr. Cyril Clover. Was the voice talking to that sister?
Mrs Clover confirmed that she was indeed that sister and Mr Blane made an appointment to visit Mrs Clover the following afternoon at her address in Bournemouth.
Elsie Clover was a widow living in a rather run down bungalow just outside Bournemouth. She was struggling to keep her head above water since her husband died several years ago, leaving her with a portion of his very modest pension from the local Council and her state pension to live on. Of course, she was very interested to hear what John Blane had to say.
He arrived promptly and she immediately offered him a cup of tea which he gratefully accepted as he had journeyed from London through some busy half term traffic.
Firstly, Mrs Clover was asked to produce proof of her identity which she did with birth and marriage certificates, and passport. John was satisfied and proceeded to inform her that in the event that their research did not turn up any more close relatives, she would inherit a very nice sum of money after the sale of Tony Archer's house and effects.
She was delighted with this news but wondered whether her brother had ever married. He had been a very private person and did not give much away about his past life on the few occasions she had managed to visit him. He had been fairly housebound in the last few years, due to a knee problem, but she could remember him being very cagey about a photo of an attractive lady on the sideboard. He wouldn't say who she was, but the photo was always there.
Mrs Clover, being a very cautious person, decided not to be too optimistic about this possible inheritance until further research had been conducted.
John Blane left her promising to keep her up to date with any further information.
The following day he set about looking further into Tony Archer's life which was proving difficult as some records showed him as Tony and some as Anthony. He had a second name which was William and again John found some records referring to him as William Anthony or Bill. Family research was never easy and Archer was a fairly popular name.
He gained permission from the Solicitor handling the problem to allow his agent in Brighton to enter the house and have a closer look at the photo in question.
The agent reported that he had taken the photo out of its frame and on the back was written 'Georgina, aged 18'. This information led Mr Blane to look firstly for a Georgina Archer and found she was the daughter of a Gordon Archer (deceased) and, 'Eureka', this gentleman was the son of a George Archer. It emerged that Gordon Archer was, therefore, the half brother of Tony Archer as they appeared to have the same father but different mothers. Georgina Archer was Tony Archer's niece. Further investigation led Mr Blane to her death at the age of 30. Did she have any children? Yes, she was a single mother with one boy named Jack. If he could be traced, he would be an heir.
A recent Electoral Register showed a Jack Archer living in Clacton. Mr Blane made another telephone call to his home. Jack Archer was suspicious of the call and wanted a lot more detail before he would agree to a visit.
When John Blane arrived at Jack's address, he found a Blacksmith's Forge and Jack Archer sweating away inside. Jack was belligerent and loud and not inclined to believe John Blane's story.
He had never heard of Tony Archer or his sister. He had been brought up in an orphanage once his mother had died when he was only 7 years old. If there was any money coming to him he wanted it to go to the orphanage. He was perfectly happy with his lot in life; he was single with no offspring to his knowledge.
John Blane went back to his office and once again made a telephone call to Elsie Clover bringing her up to date with the news of her unknown half brother, now deceased, and grand nephew who would share the inheritance. Elsie was intrigued to hear of this and immediately wanted to meet Jack Archer.
John Blane was careful not to reveal too much in case her grand nephew was reluctant to meet her. However, Jack Archer agreed, and, on the appointed date, time and place, Jack, looking uncomfortably scrubbed, suited and booted turned up to meet his newly found relative. Elsie was a kindly soul with a great deal of understanding and she and Jack hit it off, surprisingly well.
John Blane's last phone call on this case was to inform Jack Archer that Elsie's wish was that she would keep about £20,000 of the inheritance to supplement her pension, but she would like the bulk of her share to go to Jack's orphanage. She also wanted to see more of Jack to make up for his lack of relatives in the past.
John sighed and sat back after the call. How nice to find two people not wanting to get their hands on their inheritance, not fighting over it, and wanting to stay in touch having known so little of each other's existence.
He lifted the telephone to start on his next case, a wealthy family, expecting to inherit a lot of money from their recently deceased father. Trouble was he had discovered the father had not died intestate; in fact he had bequeathed his entire estate to a Cat's Home and had left a very caustic letter to his relatives outlining his disgust at their indolence and telling them to get off their backsides and start working for a living.
Such was the varied life of an heir hunter.