Love or money? door Rowena Akinyemi

Where:
The Clarkson family lived in the country near Cambridge.

When:
In this century.

Main Persons:

Molly Clarkson - A rich woman.

Jackie Clarkson - Daughter of Molly.

Diane Clarkson - Daughter of Molly.

Roger Clarkson - Son of Molly.

Albert King - Brother of Molly

Tom Briggs - Farmer.

Peter Hobbs - Someone who lives next to Molly.

Summary:
On a Saturday, Molly, the mother of the family Clarkson, was celebrating her 50th birthday. All the relatives were on her party. Diane, Jackie, Uncle Albert, Roger, and Molly herself of course. Diane, Jackie and Roger are Molly's kids, and Albert her brother. They all needed money from Molly. Except Jackie, she didn't need money. She lived in her mothers place. She never got anything from her mother, because she didn't need it. That evening, everyone asked money from Molly again. Everybody was angry with Molly. Then Molly stood up. She said: "I'm going to bed, I feel ill now. And I tell you all, nobody is getting more money from me, not before I die!"Molly walked away. "One day I'm going to kill that woman," Diane said quietly. Jackie stood up en said: "Would everyone like some coffee? Come into the kitchen and let's drink it there. "

The next morning Roger woke up because he heard a cry from his mother's room. He got out of bed and walked to his mother's room. Diane came out. Her face was very white. "Roger! It's Mother! I brought a cup of coffee for her and I found her dead. She's dead... dead in her bed," she cried. Roger looked in the room. He walked to Molly, to see if she was really dead. He put his hand on her arm. It was cold. On the table next to the bed was a hot cup of coffee and an empty cup. "She's dead," Roger said slowly. His face, too, was white. "Mother is dead!"

Diane called the doctor. He came immediately. He said: "Your mother wasn't ill. I saw her on Thursday and she was very well. Why did she die? I don't understand. I want to find out. I'm going to phone the police."

The police arrived very quickly. There were a lot of them. Some of them with cameras went upstairs to Molly's room. Two detectives came to question everybody. It were Detective Inspector Walsh and Sergeant Foster. They began with Uncle Albert King.

Albert told he was angry with Molly last night. "I was angry with Molly. Everyone was angry. Roger was angry. Diane wanted money to go to America. Then there's a man called Tom Briggs... He wants half the garden for his farm. Molly was a rich woman. I need money because my wife Annie, Molly's sister, is very ill. I told Molly this," Albert said, "When she got upstairs, we drank some coffee in the kitchen. Jackie told us to go to mother's room before we went to bed. I went upstairs first, because I was very tired. Everyone went into Molly's room to say good night, I think. But around midnight... I heard someone... He - or she - went downstairs." The detectives thanked Albert, and asked for the next person: Jackie.

Jackie came in and sat down. "We found the empty bottle of sleeping tablets in Diane's room" the Inspector said suddenly. He asked if she came into her mothers room last night. She said: "Yes I did. Everyone did. Diane made hot milk and took it to mother. She usually drank a cup of hot milk before she slept." Inspector Walsh asked if she heard someone going downstairs, around midnight. "Yes, i heard someone. But it was mother. She went downstairs for the dogs, she wanted to get some dinner for them." "Did you need your mother's money?" The inspector asked. She reacted angry. Everyone wanted the money of Molly. The inspector knew that.

It was Roger's turn now. He told some things to the inspector. It wasn't really important. It was the same, as the rest of the family said before. Only he said he wanted money, because he and a friend of his, wanted to build houses in the garden of Molly. So he wanted Molly to move.

Then Diane came in. "When did you take the milk upstairs?" Inspector Walsh asked. "I went up after Roger," she said, "I didn't like my mother, Inspector." "I see," the inspector said, "So you wanted to kill your mother?" Diane laughed. "I wanted to kill her, but I didn't. I can tell you a lot of things about this family, Inspector. Everyone wanted Molly to die." She told him why. "Jackie hated mother too. Maybe it doesn't seem so. But it's true. Once, she was in love with a boy. But it was our gardener. So Molly said: "No".

Jackie was really mad then."

The detectives walked to the house of Peter Hobbs. He told: "Jackie wanted me to tell everyone that I wanted to kill Molly. And I told everyone. But I didn't do it! After me, Tom Briggs came in. Then I went home. That's all."

They walked to the farm of Tom Briggs. They came inside. "Excuse me, I'm eating my dinner," he said. "We can wait. Finish your dinner,"Inspector Walsh said. "Come and wait in the front room,"Tom said and opened the door. Inspector Walsh looked at the things in the front room. There was a picture of a happy young girl with long brown hair on the table. Who was that girl? Inspector Walsh looked to the picture a long time. When Tom Briggs came in, the inspector told that Molly was dead. Tom didn't know. "Yesterday you went to Molly's house. You went in the kitchen. What did you do next, can you remember?" "Yes, but nothing happened. The whole family was in the kitchen. They were drinking coffee. And Peter Hobbs was there too." Tom said. "Who is this?"Inspector Walsh got up and took the picture of the girl from the table. Tom's face went red. "Who? Oh! That's a friend. It's not... It was a long time ago." The detectives went back to their office.

The next day, they went to the Clarksons' house. "I know who murderd Molly Clarkson." "Who?" Diane asked. "Listen" said Inspector Walsh. "Someone wanted Peter Hobbs to come into the kitchen that night. She wanted everyone to see him, and listen to him."


"I'm going to tell you the full story now. Miss Clarkson, you wanted Peter Hobbs to come to the house that night. He was very angry with your mother because of a letter. He said: "I want to kill her." And you wanted everyone to hear that. Why?" Jackies face went white. "It's not true! What about Diane? You found the empty bottle in her bag!" Diane stood up. "In my bag? Were are you talking about?" "Be quiet, please, and sit down,"Inspector Walsh said. "It's true, we found the bottle in Diane's bag. But how do you know that? We didn't tell you." Jackie was busted. She had to go to the police-office.