Free A Fatal Inversion by Ruth Rendell

from work. Anyway, he was at home that day, home for lunch, and he and Beryl were actually sitting at the table, talking as it happened about going down soon to take a look at the Hall, when Adam came in. He had very long hair at the time and a beard, Lewis remembered, and looked, as they all did, like some kind of weird prophet. To this day Lewis had a picture in his mind of how his son had looked walking into the dining room (or dining area of the living room really) wearing jeans, of course, jeans with ragged hems, and a collarless tunic garment, tie-dyed, with colored inks. Afterward Lewis wished he had said something scathing, alluding perhaps to the lateness of the hour of Adam’s appearance. Well, he had alluded to Adam’s appearance but in a genial way. He had been feeling cheerful, God help him!
    “Just in time for the locusts and honey!”
    Adam said, “Something rather fantastic, old Hilbert’s left me his house.”
    “Yes, very funny,” Lewis had said. “What has he left you? His desk? You always said you liked that.”
    “No kidding, he’s left me his house. Whatsitsname Hall. Unbelievable, isn’t it? It was quite a shock. You can see the letter if you like.”
    Lewis snatched the letter. He had begun to tremble. There it was in black and white: “…the property known as Wyvis Hall at Nunes in the county of Suffolk, the lands pertaining thereto …” but it must be a mistake.
    “They’ve mistaken you for me, my boy,” Lewis said grimly.
    Adam smiled. “I doubt that.”
    “You doubt it? You know nothing about it. Of course Wyvis Hall is mine, it’s always been a matter of fact it would be mine. This is a simple mixup, a confusion of names, though I must say it amounts to criminal carelessness.”
    “You could phone them,” said Beryl.
    “I shall. I shall phone them immediately I’ve finished my lunch.”
    But he was not able to finish his lunch. He couldn’t eat another mouthful. Adam ate. He ate his way through bread and butter and ham and pickles and drank a half-pint of milk. Lewis went into the hall and phoned Hilbert’s solicitors. The one he wanted was still out to lunch. Adam got up from the table and said he thought he might go over to Rufus’s.
    “You’re not going anywhere,” said Lewis. “I forbid you to leave this house.”
    “You what?” said Adam, looking at him and grinning.
    Beryl said, “Just wait a few minutes, Adam, till we’ve got this cleared up.”
    “Why’s he getting his knickers in a twist anyway if he’s so sure it’s a mistake?”
    It was not then but ten minutes afterward when he had spoken to the solicitor and been assured there was no mistake that Lewis began to dislike his son. Adam said: “You can’t expect me to be sorry he left the place to me and not to you. Obviously, I think he made the right decision.”
    “Can’t you see what an outrage it is?”
    Adam was excited. He wanted to go and tell the Fletcher family his good fortune. Lewis was boiling with rage and misery and shock.
    “Can I have the car?” said Adam.
    “No, you can’t! Now or at any other time, and that’s final!”
    Lewis soon formulated a plan whereby they could all share Wyvis Hall. It was not ideal, it was not what he had anticipated, far from it, but it was better than abandoning it to Adam. After all, Adam would be back at college in a week’s time, the will would have to be proved, but by the middle of the summer why shouldn’t he and his wife and Bridget use the Hall regularly at weekends? Adam could have it for his long vacation. He, Lewis, was quite prepared to get the place redecorated at his own expense. It was a family house, after all, no doubt Hilbert had intended Adam to share it with the rest of his family. He and Beryl and Bridget could go there on weekends and they could all be there together for Christmas. What did a boy still at university, with no prospects yet of any sort of career, what did someone like that want with a massive country