Free The Undertaker's Widow by Phillip Margolin

good description. She has her own opinions about how to do things. Once those opinions are formed, it is difficult to change them. Unfortunately, the senator’s views on how to run this company are not based on a background in business.”
    â€œYou don’t think she’s competent to head up Hoyt Industries?”
    â€œDon’t get me wrong. I have the highest respect for the senator’s intelligence, and I think she believes that she is capable of running Hoyt Industries. I’m not convinced, though.”
    â€œWho would profit if the senator had been murdered along with her husband?”
    â€œYou mean with regards to the company?”
    Anthony nodded.
    â€œI guess Junior, if he inherited.”
    â€œCould he run Hoyt Industries?”
    â€œOff the record again?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œJunior is a fool and a spendthrift. He would bankrupt this company.”
    â€œSo you don’t think Mr. Hoyt contemplated any part in running the company for his son?”
    â€œI’m certain of it. They weren’t even on good terms personally. In fact, shortly before his death, Lamar and Junior had a yelling match right here.”
    â€œAbout what?”
    â€œI don’t know. Lamar wouldn’t talk about it. I just caught the tail end. I was walking over to Lamar’s office when his door burst open and Junior came storming out. He almost knocked me down. Junior looked furious. When I went into Lamar’s office, he was just as angry.”
    â€œMr. Appling, can you think of anyone who would want Mr. Hoyt dead?”
    â€œNo, and I have thought about it. We have union problems with the trucking concern, of course, and there are employees that we’ve had to let go, but that’s just grasping at straws. If you’re looking for serious suspects, I can’t give you any.”
    â€œThank you for your time, Mr. Appling,” Anthony said as he stood up. He placed a card on the vice-president’s desk. “If you think of anything else, please give me a call.”
[2]
    Charles DePaul’s office was not as grandiose as Anthony had expected the office of a senior partner in a major law firm to be. It was sparsely furnished and functional. DePaul’s desk was almost bare. There was an antique reading lamp, some correspondence neatly stacked under a glass paperweight, a picture of DePaul’s wife and three daughters and a single file sitting squarely in the center of the desk. DePaul was as unimposing as his office, a short, balding, slightly overweight man who looked nothing like the image suggested by his reputation in the Oregon Bar.
    â€œYou said on the phone that you wanted to discuss the terms of Lamar’s will. Can you tell me why?”
    â€œThis is confidential information, Mr. DePaul. So let me ask you first, who is your client?”
    â€œLamar Hoyt, Sr.”
    â€œNot Ellen Crease?”
    â€œNo, sir.”
    â€œMr. DePaul, I need your promise that what is said here will not be repeated.”
    â€œYou can trust my discretion.”
    â€œThere is a possibility that the break-in at the Hoyt estate was more than a burglary. The man who Broke in may have been paid to kill Mr. Hoyt, his wife or both of them. If Mr. Hoyt was the intended victim then I need to know who gains by his death …”
    â€œAnd the beneficiary of the will is an obvious suspect,” DePaul said, completing the detective’s thought.
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œAside from bequests to a few charities, Mr. Allen and some of the employees at Hoyt Industries, the major beneficiaries were Ellen Crease and Lamar’s only child, Lamar, Jr. Senator Crease inherited the bulk of the estate. That would be the house, the controlling shares in Hoyt Industries and a number of other bequests.”
    â€œAnd his son?”
    â€œLamar left Junior the mortuary business, a quarter of a million dollars in cash and a home in the mountains. Junior is an