Sydnee and Trent secretly hated each other, but until their Aunt Dora kicked off and the estate was divided up, the two cousins figured they should remain friends…shouldn’t they?
"I can hardly wait to sell this dark, wretched old museum once Aunt Dora kicks off,"Trentsaid, languidly handing over his glass.
“Naturally,” Sydnee replied, pouring another round of champagne.
She and Trent were discussing their favorite subject－collecting their inheritance and cashing in on the mansion they had lived in since infancy. When the cousins were orphaned, their kindhearted Aunt Dora took them in－and then unwittingly spoiled them rotten. Now, they were lazy, self-serving adults waiting like vultures for the old lady to die. To their delight, her health was rapidly failing.
“You know, to get top dollar for this mausoleum,” Sydnee continued, waving around one silk-clad arm, “we’ll have to go through it and catalog all the stuff. There’s sixty years’ accumulation of old junk in these rooms.”
“Suit yourself,”Trentscoffed. “Making a list and checking it twice is hardly my idea of fun.”
Sydnee shotTrenta withering look. Well then, she thought, she’d just have to take matters into her own hands. She’d assess the mansion room by room and keep any long-forgotten treasures all for herself. The very next day, she headed for the huge, musty basement, a cavernous dungeon where even the housekeeper refused to go. Wandering through the gloom, she came upon an unexpected sight.
“The wine cellar!” Sydnee exclaimed. She’d almost forgotten it and assumed no wine would remain, but she found a number of dusty bottles… all good years, all expensive.Trentwould be as delighted as she was with her find: fine wine was the only interest besides Aunt Dora’s money that the two of them shared.
Searching the floor for a box in which to place the bottles, Sydnee noticed another relic: an abandoned test tube. FromTrent’s lab, she thought, pushing open the door to the room whereTrenthad once played at being a scientist, an interest later abandoned in favor of fast living.
The lab was as neglected as the rest of the basement－old bottles, a filthy microscope, a nauseating odor. Sydnee hastened upstairs to get away from the whole spooky mess.
“I couldn’t carry up all the wine,” she told Trent later, “and I hate the idea of going back down there－it’s creepy.”
“I’ll bring the rest up later, ”Trentsaid. ”Just as soon as I have a minute.”
“Good. For now, then, let’s sample one of these bottles.”
“Can’t. I’m late for a party.”
“Well, it’s your job to clean out that old lab of yours!” Sydnee commanded, asTrentswept by her on his way out of the drawing room.
Nag, nag, nag,Trentthought, closing the front door behind him. A few days later, though, he become curious and made his way to the basement to check out Sydnee’s finds. Surveying the old chemicals and assorted supplies, he suddenly got an idea. All along, his real desire had been to get rid of both Aunt Dora and Sydnee, so he could be sole heir to the fortune. But since he hadn’t a clue how to do it, he’d resigned himself to sharing his aunt’s millions with his snobby cousin, whom he secretly loathed. Now, though, his cousin’s home-improvement plan had shown him the way－and it would be the death of her, he thought gleefully. He’d poison a glass of her wine with one of the tasteless, untraceable chemicals he had collected as a child.
A few days later, the big moment came.
“I think I’ll stay in tonight,”Trentsaid peering through the drawing-room window as rain spattered against the panes.
“Me, too,” Sydnee said. “Monday’s my bubble bath night.”
“Have a glass of wine first?”Trentsmoothly suggested. “By the way, I brought up those other bottles.”
“Wonderful,” she said. “But we may as well finish this first. Waste not, want not,” she said, pouring wine into two crystal goblets.
Trentwas so excited to put his plan into action, he gulped down the wine. “Exquisite,” he remarked, setting is empty goblet on a table and walking jauntily to the bar. “Perhaps we should take a glass to Aunt Dora,” he added cunningly.
No she’s taken her sleeping pill already. I checked on her a while ago. She’s sleeping like a baby, Sydnee said.
“Good, good. Well, how about trying this one? Excellent vintage. ”His back to Sydnee, he quickly ”uncorked” the bottle at the bar and returned to refill their glasses.
“Yes, marvelous.” She murmured after two delicate sips. Then, suddenly, she turned toTrent, a hideous, fearful look on her face. She gasped once and collapsed. But it hardly mattered, forTrentwas already in a fatal stupor from the poison she had placed in his first drink.
Upstairs, Aunt Dora lay awake. She had discovered that her underlying health problem stemmed from an intolerance to her sleeping medication, so she’d secretly stopped taking her prescription. Suspicious of Sydnee and Trent, she’d stayed close to her room and feigned feebleness until she could complete her plans.
Tomorrow, her attorney would accompany her to her new and secure condominium uptown. Then he’d have the task of breaking the news toTrentand Sydnee that because they had made so little of their lives, she had decided she was going to leave her fortune to charity and have no further association with either of them. The old mansion would be converted into a lovely home for older folks. Trent and Sydnee would have to leave－even if it meant she had to evict them. ( byPam Foster )
