four months, two weeks and three days from today, miss green began, will mark the seventh anniversary of the death or disappearance of roselle winfield, nee gray.
roselle winfield was the daughter of the late” buck” gray, and heiress and owner of gray shipping lines, the central component or “crown jewel” of the extensive gray empire. she was married to gerald “jerry” winfield, a man her own age whose private fortune was not the equal of hers, but in the same league.
both jerry and roselle, but especially jerry, preferred enjoying their money to involving themselves in managing it on a day to day basis. roselle kept some tabs on what was done with her money, jerry not so much.
the severely mutilated body of a woman was found near the bay ridge parkway in brooklyn. the body contained the drivers license and other identification belonging to roselle winfield.
a first cousin of roselle winfield’s, davenportia simmons nee gray, identified the body as roselle winfield’s, and this identification was not challenged - at the time.
jerry winfield disappeared at the same time, and it was widely assumed that he had either murdered roselle or been murdered himself, with opinion split about evenly as to both possibilities.
the marriage contract of jerry and roselle was clear that neither was the heir of the other. provisions were made for possible children, but there never were any. therefore jerry’s money was not the subject of any concern or conflict within the gray family.
but roselle’s was. especially by agnes miller.
at the name “agnes miller” minerva’s eyes narrowed, and miss green thought she might interrupt, but she did not, and miss green continued.
agnes miller was a couple of years younger than roselle, and a first cousin. she was the daughter of buck gray’s younger sister judith “crazy judy” gray , and the notorious “mack” miller, a financier who had “turned wall street into his private shooting gallery” before the war, and who was shot and killed by a disgruntled former partner.
agnes’s interests in the gray estate had previously been ruled against by the courts, when she and roselle had been teenagers, but with the death of roselle , the adult agnes and her attorneys returned to the charge.
the gray family was united against agnes, whom they considered unstable and capable of sinking the entire gray estate, and at some point the idea was broached that perhaps roselle was not really dead.
attorneys for agnes took up the challenge, and after lengthy charges, countercharges, injunctions, and injunctions against injunctions, the body presumed to be roselle’s was exhumed and pronounced not to be hers. this judgment was accepted by most, but not all, involved.
with roselle now officially “disappeared” and not dead, the question now became whether she would be pronounced dead after seven years. before the seven years are up, a person is considered alive unless evidence can be brought forth otherwise, but after seven years the reverse is true, and they are considered dead unless evidence is brought forth that they are alive.
for roselle to be declared dead would be an advantage for agnes, but in no way a decisive one. and there the matter stands.
miss green took a sip of water. “would you say,” she asked minerva, “that that is a fair assessment of the case?”
“fair enough,” minerva replied. “i would only add that something more than being ‘unstable’ is involved with agnes. she is, and aways has been, involved with some very questionable people, people on the proverbial ‘seven continents’, very questionable people. but that need not concern us here.
what does concern us today is what i have here.”
minerva took her handbag off the conference table and opened it.
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