Harry took the envelope from behind the clock and sat down for breakfast opposite his aunt.
"So I won," she enquired with a silky smile."
"I haven't opened it yet," protested Harry
"You wouldn't even be looking if I wasn't right," explained his aunt, smiling. "You would be speculating about age catching up with me, or something rude like that."
Harry slit open the envelope and opened the slip of paper. He read out his aunt's clear handwriting, "1956 Chamberlain Super 70... Aunt Diane," he grinned, "you are without doubt a witch, a crafty and it seems a winning witch. How on earth did you work it out?"
"Ah Harry, the person who solves 'who dunnits' is invariably the one with the greatest amount of facts, and in this case I was that person: I'll explain.
"Once I had made up my mind that Mr Lalor's extra security only made sense if he had something to hide himself, rather than there being any real fear of a burglary, everything started to fall into place. I'll fill you in with the story.
"I finished at Uni in 1957 and married your late uncle, who had started his farm machinery business here only a couple of years before. At the time, wheat farming was beginning to replace sheep raising in the district, so your uncle applied for, and got the agency to sell Chamberlain Tractors. Now, a Mr Morgan turned up one day and wanted to buy one of the tractors, a Super 70. Morgan was a contractor, and a pretty shady character, 'flash as a rat with gold teeth,' the old timers would have said. I advised your uncle not to arrange finance for him, so Mr Morgan went to the bank. He got no joy there either, because really, he was a man of no substance. But a few days later, to our surprise the bank did advance the money, but, as we found out later, only because Morgan persuaded Mr Lalor to guarantee him."
"Why did he do that?" interjected Harry.
"As in all good stories Harry, the love of a woman was behind it, a very silly woman as it turned out. Mr Lalor had a daughter, Lily, who was thirty one or two and in those days that was decidedly on the shelf. Worse than that, Lily didn't have a skerrick of sense in her head. Mr Morgan came courting and in no time at all Lily was referring to him as her fiancée, but once Morgan had the tractor his interest in Lily cooled rapidly. Mr Lalor was furious, but what could he do, he couldn't get Morgan to take Lily on, and I'm quite sure he couldn't get his money back."
"But that doesn't explain..."
"Just wait and I'll finish," responded Aunt Diane raising a cautionary finger. "One day a couple of very tough looking men turned up. They were debt collectors and repossession men from Sydney; Mr Morgan's past was catching up with him. Morgan of course did the time honoured thing; he shot through as fast as he could, and was never seen or heard of again in the district. The debt collectors sold the few assets he left behind, but the most important asset, the tractor, had just disappeared. In hindsight Mr Lalor was the only logical suspect really. He probably thought, 'why not,' it was his money that bought it, but he got scared when the debt collectors started looking around. Then of course Mr Lalor died only a few months later, and it was all forgotten.
"But," Diane added, "I did feel sorry for Lily, even if she was a fool"
"Why," said Harry, "it was her own fault"
"Perhaps it was," replied his aunt, "But I remember you see, for the previous twenty years everybody had laughed at Lily Lalor's silliness behind her back, but after her humiliation, she knew they were laughing, and they were laughing to her face. That was the difference, she knew, poor woman, and it was not entirely her fault, Morgan lied to her, deceived her. Men do it all the time, tell women lies that is. It's contemptible," she concluded.
"Yes," replied Harry evenly, "And now I suppose you are going to tell me what the stake is I lost."
"Hmmm, not yet, I have one or two ideas, in fact it might be a few weeks, but," she stressed, "I shan't forget."
"No I'm sure you won't," laughed Harry, "And I shall not forget, not to bet with you again."
"Oh and by the way," his aunt reminded him changing the subject, "I checked my diary this morning and I have a reminder that you are to take a phone call from the US. about that post graduate opportunity."
"That's ok," said Harry "I haven't forgotten, it's booked for nine this morning, which I think is about five or six in the afternoon for them. I was asked in the email to allow for up to two hours, so I have left the whole morning free. "
"You've only got twenty minutes then, I'll be going out, so you won't be disturbed."
Sure enough, only a couple of minutes late, Harry's call came through on skype. A pleasant rather sombre dark haired woman of about forty five appeared on his computer screen. "Hi Harry," the professor introduced herself, "I am Alex Schering." After a few pleasantries she suggested, "I have a stack of questions to ask you and things to tell you. I am sure you have the same so why don't I go first then you come back to me with anything I have missed or queries you may have." After more than ninety minutes Professor Schering told him she was pretty much finished. She had been so well prepared that Harry got through his agenda much quicker, and eventually told her he hoped they would be able to meet when he went to the US in late January or February.
The professor announced she was very happy with how things had gone but then added, "there is just one more thing and I say this to every one who works with me, so bear with me. Academic life can be a lot more competitive, cutthroat, and even downright bitchy than many outsiders imagine. I have seen things said and done that I would not want to be part of. I give to my students and colleagues the very highest standards of academic and professional integrity. I don't exploit anyone unfairly, and I expect them to reciprocate with the very highest standards of professional integrity and honesty. I say this Harry, because there are always professional disagreements, but so long as we have absolute mutual trust, they can be worked through."
Harry was slightly taken aback by her determined assertion, and acknowledged, but did not respond to her point, he thanked her and the discussion was terminated.
On emerging from the call Harry could see that it had been raining for most of the morning, and while it was still relatively cool and overcast, the rain had eased off. "Hmmm," he thought "Nothing else is scheduled, so I'll have something to eat, get over to Maria's and make a long shift of it."
So it was, that shortly after mid day he drove into Maria's driveway. She had left a short note pinned to the door, "Back at six - M"
