Mortui vivos docent - the dead teach the living

Part 1

17th September, 2022.

Elise Hawcroft, co-owner of H&H, is pronounced dead at the scene, age 72. 

Cause of death: cardiac arrest.

24th September, 2022.

Elise Hawcroft’s funeral service, followed by the grieving family eating dinner together. 

“You know the saddest thing? Dying on her birthday. I already miss Granny,” Richard Hawcroft says, clanging down his cutlery on the dining table. It is nice to know that at least someone misses the poor elderly woman - not many other people sitting around this table seem that upset by Elise’s passing.

Indeed, Victoria, Richard’s 18 year old sister, is merely sitting here playing with her mobile phone. Disrespectful, honestly. Beatrice, Richard and Victoria’s mother, is too busy reapplying her lipstick to listen to whatever her son is saying. 

At least Henry Hawcroft is listening - Elise’s son, and father to Richard and Victoria, as well as husband to that bitch Beatrice. Clearing my throat awkwardly, I remind myself not to get too frustrated at the woman - just because she lacks braincells doesn’t mean I should be rude to her in my thoughts. 

After all, she is family.

I’m not sure why so many of the women in this family are so ridiculously stupid, but Beatrice is not the worst - no, after all, there is Elise’s charming daughter, Patricia. 47 years old and divorced, having never done a single good thing with her life.

Her mother is turning in her grave, I’m sure.

Patricia, surprisingly, is the most bereft-looking one present, even more so than Elise’s own husband, Ronald Hawcroft, or Elise’s younger sister Agatha Henchley. Patricia and Elise were not close, however…she is the oldest child, born three years before Henry, and thus was doted on to the extreme before her younger brother arrived.

“I miss my dear sister greatly as well, sweetie,” Agatha reassures Richard, sipping at her glass of wine relaxedly. Agatha and Elise were as close as close can be…after all, they started their own business together, named H&H - Henchley & Hawcroft, although Elise did always argue that it was Hawcroft & Henchley, named after her own husband rather than Agatha’s husband, who has passed away now.

When Agatha’s husband passed, Elise was there for her through it all, which only solidified the women’s relationship. They were not only sisters, but best friends as well. 

Which is why I find it a little odd that Agatha does not look more upset, since her dear sister passed away just a week prior. However, Agatha also reacted in a similar way when her husband left this world…it seems that she merely processes loss in a different way to others - she does seem like the type to remain strong amongst others, but then breakdown in private.

Ronald Hawcroft, Elise’s husband, has been very quiet throughout this entire dinner. He hasn’t eaten much either, which is a little concerning - the man is already 74 and he isn’t getting any younger, so skipping meals is really not advisable for someone his age. 

But still, the man is grieving the loss of his wife, so his lack of appetite is understandable.

“I still just think it’s odd though. I mean, when has Granny ever had heart issues before? I thought that she was quite healthy, considering her age,” Richard, the grandson, observes. Beatrice, his mother, finally looks up from the mirror where she was reapplying her lipstick.

“Oh baby, old people die all the time. When you get to Granny’s age, the same could happen to you,” Beatrice very unhelpfully says. Henry, Beatrice’s husband, clears his throat, sending his wife a stern look.

“My dear, don’t say things like that to Richard. He’s still only 20, he isn’t about to drop dead. Are you now, lad?” Henry asks, smiling in his son’s direction. Richard just grimaces slightly, going back to picking over his food.

“Come on Mum, you’re making it sound like Grandad is about to die too or something,” Victoria points out, still not looking up from her mobile phone, her food completely abandoned. She is hardly eating anything again; Victoria is constantly going on some diet or other for no apparent reason.

“I’ve still got life left in me yet,” Ronald finally speaks his first words of the meal, smiling with a little strain at his grandchildren and daughter-in-law. 

“Oh yes, Ronald is perfectly healthy,” Agatha pitches in, leaning forwards in her seat to reach for the onion gravy. 

“What about you, Great Auntie? How is your health as of late?” Richard asks, smiling at Agatha. She smiles back, a small grin on her lips. “I am perfectly healthy - 68 isn’t that old!”

She says that, but her husband died when he was only 69.

“Let’s just stop talking about all of this, should we? Can we please mourn Mother in silence?” Patricia asks suddenly, looking like she is on the verge of tears. 

Gosh, I hate that woman. Such a useless bitch, freeloading off her parents her entire life. She probably only cares about her mother’s death in relation to the inheritance she will receive.

In fact, every single person at this table has something to gain from Elise Hawcroft’s death. 

Folding my hands in my lap, I regard everyone in front of me calmly. No one seems that upset about Elise’s death - other than Patricia, but no reaction she has can be trusted; after all she is probably just faking her sadness.

I for one though…I am terribly upset by Elise’s death. Not the best woman to ever live, of course not, but she definitely had a positive impact on the lives of the people she interacted with. 

“Auntie of course we can mourn Granny however we would like, but I think that it’s a good idea to continue talking about her, in order to keep her memory alive,” Richard pipes up again, laying his cutlery down on his plate, seemingly finished with his meal.

“What’s there to keep alive? She’s dead already, just leave the old bat be,” Beatrice comments, full of snark, scowling at her son. Henry clears his throat, sending his wife yet another look. He should keep that damn woman in check. 

“Beatrice, please don’t say such things. My mother has only just passed away and I know how much we all miss her - I for one will not be able to sleep soundly for quite some time whilst recovering from the grief,” Henry proclaims, pretending that he’s some kind of saint who didn’t benefit greatly from his mother’s passing.

Apparently, Beatrice is in the same mind as me.

“On come on honey, you hardly sounded a bit sad when talking about that massive inheritance Mother-in-law left you. You’ll be just fine in no time,” Beatrice says with a bright laugh, her lips curling in quite a revolting manner.

Just when I thought that I finally may be able to see eye to eye with this snake of a woman, she has to rub me the wrong way once again. Poor Elise didn’t deserve such a foul daughter-in-law - at least Beatrice produced Richard, the one nice person at this table (other than myself of course).

Henry glares at his wife, putting his silver cutlery down on the table with a heavy clang as his knife clips the side of the china plate. “Beatrice! How dare you imply that I am glad my poor mother died!”

Beatrice pulls back a little in surprise, her eyes flitting in my and Agatha’s direction, where we are sitting next to each other. “I’m not- that’s not at all what I was suggesting! How could you think that I was implying that! She was your mother what reason could you possibly have that would make you benefit from her death?!”

Oh dear. These two often fight; I’m not sure why they decided to marry when their personalities so evidently mesh poorly together. Of course, this isn’t a fault of Henry’s; he is a lovely man whereas Beatrice - well. She is very obviously less than good company.

Victoria snorts, glancing up at each of her parents. “God, you’re both making it sound like her death was deliberate. Granny went into cardiac arrest. End of story. What anyone gains from this is neither here nor there.”

Richard rolls his eyes, resting his cheek on his palm. “Of course you’d say that; after all, Granny left you quite a hefty inheritance didn’t she?” 

Victoria slaps her brother’s arm - not hard, but not exactly playful either. “And you’re just so jealous of that aren’t you? Come on Richie, Granny left you way more than me because you’re older and she so clearly loved you the most. But you’re still pissy about the fact that she left me a lot too? So greedy.”

Hm. Well, I do agree with one part of Victoria’s words: Richard is undeniably the only tolerable one at this table (apart from myself, I’m fairly certain that everyone gets along with me quite well because I’m so charismatic and kind), so of course their grandmother liked him more than Victoria - the girl is stupid and every other word she says is annoying.

But that is beside the point.

“Victoria! Don’t say things like that to your brother!” Beatrice chastises her daughter, and frankly I am glad not to be a part of that inner family - Henry, Beatrice, Victoria and Richard are all quick to blame each other, as well as being self centred: this is a dinner party after Elise Hawcroft’s funeral and yet the conversation is just about them.

They aren’t celebrating the life of a loved one, they aren’t mourning the loss of her…they are only arguing about inconsequential things such as money.

“That’s enough! Please, have some decency for my sister’s sake!” Agatha stands up from her seat, positively fuming, as if sensing my thoughts. Ronald nods at his sister-in-law, folding his hands across his lap. “I agree with Agatha. This is a family affair where we should be grieving the loss of my dear wife Elise, and coming together to support each other in such a difficult time.”

Patricia snorts - of course that goddamn woman is going to be rude to her father. “Come on Father, this is hardly a difficult time for you now is it? I know how desperately in need of money you were - after all, H&H isn’t exactly in profit right now is it? And you retired long ago, meaning that you’re only losing money, and it’s too expensive to keep up this kind of life style for long without sufficient funds…but you don’t have to worry about that anymore now do you? Because I know that Mother’s life insurance was enough to keep you going for a while.”

For Patricia to disrespect her father like that - absolutely deplorable. What a disrespectful and rude bitch.

“Patricia. What are you suggesting? Why would you say something like this?” Ronald asks calmly, staring his daughter down. Patricia stands up quickly, glancing over at Richard. “My dear nephew…surely I am not the only one who has noticed something…off, about this all? You are always so alert, and you already commented on how my Mother had no heart issues.”

Richard looks at his aunt, narrowing his eyes slightly. “Yes, I had noticed that…I also noticed another thing: that when Granny died, everyone was very helpfully in the same room, waiting for her to come back from taking her arthritis medication.”

Agatha frowns slightly, looking at her great-nephew with concern. “Dear, what are you saying?”

Richard closes his eyes, standing from his seat as he walks towards the door. We all watch him as he closes the heavy wooden doors, pressing his hand against them and leaving it there. “I’m saying that it is very convenient that we all had the perfect alibi: we were all together. Granny couldn’t possibly have been murdered by her own relative, right? Because we were right there with each other the whole time.”

Several gasps resound through the room, but I keep my mouth clamped shut. We all know what Richard is getting at, we all know exactly what he is saying: that one of these people murdered Elise Hawcroft.

I don’t include myself in that list of suspects, because obviously I would never dare to hurt a member of my family; none of these people, no matter how atrocious some of them may be…I could never do such a thing to any of them, because all of them are my family.

“Richard! How could you accuse your own family of something like that?” Beatrice asks, jumping from her seat and hurrying towards her son. She touches his arm, but he just shakes off her touch. “Don’t touch me, Mum.…after all, you can’t be excluded from the list of suspects - you have something to gain from Granny’s death too.”

Sitting up in my seat, I look around at my family with new eyes…that is true, the death of Elise Hawcroft benefits each of these people. I’d thought about it earlier, but it hadn’t occurred to me that these benefits could be a reason to harm your own family.

“Everyone sit back down. We’re going to get to the bottom of this - Granny’s death may have been ruled as ‘natural’ but I think otherwise, and Auntie Patricia does too. That’s enough of a reason to be suspicious of all of you, or at least I should think so,” Richard commands, moving back to his own seat, closely followed by his mother.

“This is simply ridiculous! I would never murder my own mother! You are such an ingrate, I cannot believe I raised a son like this!” Henry bellows, smashing his hand down onto the table. Beatrice tries to soothe her husband, but to be honest it doesn’t seem like she tried particularly hard.

“Oh come on, Henry. Just let Richard ask his questions - aren’t you curious about Mother’s death too?” Patricia asks, and I admit…I myself am a little curious, so I shall stay long enough to observe what each of them has to say.

“This is what we’ll do,” Richard begins, sending a pointed look to each member of his family. “We will go through the events of Granny’s birthday, saying what each of us was doing before Granny died and then the slot of time where Granny most likely passed away. And we will also think of possible motives for each of us. And no, I will not be exempt from this either, before Victoria tries to make any accusations about me in regards to avoiding my own rules.”

Everyone grudgingly nods and although this does not seem like it will achieve anything…it might be interesting to see what possible motives each of these people could have against an old, defenceless 72 year old woman.