Grahame,Im in agreement with you on this.What I find really unsettling is AE's first thought on learning the horrific news.Something along the lines of "All of the family dead - except Jeremy",which I take to mean - how suspicious! Not,"all of the family dead,but at least we still have Jeremy".And then the amateur sleuthing appeared to take hold from the moment Jeremy told them what he had discovered after a trip to see the solicitor,regarding the wills,farms and land.As Vidvic has pointed out,this family were wealthy in their own right,but in my opinion,they felt they did what they had to do,in order to stop Jeremy taking over or even selling off what they saw as their heritage - the Speakman estate.