The fiance of children’s author Helen Bailey repeatedly pushed for a sale of her property to go ahead after he allegedly killed her, a court has heard.
Ian Stewart, 56, of Baldock Road, Royston, Hertfordshire, watched a game of bowls and had a Chinese takeaway on the day he is accused of drugging and killing the author, a jury at St Albans Crown Court was told.
The 51-year-old writer's body was found dumped alongside her beloved dog Boris in a cesspit deep below her £1.5 million property in Royston in July 2016.
Stewart denies charges of murder, fraud, preventing a lawful burial and three counts of perverting the course of justice.
On April 11 2016, when the murder was said to have taken place, the defendant had visited a solicitor with paperwork regarding the sale of the £185,000 property in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
He claimed he was attending in place of Ms Bailey because she was was "unwell", solicitor Timothy Penn told the court.
In the weeks after her disappearance, Stewart was in contact with Mr Penn on several occasions and was "not at all pleased" by the lack of progress, the court heard.
Mr Penn told the court of one phone call: "He said 'You probably know that Helen is missing and I'm wondering if you can carry on with this transaction in the meantime'.
"I said effectively no. He talked about a power of attorney and I said in these circumstances we would want to hear from Helen."
The court previously heard that in 2015 Stewart was given power of attorney alongside Ms Bailey's brother John, allowing him to control her affairs should she become unfit to administer them.
Mr Penn said of one later meeting: "I do remember on this occasion that he was very anxious and he was not at all pleased to hear the news that we were not able to proceed with the transaction; it didn't go down well.
"He was shrugging his shoulders, he was looking anxious, he was not pleased to hear that information, put it that way.
"I explained to him obviously, with the question mark over where Helen was, there was a question mark over the power of attorney."
Stewart allegedly told the solicitor he was looking into getting his powers of attorney properly registered.
The court heard that this was required for his powers over Ms Bailey's affairs to become active - and only stood if she was alive.
It is alleged that the killing had "money as its driving motive", with Stewart in line to be a "substantial" benefactor of the author’s £4 million fortune in the event of her death.