Again came the police photographers, and after they had gone, leaving
the vault thick with the mist of exploded magnesium, the two men were
left to their search. The first boxes were, for the main part, filled
with money. There was very little gold, but a great deal of paper of
various nationalities. In one box Carver found five million francs in
thousand franc notes, another was packed with English five pound notes,
another was full of hundred dollar bills fastened in packets of ten
thousand. Only two of these boxes were locked and only one that they
looked at that night contained anything in the nature of documents.
For the most part they were old leases, receipts painted on thin paper
in Chinese characters and which they only knew were receipts because
somebody had written a translation on their backs. They were bracketed
neatly in folders, on each of which was described in a fine flowing
hand, the nature of its contents.
On one thick bundle fastened with rubber bands was an old label:
“Trading correspondence, 1899.”
In his search Tab, who was looking through the box, found a folded
manuscript which he brought out.
“Here is his will,” he said, and Carver took it from him. It was
written in the crabbed boyish hand which Tab had come to know so well
and it was very short. After the conventional preamble, it went on:
“I leave my property and effects whatsoever, to my nephew, Rex Percival
Lander, the only son of my deceased sister, Mary Catherine Lander, nee
Trasmere, and I appoint him sole executor of this my will.”
It was witnessed by Mildred Green, who described herself as a cook, and
by Arthur Green, whose description of his profession was valet. Their
addresses were Mayfield.
“I think those are the two servants the old man discharged for
pilfering some six months ago. The will must have been executed a few
weeks before they left.”
Tab’s first feeling was one of pleasure that at last his friend was a
rich man. Poor Rex, little did he dream that he would come into his
inheritance in so tragic a fashion.
Carver put the document back into the box and continued the examination
of the door which Tab had interrupted.
“It isn’t a spring lock, you notice,” he said. “So, therefore, it
couldn’t have been slammed by a murderer who first shot Trasmere and
then made his escape. It has to be locked either from the inside or the
outside. If there was any reasonable possibility of Trasmere having
shot himself, the solution would have been simple. But he did not
shoot himself. He was shot here, the door was locked upon him and the
key returned to the table--how?” He took the key and tried one of the
air-holes of the ventilator. The point of the key scarcely entered.
“There must be some other entrance to the vault,” he said.
The sun was up before they finished their examination of the room. The
walls were solid. There was neither window nor fireplace. The floor was
even more substantial than the walls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account