He rang off and turning to Mitchell said:
‘That was Mayne and Mayne, who are acting for Mr Belfort, the new trustee. He seems to have got it into his head that there’s something wrong with the Trust. Whatever’s wrong anywhere else, Belfort’s all right. Sir Christopher’s estate will be responsible and there won’t be any attempt to dodge responsibility either.’
‘Did they say why Mr Belfort did not keep his dinner engagement?’ Mitchell asked. ‘I heard you ask.’
‘They say he did keep it, but when he arrived he found police in charge and was told Sir Christopher had been found shot dead. So not unnaturally he went away again – apparently convinced it was a case of suicide and that the Trust money had all been embezzled. I am inclined to think now,’ Peter went on, ‘that there must have been rumours in circulation about Marsden – about us, the firm, I should say. What the real situation is we shan’t know till they’ve been here from the Public Prosecutor’s office – no one knows at present but Marsden, and he’s cleared out for good, I suppose.’
The door opened and Marsden himself came in. Neither Mitchell nor Bobby had any idea who he was, but Peter jumped up with an astonished cry:
‘Good Lord, Marsden, you – you, after what you told me last night?’
‘Is this gentleman Mr Marsden?’ Mitchell asked, and added in an undertone: ‘Bear looking into.’
‘My name is Marsden,’ that gentleman agreed. ‘I suppose you are from Scotland Yard from what they tell me in the office? Sorry you’ve been troubled. It’s what comes of having the biggest fool in the country for a partner. Carsley, what cursed piece of idiocy have you been up to?’
‘You told me last night,’ said Peter, ‘you had embezzled moneys belonging to our clients. The Public Prosecutor is sending two of his staff round to investigate things at once.’
‘Well, they can trot away back again,’ said Marsden, ‘and you can trot off with them if you like. I rather gathered you had been making an even more priceless fool of yourself than usual. Of course, this is the end of our connexion. You’ve ruined the firm nearly as thoroughly as I thought you had last night by offending old Clarke. Now he’s dead, and that doesn’t matter, and so you make yourself even a more disgusting fool in another way. What I told you, you blighted young idiot, was that in making Sir Christopher our enemy you had ruined the firm as thoroughly as embezzling clients’ money would have done. It was only afterwards I realized that you are the kind of thick-headed young Pharisee who might have misunderstood what I meant.’
CHAPTER 12
MARSDEN EXPLAINS
Mitchell was the first to break the silence that followed, for Peter was far too bewildered, first by Marsden’s unexpected return, and then by this astonishing announcement, to be able to get out a word. Following on the strain of recent events, it was too much for him altogether, and one could almost see him struggling to get his mind adjusted to this new development and to make out what it meant. Marsden was watching him with a kind of fury of contempt and rage he made no effort to conceal, that it seemed probable might find fresh vent at any moment. Bobby, looking on with interest, absorbed in the drama of the scene, imagined too that he could detect a strain of uneasiness, of terror, perhaps, in Marsden’s manner, and he supposed this was not unnatural in such circumstances. But none of the three of them spoke till Mitchell murmured, half to himself apparently:
‘Bear looking into, bear looking into.’
Then Peter said, looking straight and hard at Marsden: ‘There was no misunderstanding. I know what you said.’
‘You mean you know what you think I said,’ retorted Marsden. He turned to Mitchell, ‘You are from Scotland Yard, you are Mr Mitchell, aren’t you? I’ve seen you in the courts, I think.’
‘Marsden,’ Peter burst out suddenly, ‘do you mean that all clients’ money is all right?’
‘I mean this,’ Marsden snarled, his sharp, dark eyes small points of blazing anger. ‘I’m not going to have anything more to do with you. You’re not only a fool, you’re a mischievous fool. I would sooner have a mad dog for a partner than you. I’ve done with you for good and all. Our partnership’s dissolved; if I have to bring an action for damages for malicious slander or something like that to get rid of you, I’ll do it. Any communication I have to make to you for the future will be in writing or before witnesses.’ He turned to Mitchell. ‘This is what happened,’ he said. ‘Sir Christopher Clarke was our most important and influential client. He has a daughter. My precious partner here started making love to the girl; not a bad idea for a penniless young lawyer to make up to the only daughter of an extremely rich man. Naturally, Sir Christopher objected. Any man in his position would. Carsley’s no standing, no brains, no money, nothing except impudence. Most men in Sir Christopher’s position would have done what Sir Christopher did – kicked him out and told the girl to have more sense. Of course, it was obvious the money was the attraction, and Sir Christopher took steps to settle that part of it. He instructed me to draw up a new will by which his daughter was to get nothing if she married Carsley. Well, that was a good idea all right, and I’ve no doubt Carsley would have dropped the girl like a hot potato–’
‘Marsden,’ said Peter quietly, ‘try not to be more offensive than you can help or I shall probably throw you out of the window.’
‘Now, now, Mr Carsley,’ interposed Mitchell mildly.
‘Only unfortunately,’ Marsden went on, giving Peter a look that meant he would be more offensive still if and when and as he got the chance, ‘like a prudent young man, Carsley had got round the girl and they were married already. Sir Christopher had instructed me to let Carsley know. I did so and in his rage and disappointment Carsley let out about the marriage having taken place. Well, of course, I saw at once that meant the end of everything for the firm, absolute and complete ruin. Sir Christopher wasn’t the sort of man to sit down to that kind of thing. He would hit back, hard, and he wouldn’t believe I hadn’t known anything about it – wouldn’t care either. So there was our most important client turned into our mortal enemy, with both the power and the will to smash us like a rotten tomato. It was a bit of a facer. I daresay I rather lost my self-control. I admit I talked a bit wildly. When a man comes and says to you: “Oh, I’ve just done something that ruins you absolutely and completely, you’re done in for good and all”, you do get a bit excited.’
‘You said,’ repeated Peter stubbornly, ‘you had embezzled clients’ money, you talked about bankruptcy, fraud and bankruptcy.’
‘What I actually said,’ explained Marsden, speaking to Mitchell again, ‘was that what he had done had ruined the firm as completely as if it had been found out that I had embezzled clients’ money.’
‘I shall know what to believe,’ Peter said, ‘when they’ve been here from the Public Prosecutor’s office and carried out their investigation.’
‘Who cares what you believe?’ retorted Marsden, ‘and no one, either the Public Prosecutor or anyone else, is going to be allowed to investigate our affairs, not likely.’
‘Don’t you think,’ suggested Mitchell, ‘I’m only making the suggestion, just a suggestion in a friendly way, because what has been said is pretty serious and would bear looking into – don’t you think it would be as well to let anyone who comes from the Public Prosecutor have all the information they want, let them see everything. That would put an end to any chance of any gossip or talk.’
‘Just what it wouldn’t do,’ retorted Marsden, ‘it would only set every tongue wagging all round here. It would finish the firm’s last chance of surviving if it were known we had had the Public Prosecutor sending to investigate our affairs. That’s not going to happen. If any client, as a result of Carsley’s incredible folly and mischief-making, doesn’t care to trust us with the charge of his interests any longer, and that’s pretty sure to happen in some cases at least, his connexion with us will be wound up at once and in every case, in every case, everything will be found in order. I answer for that.
But,’ he went on, speaking still directly to Mitchell, ‘I don’t deny there are some transactions I’ve carried out – oh, quite proper, ordinary deals, the sort of thing every firm of even the highest standing does in the way of routine every day – that all the same I don’t specially want to explain to people like members of the Public Prosecutor’s staff. They have to take a very stiff, pedantic view of everything. Quite right for them. But you can’t carry on business always like that. A little while ago I took a largish sum from one client’s account and used it for another account. Quite all right. It was to save investments having to be sold out at a serious loss – the security was there all the time, you understand. I could have borrowed on that security from a bank, but you know the scandalous interest they charge. I didn’t choose to pay it, not with the bank-rate down to one and a half. I could justify that transaction in any court, but Carsley here would be quite sure that I had put the money in my pocket – lost it going to the dogs, probably. There’s going to be no investigation of this firm, except by clients, by agreement, or on behalf of clients whose claims we haven’t met. And there won’t be any of them. So long as we can meet all claims there’s going to be no investigation of the affairs of this firm. I want to make that quite clear.’
‘Quite a reasonable attitude,’ agreed Mitchell, ‘assuming of course – I don’t suggest for a moment you can’t – that you can satisfy all clients.’
‘We can, of course we can,’ declared Marsden, bringing down his hand heavily on the table. ‘The firm will have a hard job to pull through, but no client will be a penny short. Carsley’s all right of course. Sir Christopher hadn’t signed his new will he had instructed us to draw up – Carsley has the draft still, I suppose – and so through his wife Carsley takes every penny Sir Christopher leaves.’
‘The police are already fully awake to that fact, Marsden,’ Peter said. ‘It was quite unnecessary to remind them – and not very clever. I’m already suspected of the murder though I didn’t commit it.’
‘You don’t really mean they suspect you?’ Marsden asked with an air of surprise that Bobby at least was inclined to think was only assumed. ‘You’re a priceless fool... but murder... the first thing I said was: “Hullo, Carsley’s done the old man in for his money”, but of course I didn’t mean it and besides the paper talked about burglars.’
‘You’re taking a lot of trouble,’ Peter remarked, ‘to try to give the police an idea that was the first that occurred to them.’
‘Oh, well,’ said Marsden and looked at Mitchell. ‘Is that so?’ he asked.
‘I take it everyone is more or less under suspicion in cases like this,’ Mitchell remarked mildly.
‘Well, I suppose you can prove where you were at the time of the murder?’ Marsden remarked, turning to Peter.
Peter did not answer. He was looking straight in front of him, his face pale and worn, his expression very intent, his eyes with an odd strained look to them; to Bobby’s fancy it was of an almost complete despair that his looks and attitude spoke.
Mitchell said:
‘By the way, Mr Marsden, you weren’t at home last night. We had occasion to ring you up, as Sir Christopher’s lawyer, and we were told you weren’t there.’
‘No, I went to Paris,’ Marsden answered.
‘As a result of arrangements already made, I suppose?’ Mitchell asked indifferently.
‘No,’ answered Marsden, ‘it was totally unexpected. I got word of a piece of business that might be picked up there and off I went.’
‘I suppose,’ suggested Mitchell, ‘you let someone know...?’
‘I’m afraid I didn’t,’ Marsden answered. ‘I was still excited and upset and this chance of new business turning up – well, I thought of nothing else but going after it. I thought it might mean salvation after all, drowning man snatching at a straw.’
‘Any objection,’ asked Mitchell, but not as if he really cared, ‘to tell us what hotel you stayed at and what the business was – confidential, of course.’
‘I didn’t stay at an hotel,’ Marsden explained. ‘I went to the private flat of the friend who put me up – he gave me his key. And I can’t tell you his name, partly because I’ve promised not to, partly because, if I did, you would know at once what the business was. It’s a rather important amalgamation of two big firms, and if I am lucky I might get the legal business connected with it. But I can’t say anything more, it would be a betrayal of confidence; it might, if it got about, ruin the very delicate negotiations that are going on, and of course if the indiscretion were traced to me–’
‘At Scotland Yard, we’re used to keeping secrets,’ Mitchell hinted mildly, but Marsden shook his head again.
‘Not my secret,’ he said.
‘You got the business?’ Mitchell asked.
Once more Marsden shook his head, lifting at the same time his white, well-kept hands with a gesture of resignation.
‘No luck,’ he said. ‘I found I was weeks ahead, nothing settled yet, there had been a bad hitch my friend had not known about. I still hope of course, but the whole thing’s put off for the present. Then this morning I read in the papers about Sir Christopher, and I thought I had better get back as quick as I could, so I hired a private plane and flew over. My first idea was that it would be all right again – now old Sir Christopher was dead. I know that sounds a bit brutal, but what I mean is, I felt we had nothing to be afraid of from him any more, now he was dead – he couldn’t smash the firm in now just to get at Carsley. So – well, in a way his death seemed good luck for us, and then when I got here I found that that unimaginable idiot of a Carsley had put us in the soup again, dished the firm for good and all: the oldest, best- established firm going couldn’t survive one of the partners trotting off to the Public Prosecutor and asking for an investigation. You must excuse me,’ he added, ‘if I talk a bit wildly; it’s rather trying, first to have your partner ruin you by playing the fool with your biggest client’s daughter, then to be saved by that same client getting himself murdered, then to be faced with ruin again by a new piece of idiocy on your partner’s part. I hardly know where I am or what I’m doing or saying – the only thing I feel I want to do is to tell Carsley what I think of him, and good Lord, what’s the use?’
‘I see, I see,’ said Mitchell, ‘Well, I thought it would bear looking into. The fact is, there’s rather a curious complication in this case. Sir Christopher’s safe was robbed last evening and apparently a large sum of money in bearer bonds, and a number of diamonds of unknown but probably considerable value are supposed to have been stolen.’
‘Bonds? Not the Belfort bonds?’ Marsden asked quickly.
‘Yes,’ said Peter.
Marsden whistled softy.
‘Sellable anywhere, anyhow, by anyone,’ he commented. ‘Well, at any rate, we’re all right there. We hold Sir Christopher’s receipt; he’s responsible, his estate rather, we’re not. A big haul for the thieves; but then if it was thieves, it wasn’t–’
He paused and glanced at Peter, a little as if he were sorry that thus his innocence seemed to be proved.
‘The murder probably happened some time after the robbery,’ Mitchell explained. ‘There doesn’t seem any connexion, but it’s a curious coincidence and it’ll bear looking into.’
‘So I should think,’ Marsden agreed. ‘Those thieves, whoever they were, had some luck – they can’t have known there was all that money there in bearer bonds or dreamed what a haul they were going to make.’
‘Depends on who the thieves were, what they knew,’ observed Mitchell. ‘If I mention certain facts, it is only because they are there and can’t be overlooked. It is reported that last night you made a statement, since denied, that your firm was ruined and bankrupt, and that certain frauds had taken place. You had reason to be aware that a large sum was in Sir Christopher’s safe. The safe was not forced, it was opened with a key. Obviously Sir Christopher’s legal adviser would have had every opportunity to provide himself with a
n impression from which a key could have been made. You did not return home as usual, but left hurriedly and unexpectedly for the Continent on a business errand which you cannot explain, as it is confidential.’
‘I returned,’ Marsden said quickly, ‘the quickest way I could.’
‘On the news of Sir Christopher’s murder reaching you, you return,’ Mitchell agreed, ‘and you now declare yourself in possession of sufficient funds to meet all liabilities, though, for the reasons you have explained, you decline all independent investigation of your books. I think it my duty to mention these facts but I am at present drawing no conclusion of any kind. If you wish to make any statement, at any time, you can always let me know at Scotland Yard.’
‘Well, that puts the hat on it,’ Marsden said, ‘just about settles our chances of pulling through – one partner suspected of burglary and the other of murder.’
CHAPTER 13
MARK LESTER TAKES A HAND
After Marsden had said this there was a silence in the room for a moment or two. Bobby, watching the Superintendent, who appeared plunged in deep thought, had the idea that this silence pleased him, that he wished it to sink, as it were, into the minds and consciousness of the two partners. Of them, Marsden looked scowling and defiant; but Peter was staring gloomily before him, as if there was something very strange showing in his intent gaze, something that looked like horror or despair or some other such deep emotion, yet his mouth and lips were set in lines that seemed to show a resolute determination not to let it get the better of him. Still neither of them spoke and presently Mitchell got to his feet.
‘A little early to talk about suspicion yet, gentlemen,’ he said gently. ‘At present we are only concerned with the facts. When we have them sorted out, then it’ll be time enough to talk about suspicions. Are you thinking of going abroad again just now, Mr Marsden?’
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