Trouble Brewing Read Free

by a major one and died. Now by the terms of her first will, Patricia got five thousand, there were the usual bequests to servants and charities, but the whole of the remainder went to Mark.’
    â€˜And to come down to vulgar figures, that was . . .?’
    â€˜The best part of two hundred thousand pounds.’
    â€˜Good God!’ Jack gazed at Bill with gratifying astonishment. ‘I thought you said nobody gained. Hell’s bells, with that sort of money kicking about you could have a line of murderers queuing round the block. Did Mark have any idea of how rich the old lady was?’
    Bill shook his head. ‘That’s the point. No one did. Her allowance to Mark was her one extravagance. She lived at the rate of six hundred a year, paid her bills promptly and gave everyone the impression her income had declined over the years. All the time her capital was building up at compound interest.’
    â€˜Wow! And again, wow! But now Mark’s out of the picture, who gets it?’
    Bill frowned. ‘That’s just it, you see. After Mark vanished his grandmother made another will. That was after her first heart attack. She probably knew she didn’t have long left. When – she firmly believed it was when and not if, apparently – Mark turned up again, the terms of the original will would stand, but in the meantime, the whole amount was to be put into a trust for him. Patricia and her husband could draw upon the income, but they couldn’t touch the capital until it was proved that Mark was dead.’
    â€˜Hang on. If that’s invested nice and safely at three per cent, say, that’s about . . .’ Jack closed his eyes and did some mental gymnastics. ‘I’d say that was six thousand a year.’
    â€˜Not bad. There’s actually a bit more than that, because of a block of shares she had that pay about nine per cent. The total income amounts to around eight thousand a year.’
    â€˜You told me no one benefited,’ said Jack reprovingly. ‘You may think those sort of dibs aren’t worth having, but I bet Patricia – as was Helston – Jaggard thinks it’s well worth knowing about. I bet Gregory Jaggard does too.’
    â€˜But she didn’t know it existed,’ said Bill plaintively. ‘Nobody did. It was split up into so many different holdings even the lawyer didn’t have a clue how rich she was.’
    Jack drew in a long mouthful of smoke. ‘That does alter things, I agree. Damn! There’s another thing, too. If that was the reason, it’d make more sense to first see off grandma, then bump off Mark. It’s a bit obvious, but it’d work. Doing it this way leaves an awful lot to chance. There’d be no guarantee that the will would be altered. If Mark were a properly attested corpse then his grandmother would presumably alter her will in favour of Patricia. Having him vanish like this leaves everything open. It’s no end of a powerful argument against your idea that he’s slung his hook, though. He’d hardly stay vanished knowing there’s two hundred thousand for the taking.’
    â€˜It depends why he went,’ said Bill, dryly. ‘You’re assuming, along with Mr Hunt, that Mark had no reason to disappear. What if he’s committed a crime?’
    â€˜What sort of crime?’
    â€˜Theft, perhaps? He might have murdered someone for all I know.’
    A slow smile twitched Jack’s mouth. ‘
That’s
something I wouldn’t suggest to Mr Hunt. Have you got many murderees in want of a murderer? No? Because you see, don’t you, that idea implies that not only has Mark Helston managed to successfully conceal himself since January, he also contrived a murder of such brilliance that nobody knows it’s occurred.’
    Bill grinned in return. ‘Okay, strike that one from the record. I’d love to know what the devil’s happened to him,