Chapter 8 chapter eight

When I saw Edward.Chance, he immediately understood why everyone only called him Edward and nothing else.He was tall, dignified, very handsome, a very decent man, with a brooding but friendly demeanor and a charming seldom smile.Contrasted with the restless movements of the nervous Mr. Erskine beside him, his composure is like a cruise ship enduring the command of a small tugboat. Grant hadn't seen him before.Almost three months after leaving home.edward.When Chance returned to London on Thursday afternoon, he was greeted with the news of his wife's death.He was at West Overseas at once, identified the body, visited the concerned Sheriff's Constabulary on Friday, worked on the button for a while, and then helped them make up their minds to refer the case to Scotland Yard.With the death of his wife and the long absence, he had a lot of things to deal with, so he returned to London at the same time that Grant left London.

He looks very tired now, but doesn't show any emotion.Grant wondered under what circumstances the traditional product of this five-hundred-year-old aristocratic family would reveal his emotions.Then, as he pulled up a chair, it occurred to him, Edward.Chance is anything but traditional.If he was really as conformist to the system as he appeared to be, he would marry some cousin, hold a public office, manage a estate, read The Morning Post.But he did nothing of the kind.He married an entertainer from another world, he explored for fun, and he wrote books.Thinking about it this way, it's really scary that appearances can be misleading so deeply.

"Lord Edward has naturally read the will." Erskine said: "In fact, he already knew the most important clauses of it some time ago. When making the will, Mrs. Edward has explained to him over her thoughts. However, there is one surprise. Perhaps you would like to see the document for yourself, though." He turned the big-looking document around on the table.Let it face Grant. "Mrs. Edward previously made two wills, both in the United States, but under her instructions, her lawyer in the United States has destroyed both. She hopes that her real estate will be managed by the British side, because she has always been very Appreciate the stability of the UK."

Christine left nothing to her husband. "I leave no money to my husband, Edward Chance, because his wealth has always been, and always will be, more than he spends, and because he has never cared much about money." As for her personal belongings He is free to choose what he likes, except what she specifically specifies to give away.There are several gifts of money to friends and relatives, including lump sums or annuities. The recipients were Bundle, her housekeeper and the last dresser.Her black driver.Joe.Miles, who directed some of her most successful films.A hotel bellboy in Chicago told him to "get that gas station."There are nearly 30 recipients in all, and they are distributed all over the world, including various identities.But no mention of Jason.Hamer.

Grant glanced at the date.eighteen months ago.She probably hadn't met Hamer then. Generous as these bequests were, a significant portion of her vast fortune remained undistributed.What remains is, astonishingly, not reserved for any individual, but "for the preservation of the beauty of England."So set up a trust fund to buy beautiful buildings or land that are in danger of disappearing, and to maintain them later. This was the third place that surprised Grant.A fourth surprise appears at the end of the gift list.This last gift read, "To my brother Herb, a shilling for candle money."

"Brother?" Grant said, raising his head to ask. "Lord Edward didn't know that Mrs. Edward had an older brother, but he only found out after reading the will. Lady Edward's parents had died some years before, and no living family members were known. "A shilling for candle money.Does that statement mean anything to you, sir? He turned to Chance, who shook his head. "I think it might be a quarrel between siblings. Maybe they turned against each other because of something when they were young. There are often things that are more difficult to forgive." His eyes flicked to the lawyer. "Every time I see Alicia, I always remember how she broke my collection of eggs."

"It wasn't necessarily a childhood quarrel," Grant said. "She must have gotten to know him much later." "Ask Bundle about that. She's helped my wife with her dresses from her early days in New York. But does it matter? After all, she's already paid the man off for a shilling." "Important, because this is the first time I've detected hatred in Miss Clay's relationships. No one can say what kind of clue it will be." "After the inspector has seen this, he may not think it is so important." Erskine said: "This, please take a look at it, it is the surprising place I mentioned just now."

That is to say, the surprise is not in the will. Grant took the document from the lawyer's dry, trembling hands.It was a glossy, thick, creamy note you could buy in country shops all over England, and it had Christine on it.Clay's letter to lawyers. The letter was headed "Blair, Medley, Kent" and stated that it was her instructions for the additions to the will.She left her California farm, including all ground and equipment, plus five thousand pounds, to a London freeman, Robert.stanaway. "This," said the lawyer, "was written, as you can see, on Wednesday. And on Thursday morning—"

He cut off the conversation dramatically. "Is this legal?" Grant asked. "I don't question that. It's an entirely handwritten document and it's tactfully signed with her full name. There is Margaret at the time of signing.Pitts witnessed.The clauses are clear and clearly written in order. "No possibility of forgery?" " "Not at all. I know Lady Edward's handwriting very well. You can see that her handwriting is unique and never easy to imitate—not to mention that I know her style very well, which is even more difficult to imitate—"

"Okay!" Grant reread the letter, hardly daring to admit its existence? "That makes all the difference r. I'll have to go back to scotland yard. That probably means an arrest before nightfall" He stood up. "I'll go with you," Chance said. "Yes, sir," Grant agreed without thinking. "If possible, I'd like to make a phone call to confirm that the Chief Inspector will be there." When he picked up the phone, the other person in his heart spoke: Hammer is right, our attitude towards people does have big and small eyes.If the husband had been just Briston's insurance agent, we wouldn't have taken his involvement in the police meeting so logically! "Is Chief Inspector Balck here, do you know? Oh...? That's in twenty minutes. Well, tell him that Inspector Grant has important news and needs to have a meeting with him right away. Yes, and the Commissioner, If he's here."

He hangs up. "Thank you for being so helpful." He said good-bye to Erskine. "By the way, if you find that brother, I'd love to know" and he and Chance descended a dark, narrow staircase.Come under the scorching sun. "Do you think," Chance asked after stopping, putting one hand on Grant's car doorknob: "Do you have time to have a drink, I think I need to refresh my mind. It's been a—very tiring morning. ""Ok, no problem.It will not take more than ten minutes to walk along the embankment.where do you want to go " "Well, my club is in Carlton Street, but I don't want to meet people I know. Sappho isn't much better—" "There's a nice little bar up ahead," said Grant, turning the car around. "It's quiet and cool at this hour." As they passed the corner, Grant's eye was caught by a few newspaper posters. "Clay's Funeral: Unprecedented Scenes," "Ten Women Pass Out Instantly," "London Says Farewell to Clay," and "Clay's Last Audience" from The Sentinel.Grant's foot was on the gas pedal. "That's really scary," said the man next to him quietly. "Fine, I can imagine." "Those women. I think the good life of the human species is probably coming to an end. Although we survived the war, we may have paid too much... to make everyone—infected with madness and sometimes overly frightened." He was silent for a while, apparently re-examining the scene in his mind. "I've seen machine gunning of troops on flat ground - in China - and resistance to massacres. But saw that mass of hysterical humans this morning, not because of—Chriss, but because they made I'm ashamed of being human, ashamed of belonging to the same species as them." "I would have liked to have asked so early that there would have been less agitation. I know the police think so." "That's what we thought too, that's why we chose that time. Now that I've seen it with my own eyes, I know it was impossible to prevent it. Those people had no sense." He paused, and then let out a gruff laugh. "She's never really liked people. Because she finds people — let her down, that's why she spends her money doing that. Her fans proved her judgment this morning." The bar is just as Grant said, cool, quiet and relaxing.No one looked at Chance.There were six other people present, three nodded to Grant, and the other three looked nervous.Chance, still observant even in mourning, asked, "Where do you go if you don't want to be recognized?" Grant laughed. "I haven't found it yet." I went ashore in Labrador on a friend's yacht, and a guy in the village shop said to me, "Officer, your mustache is shorter now than it used to be. ' I've given up hope ever since. "They talked about Labrador for a while, and then they talked about Galeria, where Chance had been there a few months earlier. "I used to think that Asia was primitive, and there were some Indian tribes in South America, but Eastern Europe defeated them all. Except for some towns, Galeria is still in the primitive darkness." "I know they abandoned their greatest patriotic fighter," Grant said. "Limnik? Yes. After his party recuperates, he'll come back. That's how this dark state works." "How many parties are there?" "About ten, I think, not counting the minor factions. There were at least twenty races in that hot pot country, each clamoring for self-government, but proposing very old policies. It was a Wonderful place. You should go see it when you have time. The capital is their showcase—they make it as close to every capital as possible. The opera house, the trams, the electric lights, the magnificent railway station, the movie theater— —but go twenty miles into the country and you'll find bridal auctions. Girls stand in rows with their dowries at their feet, waiting to give themselves to the highest bidder. I was in a city In a building, I saw an old peasant woman babbling like crazy outside an elevator, thinking she was under witchcraft, and they had to take her to an asylum. Corruption in the city, superstition and ignorance in the countryside - but a place of hope nonetheless. "Grant let him talk, and hoped he would put the morning's unhappiness behind him for a while, if only for a few minutes. His own mind was not in Galeria, but in Siover. So really He did it, that emotional boy! He'd swindled his mistress a farm and five thousand pounds, and wouldn't wait. Any trace of Grant's personal affection for the boy disappeared at once. From now on, Robert Tistor will be to him just a bluebottle that he slaps to death on the windowpane, a nuisance that he doesn't want to make too much effort and wants to get over as soon as possible. At the meeting, he felt sad that this superficially pleasing Tistor did not exist, but his main emotion now was the relief that the case was about to be closed so easily. Outcome of this meeting 1: There will be too many doubts : They already have enough evidence, and they will find more before going to court. His superior, Balck, agrees with him, and so does the Minister. The case is clear. The suspect is a penniless, homeless man. Returning, a man at the end of his life. At a desperate moment, he hitches a ride with a rich girl. Four days later, a will appears that benefits him. The next morning, the woman goes swimming. He followed him ten minutes later and was missing when the body was found. When he showed up, he told an unbelievable story.Said he stole the car and came back to return it.A black button was entangled in the body's hair, and his dark overcoat was missing, which he said had been stolen two days earlier, but which he was identified as having been wearing that morning. That's it, a complete case with background, motivation, and clues. Strangely enough, the only person who challenged the issuance of the arrest warrant was Edward.chance. "It's quite a coincidence, don't you think?" he said, "I mean, any normal person. Will he commit a crime the next morning? "But you forget, Lord Edward," said Balck, "that there would be no murder at all if it were not for the unusual circumstances. " "Besides, time is precious to him," Grant pointed out. "He has only a few days left, and at the end of the month the lease on the farm is up and he knows that. She probably won't Go swimming. The weather might turn bad, or she might have a sudden urge to go inland. Especially since she probably won't be swimming so early in the morning. Those were ideal conditions: an empty beach early in the morning, the morning fog just rising, a perfect opportunity that would be a shame to waste "Yes, a complete case indeed. Edward Chance returns to his The house in Regent's Park. It was the house that came to his name when he inherited Bream's estate, and it was his home when he was traveling around the world. Grant went south to Siover with a warrant in his pocket.