IN WHICH MR. FRANKLIN EXPLAINS THE WILL OF A MILLIONAIRE, AND
SUGGESTS A MOTIVE
While Inspector Blaikie was pursuing his inquiries at the hotel,
Superintendent Wilson's emissary had found the lawyer of whom he had
been sent in search, and had brought him back post haste to Scotland
Yard. Hugh Radlett's solicitor was personally an insignificant little
rat of a man, very thin and meagre, with a dry, wrinkled face like
parchment, and a pair of very bright, deep-sunken eyes, that darted
restlessly about, flashing and twinkling, as it seemed, from somewhere
deep inside his head. He was clean-shaven, and sharp-featured--a lawyer
confessed in every detail of his appearance. His clothes were good, but
worn ill and hanging loosely on him, crumpled and awry. Only his top
hat was immaculately bright.
As Mr. Wilbraham Franklin entered Wilson's room, he gave a series of
sharp glances round him, as if he were taking a quick mental inventory
of his surroundings. He spoke in answer to Wilson's greetings; his
voice was hard, precise, incisive.
"Morning, morning. Met you before, Superintendent. Chilcot case, yes.
Terrible business this--terrible. Mr. Radlett--hey--murdered? So your
man tells me. Terrible, terrible."
"Ah, yes, Mr. Franklin, I remember you. You held a watching brief.
Quite so. Yes, I fear Mr. Radlett has been made away with. I had
better give you an outline of the case. You were acting, I believe, for
Mr. Radlett?"
Franklin said he was, and Wilson then gave him a brief general account
of the case, ending up with the discovery, in Radlett's rooms, of the
letter addressed to his lawyer, with the remarkable enclosure.
"A piece of luck, sir, that it escaped the murderer's notice. I
understand you saw Mr. Radlett yesterday?"
"Yes, he called on me yesterday afternoon, at about five o'clock. He
asked me to act as his legal adviser in this country. As he brought a
letter of introduction from Lord Ealing, who had mentioned the matter
to me previously, I at once agreed."
"I should like you to tell me exactly what took place between you."
"Of course, Superintendent, our clients' business is strictly
confidential as a rule. But, as it happens, Mr. Radlett himself told
me, if any trouble arose, to give the fullest information to the
police." Franklin said this very quietly, as if it were not at all a
startling piece of information.
Wilson sat up straight, showing surprise. "Do you mean he anticipated
trouble?" he asked.
"Undoubtedly he thought it possible. He was even coming round to
Scotland Yard this morning to ask for police protection."
"Police protection? What was he afraid of?"
"He said he had been pursued to this country by enemies who would stick
at nothing, and meant to put him out of the way if they could."
"Enemies? What sort of enemies?"
Franklin's beady little eyes fixed themselves on Wilson as he replied.
"Bolsheviks! You know, I expect, that he was engaged in a big business
deal with Russia--a mining concession." Wilson nodded. "He said that,
while he had secured the concession from the Soviet Government, there
was a group among the Bolsheviks very anxious to prevent it from going
through. They tried to get him in Reval, and failed, and he said they
had pursued him here in order to get hold of certain papers, and very
likely kill him into the bargain."
"Ah, yes. It was evident the murderer had been searching for certain
papers. Have you any idea what they were?"
"An excellent idea, I should suppose. Mr. Radlett deposited with me
yesterday--here it is--a concession, duly signed and sealed, from
the Council of People's Commissaries to Hugh Radlett, John Pasquett,
and such partners as they may, with the consent of the said Council,
hereafter associate with themselves. The document grants to the
assignees a thirty years' lease, renewable on certain conditions for a
further term of thirty years, of a large tract of country, situate on
the Lower Yenisei River, with rights of exploitation over all metals
and minerals found therein. It is personally signed by Lenin--Vladimir
Ulianov there, I understand, is his signature--and other commissaries
of the one part, and by Hugh Radlett and John Pasquett of the other
part. You had better look at it yourself. Mr. Radlett left it with me
for safe keeping yesterday afternoon."
Wilson took the document and glanced through it. It was a large
official-looking paper, written, in parallel columns, in both Russian
and English. The witnesses to the signatures were Russians. The paper
bore the official seal of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics.
"Lord Ealing spoke to me of this," said the Superintendent. "I think he
was afraid it had fallen into the murderer's hands. It is a very big
thing, I understand, this concession?"
"Immense."
"He was proposing to work it in partnership with the Anglo-Asiatic, was
he not?"
"Quite, quite. He had come here to settle the matter with Lord Ealing."
"Now, as for this information Mr. Radlett was proposing to convey to
Scotland Yard. Can you tell me what it was?"
"Unfortunately, no. He gave me no details. He only said he had received
several threatening letters."
Wilson sighed. "There's valuable evidence gone west," he said. "It may
be hard to pick up the trail now. Unless this Rosenbaum----By the way,
did he mention to you his secretary--a Mr. Ivan Rosenbaum--the fellow
who seems to be the murderer?"
"Yes, he spoke of him very warmly. He said he had picked him up in
Russia only a little while ago. A wonderful man, he called him, for
getting round people, and a marvellous worker. I remember he said the
Russians were the most intelligent people on earth except the Jews--and
his secretary had the advantage of being both."
"Rosenbaum was not with him when he called on you, I suppose?"
"No. Mr. Radlett came alone. But he arranged to send his secretary
round to-day with a number of important papers he wanted me to take
care of."
"Then Radlett left no documents with you except the concession?"
"I beg your pardon, several. He left his will."
"His will?"
"Yes. The will was made in Russia some years ago--while he was in
prison, he said--and duly witnessed by two of his fellow-prisoners. He
handed it over to me with the concession, asking me whether it was in
order. I said it was informal, but apparently in order--only there was
the difficulty of producing the witnesses in case of need. 'I should
say there was,' he said, 'they're both dead. What had I better do about
it?' I suggested that I should draw him out a new will in proper form.
He agreed; but then he said, 'Look here, Franklin, my life's in danger.
What happens if I die before I've signed the new will?' I said I would
have it ready to-day, but he wasn't satisfied with that. He added a
footnote to the old will accepting it, as from yesterday, as his last
will and testament, and signed it again in the presence of two of my
clerks. He said that would let him sleep easy till the new will was
ready. I asked him whether he wanted any changes made, and he said I
might as well delete the legacy to his daughter, but the rest held
good. I was intending to make the new draft to-day."
"Can you tell me the purport of the will?"
"Yes. He had written that his fortune in America now in the hands of
trustees amounted to about thirty million dollars, to the best of his
belief. The will went on to say that he had already provided fully for
his wife at the time of their parting, and that this money--ten million
dollars--came to his daughter on his wife's death. 'It's come to her
already,' he told me yesterday, 'my wife died two years ago.' To his
daughter, Irene Philippa Radlett, the will left fifty thousand dollars
in trust, the interest to be used on her behalf by the trustees, and
the principal to be hers at twenty-one or marriage--the earlier date.
This legacy he instructed me to strike out. 'She won't need it,' he
said, 'now that she has her mother's money.' The whole residue of
his great fortune he left to 'my friend and partner, John Pasquett,
in memory of our many adventures together, and in the hope he will
have better luck with it than I.' There were no other legacies, save
honoraria to the trustees."
Wilson nodded reflectively. "Practically, Pasquett gets everything,"
he said. "I understand he is due to arrive here in a week or so. Did
Radlett say anything of him?"
"Yes. He spoke of him in terms of the warmest affection. He said
Pasquett was the one real friend he had. They had spent, he told me,
many years together."
"We are very anxious to get into touch with Mr. Pasquett. Do you know
where he is?"
Franklin seemed to Wilson to hesitate oddly before he answered in the
negative. "Did not Radlett tell you?" Wilson added.
"No. He only said he would be arriving in England shortly, and would be
staying with him at Sugden's Hotel."
"Of course, if you hear from Pasquett or get to know where he is, you
will let us know at once."
"Certainly. Lord Ealing may have his address." Again as Franklin said
this, something in the way he said it made Wilson suspicious. Yet the
remark seemed innocent enough.
"Lord Ealing," Wilson answered, "has only an address at Reval. We are
trying there, of course. Now, Mr. Franklin, is there anything else you
can tell us?"
"Yes. The paper on which the will was written contained on the other
side a further document. It was addressed to his lawyer in New York,
and instructed him, if at any time he failed to hear from him for
any consecutive period of two years, to put the terms of the will at
once into execution as a deed of gift, without waiting for leave to
presume death from the courts. He said he had meant this to cover the
contingency of his death in prison in Siberia. This document further
gave John Pasquett, whose signature was appended to it, full power to
sign all or any documents on his behalf, and to make any investments
or assignments in his name at any time. This last provision was added
at Reval about six months ago, in order, he said, to provide for the
working of the concession by either partner in the absence of the
other. He again signed both these documents yesterday in the presence
of myself and one of my clerks."
"Then Pasquett can at once get control of Radlett's fortune, and
will become absolute owner of it in two years' time, or on proof of
Radlett's death?"
"That is so. There is no doubt about the validity of the documents,
although they are not in proper legal form."
"Have you the paper there?"
The lawyer handed it over. "I think I am acting on Mr. Radlett's wishes
in placing this in your hands. I have kept a copy, of course."
"You have no other papers?"
"None of importance. I am somewhat anxious, as I am the guardian of Mr.
Radlett's interests, about the safety of the other papers he was to let
me have to-day. Were they found at his hotel?"
"A number of papers--yes. Of course I cannot say whether any are
missing. Now, about Rosenbaum. Have you any idea where he was going
this morning?"
"He was to have come to my office to-day, as I told you."
"Yes; but it is clear that Radlett arranged for him to go off somewhere
this morning by train. He booked a taxi for him overnight, and
Rosenbaum left at seven, and drove to Victoria Station. Where was he
supposed to be going?"
"I have no idea. Mr. Radlett mentioned no such journey."
"I see. It was not likely you would be able to tell me. I think that is
all, unless you have any further point."
But Franklin apparently had no more to tell. A few minutes later he
took leave of Wilson. Taking a taxi outside, he drove straight to
the offices of the Anglo-Asiatic Corporation. There was something he
particularly desired to say to his best client, Lord Ealing.
* * * * *
Superintendent Wilson was left wondering. "Now why," he said to
himself, "did that fellow give me the impression of having something
up his sleeve? Was it just imagination? Or what the devil could he
have wanted to hide? And Lord Ealing somehow gave me just the same
impression. The case seems plain enough, unless there's something
further behind it. I must find out more about this fellow Pasquett.
Though it looks as if Rosenbaum did it, beyond a doubt."