Crime at Tattenham Corner by Annie Haynes Read Free Book Online

himself, his eyes not looking at Harbord now, but staring straight in front of him at a map of Old London pasted on the wall opposite.
    Harbord waited.
    â€œWeldon & Furnival were Sir John’s lawyers,” Stoddart continued. “Weldon transacted most of the business. I went to get the paper Lady Burslem said Sir John signed when they came home, which he told her to take care of and which she had given to Mr. Weldon. Well, I had some trouble in persuading Mr. Weldon even to let me see it. He utterly declined to let me bring it away.”
    â€œBut could he refuse?” Harbord questioned doubtfully.
    â€œNot ultimately, of course. Still, he can put a good many difficulties in our way, as he did. But the point of the whole matter is this” – the inspector paused a moment, and then went on impressively – “that paper was a short will, drawn up apparently in Sir John’s own handwriting, leaving everything of which he died possessed to his wife, appointing her sole executor and residuary legatee. His daughter – his only child – is not even mentioned.”
    â€œWhat an extraordinary thing!” Harbord exclaimed. “Why on earth should he make a new will at that time of night? Did he know he was in some danger?”
    Stoddart nodded. “Exactly the questions I have been putting to myself, but I can find no answer to them. More especially as he had already made one will since his marriage with Miss Carlford. This former one was drawn up by Mr. Weldon. It left Lady Burslem and his daughter well provided for, but the bulk of his fortune was to be held in trust for any son that might be born to him. Only in the case of his second marriage, like his first, failing to provide him with an heir, was his property to be divided equally between Lady Burslem and his daughter Pamela and any other daughters he might have. It appears to be, on the face of it, a far more satisfactory arrangement, and the questions one cannot help asking oneself are: “Why did he want to make a hurried fresh will in that last moment? And had he any reason to suppose that it was his last moment?”
    â€œCould it have been a duel?” Harbord said in a puzzled tone.
    â€œHardly!” The inspector laughed satirically. “The duellist does not throw his dead opponent in a ditch and go off with his car. Besides, who would fight a duel in these days?
    â€œI don’t know,” Harbord said in a befogged tone. Then, brightening up, “I beg your pardon, sir. Of course it was an idiotic suggestion. But this case so bristles with impossibilities that goodness knows what we shall come to before we have finished with it.”
    â€œI hope at any rate we shall keep our heads,” the inspector said dryly. “This last will is witnessed by James, the second footman, and Ellerby, Sir John’s man.”
    â€œIt is a queer affair altogether,” Harbord concluded, “and I’m afraid a little discovery I made down at Hughlin’s Wood this morning will not throw any additional light on the matter.”
    The inspector pricked up his ears. “Discovery! What was it?”
    â€œWell, I proceeded on the lines you suggested,” Harbord went on, “and I have found a man who saw two cars, both two-seaters, coming from Oxley at a great pace towards Hughlin’s Wood. Each of them had two occupants, a man and a woman. But he did not notice numbers or anything else that would help us to identify either of them. At last I began to think he had taken something that had made him see double. Finding I could make nothing more of him, I thought I would take another look at the ditch and its surroundings. On the other side of the ditch from the road, behind one of those old trees, I found this.”
    He took up the parcel he had brought in and carefully unwrapping it held up the contents.
    The inspector stared. “What’s that?”
    â€œOne of those wretched little