“Nor a diary?”

“No. Never did such a thing.”

“Would your wife know?”

“Haven’t got a wife.”

“Do you think your servants would be likely to?”

“No. What can I do, Tempest?”

“Well, praying seems to be about all that’s left.”

“Why do you think we are any of us likely to be accused?”

“Simply because you must have motive for a murder. No one knows or can suggest the shadow of a motive in regard to Sir John. You three who knew him intimately and all his private affairs know of nothing that even hints at a motive. You have gone through all his papers since his death, and you can find nothing there to give you a clue. Nobody, as far as you[76] know, stood to profit by Sir John’s death except——”

[76]

“Except whom?”

“Except yourselves. Now, remember the police know less than you do, so they can guess at no motive, save the obvious one I have pointed out to you—that halfpenny rag has hounded Scotland Yard on till they got the Home Office to interfere about the trust. They will go on now—mark my words—on the basis that the line you three took was dictated by your desire to bring the trust to an end. They will point out how you all stood to benefit by Sir John’s death. They will assume—no matter how much you may deny it—that being his partners you three were aware beforehand both of the terms of the will and of the trust. Don’t forget what the terms of the will were—‘to be applied by them to and for the purposes which I have taken steps to sufficiently indicate to them’—and[77] don’t forget he divides his share of the partnership with you. Just think what the obvious meaning of that is—what nine men out of ten would assume to be the meaning——”

[77]

“What do you say that is, Tempest?”

“Simply that he had already told you. Nobody would, by the wildest guess, be likely to imagine the existence of such a letter as he left. And even the letter 

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