Jefferson said, “I understand what you’re driving at — the possibility of someone’s benefiting by the girl’s death. But nobody could. The necessary formalities for legal adoption were under way, but they hadn’t yet been completed.”
Melchett said slowly, “Then, if anything happened to you?” He left the sentence unfinished, as a query.
Conway Jefferson was quick to respond. “Nothing’s likely to happen to me! I’m a cripple, but I’m not an invalid. Although doctors do like to pull long faces and give advice about not overdoing things. Not overdoing things! I’m as strong as a horse! Still, I’m quite aware of the fatalities of life. I’ve good reason to be! Sudden death comes to the strongest man especially in these days of road casualties. But I’d provided for that. I made a new will about ten days ago.”
“Yes?” Superintendent Harper leaned forward.
“I left the sum of fifty thousand pounds to be held in trust for Ruby Keene until she was twenty-five, when she would come into the principal.”
Superintendent Harper’s eyes opened. So did Colonel Melchett’s. Harper said in an almost awed voice, “That’s a very large sum of money, Mr. Jefferson.”
“In these days, yes, it is.”
“And you were leaving it to a girl you had only known a few weeks?”
Anger flashed into the vivid blue eyes. “Must I go on repeating the same thing over and over again? I’ve no flesh and blood of my own no nieces or nephews or distant cousins, even! I might have left it to charity. I prefer to leave it to an individual.” He laughed. “Cinderella turned into a princess overnight! A fairy godfather instead of a fairy godmother. Why not? It’s my money. I made it.”
Colonel Melchett asked, “Any other bequests?”
“A small legacy to Edwards, my valet, and the remainder to Mark and Addie in equal shares.”
“Would — excuse me — the residue amount to a large sum?”
“Probably not. It’s difficult to say exactly; investments fluctuate all the time. The sum involved, after death duties and expenses had been paid, would probably have come to something between five and ten thousand pounds net.”
“I see.”
“And you needn’t think I was treating them shabbily. As I said, I divided up my estate at the time my children married. I left myself, actually, a very small sum. But after, after the tragedy, I wanted something to occupy my mind. I flung myself into business. At my house in London I had a private line put in, connecting my bedroom with my office. I worked hard; it helped me not to think, and it made me feel that my — my mutilation had not vanquished me. I threw myself into work” his voice took on a deeper note; he spoke more to himself than to his audience “and by some subtle irony, everything I did prospered! My wildest speculations succeeded. If I gambled, I won. Everything I touched turned to gold. Fate’s ironic way of righting the balance, I suppose.”
The lines of suffering stood out on his face again. Recollecting himself, he smiled wryly at them.
“So, you see, the sum of money I left Ruby was indisputably mine, to do with as my fancy dictated.”
Melchett said quickly, “Undoubtedly, my dear fellow. We are not questioning that for a moment.”
Conway Jefferson said, “Good. Now I want to ask my questions in my turn, if I may. I want to hear all about this terrible business. All I know is that she — that little Ruby was found strangled in a house some twenty miles from here.”
“That is correct. At Gossington Hall.”
Jefferson frowned. “Gossington? But that’s-”
“Colonel Bantry’s house.”
“Bantry! Arthur Bantry? But I know him. Know him and his wife! Met them abroad some years ago. I didn’t realize they lived in this part of the world. Why, it’s-” He broke off.
Superintendent Harper slipped in smoothly, “Colonel Bantry was dining in the hotel here Tuesday of last week. You didn’t see him?”
“Tuesday? Tuesday? No, we were back late. Went over to Harden Head and had dinner on the way back.”
Melchett said, “Ruby Keene never mentioned the Bantrys to you?”