Hallengren laughed then, a rich deep sound. It was the first time I’d heard it

Itried to get my head round it all. “So Wilson was to be kidnapped and ransomed before he could give away the money.” “Once he had been ransomed,” Hallengren answered, “Vandenberg was going to launder the money by creating companies jointly owned by Marcellus and himself. “When Marcellus learnt about the new will, he was not particularly worried as he would soon be getting millions from the ransom.”

“But when the kidnap plans fell through, he saw his inheritance going down the drain, so he and Aaron murdered him. And with the final diary page removed, no one would know about the new will.

“The old will, leaving everything to Marcellus, would still be the one in effect.”

Hallengren smiled appreciatively. “You should have been a detective, Miss Stewart.”

It all made sense. What had Aaron said about the copy of that last page? It’s in a safe place.

“With Wilson dead and Marcellus standing to gain a fortune under the old will, Aaron could still get his share by blackmailing him.

“Which of them do you think went into Wilson’s room?” I said.

Consequences

“My money is on Marcellus. His room was next to his father’s.

“He could have slipped a drug into his father’s food or drink and pushed him on to the floor later that night. He would have expected everyone to be asleep at 2am.”

Yes, Marcellus had the opportunity. But would he really have killed his father just for money? “What did Aaron say when you pressed him?” “Vandenberg tells a different story. He says Marcellus claimed that he had not gone into his father’s room until shortly before the police arrived. He saw his father was dead and immediately understood the consequences regarding his inheritance.

“He removed the key from Wilson’s wrist and hurried to the Locker Room.

“In a panic, he tore out the last few pages with writing on them. The only one he needed to remove, of course, was that final page.”

“He said he did this after he’d seen his father was dead?”

“So Vandenberg claims, but I do not believe it. I think that Marcellus took the key and went to the Locker Room as soon as he had pushed his father on to the floor.” “He took a hell of a risk.”

“There is always a risk,” Hallengren said, with a thoughtful nod, “but Marcellus must have thought it was acceptable.

“He was in a nearby room. He could slip in and out of his father’s room quickly.”

“But wasn’t Marcellus the one to alert you to the missing pages?”

“That was a whole day later when he had had time to do a bit of thinking. It was a good tactic. He hoped it would throw us off the scent.”

“Wouldn’t it draw attention to the fact that Wilson may have been murdered?”

“He must have known we would discover that for ourselves. I told him there would be a post mortem.” Hallengren paused.

“He told us that Wilson had a heart condition and may have died of it. He showed us the medication.” “Yes, I saw Wilson use it on the plane.” “Wilson’s doctors advised us that his heart had a slight arrhythmia, for which they had prescribed Coumarinose.”

“So if it hadn’t been for the post mortem, they would have pulled off the perfect murder,” I said half to myself.

Suspicions

Hallengren laughed then, a rich deep sound. It was the first time I’d heard it.

“Believe me, Miss Stewart, there is no such thing. Marcellus was a bit too quick to tell us about his father’s heart condition and our suspicions were raised.

“The post mortem put an end to the weak heart theory.”

He paused. “There was something else, however, something one of my men remembered. Marcellus’s name had been linked to an incident in the United States.

“A woman that he had been seeing had been found dead of an overdose.”

“Marcia Vandenberg? The heiress?”

“We requested the file from the New York police, hoping we would learn something useful. A particular detail caught our attention – traces of a barbiturate had been found in her body. Phenonal.

“That was the same barbiturate as in Wilson Bibby’s bloodstream.

“The New York police concluded that the killer had first sedated Miss Vandenberg by drugging her drink, then injected her with a lethal dose of heroin.

“It had to be someone she knew well enough to let into her apartment and have a drink with. “Their prime suspect was Marcellus Bibby.” “But he wasn’t convicted.”

“He had an alibi for that night. But I put little stock in alibis, Miss Stewart.”

“The same barbiturate?” I said doubtfully. “And I put even less stock in coincidences.”

I played with the mug. “I don’t get it. She was Aaron Vandenberg’s sister. Would Aaron be such a buddy to someone suspected of murdering his sister?”

“If it was also in his interests that his sister die. She was a stepsister, in point of fact, and he was her only surviving relative. And she was very wealthy.”

Hallengren looked at me thoughtfully. “Perhaps the kidnap of Wilson Bibby was not the first – how shall I put it? – criminal enterprise the two were involved in.”

Surprised

I rubbed my face hard, saying nothing.

“We became suspicious when Marcellus’s story about not being outside the Locker Room did not agree with yours.

“He told us he spent the entire night in the Excelsior.”

“Why did you believe my story and not his?” I said, curious.

Hallengren looked surprised. “Because you had no reason to lie and Marcellus did.

“I can tell when people are lying, Miss Stewart, and Marcellus struck me as a habitual liar from the moment I met him.

“He must have known he would be our prime suspect.

“Of course he would lie about going into the Locker Room. Admitting he was there would put him near the scene of the crime at the time of the crime.

“With no witnesses, there would be no one to challenge his version of events.”

“But there was a witness,” I said softly.

“He must have concluded that he had not been identified.”

Hallengren’s mouth tightened. “It is just as well that he was not able to identify you.

“Otherwise, Miss Stewart, he would have killed you the same night.”

I gulped my coffee, my hands shaking.

More tomorrow.