Chapter 7 The Mystery of the Will (Part 2)

Zuo Yan thought for a while, looked at Vidocq and said, "But... I still don't understand something."

"You think there are still doubts about the motive of the crime, right?" Vidocq responded.

"Yeah." Zuo Yan nodded, "According to what you said, John is a well-known promising young man, and Sam is just a second-generation ancestor... Judging from this situation, old Herbert has a great possibility. He will leave the inheritance to John. To say the least...even if Old Herbert doesn't want to treat the two sons differently, the inheritance should be divided equally between the two brothers, and Sam will not be allowed to take the majority." He paused. "Taking a step back... John, who has already established a foothold in the business world, can still live a good life even if he doesn't inherit a penny; on the contrary, Sam, who spends all day long and does nothing but spend money... Once I lose my family's support, I'm afraid I won't be able to survive.

"From this point of view, what reason does John have to risk forging a will? Is it because he hates his brother very much... and must make him penniless?" At this point, Zuo Yan frowned and thought for two seconds. , "But...if that's the case, why did he offer to give Sam one hundred thousand pounds?"

"Think about your 'first step back' again, and then tell me the crux of the problem yourself." Vidocq did not answer Zuo Yan's question, but gave half a hint and half a request.

"Oh?" After Zuo Yan heard this, he immediately thought about the matter again obediently, and then said, "You mean... the situation of 'equally sharing the inheritance' is unacceptable to John?"

"No." Vidocq said.

"Why?" Zuo Yan asked suspiciously.

"Because he is short of money." Vidocq gave a very simple, unexpected, but very reasonable answer.

"John is short of money?" Zuo Yan was indeed surprised by the answer.

"Huh..." Vidocq smiled, "Which of the following people do you think is more likely to owe huge sums of money? The first type - young entrepreneurs who consider themselves elite, ambitious, and do big business; The second type - a rich young man who spends his days attending various social parties, eating, drinking, having fun and sleeping with famous models, and never thinks about the so-called 'future'."

Although the two types of people described in this sentence are completely opposite, one is the "money maker" and the other is the "spending person", but the interesting thing is that the people who are really cornered by debt... often It's the former.

"Hey..." Zuo Yan also heard that Vidocq's understanding of this case far exceeded the level of ordinary people, so he asked, "You know too much, right? This is no longer the case. Can you grasp the news just by reading it in the newspaper?”

"Half a month after John inherited all the property of the Herbert family..." Vidocq thought as he said, "I saw a report on the 'Herbert Group Financing' on the TV news. This report ... is what really made me interested in the previous inheritance lawsuit; that afternoon, I went online (yes, Vidocq would use a computer to surf the Internet, of course, except for Zuo Yan, he would not let anyone find out This matter) I checked some information about that financing. The information is not confidential and can be easily retrieved on some business-related websites... although this financing seems to be just a company that inherited the family business. The family made a routine merger between the family business and his own company, but if you carefully look through the accounts of his own company and the many developments in the previous year, you will find many interesting things. "

"So..." Zuo Yan heard this and naturally guessed John's motives. "The person who cannot accept the 'equal division of inheritance' is actually John... His business losses are so big that he used Herbert to add them." The situation cannot be filled even with half of the property. Only by inheriting all the property can his crisis be solved."

"No, no, no..." Vidocq said in a rather relaxed tone, "The Herbert family has strong financial resources. To solve John's difficulties, 'half of the property' should be enough; but the problem is... The half that John can inherit must be real estate and shares related to the company; and the half that Sam gets is the real 'money' that can be spent at will.

"Not to mention their father, even outsiders know how to distribute it this way, because Sam does not have the ability to manage and operate Herbert Company.

"However, if this situation develops, after John inherits his share of the property, he will have to 'liquidate' some things to solve his predicament. This will look very ugly... It is simply showing the world Announce his failure loudly.

"John is obviously a person who is unwilling to admit his failure in front of others. If he was willing, there would be no need to engage in any inheritance conspiracy; while he is still alive, he can just ask his father for it... As long as old Herbert clicks Boss, John's dilemma can definitely be solved."

"So, he carefully designed such a 'fake will' show..." Zuo Yan followed Vidocq's words, "and deliberately left flaws in the forged will, step by step to lure his brother into the game. ; Finally, using the outside world’s stereotypes of him and his brother makes all this seem logical.”

"We must admit that as a criminal... John is quite clever." Victor continued, "If he wanted to, it would not be difficult to forge a flawless fake will with his own beneficiary; even if his brother took him to court for this, he might not lose." As he spoke, he stroked the hair on his head with his little paw, "But John didn't do that. He chose a more complicated method... Only in this way can Sam be branded as a 'liar and rogue' to prevent future troubles.

"As for his behavior of taking out the 100,000 pounds afterwards, it is indeed as Sam said, using the money that originally belonged to the other party to give alms to the other party... For John, who has already received all the inheritance, the 100,000 pounds is of course insignificant, but his behavior of 'thinking of brotherly feelings, knowing that his brother forged a will and still giving the other party money' is undoubtedly an excellent public relations for himself. "

"Well... the motive and the case are both reasonable." Zuo Yan continued thoughtfully, "but don't you think there is a loophole in your reasoning?"

"Tell me, I'll listen. "Victor knew what Zuo Yan was going to say, but he didn't point it out, but waited for Zuo Yan to bring it up himself.

"Old Herbert died of illness." Zuo Yan said, "John can forge a will and set up a trap, but he can't..."

At this point, Zuo Yan seemed to have thought of something, his expression suddenly changed, and his words stopped.

"Can't what?" Victor smiled, "Can't let old Herbert die faster?"

"Is there something you haven't told me?" Zuo Yan looked down at Victor.

"I said that Sam only stays at home for one or two months a year, but I didn't say that John only stays at home for so few days..." Victor said, "Although John's business is mainly in the UK, he lives on this island most of the time in the year... This has not changed even now; this is also one of the benefits of the information age. People can do most things in front of the computer, and even handwritten signatures can be transmitted through digital technology. "

Hearing this, Zuo Yan also had an idea of ​​the nature of the case, and then he muttered: "If you stay in the same mansion with the deceased for a long time... chronic poisoning is more convenient, and it is not easy to trace."

"The specific method may not be chronic poisoning, it may be something else..." Victor said, "Old Herbert died at home, not in the hospital. Therefore, the person who announced his death was also the family doctor of the Herbert family; as far as I know... the doctor's age is not much different from that of old Herbert. Maybe John's method deceived the old man, or maybe he was bribed... In short, no one questioned the conclusion of "death from illness" at the time.

"A few years later, the doctor himself had passed away, and old Herbert's body had long been "buried at sea" by John."

"Both died without evidence, right..." Zuo Yan said.

"Hmph..." Victor snorted coldly, "People like John will not leave obvious handles." He turned over in bed again, "I have a friend who can be said to be the 'world's best armchair detective'. Over the years, he has known a large number of criminals who are at large, similar to John, just through newspapers and news."

"Uh... your 'friend'... isn't it also a cat?" Zuo Yan asked.

"Of course it's a cat, what do you think?" Victor replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Nothing... continue." Zuo Yan's mouth twitched twice, and he didn't say anything else; after all, he is not Brother Jue, and his desire to complain is not that strong.

"After understanding this, we can almost start talking about the main topic..." Victor continued, "Before, the one we met in front of the elevator door, Sam Herbert, who had disappeared for many years... According to my observation in those few seconds, he may have been involved in some illegal incidents."