Zuo Yan thought about it again and looked at Vidocq. "But … I still don't quite understand one thing."
"You think there's still something suspicious about the motive, right?" Vidocq replied.
"Yes." Zuo Yan nodded. "According to what you said, John is a well-known promising young man, and Sam is just a second-generation heir … In this case, Old Herbert is very likely to leave the inheritance to John. Taking a step back … Even if Old Herbert doesn't want to treat his two sons differently, the inheritance should be divided equally between the two brothers. No matter what, he won't let Sam take the majority. " He paused. "Taking another step back … John, who has already established a foothold in the business world, can still live well even if he doesn't inherit a penny. On the contrary, Sam, who spends all day drinking and doesn't know how to do anything but spend money … Once he loses his family's support, I'm afraid he won't be able to survive.
"From this point of view, what reason does John have to take the risk of forging a will? Is it because he hates his brother so much that he has to make him penniless? " At this point, Zuo Yan frowned and thought for two seconds. "But … if that's the case, why did he propose to give Sam 100,000 pounds?"
"Think about your 'first step back' again and tell me the crux of the problem yourself," Vidocq did not answer Zuo Yan's question. Instead, he gave half a hint and half a request.
"Oh?" When Zuo Yan heard this, he immediately thought about the matter again obediently and then said, "You mean … the situation of 'dividing the inheritance equally' is unacceptable to John?"
"No," Vidocq said.
"Why?" Zuo Yan wondered.
"Because he is short of money," Vidocq gave a very simple, unexpected, but very reasonable answer.
"John is short of money instead?" Zuo Yan was indeed surprised by this answer.
"Oh …" Vidocq smiled. "What do you think … Which kind of people are more likely to owe a huge amount of money? The first kind — young entrepreneurs who think of themselves as elites, are ambitious, and do big business; the second kind — rich young masters who attend all kinds of social parties all day, eat, drink, and sleep with famous models, and never think about the so-called 'future.' "
Although the two kinds of people described in this sentence were polar opposites, one was the "money-maker" and the other was the "spender," interestingly, the people who would really be driven to desperation by debt … were often the former.
"Hey …" Zuo Yan also understood that Vidocq's understanding of this case far exceeded the level of ordinary people, so he asked, "You know too much, don't you? This is not something that can be grasped by reading the news in the newspaper, right? "
"Half a month after John inherited all of the Herbert family's assets …" Vidocq thought and said, "I saw a report on the TV news about the financing of the Herbert Group. This report … is what really made me interested in the previous inheritance lawsuit. That afternoon, I went online (yes, Vidocq knew how to use a computer to surf the Internet, but of course, other than Zuo Yan, he wouldn't let anyone else know about this) and looked up some information about the financing. The information is not confidential, and it can be easily found on some business-related websites. Although this financing seems to be a routine merger between an entrepreneur who inherited the family business and his own company, if you look through the accounts of his own company and the many movements in the previous year, you will find a lot of interesting things. "
"So …" Zuo Yan heard this and naturally guessed John's motive. "The person who can't accept the 'equal division of the inheritance' is actually John. The deficit in his business is so big that half of the Herbert family's assets can't make up for it. Only by inheriting all of the Herbert family's assets can he solve his crisis."
"No, no, no …" Vidocq said in a rather relaxed tone, "The Herbert family has a lot of assets. To solve John's problem, half of the Herbert family's assets should be enough. But the problem is … The half that John will inherit must be related to the company's real estate, shares, and the like. The half that Sam will get is the real 'money' that he can spend at will.
"Let alone their father, even an outsider knows how to divide the inheritance because Sam doesn't have the ability to manage and operate the Herbert Company.
"However, if the situation develops like this, after John inherits his share of the inheritance, he will have to 'cash' some things to solve his problem. This will be very ugly … It's like announcing his failure to the world in a high-profile manner.
"John is obviously a person who doesn't want to admit his failure in front of others. If he wanted to, he wouldn't have to resort to the inheritance scheme. While his father is still alive, he can just ask his father for it. As long as Old Herbert agrees, John's problem will definitely be solved."
"So, he carefully designed such a 'fake will' …" Zuo Yan continued Vidocq's words. "He deliberately left flaws in the forging of the will and led his brother into the trap step by step. Finally, he used the stereotype that the outside world has of him and his brother to make all of this seem logical."
"We have to admit that as a criminal … John is quite smart." Vidocq continued, "If he wanted to do it, it wouldn't be difficult for him to forge a flawless will with himself as the beneficiary. Even if his brother took him to court, he wouldn't necessarily lose." As he spoke, he used his little paw to stroke the hair on the top of his head. "But John didn't do that. He chose a more complicated method. Only in this way could he brand Sam as a liar and a scoundrel to prevent future trouble.
"As for his behavior of taking out the 100,000 pounds afterward, it was indeed as Sam said. He was using the money that originally belonged to the other party to give to the other party … For John, who had already received all the inheritance, the 100,000 pounds were naturally insignificant. However, his behavior of 'taking into account their brotherly relationship and knowing that his younger brother forged the will and still gave the other party the money' was undoubtedly an excellent public relations for himself."
"Hmm … The motive and the case are both plausible," Zuo Yan said thoughtfully, "But don't you think there's a flaw in your reasoning?"
"Tell me, I'm listening." Vidocq knew very well what Zuo Yan was going to say, but he didn't point it out. Instead, he wanted to wait for Zuo Yan to bring it up himself.
"Old Herbert died of illness," Zuo Yan said, "John could forge a will and set up a trap, but he couldn't …"
At this point, Zuo Yan seemed to have thought of something. His expression suddenly changed, and his words came to an abrupt halt.
"Couldn't what?" Vidocq laughed. "Couldn't he have made Old Herbert die faster?"
"Is there something you haven't told me?" Zuo Yan narrowed his eyes and looked down at Vidocq.
"I said that Sam only stayed at home for one or two months every year, but I didn't say that John only stayed for that short period of time," Vidocq said. "Although John's business was mainly in England, he lived on this island most of the year. This hasn't changed even now. This is one of the benefits of the information age. People can do most things in front of a computer. Even their signatures can be transmitted through digital technology."
Hearing this, Zuo Yan understood the nature of the case. Then, he murmured, "If the deceased was in the same house for a long time, slow poisoning would be more convenient, and it wouldn't be easy to trace."
"The specific method may not be slow poisoning, but it could be something else," Vidocq said. "Old Herbert died at home, not in the hospital. Therefore, the person who announced his death was also the Herbert family's family doctor. As far as I know, this doctor was about the same age as Old Herbert. Maybe John's method fooled the old man, or maybe he was bribed. In short, no one questioned the conclusion that Old Herbert died of illness.
"A few years later, the doctor himself had already passed away, and Old Herbert's body had long been 'buried at sea' by John."
"Both of them died, so there's no evidence, right?" Zuo Yan muttered.
"Humph …" Vidocq snorted coldly. "People like John wouldn't leave any evidence behind." He turned over on the 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 like John, who are at large, just through newspapers and news."
"Uh … Your 'friend' … Is he also a cat?" Zuo Yan asked.
"Of course, he's a cat. What do you think?" Vidocq replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Nothing … You can continue." The corner of Zuo Yan's mouth twitched twice, but he didn't say anything. After all, he wasn't Brother Jue, so he didn't have a strong desire to complain.
"Now that we know this, we can get down to business …" Vidocq said. "Earlier, the man we met in front of the elevator, Sam Herbert, who had disappeared for many years … According to my observation in those few seconds, he is likely to have been involved in some kind of illegal activity."
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