“Good Gad!” Lomas said. “You’re an ingenious fellow, Fortune. He had proposed to Hugo to try for coal, and Hugo turned it down.”
Reggie emerged from the bath. “There you have it. He knew if Hugo was out of the way he could do what he wanted. If Mark or the old parson had the place, he could manage them. Very rational crime.”
“Rational! Murder your cousin to make a coal mine!”
“Business men and business methods. Run away and catch him, Lomas, and hang him to encourage the others.”
But in fact Lomas did not catch him. Some years afterwards Mrs. Fortune found her husband on the veranda of an hotel in Italy staring at a Spanish paper. “Don’t dream, child,” she said. “Run and dress.”
“I’m seeing ghosts, Joan,” said Mr. Fortune.
She looked over his shoulder. “Who is San Jacinto?”
“The last new South American republic. Here’s His Excellency the President. Né Brian Carwell. Observe the smile.”
CASE III