“Put it this way. If Carrol had been planning to throw in the sponge with Vulcan out of court, it would have been a legal defeat for you, and would have effectually dissolved the partnership and halted the manufacture of the plastic, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes. It would have had that effect,” the lawyer conceded. “But I don’t see—”
“But now that Carrol is dead the situation is changed,” Shayne interrupted. “By legal maneuvers, you can probably avoid a final decision for years and eventually attain some sort of compromise. In the meantime, the surviving partner can continue to market the disputed product at a nice profit. Isn’t that also true?”
“Quite possibly. I confess I haven’t given much thought to the legal situation resulting from Ralph Carrol’s death.”
“From information we have,” Shayne said, “it looks very much as though Margrave knew that Carrol was on the verge of making this discovery while he was still in the Vulcan laboratories, and put pressure on him to keep it a secret and get out so they could make a profit on it together. Would you like to comment on that?”
“No. Except to warn you that it is a libelous statement and best not repeated.”
“Do you know that Margrave and Nora Carrol were quite friendly before she married Carrol?”
“I know they were acquainted. It was common knowledge.”
“Intimately acquainted?” Shayne persisted.
“Really, sir,” the lawyer protested in a shocked tone. “This is not a matter I care to discuss further.”