“A year ago Ralph Carrol paused to take stock of the situation. He wasn’t embittered, you understand. He had accepted the position with Vulcan, fully realizing that he was placing his brains and ability at their service, in exchange for the salary they paid him. But was it a fair exchange? What did the future hold for a man like Ralph Carrol?”
The monologue rolled out smoothly and without pause. It was clear to Shayne that this was a rehearsed speech, which Margrave had delivered often.
“A continued pittance! A few thousand dollars doled out to him each year in exchange for ideas which were worth millions! In the end, after years of faithful service and giving his all to the corporation, a miserly pension. Enough to keep body and soul together until he died.
“That is what Ralph Carrol clearly foresaw in the future, sir, as he stood at the crossroads of his life and took stock. He had no capital to fall back on, only his supreme confidence in his own genius and ability.
“To make a long story short, he resigned his position and came to me for advice. We formed a partnership and I set him up in a small laboratory of his own. And there, in six months’ time, on his own initiative, and spurred on by the knowledge that he would be allowed to retain a fair share of the profits in any new discovery made by him, he justified my faith and his own by perfecting a new plastic, which will undoubtedly revolutionize the industry. It is worth millions,” Margrave went on impressively. “Once we get into large production, all the previous plastics will become obsolete. You can easily see the tremendous stake a firm like Vulcan has in such a discovery. You can easily understand the lengths to which they might go to suppress the new process or to gain control of it for themselves.”
“Even to murder?” asked Shayne dubiously.
Margrave shrugged his massive naked shoulders. “Let us not be naive, Shayne. What is one man’s life to a corporation? One man who stands between them and millions of dollars in profits? You’re not a child. I imagine you’ve investigated many murders committed for a few hundred dollars.”
“But will Carrol’s death stop the manufacture of the plastic?” Shayne asked. “Certainly, you’re not going to tell me that the secret process died with him — that you can’t go on with it.”
“No. I’m not going to tell you that, Shayne. We are already in limited production and can go ahead. No, the plot is much more subtle and ingenious than that. You see, as soon as Vulcan learned about Ralph’s discovery, they immediately brought suit to gain control by having the courts declare it actually belonged to them. That suit is now pending before the courts of Delaware.”
“On what grounds?”