Chapter 2: Silent Rumours
After ushering Christiana out the front door, he closed the door behind her and called out to his staff. "All right, Celina, or David; or whoever's out there. Come to my office now!"
Roger went back to his desk, sat down on his chair, and then waited for his assistants to get in. As he straightened up, the door opened and his secretary, Celina Johnson, entered. Celina was a very beautiful woman; she was as beautiful as the goddess of love herself. She had the kind of eyes that could lure any man into her bed. Behind her came David Grant, Roger's assistant. He was five or six years older than his employer was, and slightly built.
"I used to wonder why this agency never made much profit while you were away. Now I think I know why. I never had the courage to ask the kind of fees you do. I was listening in from the other side. I nearly burst out when you asked for Ten thousand", David said while laughing hysterically.
"Ten thousand dollars just for appraising Cooper's collection?" Celina said, as she sat down in the chair Christiana had occupied just a few minutes ago.
"No, not just that", replied Roger. "She doesn't care much about the cars; she wants me to find out who and how his husband ended up six feet in the ground."
While they continued to discuss the details of their new contract, Roger took the phone on his desk and dialed a number. In a moment, a girl's voice answered.
"James Gardener's law office; good afternoon."
"Hello, Joyce; is James available?"
"Oh, hello, Roger. Just a moment", Joyce replied while dialing another phone.
"Hello Tip Roger is on the line," she announced.
"Hello, Roger. Now, what have we gotten ourselves into this time around?
"Nothing, so far. I just need a little legal information on a new job we got. Are you busy at the moment? … Okay, I'll be up directly." He replaced the phone and turned to his disciples.
"She wants two jobs done on one fee. Getting the collection sold is one job. Exploring the whys and hows of that Cooper's death is another. She has a hunch that there's something fishy about the incident. She expects me to find evidence to that effect while I'm at Mirfield, going over the collection. I'm not excluding other possibilities, but I'll work on that line until and unless I find out differently. Ten thousand should cover both jobs."
"You think that's how it is?" Celina asked. "Look, Celina. I got just as far in Arithmetic, at school, as you did, and I suspect that Mrs. Cooper got at least as far as long division, herself. For reasons I stated, I simply couldn't have handled that collection business for anything like a reasonable fee, so I told her ten thousand, thinking that would make her change her mind. But it didn't; I knew she had something else in mind, and when she went into all that detail about the death of her husband, she as good as told me that was what it was. Now I'm sorry I didn't ask for more; I think she'd have bought it at that price just as cheerfully. She thinks John Cooper was murdered. Well, on the face of what she told me, so do I."
"You heard that he was supposed to have shot himself with an Astra 680. But I believe a man like John knew much about that gun to shoot himself in an accident", Roger explained. "Well, have you thought that it might just be suicide?" Celina asked.
"I have, very briefly; but I dismissed the thought, almost at once," Roger told her.
"For two reasons; one, that if it had been suicide, Mrs. Cooper wouldn't want it poked into; she'd be more than willing to let it ride as an accident. And, two, I doubt that a successful man like Cooper would want to end his life in such a manner. So, the only conclusion I can draw is that somebody murdered Cooper, and then faked evidence intended to indicate an accident." Roger stood up and headed outside to the reception hall.
James Gardener had his law office on the floor above Roger's Detective, Investigations and Protection Agency. He handled all of Roger's legal matters, and Roger did all his investigating and witness-chasing. After the end of every year, they compared books to see who owed whom how much. James was about five years younger than Roger. He was also a military veteran who had served with Rogers on several missions. His dark, conservatively cut clothes fitted him as though they had been sprayed on. He leaned back in his chair and waved his visitor to a seat.
"James, do you know anything about this Cooper family, out at Mirfield ?" Roger began the conversation while lighting a cigar that had been handed to him by James.
"The Coopers? Yes, a little. Which one of them wants you to frame what on which other one?", James asked.
"Mrs. Christiana Cooper came into my office today and requested my services.", Roger replied and then took his time to explain what had transpired in his office a while ago.
"Maybe she isn't sure in her own mind and wants me to see, independently, if there's anything that needs to be uncovered. Or, she may think that having a private detective called in may throw a scare into somebody. Or maybe she thinks somebody maybe fixing up an accident for her, next, and she wants some protection in the house in the meantime."
"Yes. You know, I've heard rumors; rumors of suicide among other things, but this is the first whiff of murder I've caught. I must say, I'm not greatly surprised. Cooper's death was very convenient for a number of people. You know about this collection and estates don't you?", James replied.
"Mr. Cooper owned about sixty percent of the entire estate managed by his company and most people did not like the way he run the business but what could they do. With sixty percent, his wishes were followed to last period."
"Who do you think might have wanted him out of the way", Roger asked while he tried to seam the pieces of data he had into the information he could use to start his work.
"Just about everybody. His two sons-in-law, Patrick Stewart and Steve Robins, who are first and second vice presidents, Sean, the company attorney, who doubles as board chairman, all the directors, and every other person who could inherit his voting power. I don't really know who inherits Cooper's voting interest, but I can find out for you by this time tomorrow."
"Do that, James, and bill me for what you think finding out is worth," Roger said." Now, how about the family, as distinct from the company?", Roger asked trying to get more information out of James.
"Well, there's your client, Christiana Cooper. She married John Cooper about a decade ago when she was twenty-five and he was fifty-five. In spite of the age difference, I understand it was a fairly happy marriage. Then, there are two daughters by a previous marriage, Jennifer Cooper and Samantha Cooper, and their respective husbands. They all live together, in a big house in Mirfield. Jennifer and Samantha hate each other like Greeks and Trojans. From time to time, temporary alliances get formed, mainly against Christiana; all of them resent the way she married herself into a third interest in the estate. You're going to have yourself a nice, pleasant little stay in the country."
"I'm looking forward to it. You mentioned suicide rumors. Such as, and who's been spreading them?", Roger asked in a much more serious tone.
"Oh, they are the usual voices that float about. I suspect they are coming from sources interested in shaking out the less sophisticated small shareholders. The story is always approximately the same: John Cooper saw his company drifting apart, apparently, he had lost control of his ship and decided to end it all. The family is supposed to have faked up the accident afterward."
"Or a smokescreen, to cover the defects in camouflaging a murder as an accident," Roger added.
James nodded. "That could be so, too. Say somebody dislikes the looks of that accident and starts investigating. Then he runs into all these suicide rumors and promptly drops the case even before revealing any secrets. Cooper killed himself, and the family made a few alterations and are passing it off as an accident. The families of suicides have been known to do that."
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