Zuo Yan thought for a while, looked at Vidok and said, "But... I still don't understand something."
"You think there are doubts about the motive of committing the crime, right?" Vidok replied.
"Hmm." Zuo Yan nodded, "According to what you said, John is a well-known promising young man, while Sam is just a second-generation ancestor... Judging from this situation, there is a great possibility that old Herbert will Leave the inheritance to John. Take a step back... Even if the old Herbert doesn't want to treat the two sons differently, the inheritance should be divided equally between the two brothers, and Sam will not take the lion's share anyway." He paused, "And then Taking a step back... John, who has already gained a firm foothold in the business world, can live well even if he doesn't inherit any money; on the contrary, Sam, who spends his days drinking and drinking, knows nothing but spending money... once he loses his family Funding, I'm afraid I 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... must make him penniless?" At this point, Zuo Yan frowned and thought for two seconds, "But... if that's the case, why did he offer to give Sam a hundred thousand pounds?"
"Think about your 'first step back' again, and then tell me the crux of the matter yourself." Vidok didn't answer Zuo Yan's question, but gave half a hint, half a request.
"Oh?" Zuo Yan listened, and immediately reconsidered the matter obediently, and then said, "You mean... the situation of 'equal inheritance' is unacceptable to John?"
"No." Victor said.
"Why?" Zuo Yan wondered.
"Because he lacks money." Vidok gave a very simple, unexpected, but very reasonable answer.
"John is short of money?" Zuo Yan was indeed surprised by the answer.
"Heh..." Vidok smiled, "Which of the following people do you think... are more likely to owe huge sums of money? The first type-young entrepreneurs who consider themselves elite, ambitious, and do big business; the second type —A wealthy young man who attends all kinds of social evenings all day long, eats, drinks, sleeps with supermodels, and never thinks about the so-called 'future'."
Although the two kinds of people described in this sentence are diametrically opposed, one is "the earner" and the other is the "spender", it is interesting to note that the people who are really cornered by debt...often are former.
"Hey, hey..." Zuo Yan also heard that Vidok's understanding of this case has far exceeded the level of ordinary people who eat melons, so he asked, "You know too much, don't you? Is it to the extent that you can grasp the news by reading it in the newspaper?"
"Half a month after John inherited all the property of Herbert's family..." Vidok thought while thinking, "I saw a report on the 'Herbert Group's financing' on the TV news. This report... That's what really got me interested in the previous estate lawsuit; that afternoon, I went online (yes, Vidok uses a computer to surf the Internet, of course, he won't let anyone find out about it except Zuo Yan Son) checked some things about that financing. The information is not confidential, and it can be easily retrieved on some business-related websites... Although this financing seems to be just an entrepreneur who inherited the family business. The business has done a routine merger with his own company, but if he pays attention to the accounts of his own company and the many movements during the previous year, he will find many interesting things."
"So..." Hearing this, Zuo Yan naturally guessed John's motives, "The person who can't accept the 'equal inheritance' is actually John... His business deficit has been so large that he can use the 'half of the estate' added by Herbert 'It can't be filled anymore, and only by inheriting all the property can he solve his crisis."
"No, no, no..." Vidok continued in a rather relaxed tone, "Herbert's family has a strong financial background, and to solve John's difficulties, 'half of the property' should be enough; but the problem is...Can John The half inherited must be real estate related to the enterprise, as well as shares and other things; and the half that Sam gets is the real 'money' that can be spent at will.
"Let's not talk about their father, even an outsider would know how to distribute it this way, because Sam is incapable of managing and running Herbert Company.
"However, if it develops according to this situation, after John inherits his share of property, he has to 'realize' some things to solve his predicament, which seems ugly... It is simply a high profile to the world declared his failure.
"John is obviously a person who doesn't want to admit his failure in front of others. If he is willing, he doesn't need to engage in any inheritance conspiracy; while his father is still alive, just ask his father for it... as long as old Herbert nods , John's plight can certainly be resolved."
"So, he carefully designed such a good show of 'false will'..." Zuo Yan continued following Vidok's words, "and intentionally left a loophole in the forgery of the will, step by step to lure his brother into the game; In the end, playing on the stereotypes of him and his brother made it seem logical."
"We must admit that as a criminal ... John is quite clever." Vidock continued, "If he wanted to, it would not be difficult to forge a fake will with no flaws in his beneficiary; His younger brother sued him to court because of this, and he may not lose." He stroked the hair on the top of his head with his little paw as he spoke, "But John didn't do that, he chose a more complicated method... Only in this way, Only then can Sam be branded as a 'liar and a scoundrel' so as to avoid future troubles.
"As for his behavior of taking out the 100,000 pounds afterwards, it was indeed as Sam said, he was using the money that belonged to the other party to give to the other party... For John, who has already received the entire inheritance, the 100,000 pounds is of no importance. , but his behavior of 'thinking of the brotherhood, knowing that the younger brother forged the will and giving the other party money' is undoubtedly an excellent public relations for himself."
"Well... the motive and the facts of the case are plausible." Zuo Yan continued thoughtfully, "but don't you think there is a loophole in your reasoning?"
"Tell me, I'll listen." Vidok knew exactly what Zuo Yan was going to say, but he didn't point it out, but waited for Zuo Yan to come up with it himself.
"Old Herbert died of illness." Zuo Yan said, "John can forge a will and set up a trap, but he can't..."
At this point, Zuo Yan seemed to have thought of something, his expression suddenly changed, and his words stopped abruptly.
"Can't what?" Vidok laughed. "Can't Old Herbert's death come sooner?"
"Is there something else you haven't told me?" Zuo Yanxu asked, looking down at Vidok.
"I said that Sam only stays at home for one or two months a year, but I didn't say that John only stays for such a few days..." Vidock said, "Although John's business is mainly in the UK, he himself spends a year I live on this island most of the time... This point has not changed even now; this can be regarded as one of the benefits of the information age, people can do most things in front of the computer, even autographs It can also be delivered through digital technology.”
Hearing these words, Zuo Yan knew the nature of the case, and then muttered: "If you stay in the same mansion with the deceased for a long time... slow poisoning will be more convenient, and it will not be easy to trace."
"The specific method may not be chronic poisoning, but it may be other methods..." Vidok said, "Old Herbert died at home, not in the hospital. Therefore, the person who announced his death was also Herbert. The family doctor of Burt's family; as far as I know... this doctor is about the same age as old Herbert. Maybe John tricked the old man, or maybe he was bought... In short, for The conclusion of 'died of illness' was not questioned at the time.
"A few years later, the doctor himself had passed away, and the old Herbert's body had already been 'buried at sea' by John."
"Shuangshuang has no proof, right..." Zuo Yan read.
"Hmph..." Vidok snorted coldly, "People like John don't leave obvious clues." He turned over on the bed again, "I have a friend who can be said to be 'in the world' The best of the easy-chair detectives', he has, over the years, been acquainted with a whole host of criminals like John at large, simply through the papers and the news."
"Uh... Your 'friend'... Could it be a cat too?" Zuo Yan asked.
"Of course it's a cat, what do you think?" Vidok replied in a natural tone.
"It's nothing...you continue." The corners of Zuo Yan's mouth twitched twice, and he didn't say anything; after all, he wasn't Brother Jue, and he didn't have that strong desire to complain.
"After understanding this, we can almost start talking about the topic..." Vidok continued, "The person we met in front of the elevator door before, that is, Sam Herbert who has disappeared for many years... According to my experience in those days After a few seconds of observation, he is likely to have been involved in some kind of illegal incident."