20 - There dwells a spirit, waiting to be released

“Mr. Knight we need to talk. I’ll be at your place in twenty minutes.”

Merlyn frowned at the tightness in Detective Jonas’ voice. “I’ll be here. Can you tell me what this is about?”

“When I get there.”

After she hung up Merlyn stared at the phone. He’d been about to go upstairs and get to work but that apparently wasn’t going to happen just yet. He noticed he had two voice mails, both from numbers he didn’t recognize. He checked the first one, hoping against hope it was from Alan, sighing when he saw it was a message from a potential customer instead. He supposed they’d gotten his number from the man who managed Alton’s gallery, and that made him wonder once again who would be taking it over. Checking the second voice mail he had a feeling he’d be finding out quite soon. The message was from a lawyer, saying that Alton’s will would go to through probate soon and asking Merlyn to call at his earliest convenience.

Dialing the number the lawyer had left, Merlyn identified himself to the woman who answered and was immediately put through to the lawyer. Five minutes later Merlyn hung up, still not believing what he’d been told. He’d known that Alton was well-to-do but had had no concept of how rich the man really was. The lawyer had told him that Alton’s estate had been split equally between Alton’s mother and Merlyn, other than a few bequests to some friends and employees and the transfer of the gallery’s ownership to the man who had managed it for Alton. The final result was that Merlyn stood to inherit close to a million dollars.

“Unbelievable,” he murmured yet again as he snapped his phone shut. “What the hell am I going to do with that kind of money? And why did you do that Alt? It’s not like I need it.”

The sound of the doorbell broke into his thoughts. When he opened the door he found Detective Jonas standing there. She walked past him into the living room before turning to give him a hard look.

“You didn’t tell me you stood to inherit a fortune from Mr Weber.”

“I didn’t know until just now, but why does that matter?”

“Because, Mr Knight, it gives you a hell of a motive for his murder.”

He looked at her in shock. “You have to be kidding me.”

“I’m not saying I think you killed him, but as my captain pointed out, you’re the one who stands to gain the most from his death other than his mother.”

“Damn it, I don’t need the money. I’m hardly heading to the poorhouse without it, detective. Fell free to check my financial records if you don’t believe me.”

She smiled tightly. “We will. The problem is, as far as my captain sees it, you now have both motive and opportunity. You have no alibi and you’re the only one who knew about the supposed message that Mr Weber got while the two of you were at that club. Well the only one other than Mr Gunther and he’s conveniently dead as well.”

“So I’m supposed to be some sort of mass murderer?” he said angrily. “That’s all I need right now. I just lost the best friend I ever had and you think I killed him for his money. Damn it I didn’t even know about the will and if I had I’d have made him change it.”