Dennis Wheatley - They Found Atlantis

Nick stood up and faced the desk, his Greek god features distorted to a mask of fury:

'Two years you say before we'll get back to civilisation. To hell with that! I've got important contracts I can't afford to miss—besides what'll my public do without my pictures? You can't know who I am.'

'I know quite well who you are,' 'Kate's' hard passionless stare met the indignant eyes of the crooner, 'and if I have any insolence from you young man, I'll get Captain Ardow to put you on a ten hour job a day shovelling coal in the stokehold.'

Nicky's mouth twisted venomously but he wilted where he stood and flung himself down on the settee again, as 'Kate' turned to Slinger:

'Have you got that draft letter for the Duchess?'

'Here it is, Chief.'

Thanks.' He stood up. 'Now Duchess, will you please come and sit here.'

Camilla shrunk back against Sally. 'No, no,' she muttered, shaking her head. 'No.'

'Let me try and persuade you.'

'It's no use,' she stuttered, 'I can't, I oh—' she broke off suddenly and burst into tears.

'Come. Surely you do not mean to compel me to take extreme measures?' There was a harshness now in 'Kate's' tone which made them all think again those horrifying thoughts which had come to them when they first believed that he meant to kill her. By giving ample opportunity for that fear to sink well into their consciousness while expatiating upon the ease with which he could do it and get away, he had very skilfully prepared his ground; for now, by comparison the loss, even of her entire fortune, seemed only a minor matter and Sally voiced their feelings when she patted Camilla's hands and said:

'Go on, darling. Do as he says. This is an awful business but if you sign the papers at least we'll remain alive.'

That's the ticket, thought the McKay. While there's life there's hope.

'Would you—would you really, Sally?' Camilla asked tearfully.

'I would darling—I certainly would if I were you,' and so, owing to 'Kate's' careful manipulation of the sequence of events Camilla sat down with far less fuss than might have been expected to sign away her fortune.

'This is the letter to your family lawyer whom you call Simon John,' 'Kate' said placing a typed sheet of paper in front of her. 'In so many words it says that in view of the fact that you are setting out today on this expedition, and intend personally to share with others in your party the risk of making numerous descents in the bathysphere, you feel that it is only right to set your affairs in order just in case any unforeseen misfortune should overtake you. There's a little joke about that showing that you think it extremely unlikely. Then you go on to say that you are enclosing a new will embodying your final wishes over which you've been thinking a lot and that the principal alteration in it is owing to your dissatisfaction with the way in which the Hart Institute funds are administered. You add that as it has been drawn up by Mr. Slinger, who did a certain amount of legal work for you in Paris and who of course they know has been handling your personal affairs for the last few months, you feel sure that they will find it all in order. Then there's another little joke about the old man's golf average, and you send your love to that little dog Skip of his you used to be so fond of. It's a nice chatty letter couched as you would write it in ordinary colloquialisms. Now please copy it out in your own hand on this blank piece of headed paper.'

Camilla dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief, then t.f.*.—o 97

took the pen he handed her and commenced to write in a round childish scrawl.

Doctor Tisch suddenly stood up. For some moments past he had been torn between fear and indignation. There was to be no bloodshed after all, it seemed, which was a great weight off his conscience, but what about the other part of the bargain which he had made in order to save his expedition? Surely this criminal could not mean to cheat him after he had made this tremendous coup possible by his complaisance.

'I wish to speak with you,' he shot out at 'Kate'.

'All right—go ahead.'

'With you alone.'

'Sorry. I've no time to give you,' Kate replied curtly.

'But how, if you send me to the Falkland Isles, can I make my great exploration?'

'You'll have a week. You must do your best in that.'

'A week—a week! What is a week after so many years of waiting,' cried the Doctor indignantly. 'Come please 1 must speak with you alone.'

'Anything you have to say you can say quite well here, but you will be wasting your breath anyway so if I were you I should say nothing. You might regret it afterwards.'

The little Doctor's face went a shade deeper purple but after a second he plumped himself down in his chair again. He was caught. He saw that clearly now. They had no intention of carrying out their bargain with him and if he claimed it as a right they would still refuse, while he would have to suffer the ignominy of exposing himself as having been in league with these crooks to bring Camilla to her present pass which, so far at least, had been spared him.

'There 1' cried Camilla throwing down her pen and staring angrily at Kate.

'Thanks,' he picked up the letter and read it through carefully. 'That's all right. Now Slinger, the will.'

Slinger produced a bulky document from an attach^ case and handed it across.

'You're sure it's all in order?' Kate fixed him for a second.

'Certain, Chief. I've vetted it to the last detail and believe me it's a gem for plausibility. That was a great idea of yours having the codicil added. Just the sort of thing Camilla would do to her will the day after she'd made it.'

'Kate' did not reply and they all waited in silence for a good ten minutes while he examined each clause in the lengthy document.

At last he looked up and addressed them again: 'As you heard Slinger say this will has been drawn up with very great care and forethought. A young man who is in the office of the Duchess's lawyer was persuaded to give certain information to an associate of mine. Having been employed clerically on the Duchess's last will, made after her divorce, the particulars he supplied have enabled us to draft this new will on very similar lines. Miss Hart, as you may know, is her only near relative, but all those distant connections who were beneficiaries under the old will retain their interest under this, for similar amounts so far as my informant could remember. Any slight variations are unlikely to cause comment since the Duchess, not having the original before her when she presumably gave Slinger his instructions, would probably not remember all the amounts previously stated. The same remarks apply with regard to legacies to old family servants and present employees. All these have been allowed to stand and the faithful Slinger's name added for a substantial but not spectacular honorarium, which, however, he will unfortunately be compelled to forfeit through not having been in the Duchess's service for three years—a nice touch that. In the matter of the various charities we have again adhered as closely as possible to the Duchess's intentions, the only considerable alteration being that, instead of the residue of her estate, which of course comprises the great bulk of her fortune, going to the Hart Institute, it will pass to the St. Protea Bible and Tract Society. For your information I may add that the Saint Protea Bible and Tract Society has been in existence for some years and its activities are quite beyond reproach. It has been built up at considerable cost and with much care for just such an occasion as this, but it will cease to function a few weeks after this extremely handsome bequest has been paid into its account, because, of course, I am the Saint Protea Bible and Tract Society myself.'

'Oh God,' murmured Sally, 'you've certainly thought of everything.'