The Heirs

Every member of the Chamberlains mysteriously ended up dead after they inherited the money, and a detective is determined to find out why.

            I put down my cup of coffee on the table before Danny, the newly Police Academy graduate and my apprentice, stuck his head into my messy office and brought the news I did definitely not want to hear

            “Found her,” he said

            Jesus Christ, can this family stop dying please. “I’ll be right with you.” Reaching for my baseball hat and the car key, I followed him.

            We arrived at the Chamberlain estate after 10 minutes. Officers already surrounded the enormous yard that included a 19^th century castle-like mansion, a tennis court, a mini golf course and a natural basin. At the lake bank a lifeless blanketed body was circled by three forensic specialists. I knelt down, buried my nose with my hand to conceal the smell, and opened the cover. Laid before me was an unusually fat, fluid-filled corpse of Gina Chamberlain, the heiress of Arsene Chamberlain who passed away from cancer three months ago.

            One of the experts gave me the initial report. Without reading it, I already knew the cause of death. She was drowned, just like her older brothers.

            About one and half month earlier I was called to the same scene. Arsene’s oldest son and Gina’s brother Oliver went missing for four days. 96 hours later he was spotted floating at the family-owned lake. His autopsy showed that he was well alive prior to being submerged. White froth at the mouth and nostrils, lungs full of water, and a large quantity of debris and liquid at the stomach all signified the conscious mind. Furthermore his carcass had no sign of being struggled or forced, so either he came to the lake at his will or at gunpoint.  

            Oliver was the direct heir of Arsene, or dynastically speaking, a crown prince. Though the Chamberlains were only distantly related to the Tudors, they still viewed themselves as royals, and so their way of inheritance was also monarchal-like. The wealth shall go from father to the firstborn son. Over the years when the Chamberlains migrated to the U.S., the family rule changed a bit. It allowed any first offspring, regardless of sex, to succeed.

            I refused the probability of suicide, for nobody in the right mind committed the self-destruction the moment they was given a fortune. Murder was more plausible. Because of the strangely mean of distributing the money, sibling rivalry was inevitable. One had to be gone in order for the other to step in. Even though the less important children still had trust funds, they were not enough for them to continue the luxurious habits. After Oliver’s expiration, I detained Aaron, the heir presumptive, and Gina.

            They certainly hated Oliver, for he kicked them out the moment he possessed the estate and money. However, they were proven to be not responsible for the suspected murder. Aaron was at a musical concert with his gold-diggers and Gina was in Hawaii with her boyfriend. I cross-checked their proofs, and indeed they were not around at the time of Oliver’s death.

            When Aaron and Gina in turn got the money and became dead, people in the town gossiped about a curse. They believed that after years of building their richness using despicable methods, karma finally caught up with them. The first American Chamberlains were slave traders, and when the Civil War started they sided with the Confederate. Arsene’s great grandfather operated a diamond mine in Africa and Arsene himself founded a bank that foreclosed many houses during the economic recession. As a rational man, I never considered supernatural as a possibility. However, it would be nice to have people believed this way, in case I could not solve this.

            Nonetheless this mystery was not uncrackable, at least yet. There was actually one more person I had not questioned. Mathieu, Arsene’s youngest son, currently resided in France. I initially ruled him out because he was too far away to commit anything and too down the line to be benefited. Now with his sudden elevation of status and his problems, he was undoubtedly a prime suspect. Mathieu was a notorious playboy and gambler. His reckless lifestyle added further damage to the already-negative family reputation. To save some face, Arsene sent him to France. However, living abroad meant nobody controlled him, so his shenanigans continued. Mathieu allegedly maxed out his trust fund and was deep in debts. Nothing to lose and a fortune to gain, he shall be very motivated to kill his siblings. Hiring an assassin may be his option, as he did not need to be present at the scene and still could carry out the murders.

            Mathieu was scheduled to be back in a few days. Because I could not just arrest him for lack of evidence, I chose an alternative. I contacted and offered him protection, since the “supposed killer” was still at large and he might be in danger. Surprisingly he said yes. So as agreed, Danny and I picked him up at the airport. Even though Mathieu was British, he resembled Russian more. Purely blue eyes, blond hair, large lips and pale skins. He dressed fashionably and spoke formally, like a true royal. However, the impression was all wrong. On the way to the mansion, he kept bragging about how good he was in bed and how many girls he had slept with over the years in France. Danny glanced at me and we telepathically shared a same thought. A true Chamberlain, rich but spoiled and uneducated.

            At night, we attended the will-reading ceremony. The obese lawyer showed up at seven o’clock with a briefcase. He looked bored and uninterested, and I understood why. Performing the same thing for the four times in a row could really irritate anyone.

            As we all settled in the huge living room, Mathieu in a couch, the attorney in a chair opposite him and Danny and I standing near the door, the lawyer pulled out a piece of paper from his suitcase and recited

            “I, Carl Wilshere, hereby delivered the will Mr. Arsene Chamberlain entrusted me with to his heir, Mathieu Chamberlain.” He stopped momentarily to take out a sealed envelope. “Under God, lawyer’s code, and my client’s wish, the will is at its original state without any altercation.

            Mathieu impatiently jacked the letter from him, tearing it. Probably getting used to this behavior, Carl seemed rather calmed.  

            “Actually Mr. Chamberlain, you cannot view it right here,” he held Mathieu’s hand before he ripped the whole thing. “Your father insisted that the heir must read his will alone.

            Mathieu stood up and excitingly ascended the stair nearby. The lawyer screamed after him. “Please bring it back once you’re done. Your father wanted me to keep it,” then he lowered his tone. “Just in case.”

            When Mathieu was out of sight, I decided that it would be a perfect time to dig up, so I chatted with the lawyer

            “Must be really exhausted to do the same ritual in just a short period of time, eh?” I asked

            “Yes, but I got paid so it’s not that bad.”

            “What happen when, God forbids, Mathieu is…you know what.”

            “The whole estate and the money shall become the government property. The Chamberlains had no other relatives.”

            “Do you know what was written in the will?”

            “No. Usually clients discuss the wills with their lawyers but Arsene came to me with the shut letter. He repeatedly told me not to open. Lawyer must honor the clients’ wishes all the time so I did not even try to peak at this thing.”

            We were interrupted by Mathieu. He handed back the will and ecstatically invited us to join him for dinner. He should enjoy it while he could, for I shall find enough clues to incriminate him.

            Danny and I were at Mathieu’s side all the time in the next few days. After receiving all the money, he hung out with his ladies and went home with some of them. The cycle continued, days passed by and Mathieu had not done anything suspicious. To this point I began to doubt whether I was inaccurate the whole time, I guarded him from risk well or he was outfoxing me.            

Three weeks flied out of the window. Nothing had changed. However I noticed that lately Mathieu became very anxious. He got tenser every day and yet tried to preserve a cool face every time I was near. Sometimes he even suggested me to leave, stating that he was perfectly safe on his own. The hitman is probably at his neck now. He could not pay him without me knowing. And so I complied with him, but not forgetting to install an officer to monitor his movement  

It’s was midnight when my phone rang. Reaching for it, I answered sleepily.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me Nicklas, sir.” He was the officer I ordered to spy on Mathieu. “He went to the lake, by himself.”

“He what?” I was now fully awake.

“I just saw him going to the lake”

“Are you sure it’s just him and no one else?”

“Absolutely positive sir, what do I do now?”  

“Stay there, and keep an eye for other people, I’ll send a team.”

Hurriedly clothing up, I radioed my team. About five minutes we arrived to the mansion. Our presence confused the workers but I did not care. Mathieu was the focus point now. He was not spotted at the surface, so I sent two divers searching for him. After one hour they found his lifeless body.

 

 

I declared the case cold, much to the satisfaction of the press. As much as the public hated the Chamberlains, the journalists loved to write about the law enforcement failure. Meanwhile I took a sabbatical leave  

Danny visited me daily, bringing me the news from the police department. One day while playing card, Danny jokingly talked about the Chamberlain case.

“We forgot to interrogate Arsene.” He said

“What can a dead man do?” I laughed

“Maybe he didn’t let anyone inherit the money, so his ghost chased them to the lake.”

Then it struck me. Arsene might not be capable of killing his children, but his will, his last statement, may. Everybody but the heirs were ignorant of it, it was highly possible that Arsene could compose something that led to his descendant’ demises. I dragged Danny to my car and drove it recklessly to the Carl’s office.

The lawyer was organizing the profiles when we, an odd pair of an overly dressed and pajama wearer, burst into his office despite the protest from the receptionist.

“What…what are you two doing here?” Carl was startled

“The will, do you still have it?” I heavily breathing asked. Being too eager, I climbed six flights of stairs without using elevator.

“Arsene’s will? For what?”

“I think the will is the key to the case, I need to see it now.”

Nodding, Carl fingered through a bunch of portfolios until he stumbled upon the letter C. Slowly tracing the section, he extracted a yellow folder and tossed it to me.

“My clients were all dead, so I’m no longer obligated to keep their secret.” He assured me.

Danny and I carefully reviewed every single letter on the machine-typed paper. Poor Arsene, he overestimated his children and would never have guessed that his message accidently killed all of his children.

 

Dear my heir/heiress

First, I shall leave you a sum of four billion dollar. Please use the money responsibly, as I have worked all my life to earn that amount. Discuss with Carl on how to transfer that to your bank account

Second, here is your chance to be a bigger person. I have decided to break the family tradition by letting you share the money with your brothers and sister. You may or may not split the money with your siblings, either choice will not invalidate your inheritance. But from my experience, when only one child gets all the money, it will certainly result in sibling rivalry, and I do not really want that within our family. By letting only you know this secret, I believe that you will do the right thing and earn you some respect. You don’t have to credit me, I just want all of you living together in harmony.

Lastly, I have hidden some gold at the bottom of the lake. These gold is saved for the desperate time. Now as I assume that you already distribute the money to your siblings and you all will use it efficiently, these gold should be for our loyal workers. Hire someone to dig it up, and reward it to them, they deserve it.  

I wish you all a bright future.

                        Your father, Arsene Chamberlain.

 

 

At the press conference, I proudly explained the case. Wanting to keep the gold for themselves, they dove to the bottom. As the lake was deep and they were not experienced swimmers, they lost control and drowned. The gold was now excavated and divided among seven house workers. They received about three million dollars each. Needless to say, they were overly happy.  

After the interview I drove to the mansion. The estate now belonged to the state and I heard that they planned to use it as a museum. I wandered around the lake until my wife called me home for dinner. I gave it one last look and said to the perished Chamberlains souls before leaving

“Your greed killed you all, your greed killed you all.”