Tasker made a gesture of negation. ‘I doubt if you can reason that way. It seems to me that Chayle might very well know the truth, and yet wish to keep it from the police.’
‘I don’t follow,’ interposed Brand.
‘Look at it this way.’ Tasker sat forward and demonstrated with his hands. ‘They have a secret process of which the existence is not generally known, and from which they’re making huge profits. Very well, we get hold of it. Now the thing of all others that Chayle will want will be to prevent the knowledge of it from spreading.’
‘You mean,’ King returned, ‘that if its existence were known, everyone would be out to get hold of it.’
‘Yes. Every chemist would be working on it and sooner or later someone would get it.’
‘That’s right. But if Scotland Yard discovers this affair, the existence of the secret becomes known over the whole world.’
‘Quite. Therefore they won’t want Scotland Yard to discover it.’
Brand moved uneasily. ‘But do you really mean to suggest that they would keep back evidence from the police? If the thing came out afterwards they would then be accessories after the fact.’
‘Ah,’ said Tasker, ‘now you’re talking, Brand. That’s what we must consider. Would they take a risk like that?’
‘There mightn’t be any risk,’ King pointed out. ‘They might, for example, admit they’d had the clue for some time, but say that its significance had only just then occurred to them.’
‘I suppose that would be possible with certain clues.’
‘It mightn’t be believed, but it couldn’t be disproved.’
There was a short silence, then King made a sudden movement. ‘The more I think of it,’ he said, ‘the more convinced I feel that they have no proof. They’re bluffing to get us to make the first move. I suggest we sit tight and see what happens.’
Tasker turned to Brand. ‘What do you say to that?’ he asked.
‘I suppose it’s right enough,’ Brand admitted doubtfully. ‘What do you think yourself, Tasker?’
‘I’d rather have your opinions,’ Tasker returned, ‘as you’re principally concerned. If there’s trouble it will be you two that are for it, not me.’
‘How do you make that out, Tasker?’ Brand queried. ‘It seems to me we’re all in it together.’
Tasker shrugged slightly. ‘I’m with you, heart and soul,’ he declared, ‘in what we do now, and no action of mine will let either of you down, so far as I can help it. But you must realise that if the thing were to come out, there’d be no use in my suffering as well as you.’
‘But you couldn’t help it.’
Tasker smiled. ‘Of course I could help it. Hasn’t King given me a written statement that the discovery of the process is his own work, resulting from his own experiments and from nothing else. No. I know nothing of any visit to Chayle. But,’ he made a gesture as King would have spoken, ‘don’t let’s consider a remote contingency like that. You both think that we should call their bluff?’
‘Yes,’ said King, ignoring his chief’s somewhat sinister suggestion. ‘It seems to me that if we don’t fall for what they’ve said, they’ll be bound to show their hand.’
‘Right. You agree, Brand?’
Brand agreed, though again doubtfully.
‘Well, I agree too. I’m glad to have that settled. Have a nightcap before you go.’
Four days later Tasker wrote a non-committal note to Haviland, saying that he had now had an opportunity of considering the points raised at their recent interview, and he, Tasker, felt sure they could complete a pact of non-aggression and co-operation on the lines suggested, as he considered this would be just as much in the interests of Joymount as of Chayle. Nor did he think his directors would have any objection to granting a purely formal recognition of Chayle’s priority in the discovery. He concluded by declaring Joymount was ready to discuss the matter further at Chayle’s convenience.
‘That should do the trick,’ said King when Tasker had called him and Brand into his office to approve the letter. ‘They’re bound now either to drop it or to show their hand.’
Brand agreed, though he could not visualise any prospect of the Chayle people dropping the affair.
This opinion was shortly justified. Haviland, after also waiting four days, replied that he was glad to have Tasker’s note and to find that the Chayle proposals met with his general approval. Doubtless, he added, the financial suggestions would eventually also commend themselves to the Joymount authorities. He thought that a little further discussion might be useful, and as it was hard to find time in a busy day for matters outside the ordinary routine, he suggested that Tasker and his friends should come to Chayle at nine o’clock on the following Tuesday evening.
The three Joymount men thought this letter looked badly. There was a restraint about it which seemed to indicate a disturbing confidence on Haviland’s part. Moreover the obvious desire for secrecy was ominous. When the trio got into Brand’s launch for their trip to the Island on the Tuesday evening, each was feeling less easy in his mind than he would have admitted.
Whether by accident or design the Chayle harbour was free from shipping when they arrived. Mairs was waiting for them on the wharf, and opening the wicket gate with his key, he led them to the conference room. Haviland and Samson were there. None of the Joymount party had met Samson, and mutual introductions took place.
Haviland was a good host. He quietly saw that his guests were disposed in comfortable chairs and supplied with drinks and cigars. For a few moments the conversation remained on general topics, then Haviland turned to business.
‘I didn’t say it in my letter in so many words,’ he began, ‘but we all thought that our discussions should be kept as private as possible. Even our watchman doesn’t know you’re here.’
Tasker briefly approved this policy and Haviland went on. ‘I suppose we may take up our discussion where we stopped at our last meeting. You were to consider generally the question of an agreement between us. From your letter I understand you have done so?’
‘The three of us present have considered it together,’ Tasker agreed, ‘but I have not mentioned it to my board. I should prefer only to put before them cut and dried proposals.’
‘Quite so,’ Haviland said. ‘And your opinion on the proposals?’
‘Generally speaking,’ Tasker answered, ‘we are in favour of an agreement, but the proposals are scarcely detailed enough for us to reply fully.’
Haviland nodded. ‘It was to arrive at detailed proposals that I thought we should meet. May I ask if you have thought of anything concrete that you would like to incorporate?’
‘I think,’ said Tasker, ‘that seeing that this matter is your suggestion, your proposals have probably been more carefully thought out than ours. I suggest that we take yours first. Personally I imagine they will cover the ground.’
Haviland shrugged. ‘As you like. I’ve got here some tentative clauses which we put forward as a basis of discussion.’ He took some sheets from a drawer and handed them round.
It was not without trepidation that the Joymount trio glanced over the sheets. There were seven short clauses, not legally phrased, but mere abbreviated notes of what the future document might contain. As the visitors read them they saw that the crisis was upon them.
The first five were innocuous, indeed valuable. They laid down, roughly speaking, that the existence and the nature of the process being used by both firms was a secret, and must be kept so; that the prices charged by both were to be similar and agreed between them, as also were to be any rebates or allowances made; that the work generally was to be carried on in a spirit of agreement and conciliation; that neither firm was to obtain advantage at the expense of the other; and that each was to keep the other advised of its various contracts. If necessary, the stock of either was to be used to assist the other to fulfil rush orders. These five clauses indeed represented a working agreement of a valuable nature.
None of the Joymount men, however, dwelt on these clauses. Their troubled gaze leaped to Nos. 6 and 7. These were the shortest, the most direct, and the most devastating. They read:
6.Joymount to agree that the new process is the absolute property of Chayle.
7.Joymount to work the process under licence from Chayle, and to pay Chayle 75 per cent of all profits received therefrom.
Brand was horrified. This was as bad as anything he had foreseen. Chayle would scarcely have made such claims unless they knew exactly what had happened. He glanced at Tasker with an anxiety which he tried hard to hide.
Tasker, he thought, was playing his part well. He glanced down the items, and when he reached Nos. 6 and 7, he raised his eyebrows, whistled faintly, and gave a little smile. It was an admirable suggestion of the good-humoured toleration of an obsession.
‘This is like certain living creatures,’ he said pleasantly; ‘it’s sting is in its tail. Well,’ he looked at Brand and King, ‘I think we can say at once that the first five clauses are excellent and certainly form a basis of discussion. In fact, I don’t at first glance see that they could be improved. But the last two clauses’—he broke off and laughed easily—‘I don’t suppose, Haviland, that you put those forward seriously?’
‘I assure you, Tasker, that we are most serious about them.’ He in his turn glanced at his associates. ‘You agree, Mairs? And you, Samson?’
Mairs and Samson agreed fully. Mairs, indeed, thought that Clauses 6 and 7 represented the real kernel of the agreement. Samson nodded his approval.
‘But,’ Tasker went on in the same slightly contemptuous way, ‘you can’t ask us to agree that the admitted fact that you found the thing out first nullifies all our work on similar lines.’
‘My dear Tasker,’ Haviland replied with a certain earnestness, ‘I suggest that we all understand each other perfectly. There is no need to put unpleasant facts into words. But I do ask you to believe that we know just where we stand in this matter.’
Tasker shrugged. ‘Very well. You know where you stand. But we don’t. I suggest that if you are really serious you must say exactly upon what grounds you make—well, what seems to us such a ridiculous demand.’
Haviland still spoke earnestly. ‘We would rather not,’ he said. ‘Very decidedly, we would rather not. Such a statement would be unpleasant, and we don’t wish to have an unpleasant interview.’ For a moment he paused, then went on again. ‘I may perhaps say two things. First I ask you to believe that we’re not jumping to conclusions. We know. Second, we do think, and I’m sure in your heart of hearts you agree with us, we do think that our request for seventy-five per cent of your extra profits is moderate.’
Tasker shrugged. ‘I entirely sympathise with your desire for a pleasant interview,’ he declared. ‘At the same time,’ he smiled, ‘seventy-five per cent of our profits would be worth one unpleasant interview. I’m afraid before we can consider your suggestion, we must know quite directly your reasons for making it.’
This, Brand thought, was the stuff at last. He expressed his approval, as did also King.
Haviland on his part, seemed undecided as to what he should do, and looked to his two henchmen for counsel. Mairs also hesitated, but Samson said: ‘Go on. You better tell them.’
‘Well,’ Haviland said with a shrug, ‘as you will. I’m sorry, and I say again that I don’t wish to be unpleasant or to make our association irksome. We know, in a word, what happened to Clay, and we know where your discovery of the process came from. As to how we know it, you can’t expect us to tell that. If you think for a moment, you’ll see that would be unreasonable.’
‘I can’t profess immense surprise,’ Tasker said in unmoved tones. ‘We three guessed that you might possibly suspect something of the kind, because of course what you mean to suggest is that we murdered Clay and stole your secret? That’s it, I suppose?’
‘That’s it,’ Haviland answered with all the directness for which Tasker had asked.
‘I wondered if it was that coming across tonight,’ Tasker went on smoothly. ‘Our answer is that if you suspect such a thing, as good citizens you must go to the police with your suspicions. We’re not asking you to shield us. We’re quite ready to answer to the authorities for our conduct.’ He smiled. ‘It seems to me, Haviland, that it’s you people that are in the difficulty, not us.’
Haviland made a little gesture of depreciation. ‘That, as you know very well, is perfectly true. We don’t want to go to the police, and you know why. If we go to the police, the existence of the process comes out. You see, I’m being perfectly open with you. Now, if its existence is known, chemists everywhere would be on to it. If we all sit tight and work amicably on the basis we suggest, we all remain happy and comfortable and we all make a good profit. We make more than you, I admit, but then we’re entitled to more.’
Tasker evidently decided the time had come to play his trump card. ‘That’s all very well, Haviland,’ he said, ‘but there’s surely one thing you’ve overlooked. Suppose, for argument’s sake, we were guilty of this affair—which, incidentally, I categorically deny—and suppose you suppress the evidence you say you have against us, you then become accessories after the fact. How do you get over that?’
‘Very simply. The evidence against you we held for a considerable time before we saw its significance. If in the future we found it convenient to go to the police, we would say that this significance had only just then struck us. But don’t’—he made a gesture of dismissal—‘let us continue this unprofitable discussion. I suggest that we leave the thing alone for a day or two. In the meantime, both of us will think it over, and then we can have another meeting. Perhaps by that time you would be in a position to make some alternative proposal? I assure you we are entirely ready to agree to any reasonable terms.’
King moved suddenly. ‘There’s just one question I should like to ask, Tasker. Suppose that we went mad and agreed to these gentlemen’s terms, what guarantee have we that the matter would really be dropped? There are six of us present here. Well, we’re all right. None of us is going to say anything. But is this alleged proof known to any other persons, and if so, how do we know that they would be equally accommodating?’
Haviland waved his hand. ‘There would be no fear of anything of that kind,’ he assured them. ‘No one knows what has happened except the six of us here present. You can understand that such knowledge would be—nearly—as dangerous to us as to you.’
They had a little further talk, then Tasker said it was getting late. He agreed they couldn’t finish their business that night, and he proposed another meeting in a week. They readily agreed. At the Joymount Works? In the evening? They agreed also. With a cold cordiality, the Chaylites saw their victims to their launch.
15
Chayle Puts on the Screw
It was a silent party which embarked on Brand’s launch and chugged across Cowes Roads and up Southampton Water to Hamble. Though none would admit it, the disappointment each felt was tinged with real fear. Even if it didn’t seem likely that the Chayle men would lodge information against them, they felt their security was gone. No one could tell what might eventuate from such a situation.
‘Haviland managed that well,’ said King at last. ‘We don’t yet know for sure whether they’re not bluffing. Of course, Haviland’s position about that is unassailable. They couldn’t tell us how they knew lest we should find some way to get round their proof.’
‘I think,’ Tasker answered, ‘we must assume they do know something. At all events there was one part of Haviland’s advice which we must admit was good; that we think over the affair. Let’s do so and meet again at my house on Friday evening.’
‘Yes, that’s right,’ said King. ‘Same time?’
‘Same time.’
On Friday night it would have interested a student of human nature to observe how the characters of the three men had come out in the conclusions to which each had come. The timidity of Brand, the tenacity of Kin
g and the caution of Tasker were reflected as by a mirror from their various statements. When they had settled down once again in Tasker’s study, each gave his views.
Brand was the first. ‘I’ve thought about this thing since Tuesday,’ he began, ‘in fact, I don’t believe I’ve thought of anything else; and I’ve come to the conclusion that Tasker was right in what he said in the launch coming home. I believe they do know something. Whether they know enough to get us arrested I can’t say, but I think we must assume they do and act accordingly.’
‘I agree with Brand,’ interposed Tasker. ‘Let’s deal with this before we go any further. What about you, King?’
‘I agree,’ King admitted. ‘Even if it’s only bluff, it’s too dangerous to disregard it altogether.’
‘Then let us take that as settled. Well, Brand?’
‘If we take that as settled,’ Brand went on, ‘it seems to me we are pretty well in their hands. It’s not so bad in a way, what they propose. Without the process we’re faced with ruin. What they propose would keep us going, and even give us a small profit. If we were kept from bankruptcy and had an easy mind about the Clay affair, I think we wouldn’t do so badly. Personally I’d be satisfied.’
‘It would be mere existence instead of the riches we’ve been expecting,’ King burst out.
‘Let’s finish with Brand,’ said Tasker. ‘Then, Brand, you’d be in favour of accepting their proposal?’
Brand nodded decisively. ‘Yes, I would. But I’d want it tied up so that they were committed to the thing and couldn’t afterwards go behind us to the police. As to the money,’ Brand twisted unhappily on his chair, ‘we can’t deny they’re entitled to the whole profits. We did steal their blessed process, and we’ve no real right to anything out of it.’
Tasker nodded. ‘Well, that’s a perfectly reasonable position. First vote, for agreement. Now, King, let’s hear what you have to say.’
Mystery on Southampton Water Page 17