"The idea never occurred to
me, then or since. Lane Fleming was not the man to do that. He was deeply
religious, much interested in church work. And, aside from that, he had
no reason to wish to die. His health was excellent; much better than that
of many men twenty years his junior. He had no business worries. The
company is doing well, we had large Government contracts during the war
and no reconversion problems afterward, we now have more orders than we
have plant capacity to fill, and Mr. Fleming was consulting with
architects about plant expansion. We have been spared any serious labor
troubles. And Mr. Fleming's wife was devoted to him, and he to her. He
had no family troubles."
Rand raised an eyebrow over that last. "No?" he inquired.
Varcek flushed. "Please, Colonel Rand, you must not judge by what you
have seen since you came here. When Lane Fleming was alive, such scenes
as that in the library last evening would have been unthinkable. Now,
this family is like a ship without a captain."
"And since you do not think that he shot himself, either deliberately or
inadvertently, there remains the alternative that he was shot by somebody
else, either deliberately or, very improbably, by inadvertence," Rand
said.
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