There was a certain eminent lawyer living in a large city. He had no immediate family, no children or wife, but a number of siblings, one of whom had won a modicum of fame as a lyrical composer. His mother had gone into a madhouse when he was young, and this seemed to hang heavy around the attorney's head, but despite his family history - or perhaps because of it - he seemed unusually compelled to make himself successful in the world.
This lawyer was young and successful, but his case load was uneven; he supplemented his income by serving as a master at a boy's prep school seasonally, living on the campus and teaching mathematics as well as sports. He'd always been a sportsman, this young solicitor, excelling especially in cricket and football while attending university. He pursued this interest even after graduation and rarely, if ever, missed a cricket meet.
From the outside this attorney was the very model of success. He won many more cases than he lost, and soon developed a reputation as an earnest, dependable attorney who fought to the hilt for his clients. He was considered quite attractive, too, almost dapper, though perhaps rather more effete than his extracurricular career as a sportsman would suggest. It was thought curious that the man remained single after achieving such worldly success, but it could be written off as the price of a life engaged in society.
So it went for seven years for this lawyer of bright promise. Once he was even invited to a party to be hosted by one of the highest in the land, though by the time it came around he was very much dead.
For this barrister and teacher went missing one day. Nobody had reason to suspect much at first - his belongings hadn't been removed or tampered with in his room at the school. nor had his family heard from him for a month, though this wasn't considered unusual as the school year was coming to a close and they could expect him to be busy with finals.
But had they been in contact with him, a very different picture would have emerged. He'd been released from his duties by the headmaster near to the time he went missing. The headmaster refused to divulge the particulars surrounding his canning, save that it later emerged in the inquest that the reason had been "serious". Suggestions of sexual impropriety with the boys seem untenable, however, as no parent came forward to press charges, and no potential victim ever spoke against the lawyer.
All that existed otherwise to induce the slightest suspicion against the lawyer was a letter stowed among his things, in which he expressed a dread of ending up "like mother", and that he thought it better if he were to die. The letter was, however, much too oblique to be taken at face-value as a suicide note; and it was peculiarly addressed to the school's headmaster and not any relative. Even more singularly, the barrister was buried on consecrated ground, quite in contravention of the general rules of his religion regarding suicides.
Which he did. A month later his bloated body was pulled from a nearby river. It had been weighted down with large stones - four in each pocket. The only other objects of note on the corpse were two cheques, one of which had been made out to the barrister for an amount very nearly approaching his yearly salary at the school.
This is all that had been definitely ascertained about the man. There has been plenty of speculation, but it remains precisely that - speculation.
So why, and how, did he die?
This lawyer was young and successful, but his case load was uneven; he supplemented his income by serving as a master at a boy's prep school seasonally, living on the campus and teaching mathematics as well as sports. He'd always been a sportsman, this young solicitor, excelling especially in cricket and football while attending university. He pursued this interest even after graduation and rarely, if ever, missed a cricket meet.
From the outside this attorney was the very model of success. He won many more cases than he lost, and soon developed a reputation as an earnest, dependable attorney who fought to the hilt for his clients. He was considered quite attractive, too, almost dapper, though perhaps rather more effete than his extracurricular career as a sportsman would suggest. It was thought curious that the man remained single after achieving such worldly success, but it could be written off as the price of a life engaged in society.
So it went for seven years for this lawyer of bright promise. Once he was even invited to a party to be hosted by one of the highest in the land, though by the time it came around he was very much dead.
For this barrister and teacher went missing one day. Nobody had reason to suspect much at first - his belongings hadn't been removed or tampered with in his room at the school. nor had his family heard from him for a month, though this wasn't considered unusual as the school year was coming to a close and they could expect him to be busy with finals.
But had they been in contact with him, a very different picture would have emerged. He'd been released from his duties by the headmaster near to the time he went missing. The headmaster refused to divulge the particulars surrounding his canning, save that it later emerged in the inquest that the reason had been "serious". Suggestions of sexual impropriety with the boys seem untenable, however, as no parent came forward to press charges, and no potential victim ever spoke against the lawyer.
All that existed otherwise to induce the slightest suspicion against the lawyer was a letter stowed among his things, in which he expressed a dread of ending up "like mother", and that he thought it better if he were to die. The letter was, however, much too oblique to be taken at face-value as a suicide note; and it was peculiarly addressed to the school's headmaster and not any relative. Even more singularly, the barrister was buried on consecrated ground, quite in contravention of the general rules of his religion regarding suicides.
Which he did. A month later his bloated body was pulled from a nearby river. It had been weighted down with large stones - four in each pocket. The only other objects of note on the corpse were two cheques, one of which had been made out to the barrister for an amount very nearly approaching his yearly salary at the school.
This is all that had been definitely ascertained about the man. There has been plenty of speculation, but it remains precisely that - speculation.
So why, and how, did he die?
