Please Review!
Chapter Three – Curiosity
Tintin rushed up the front walk of Marlinspike Hall, and knocked urgently. After a minute, Haddock's butler opened the door and let him in.
"May I see the Captain?" Tintin asked quickly.
"The doctor left just before you arrived sir, so now would be a good time to," he replied solemnly.
"Doctor?" For a second Tintin felt cold, then he rushed into the house. "Captain!" He called. "Captain! Cap –"
Tintin stopped in the sitting room, seeing Captain Haddock unharmed other than a bandaged ankle.
"Now wha's all the yellin' abou'?" Haddock asked. "Ah, Tintin, good of you to visit me on my sickbed. For I may as well be sick, one broken ankle and I can't walk for weeks!"
"Broken ankle?" Tintin replied, still a little shaken but composed. "That's a pity." Sitting down, he continued. "Captain, I was given a new story this morning, and I thought you could help me."
"How can I?" Haddock gestured to his injury.
Tintin smiled at his friend as he sat down. "I don't need your legs, I need your mind."
"Ah, you know I haven't the head for mysteries!" The Captain protested.
"More precisely, it's your memory I'm after. Did you know Mr. Hartley? His manor's just a little way down the road."
Haddock thought for a second. "Older fellow? Sure, I remember him. But what's your latest story have to do with him?"
"He died." Tintin replied, standing and moving to the window. "Or was murdered. Something just doesn't sit right. It doesn't add up."
"Dead?" The Captain asked, looking genuinely sad as he twisted around to view his copper-headed friend. "He was always a kind fellow, I remember him from when I was a youngster. Too bad. Didn't he leave all of his money to one charity or another?"
"Why would you say that?" Tintin quickly turned away from the window to face the captain.
"Well, he was always giving his money away to anyone who needed it! Always said he had more than he could ever use. I just assumed it would all go to charity," Haddock explained.
"Well, it didn't. Some distant relatives pop out of nowhere and the whole estate goes to them - curious, isn't it? Especially that you had assumed he would leave his money for a good cause, since he had allegedly already promised it to one. But it was only in words, and his will says differently." Tintin paced now, the pieces coming together. "Was he coerced into making them his sole inheritors, then murdered? Or is there something else going on?"
"Alas lad, that's all I can help you with," Captain Haddock interjected, shaking the journalist from his reverie.
"Of course. Thank you Captain, you've given me what I needed. Now, I have to go have a look at Hartley Manor!"