“What did the bank tell them?”
“Told them to ring up Alta and have her stop payment on the check.”
“That was a telephone call?”
“Yes.”
“The person at the other end of the line said it was the Atlee Amusement Corporation?”
“Yes.”
“Man’s voice or woman’s?”
“A woman’s. She said she was the book-keeper, and secretary to the manager.”
“Any woman can say that into any telephone. It only costs five cents, and it sounds the same at the receiving end of the line.”
He thought that over, then slowly nodded.
The cocktails began to take effect. He got in an expansive mood. He leaned over and put a fatherly hand on my knee. “Lam, my boy,” he said. “I like you. There’s a certain inherent competency about you which breeds confidence. I think Alta feels the same way.”
“I’m glad I’m doing a satisfactory job.”
“I thought you weren’t going to for a while. I thought it would be bungled. Alta’s rather smart, you know.”
“She’s nobody’s fool,” I said, and then, because he expected it, and because he was a cash customer, I added, “A chip off the old block.”
He beamed at me, then his face became worried. He’ said, “I have an idea you know what you’re doing, Lam, but if a ten-thousand-dollar check payable to cash has beer stolen, and if the person who presented it for payment should get into a jam and make certain statements and—”
“Quit worrying about it. Nothing will happen.”
He said significantly, “If you had read the papers, you’d have noticed that the witnesses had given a somewhat contradictory description of this mysterious John Smith. The very contradictions of that description are significant to a man who knows human nature — the young woman sketches John Smith in a much more attractive light.”
I didn’t say anything.
“You know, Lam, I’m trusting very much to your discretion in this matter. I’m certainly hoping that you don’t — that you haven’t — that no excess zeal on your part has perhaps laid a foundation for a worse evil than that which you were called in to cure.”
“That would be embarrassing, wouldn’t it?”
“Very. You don’t open up much, do you?”
“I prefer to play a lone hand wherever I can.”
He said, “I could have unlimited confidence in you, Donald, my boy, absolutely unlimited confidence, if I knew one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Whether your plans had taken into consideration the danger of that ten-thousand-dollar check showing up.”
It was a chance for a grandstand that I couldn’t resist. I said quietly, “Mr. Ashbury, I burnt up that ten-thousand-dollar check in your solarium last night. I ground the ashes into powder with my finger-tips. You can quit worrying about it.”
He looked at me with his eyes getting bigger and bigger until I thought they were going to push his spectacles off the bridge of his nose, then he grabbed my hand and started pumping it up and down. I made allowances for the four cocktails, but, even so, it was quite a demonstration. “You’re a wonder, my boy, a wonder! This is the last time I shall ask you anything. You go right ahead from here on and handle things in your own way. That’s marvellous, simply marvellous.”
I said, “Thanks. You know this may cost you money.”
“I don’t give a damn what it costs— No, I don’t exactly mean that, but— Well, you know what I mean.”
I said, “Bertha is unduly economical at times. She’s penny-wise and pound-foolish.”
“She doesn’t need to be. You explain that to her. Tell her that—”
“Telling her won’t do any good,” I said. “It’s the way she’s built.”
“Well, what do you want?”
I said, “Has it ever occurred to you I may have to bribe someone?”
“No.”
“Well, it’s a possibility to be taken into consideration.” He didn’t seem particularly happy about it. He said, “Well, of course, if you run into an emergency, the only thing for you to do is to come to me and—”
“And tell you who I’m bribing, how much I’ve got to pay, and why?” I asked.
“Well, yes.”
“Then if anything goes wrong and it’s a trap, you’re the one who’s caught.”
I saw his face change colour. He said, “How much do you want?”
I said, “Better give me a thousand dollars. I’ll keep it with me in case I need it. I may come back and ask for more.”
“That’s a lot of money, Donald.”
“It is for a fact,” I said. “How much money have you got?”
He flushed. “I don’t see what that has to do with it.”
“How many daughters have you got?”
“Only one, of course.”
I kept silent while he thought it over. I saw the idea soaking in. He pulled a wallet from his inside pocket and I counted out ten one-hundred-dollar bills. “I see your point, Donald, but remember I’m not a millionaire.”
I said, “A man who has money has an advantage over a man who hasn’t. When he gets in a jam, he can buy his way out. You’d be foolish not to play the trumps you hold in your hand.”
“That’s right,” he said, and then after a moment went on. “Don’t you think, Donald, that you could tell me a few of the details? I’d like to know them.”
I stared at him steadily. “Would you?” I asked.
“Well, why not?”
I said, “The way I play the game, my clients don’t know anything.”
He frowned. “I don’t think I like that.”
“And in a way,” I went on, “the police can never charge them as being accessories.”
He jumped as though I’d stuck a pin into him. He blinked his eyes four or five times rapidly, and then got to his feet hurriedly. “Very wise, Donald, very wise indeed! Well, I fancy it’s about time to adjourn. I’m going to be rather busy after this, Donald. I won’t have an opportunity to talk with you. I just want you to know that I’m leaving things in your hands — entirely in your hands.”
He busted up the meeting as quickly as though I’d broken out with smallpox. I had. Legal smallpox.
About eight o’clock that night Bertha Cool telephoned. She’d had an awful time, she said, getting an office of the type I wanted, but she’d finally secured one. It was in the name of Charles E. Fischler, and was at room six-twenty-two in the Commons Building. Elsie Brand would be there at nine o’clock the next morning to open up the office, and she’d have keys.
“I’ll want some business cards printed,” I said.
“That’s all taken care of. Elsie will have some. You’re the head of the Fischler Sales Corporation.”
I said, “Okay,” and started to hang up.
“What’s new?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Keep me posted.”
“I will,” I said, and that time got the receiver on the book before she could think of anything else.
The evening dragged interminably. Alta signalled that she wanted to talk with me, but I figured I knew all she knew. But I didn’t know all Bernard Carter knew, and I wanted to be where he could strike up a conversation that would look sufficiently casual in case he had anything he wanted to say.
He did.
I was knocking balls around in the billiard room when he came in. “Feel like a game?” he asked.
“I’m a rotten player,” I said. “I came down here to get away from the small talk.”
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Something on your mind?”
“So-so,” I said, knocking the cue ball around the table and watching it bounce back from the cushions.
“Have you seen Ashbury?” he asked. “You know, had a chance to talk with him?”
I nodded.