‘You’re wrong!’ Iris said, thumping her clenched fists on her knees. ‘I know you’re wrong! Alice wouldn’t…’
‘I know… I know… I said just that when Easton said he thought Alice had fallen for Acres. I could see that couldn’t jell, but Calvin had eight hours a day for three weeks to work on her more or less alone. Of course, in that time, he could do it… and he did it!’
Iris hesitated, realising what Travers had said made sense, then thinking of Kit, she said, ‘I don’t believe it!’
‘All right, but let me finish. Assuming I’m right and Alice really fell for him, the rest was pretty easy. By then he had announced his engagement to your mother. Now he tells Alice he has made a mistake. It is she he loves and not your mother, but the engagement is official. He has to be careful. He doesn’t want to get landed with a breach of promise suit. That’s the sort of blah Alice could have fallen for. She would have been flattered he preferred her to your mother. She would want to protect his reputation as a banker. Then he puts up the idea of grabbing the payroll and both of them vanishing. I’m not saying it didn’t take him a lot of careful work and persuasion, but finally he got her to agree to help him. So they could go out together without gossip, I reckon he disguised himself as Johnny Acres… anyway, that was his story to Alice and being a romantic little dope, she fell for that too. She imagined he really loved her and was taking all this trouble to disguise himself so he could steal a few hours out of working hours with her. She probably got a kick out of sneaking out of the house to meet him when she was supposed to be working for her exam, but all the time Calvin was establishing Acres, planning to pin the robbery on her, and finally planning to murder her when he got the money.’
‘Stop!’ Iris cried, facing him, ‘You know as well as I do this is malicious nonsense! You can’t prove one word of all this! Ken! What’s come over you? How can you say such things?’
‘Oh, I agree it sounds far-fetched,’ Travers said, ‘but let’s look at this mysterious Johnny Acres. Only a very few people — five to be exact — have seen him. No one has come forward to say he stayed with them during the three weeks he is supposed to have been courting Alice. Where did he stay? If he is Calvin, we know where he stayed, but if he isn’t Calvin, where did he hide himself? He is tall and heavily built. So is Calvin. He wore sideboards and a moustache. Calvin is clean shaven, but it is easy to stick crepe hair on your face.’ Seeing Iris was about to interrupt him, he raised his hand. ‘Now wait… here’s the clincher that set me off. The car salesman who sold Acres the get-away car said Acres had an irritating habit of humming under his breath… those were his words. This seems to be an unconscious habit. The man probably doesn’t know he does it. Well, Calvin has exactly the same habit… he too hums tunelessly under his breath. What do you say now?’
Iris started to say something, then stopped.
‘Now look,’ Travers said, ‘I have no real proof, but I have a lead, and Easton and the sheriff so far haven’t this lead. I’m thinking of you and me and the reward. This man Acres typed a letter to Alice. It was typed on a standard Remington with two defective letters: the r and the v are slightly out of alignment. I want to find out if the bank has such a machine. It’s my guess it has. If it has, I then want to find out if Calvin ever owned a fawn, belted overcoat. If he has owned one, then I guess I’ve got enough on him to make an arrest. Then there is the payroll. Where is it? He must have hidden it somewhere. He can’t have moved it out of town. He’s forced to sit on it… but where?’
‘I still don’t believe a word of this,’ Iris said, but Travers could see she was shaken. ‘You may as well know, Ken: I’m taking Alice’s place. I’m starting work tomorrow.’
Travers twisted around in his seat to stare at her.
‘Oh no, you’re not! You’re not working for Calvin! You’re not…’ He stopped short, seeing the angry flush rise to her face. Controlling his voice, he went on, ‘What about Dix? You leaving him?’
‘Yes… Mr. Calvin asked me to help him. The money’s better and I’m going to.’
‘But after what I’ve told you, honey, you wouldn’t want to work for him, would you?’
‘Let’s go home. Nothing you have said so far has convinced me you’re right. I’m going to work for Dave Calvin and that’s the end of it.’
Travers’s mind worked fast. He knew Iris well enough to realise that the more pressure he put on her the more obstinate she would become.
‘All right, then work for him if you must, but when you walk into the bank tomorrow morning, look at the typewriter. If it is a standard Remington, you’ll know what I’ve been saying isn’t so cockeyed. You’ll probably be using the machine, see if the letters r and v are out of alignment. That’s all I ask. Check the typewriter and if it isn’t a Remington, I’ll admit I’m way off the beam.’
‘All right,’ Iris said. ‘I’ll do it, but I’m quite sure even if it is a Remington, Dave Calvin has nothing to do with this robbery.’
Travers shrugged his shoulders. He drove the car fast to the highway. He was a little deflated, but still convinced he was right. Neither of them said anything until Travers pulled up outside the rooming-house. The time was now half past one.
‘Good night, Ken,’ Iris said stiffly as she made to get out of the car.
Travers sipped his arm around her and pulled her to him.
‘Don’t let’s quarrel, honey,’ he said. ‘I may be wrong, but if I’m not, it’s going to be all right between us, isn’t it?’
‘I’m thinking of Kit,’ Iris said. ‘Oh, Ken, even if you are right… I do hope you’re not! I wouldn’t want that money, knowing how unhappy Kit would be… but I’m sure you’re wrong.’
Travers kissed her. Breaking away, Iris got out of the car and ran up the drive towards the house.
She paused at the front door, listening to Travers driving away, then she unlocked the door and entered the dark hall. She went silently up to her bedroom. She was surprised to see a light coming from under her door. Turning the handle, she walked in.
Kit was sitting in an armchair, smoking. Her face was pale and her brown eyes were unnaturally bright. Iris paused in the doorway to stare at her.
‘Why, Kit! Why aren’t you in bed?’
‘I wanted to talk to you,’ Kit said. ‘Come in and shut the door.’
Iris shut the door and went over to sit on the bed.
‘Dave tells me you are going to work at the bank,’ Kit said. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
Her cold, hostile voice startled Iris.
‘You weren’t there when he asked me. I — I thought he had told you,’ Iris said. ‘Why? You don’t mind, do you?’
‘Yes, I mind. You’re only a kid. I don’t want you to be exposed to Dave’s charm.’
Iris felt her face grow hot.
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Don’t you?’ Kit’s bleak eyes frightened her. ‘I think you do. I’m going to marry him. I’m twice your age. I’m not anything like as pretty as you. The less you see of him, the better it will be for me.’