“Well?” Mason asked, after a while.
“It’s absolutely fantastic,” she said, removing her hands from Mason’s arm. “There’s — there’s nothing I can do.”
“I’m trying to help you,” Mason reminded her. “You’ve made it rather difficult for me so far. Perhaps if you tried telling me the truth I could put in my time helping you instead of running around in circles trying to cut your back trail... Now, did you embezzle that money?”
“Heavens, no!”
“How much money do you have in this bag in the form of cash?”
“Five thousand dollars.”
“Where did you get it?”
She was silent for a moment, then said, “I’m going to tell you the truth.”
Mason settled back in his chair, said, “You’re a little bit late with it and I don’t know how much time we have, but go ahead.”
She said, “The whole thing happened when my brother was injured in an automobile accident. After they took him to the hospital I went to his room to get some things for him — shaving things and things of that sort that I thought he’d need in the hospital, and I found his bags all packed and a letter addressed simply ‘DEAR FUGITIVE.’ The letter said that the writer was fed up with waiting around; that either he should receive five thousand dollars by Tuesday night or other action would be taken.”
“How was the letter written?” Mason asked.
“In typing. It was all typed, even the signature.”
“And the signature was 36-24-36?”
“That’s right.”
“And the postmark?”
“Los Angeles.”
“So, what did you do?”
“Mr. Mason, my brother was unconscious in the hospital. I couldn’t let him down. I arranged to put an ad in the paper, just as the letter said I was to do, and came down here.”
“And the money?”
“My brother had the money in a briefcase in his apartment. He was all ready to go. Apparently, he was going to drive down. He had the briefcase with the money, a suitcase and an overnight bag.”
“And where did he get the money?”
“Mr. Mason, I... I don’t know.”
“Your brother works in the same company you do?”
“Yes.”
“Could he have embezzled the money from the company?”
“Mr. Mason, in the first place Edgar wouldn’t ever do anything criminal. In the second place, he wouldn’t have had access to the money. The cash is kept in a money safe in the vault. Only the top executives have the combination.”
“But you have it?”
“Yes, it’s my job to check the books on the cash — not every day, but twice a month I have to add up the withdrawal slips and see that everything balances.”
“Tell me a little more about Edgar,” Mason said.
“He’s young. He’s a year and a half younger than I am. He... our parents were killed five years ago. I’ve tried to help Edgar every way I could. He’s a sensitive individual who—”
“You’re both working for the Escobar Export and Import Company. Who got the job there first?”
“I did.”
“What about the company?”
“It engages in exports and imports just as the name indicates.”
“What kind of a company?”
“What do you mean?”
“A big company, a little company, a—”
“No, it’s pretty much of a one-man concern.”
“Who’s the big wheel?”
“Mr. Gage — Franklin T. Gage.”
“How many employees?”
“Oh, perhaps ten or fifteen altogether. There are five working full time in the office and an auditor and tax man.”
“Do I understand then there are others who work outside of the office?”
“Yes, there are scouts and buyers.”
“But nevertheless they are employees?”
“In a sense, yes.”
“How old a man is Franklin Gage?”
“Forty-something or other. Perhaps forty-five.”
“He runs the company?”
“Yes. He’s the big shot.”
“Who’s next in command?”
“Homer.”
“Homer Gage?”
“Yes.”
“His son?”
“His nephew.”
Mason’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “How long after you started work there did your brother, Edgar, start work?”
“About six months.”
“And what was he doing during those six months?”
“He was doing nothing. He had been let out at the place where he was working. He became involved in a lot of office intrigue and— It’s too long a story to tell you.”
“Who supported him?”
“I did.”
“So then after six months, you got a job for him there at the company where you work... Who gave him the job, Franklin Gage or Homer?”
“Franklin.”
Mason regarded her shrewdly. “You didn’t talk to Homer about it?”
“I talked to Mr. Gage. Mr. Franklin Gage.”
“At the office?”
“No, I worked late one night and he said that I’d missed my dinner on account of working and that the company was going to buy my dinner.”
“So in the intimacy of that little dinner party you took occasion to tell him about your brother and asked him if Edgar could have a job?”
“Yes. Only you make it sound so very... so very calculating.”
Mason brushed her remark aside with a wave of his hand. “How did Homer react to that?”
“I didn’t ask Homer.”
“That wasn’t my question,” Mason answered. “I wanted to know how Homer reacted to it.”
“Well,” she said, “I think that Homer felt that we really didn’t need to take on Edgar at the time.”
“And what are Edgar’s duties? What does he do?”
“He’s a liaison man.”
“Now then,” Mason went on, “Edgar had been out of work for six months and you had been supporting him?”
“I’d been helping out. He had unemployment insurance and—”
“So where,” Mason interrupted, “did he get five thousand dollars in cash?”
“I... I just don’t know.”
“Not from you?”
“No.”
“Do you have five thousand dollars?”
“I... yes, I do.”
“More than that?”
“A very little more.”
“Where is it?”
“In savings banks.”
Mason took mental inventory of the situation, then said abruptly, “This Homer Gage, what’s his attitude toward you?”
“Friendly.”
“Very friendly?” Mason asked.
“I think he’d like to be.”
“Married or single?”
“Married.”
“Ever met his wife?”
“Not formally. She’s been at the office a couple of times to get checks cashed or something like that. She’s smart-looking... you know, very much on the ball. They say she’s a bitch.”
“Her husband steps out?”
“I wouldn’t know. I do know his married life isn’t happy.”
“You see him looking at the other girls in the office. Doubtless you’ve discussed him with the other girls. Does he keep them after hours?”
“I don’t know. I think perhaps... well, I just don’t know.”
“Does he step out?”
“I told you I wouldn’t know.”
“Does he step out?”
“All right, if you’re going to be insistent about it, I think he does, but I wouldn’t know.”
“And Homer’s had you stay after hours more than once?”
She hesitated, then said, in a low voice, “Yes.” Then added quickly, “You see the business is very, very unconventional. It’s a complicated deal of buying and selling in large lots, and quite frequently the deals are made on a spot-cash basis.
“This is particularly true in connection with Oriental goods. You see, we have to have a Certificate of Origin on goods which are taken out of Hong Kong, for instance, and... well, sometimes matters have to be handled with a great deal of diplomacy.”