"And maybe drugs?" Chase quoted, horrified. "And you've come equipped with a search warrant, is that what you're telling me?"
"No, sir," Deitrich said. "We don't have a search warrant, Mr. Chase. We can get one, but we're hoping that won't be necessary."
"Well, certainly-as I'm sure you understand, Lieutenant-I can't permit you access to a safe-deposit box without one."
"We're hoping that we can get Mrs. Worner to show us which box it is, and give us the key to it, without our having to get a search warrant," Matt said.
"If she has been up to what you're suggesting, Matt, why would she do that? I must tell you, I find this entire-"
"I don't think Mrs. Worner really knew what she was doing, Mr. Chase," Deitrich said. "I don't know how familiar you are with her personal situation…"
"I know that she has had a very difficult time with her husband, if that's what you mean. And that he is a highly decorated, grievously wounded-"
"We think she has been used, Mr. Chase," Matt said. "I can't really believe there will be much interest in putting her in prison. Providing, of course, she comes to understand the mess she's in, and cooperates."
"Used by whom?" Chase asked coldly.
"Her across-the-backyard neighbor," Deitrich said. "Who is the uncle of the police officer now under arrest."
"You're suggesting that she's… that they're involved? Personally, I mean?"
"It looks that way, Mr. Chase," Deitrich said.
Chase considered that a moment.
"The poor woman," he said, and then shifted into his banker's role: "Exactly what is it you want from me? How is the bank involved in this?"
"We just learned-we left a car watching her house; they got on the radio-that she is in her car, and apparently on her way here, to work," Deitrich said.
"You mean she's not here now?"
"I suppose she's come in late today," Matt said.
Chase gave him a dirty look. This tragic situation was obviously not the place for levity.
"When she comes in, Mr. Chase," Matt said, "we'd like to talk to her here, in your office."
"To what end?" Chase demanded coldly.
"Detective Payne thinks," Deitrich picked up on Chase's annoyance with Matt and answered for him, "and I agree, that when she sees us here, and knows that we know, she'll give us what we want."
"I just can't believe this of Adelaide."
"Frankly, I feel sorry for her," Deitrich said. "I hope that she sees that the only thing for her to do is admit that she's done something really foolish, and tries to help us straighten it out."
"And the alternative?"
"We're prepared to arrest her on suspicion of receiving stolen property," Matt said. "Other charges are possible."
"You're going to arrest her, here, now, right in the bank?"
"If that becomes necessary, yes, sir," Matt said.
"And once you arrest her, then what?"
"We'll interview her. Ask for her cooperation. If she's unwilling to cooperate, then we'll get a search warrant for the safe-deposit box."
"No judge will give you-no judge should give you, it wouldn't be fair to our customers-a warrant to go into every safe-deposit box in the bank."
"No, sir," Matt said. "But I'm sure I can get a judge to give me one requiring the bank to give me access to every unrented safe-deposit box. I think that's what Mrs. Worner has done, permit Calhoun to use an unrented box. Or maybe she's got a box, and she's letting him use hers. But I think we'll find we're talking about an unrented box."
Chase looked at him coldly, then at Deitrich, and then back at Matt.
"And what you hope I'll do-this is it, isn't it?-is that I'll talk to her."
"That would be in everybody's best interests, Mr. Chase," Dietrich said.
"Yes, I suppose it would," Chase said thoughtfully, and sighed audibly. "We'll have to let her go, of course. The bank simply cannot tolerate-"
"There she is," Deitrich said softly, gesturing through the glass wall to the wide lobby.
Mrs. Adelaide Worner was pulling at the knob of a door marked "Employees Only" to make sure that she had closed it well. Then she started to walk across the polished marble floor of the bank lobby toward the safe-deposit-box vault.
She was plain, gray-haired, and a little plump. But there were vestiges of what probably had been above-average youthful beauty.
She looks, Matt thought, like somebody who sings in a church choir.
Chase stepped to his door and opened it, and leaned over his secretary's desk to say something very quietly to her.
"I don't like this part of the job very much," Lieutenant Deitrich said softly.
Chase's secretary got up from her desk and walked across the lobby after Mrs. Worner. A moment later, they both came out of the safe-deposit-vault entrance and started across the lobby.
Chase stood in the door between his desk and his outer office and waited for them.
"Good morning, Adelaide," he said.
"Good morning, Mr. Chase."
"Would you step into my office, please? These gentlemen want to have a word with you."
"Mr. Chase," Mrs. Worner said. "I can't tell you how sorry, how ashamed, I am to have involved the bank in this."
Chase put his arm around her shoulders.
"Come in, and sit down, and we'll see if we can't try to straighten things out," he said.
He looked at Matt with what Matt recognized was more than distaste. It was closer to hate.
"Do you remember me, Adelaide?" Deitrich asked.
"Yes, sir," Mrs. Worner said. "Before we had to send Al to the hospital, we used to see you down at the VFW."
"That's right," Deitrich said. "Adelaide, this is Detective Payne of the Philadelphia Police Department."
Mrs. Worner looked at Matt with terror in her eyes.
"Good morning, Mrs. Worner," Matt said.
"Good morning," she said.
"I'd like you to tell me about the safe-deposit box you've been letting Timmy Calhoun use. Are you willing to talk to me about that?"
"I really don't have much choice, do I?" Mrs. Worner said.
"Are we all ready for this?" Matt asked, and looked around the safe-deposit vault. There were nods.
"Okay," Matt said. "Here we go. I am Detective Matthew M. Payne, Badge 701, of the Philadelphia Police Department. "
"A little slower, please, if you can, Detective," the stenographer said.
"I'll try," Matt said.
"This is an interview of Mrs. Adelaide Worner being conducted in the First Harrisburg Bank and Trust Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In addition to myself and Mrs. Worner, present are Lieutenant Paul Deitrich of the Harrisburg Police Department and Mr. James C. Chase, Vice President of the First Harrisburg Bank and Trust. The interview is being recorded and transcribed by Mrs… I'm sorry, I forgot your name."
"Grace Placker, Mrs. Grace Placker," the stenographer furnished.
"Mrs. Grace Placker, of the Harrisburg Police Department, " Matt went on. He looked at Adelaide Worner.
"Mrs. Worner, you have already been advised of your rights under the Miranda decision…"
"Yes, I have."
"But to make sure that we have crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's, I'm going to go over your rights again. All right?"
"Yes, sir."
"I'm going to ask you questions about Officer Timothy Calhoun of the Philadelphia Police Department having access to a safe-deposit box in the Harrisburg Bank and Trust vault."
"Yes, sir."
Matt took his leather credentials folder from his pocket, took out a small cardboard card, and read from it:
"I have a duty to explain to you and to warn you that you have the following legal rights: You have the right to remain silent and do not have to say anything at all. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. You have a right to talk to a lawyer of your own choice before I ask you any questions, and also to have a lawyer here with you while I ask questions. If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, and you want one, I will see that you have a lawyer provided to you, free of charge, before I ask you any questions. If you are willing to give me a statement, you have a right to stop anytime you wish."