"You kept it too long. It tripped you."
"Tripped? Look here, Doctor, what are you driving at?"
"Money," the blind man said. "Five thousand dollars. What did you do with
it?"
In the appalled silence of the room Joe heard clearly the sound of
someone breathing with an effort. The cashier had not moved.
"Do you know what you're saying, Doctor?"
"Quite," the doctor said pleasantly. From his pocket he drew out a paper.
"Did you ever see this?"
It was the paper Lady had picked from the floor. Albert Wall's eyes
widened.
"A dangerous business, handling money," Dr. Stone mused. "Thousands upon
thousands of dollars pouring through one's hands every day. Other
people's money. If a man has a weak spot some place inside it may get
him--a fever to have some of this money for his own. If the right moment
comes, or the right scheme presents itself----
"You heard about the settlement Pelle was to make with Hesset, didn't
you, Albert? The weak spot took control. You saw a chance to put your
hands on five thousand dollars so cleverly that it would never be traced
to you. You must have spent hour upon hour practicing Pelle's signature.
And finally you had a check that you thought was perfect.
"You could see Pelle's factory. Saturday morning you saw Hesset go in.
You may have gone to Arlington so you'd know what he looked like; you may
have figured you'd know him because he would be bandaged. You saw him
come out; you waited a minute or two. Then you telephoned Pelle that a
man was at the window with a five thousand dollar check. Naturally Pelle
said it was all right. You knew he'd say that. Hadn't he just given the
check? So you stamped 'paid' on the check you had forged, and placed it
with the checks the bank had cashed that morning. Shortly thereafter the
real Hesset appeared and you telephoned Pelle again. Oh, it was a sweet
scheme, Albert. Apparently there was no come-back. Hadn't Pelle told you
to pay the first check? Could the bank be held responsible for paying a
check Pelle told it to pay? In its simplicity the plan was almost genius.
But--" The doctor paused. "You slipped."
The cashier had not moved. "Doctor," he said evenly, "your story is
preposterous. You heard Pelle say he was alone in the office when he
telephoned Hesset. To put a scheme like this through I would have to know
in advance that a settlement had been made, when a check was to be given,
and for how much. How could I know it?"
"Bryan," the blind man said, "will you call the telephone office and ask
them can they send Tessie Rich over here for a moment?"
The bank president reached for the telephone.
"Don't do that," Albert Wall called sharply. In a moment all the
self-control had gone out of him. There was a chair behind him; he
reached back and sank into it heavily. "Keep her out of it," he said in a
whisper. "I--I did it. I alone."
Mr. Pelle wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. "I thought you
suspected me, Doctor?"
"It is wise, sometimes, to appear to suspect the innocent. Do you
remember I asked for the checks this morning? A moment later I knew you
were not the man. As soon as you said you had telephoned Hesset a
significant thing happened. Albert left the room. He went to a telephone.
My guess is he went there to warn Tessie not to tell anybody she had
spoken to him about the Hesset settlement."