The Poisoned Pen(Fiscle Part-3) - Arthur B. Reeve (best detective novels of all time TXT) 📗

Cashier Or Clerk With

Greater Opportunity For Speculation,  And The Banks,  As Many

Authorities Will Agree,  Have Not Made Enough Use Of The Machinery

Available To Put A Stop To Embezzlement. This Case Is Evidently

One Of The Results. The Careless Fellows At The Top,  Like This Man

Carroll Whom We Are Going To See,  Generally Put Forward As Excuse

The Statement That The Science Of Banking And Of Business Is So

Complex That A Rascal With Ingenuity Enough To Falsify The Books

Is Almost Impossible Of Detection. Yet When The Cat Is Out Of The

Bag As In Several Recent Cases The Methods Used Are Often Of The

Baldest And Most Transparent Sort,  Fictitious Names,  Dummies,  And

All Sorts Of Juggling And Kiting Of Checks. But I Hardly Think

This Is Going To Prove One Of Those Simple Cases."

 

John Carroll Was A Haggard And Unkempt Sort Of Man. He Looked To

Me As If The Defalcations Had Preyed On His Mind Until They Had

Become A Veritable Obsession. It Was Literally True That They Were

All That He Could Talk About,  All That He Was Thinking About. He

Was Paying Now A Heavy Penalty For Having Been A Dummy And

Honorary Officer.

 

"This Thing Has Become A Matter Of Life And Death With Me," He

Began Eagerly,  Scarcely Waiting For Us To Introduce Ourselves,  As

He Fixed His Unnaturally Bright Eyes On Us Anxiously. "I've Simply

Got To Find The Man Who Has So Nearly Wrecked The By-Products Bank

And Company. Find Him Or Not,  I Suppose I Am A Ruined Man,  Myself,

But I Hope I May Still Prove Myself Honest."

 

He Sighed And His Eyes Wandered Vacantly Out Of The Window As If

He Were Seeking Rest And Could Not Find It.

 

"I Understand That The Cashier,  Bolton Brown,  Has Been Arrested,"

Prompted Kennedy.

 

"Yes,  Bolton Brown,  Arrested," He Repeated Slowly,  "And Since He

Has Been Out On Bail He,  Too,  Seems To Have Disappeared. Now Let

Me Tell You About What I Think Of That,  Kennedy. I Know It Looks

Bad For Brown. Perhaps He's The Man. The Surety Company Says So,

Part 3 Chapter 8 (The Forger) Pg 89

Anyway. But We Must Look At This Thing Calmly."

 

He Was Himself Quite Excited,  As He Went On,  "You Understand,  I

Suppose,  Just How Much Brown Must Have Been Reasonably Responsible

For Passing The Checks Through The Bank? He Saw Personally About

As Many Of Them As--As I Did,  Which Was None Until The Exposure

Came. They Were Deposited In Other Banks By People Whom We Can't

Identify But Who Must Have Opened Accounts For The Purpose Of

Finally Putting Through A Few Bad Checks. Then They Came Back To

Our Bank In The Regular Channels And Were Accepted. By Various

Kinds Of Juggling They Were Covered Up. Why,  Some Of Them Looked

So Good That They Were Even Certified By Our Bank Before They Were

Deposited In The Other Banks. Now,  As Brown Claims,  He Never Saw

Checks Unless There Was Something Special About Them And There

Seemed At The Time To Be Nothing Wrong About These.

 

"But In The Public Mind I Know There Is Prejudice Against Any Bank

Official Who Speculates Or Leads A Fast Life,  And Of Course It Is

Warranted. Still,  If Brown Should Clear Himself Finally The Thing

Will Come Back To Dawson And Even If He Is Guilty,  It Will Make Me

The--Er--The Ultimate Goat. The Upshot Of It All Will Be That I

Shall Have To Stand The Blame,  If Not The Guilt,  And The Only Way

I Can Atone For My Laxity In The Past Is By Activity In Catching

The Real Offender And Perhaps By Restoring To The Company And The

Bank Whatever Can Yet Be Recovered."

 

"But," Asked Kennedy Sympathetically,  "What Makes You Think That

You Will Find Your Man,  Whoever He Proves To Be,  In New York?"

 

"I Admit That It Is Only A Very Slight Clue That I Have," He

Replied Confidentially. "It Is Just A Hint Dawson Dropped Once To

One Of The Men With Whom He Was Confidential In The Company. This

Clerk Told Me That A Long Time Ago Dawson Said He Had Always

Wanted To Go To South America And That Perhaps On His Honeymoon He

Might Get A Chance. This Is The Way I Figured It Out. You See,  He

Is Clever And Some Of These South American Countries Have No

Extradition Treaties With Us By Which We Could Reach Him,  Once He

Got There."

 

"Perhaps He Has Already Arrived In One Of Them With His Wife. What

Makes You Think He Hasn't Sailed Yet?"

 

"No,  I Don't Think He Has. You See,  She Wanted To Spend A Part Of

The Honeymoon At Atlantic City. I Learned That Indirectly From Her

Folks,  Who Profess To Know No Better Than We Do Where The Couple

Are. That Was An Additional Reason Why I Wanted To See If By

Coming To New York I Might Not Pick Up Some Trace Of Them,  Either

Here Or In Atlantic City."

 

"And Have You?"

 

"Yes,  I Think I Have." He Handed Us A Letter-Gram Which He Had

Just Received From Chicago. It Read: "Two More Checks Have Come In

To-Day From Atlantic City And New York. They Seem To Be In Payment

Of Bills,  As They Are For Odd Amounts. One Is From The Lorraine At

Atlantic City And The Other From The Hotel Amsterdam Of New York.

They Were Dated The 19th And 20th."

 

"You See," He Resumed As We Finished Reading,  "It Is Now The 23rd,

So That There Is A Difference Of Three Days. He Was Here On The

20th. Now The Next Ship That He Could Take After The 20th Sails

From Brooklyn On The 25th. If He's Clever He Won't Board That Ship

Except In A Disguise,  For He Will Know That By That Time Some One

Must Be Watching. Now I Want You To Help Me Penetrate That

Disguise. Of Course We Can't Arrest The Whole Shipload Of

Passengers,  But If You,  With Your Scientific Knowledge,  Could Pick

Him Out,  Then We Could Hold Him And Have Breathing Space To Find

Out Whether He Is Guilty Alone Or Has Been Working With Bolton

Brown."

 

Carroll Was Now Pacing The Office With Excitement As He Unfolded

His Scheme Which Meant So Much For Himself.

 

"H--M," Mused Kennedy. "I Suppose Dawson Was A Man Of Exemplary

Habits? They Almost Always Are. No Speculating Or Fast Living With

Him As With Brown?"

 

Carroll Paused In His Nervous Tread. "That's Another Thing I've

Discovered. On The Contrary,  I Think Dawson Was A Secret Drug

Fiend. I Found That Out After He Left. In His Desk At The By-

Products Office We Discovered Hypodermic Needles And A Whole

Outfit--Morphine,  I Think It Was. You Know How Cunningly A Real

Morphine Fiend Can Cover Up His Tracks."

 

Kennedy Was Now All Attention. As The Case Unrolled It Was

Assuming One New And Surprising Aspect After Another.

 

"The Lettergram Would Indicate That He Had Been Stopping At The

Lorraine In Atlantic City," Remarked Kennedy.

 

"So I Would Infer,  And At The Amsterdam In New York. But You Can

Depend On It That He Has Not Been Going Under His Own Name Nor,  I

Believe As Far As I Can Find Out,  Even Under His Own Face. I Think

The Fellow Has Already Assumed A Disguise,  For Nowhere Can I Find

Any Description That Even I Could Recognise."

 

"Strange," Murmured Kennedy. "I'll Have To Look Into It. And Only

Two Days In Which To Do It,  Too. You Will Pardon Me If I Excuse

Myself Now? There Are Certain Aspects Of The Case That I Hope I

Shall Be Able To Shed Some Light On By Going At Them At Once."

 

"You'll Find Dawson Clever,  Clever As He Can Be," Said Carroll,

Not Anxious To Have Kennedy Go As Long As He Would Listen To The

Story Which Was Bursting From His Overwrought Mind. "He Was Able

To Cover Up The Checks By Juggling The Accounts. But That Didn't

Satisfy Him. He Was After Something Big. So He Started In To Issue

The Treasury Stock,  Forging The Signatures Of The President And

The Treasurer,  That Is,  My Signature. Of Course That Sort Of Game

Couldn't Last Forever. Some One Was Going To Demand Dividends On

His Stock,  Or Transfer It,  Or Ask To Have It Recorded On The

Books,  Or Something That Would Give The Whole Scheme Away. From

Each Person To Whom He Sold Stock I Believe He Demanded Some Kind

Of Promise Not To Sell It Within A Certain Period,  And In That Way

We Figure That He Gave Himself Plenty Of Time To Realise Several

Hundred Thousand Dollars Quietly. It May Be That Some Of The

Forged Checks Represented Fake Interest Payments. Anyhow,  He's At

The End Of His Rope Now. We've Had An Exciting Chase. I Had

Followed Down Several False Clues Before The Real Significance Of

The Hint About South America Dawned On Me. Now I Have Gone As Far

As I Dare With It Without Calling In Outside Assistance. I Think

Now We Are Up With Him At Last--With Your Help."

 

Kennedy Was Anxious To Go,  But He Paused Long Enough To Ask

Another Question. "And The Girl?" He Broke In. "She Must Be In The

Game Or Her Letters To Some Of Her Friends Would Have Betrayed

Their Whereabouts. What Was She Like?"

 

"Miss Sanderson Was Very Popular In A Certain Rather Flashy Set In

Chicago. But Her Folks Were Bounders. They Lived Right Up To The

Limit,  Just As Dawson Did,  In My Opinion. Oh,  You Can Be Sure That

If A Proposition Like This Were Put Up To Her She'd Take A Chance

To Get Away With It. She Runs No Risks. She Didn't Do It Anyhow,

And As For Her Part,  After The Fact,  Why,  A Woman Is Always Pretty

Safe--More Sinned Against Than Sinning,  And All That. It's A Queer

Sort Of Honeymoon,  Hey?"

 

"Have You Any Copies Of The Forged Certificates?" Asked Craig.

 

"Yes,  Plenty Of Them. Since The Story Has Been Told In Print They

Have Been Pouring In. Here Are Several."

 

He Pulled Several Finely Engraved Certificates From His Pocket And

Part 3 Chapter 8 (The Forger) Pg 90

Kennedy Scrutinised Them Minutely.

 

"I May Keep These To Study At My Leisure?" He Asked.

 

"Certainly," Replied Carroll,  "And If You Want Any More I Can Wire

To Chicago For Them."

 

"No,  These Will Be Sufficient For The Present,  Thank You," Said

Craig. "I Shall Keep In Touch With You And Let You Know The Moment

Anything Develops."

 

Our Ride Uptown To The Laboratory Was Completed In Silence Which I

Did Not Interrupt,  For I Could See That Kennedy Was Thinking Out A

Course Of Action. The Quick Pace At Which He Crossed The Campus To

The Chemistry Building Told Me That He Had Decided On Something.

 

In The Laboratory Craig Hastily Wrote A Note,  Opened A Drawer Of

His Desk,  And Selected One From A Bunch Of Special Envelopes Which

He Seemed To Be Saving For Some Purpose. He Sealed It With Some

Care,  And Gave It To Me To Post Immediately. It Was Addressed To

Dawson At The Hotel Amsterdam.

 

On My Return I Found Him Deeply Engrossed In The Examination Of

The Forged Shares Of Stock. Having Talked With Him More Or Less In

The Past About Handwriting I Did Not