“Ralph Felton draws the limp form of the cashier out into the office and lays it upon the floor. A moment’s examination shows him that the man is dead, and he realizes his frightful position. Then the thought occurs to him that, if he carries out his original plan of robbing the bank, the crime will be ascribed to burglars. So he fills his pockets with what money and securities are in the safe, closes the door to the cashier’s office behind him and leaves the bank, with the front door unlocked or ajar.”
“Unless—” interrupts Ashley.
“Unless what?”
“Unless,” says the newspaper man, leaning back in his chair and blowing a cloud of smoke ceilingward—“unless Ralph Felton, when he rose from his examination of the body, was suddenly confronted by his father, who had come to the bank in response to the summons sent by the cashier!”
CHAPTER XIII.
THE KEY TO THE MYSTERY.
“Following along the lines of your theory,” continues Ashley, “if Ralph Felton rose from the corpse of Roger Hathaway and confronted his father upon the threshold of the cashier’s office, that dramatic meeting would explain many things. It would explain the startled glance that Cyrus Felton shot at his son—I was studying the faces of both—when the latter refused to state at the inquest where he had spent the time between 7:45 and 8:30 on the evening of Memorial Day. It would account for the carrying off of the cashier’s revolver and its subsequent burial among the waters of Wild River; for young Felton’s flight, and for the extreme agitation of the elder Felton ever since the night of the killing.”
“And,” adds Barker, “it would satisfactorily clear up the interim of fifteen minutes between the time Cyrus Felton should have reached the bank and the moment when the sheriff was notified. In fact, if the Felton family is responsible for the death of Roger Hathaway there must be some understanding between father and son. But we will now proceed to the consideration of an important character in our tragedy—Ernest Stanley.
“Two years ago, while the directors of the Raymond National Bank were holding their annual meeting, the teller stepped into the room and announced that a stranger had presented at the bank for payment a check for $1,000, signed by Cyrus Felton.
“‘Impossible!’ exclaimed that individual, who was presiding over the directors’ meeting. ‘Let me see the check.’ The teller produced it, and Felton at once declared it a forgery, and a bungling one at that. An officer was quickly summoned and Ernest Stanley, who had presented the check, was arrested.