"It was a telephone check," said Lao desperately. "I don't know who the man was I talked to, but I'll swear he said there was no Colorvue Publicity!"
"Mmm." Attok stared keenly at him. "As I recall, you told me also that you had not received your salary from Colorvue?"
"That's right, and how they expect me to hold onto the paintings when they don't pay me...."
"How about these?"
Attok laid the photostats of three checks on the desk. Each was for twenty-five thousand dols, and made out to Lao Protik from Colorvue Publicity, Inc.
Lao recognized one of them as the check he had received as his first quarter salary advance. The other two were exact duplicates, but dated at three-month intervals. The photostats of the backs of the checks—all of them—bore what appeared to be his endorsement.
"It's forgery!" howled Lao. "I only signed one of those checks! It's a conspiracy to ruin me!"
"Conspiracy or not, Voter Protik, we can't win your case if experts say that's your handwriting. The expert I took it to says it is."
Lao collapsed.
"Who's doing this to me, Voter Attok?" he whimpered. "Why are they doing it?"