“You mean you have found out who killed Mr. Carwell?” he asked, and his tongue went quickly around his dry lips.
“Not that,” the colonel answered. “But we have found some letters that seem to need explaining. Here they are.”
Then when Viola had told how she discovered them, she asked:
“Did my father ever owe Captain Poland any money?”
“Yes,” answered LeGrand Blossom, frankly, “he did.”
“How much?”
“Fifteen thousand dollars.”
“Was it ever paid back?” asked Colonel Ashley.
“That I cannot say,” replied the head clerk. “The papers in that particular transaction are missing. I looked for them the other day, but failed to find them. I was intending to ask you, Miss Carwell, if you knew anything about them. Now, it seems you do not. The fact remains that your father was at one time indebted to the captain for fifteen thousand dollars. Whether it was repaid I can not say.”
“Who would know?” asked Colonel Ashley.