"Of course I am."
"Didn't you lock the safe door?"
"Yes, but the safe is old and anybody could get it open by trying. Come, Mark, confess and give back the money. If you don't, you know what I said."
The youth did not listen to the words. He was thinking of the stranger he had met on the stairs, when returning from the fire. Could that individual be the thief?
"Mark, do you hear me?" stormed Jadell Powers. "Tell me where that money is this instant!"
"I don't know where it is. But I think I know who took it."
"Was there anybody else in the office?"
"I think so, although I am not sure. Did you hear about the fire in Koster's bakery?"
"Yes."
"Well, when the fire broke out I ran downstairs to see what was the matter. I stayed down in the street a while. When I started to come back to the office I met a strange man coming down the stairs. I asked him if he wanted to see you. He said no, and said he had gotten into the wrong building. He got out into the street in a terrible hurry."