“She’ll do what I say,” he said significantly in conclusion. “She’ll compromise for any figure that I say is right.”
He waited for Murray to reach for this bait, but Murray was merely fighting an impulse to throw the man out of the office.
“Oh, she will!” said Murray at last. “Well, you’ll talk more frankly than you have, if you want to do business with me. Where’s the proof of death and the proof of identity? Where’s the policy?”
Hinse ignored the last question. He wished to find out certain things about that policy himself before he admitted that it had been destroyed, and he thought he was handling the matter with consummate skill.
“There will be no trouble about the proof of death,” he said. “In fact, I have that with me. But Moffat and his family moved many times during the years that have elapsed since he stopped paying premiums, living in two or three different cities, and they were not always known to their neighbors.”
“I thought so,” remarked Murray sarcastically. “Somebody died, and you want me to take it on faith that he was the Thomas Moffat who once was insured in this company. Although I haven’t looked it up, I have no doubt that a Thomas Moffat did take out a policy, for I don’t believe even you would have the nerve to come to me without at least that much foundation for your claim. Perhaps it was the same Thomas Moffat who died; perhaps it was a man who was merely given that name in the certificate of death. Perhaps he left a widow; perhaps you are representing that widow, but perhaps you are representing a woman who merely claims to be that widow. She has moved so often that she can’t produce any satisfactory evidence of her identity. Doesn’t it strike you that you are telling a rather fishy story? Doesn’t it occur to you that you ought to have ingenuity enough to concoct something more plausible?”
“This insult, sir—” Hinse shifted again to his pompous manner, but Murray interrupted him.
“Insult!” exclaimed Murray. “That wasn’t an insult, but I’ll give you one. I think you’re a tricky scoundrel. You have virtually offered to sell out your alleged client. I think you’re a swindler. I don’t believe you have or can produce any such policy.”
“The loss of a policy, sir—”
“I knew it!” broke in Murray. “Policy lost, of course! In other words, your client hasn’t a policy and never did have one. She’s an impostor! You or she learned that there had been such a man and such a policy, and you thought there was a chance to get some money. You must think insurance companies are easy.”