“A woman’s. She said she was the book-keeper, and secretary to the manager.”
“Any woman can say that into any telephone. It only costs five cents, and it sounds the same at the receiving end of the line.”
He thought that over, then slowly nodded.
The cocktails began to take effect. He got in an expansive mood. He leaned over and put a fatherly hand on my knee. “Lam, my boy,” he said. “I like you. There’s a certain inherent competency about you which breeds confidence. I think Alta feels the same way.”
“I’m glad I’m doing a satisfactory job.”
“I thought you weren’t going to for a while. I thought it would be bungled. Alta’s rather smart, you know.”
“She’s nobody’s fool,” I said, and then, because he expected it, and because he was a cash customer, I added, “A chip off the old block.”
He beamed at me, then his face became worried. He’ said, “I have an idea you know what you’re doing, Lam, but if a ten-thousand-dollar check payable to cash has beer stolen, and if the person who presented it for payment should get into a jam and make certain statements and—”
“Quit worrying about it. Nothing will happen.”
He said significantly, “If you had read the papers, you’d have noticed that the witnesses had given a somewhat contradictory description of this mysterious John Smith. The very contradictions of that description are significant to a man who knows human nature — the young woman sketches John Smith in a much more attractive light.”