“Did you tell anyone about this?”
“No, sir… Not until I told you early this morning.” Berger glanced at Mason. “All right, Mason,” he said, “what have you to say to this?”
“I want to ask him a couple of questions,” Mason said.
“I don’t think this is the time or the place,” Berger said. “This isn’t a trial. I’m merely putting my cards on the table showing you the information which I have at hand.”
Mason ignored the comment and said to Mattern, “I suppose, Mattern, the district attorney found out about that fictitious account and asked you to explain it.”
“He did nothing of the sort,” Mattern said indignantly. “No one knew anything about that account. My conscience started bothering me, and I finally came to the district attorney and explained all the circumstances to him.”
Mason turned to Hamilton Berger. “You can see what happened,” he said. “Mattern knew that Tidings was dead. He confessed to me that he’d discovered that fact early Tuesday morning. Bolus, who’s president of the Western Prospecting Company, was planning on unloading his stock. He’d offered Mattern a ten-thousand-dollar bonus when the deal went through. I pointed out to Mattern that with the facilities at your command, you’d be able to trace that payment through the bank. He knew he was trapped, so he concocted this story.”
“That’s a lie,” Mattern said.
The district attorney said, “You can’t make anything like that stick, Mason. I’ve talked with Emery Bolus, the president of the Western Prospecting Company. It’s true that the sale was of private stock. I believe it was the stock held by Bolus, who wished to unload, but Bolus knows nothing whatever of any ten-thousand-dollar payment and had no inkling that Tidings was dead at the time the transaction was completed. You can’t escape the consequences of your act by trying to drag others into it.”
“And,” Mason went on calmly, “Bolus has consulted an attorney. Bolus learned that under the law of agency the sale would have been invalid in the event it appeared Tidings had died — unless it should appear that I had consented to the sale as attorney for Byrl Gailord, which would have made Mattern an agent for the beneficiary instead of the trustee. Under those circumstances, Bolus could insist that the sale was valid. This story has been concocted in order to bolster up that sale. The stock is probably valueless. Bolus has agreed to give Mattern another five or ten thousand to tell this story. It gives Mattern an out, accounts for his actions, and will leave Bolus still holding the money.”