“Yes.”
“Where was she?”
“She’d been in Reno,” Mason said. “She happened to return at about the time we discovered the body.”
Byrl Gailord said, simply, “I’m glad it wasn’t suicide. I’d always have felt that we — well, hounded him into it.”
“Nonsense,” Mrs. Tump said.
“I couldn’t have helped feeling that way,” Byrl Gailord insisted. “I liked him a lot, although I distrusted him in some ways. I think he was the kind who would have taken a lot of financial liberties, figuring that things were going to turn out all right.”
“He was a crook,” Mrs. Tump said. “His whole record shows it.”
“He was very kind to me personally,” Byrl observed, biting her lip and fighting back tears.
“Of course he was kind to you,” Mrs. Tump said. “He was embezzling your money. Why shouldn’t he have kidded you along? You were Santa Claus.”
Byrl said, “The accounts may be out of balance, but his intentions were the best. If he’d made some poor investments, he’d have tried to plunge in order to get them back. I don’t think he’d deliberately embezzle any of my money, but I did resent his attitude towards you.”