“That’s it,” Mason said. “Now, there aren’t many names which sound like Packard. But Packard is the name of an automobile. Now, suppose you start men at work in Altaville, looking up every person who has disappeared, and particularly seeing if you can’t locate someone by the name of Ford or Lincoln, or Auburn, who is taking an automobile trip somewhere and hasn’t written to any of his friends for several weeks.”
Drake nodded and said, “It’s a good hunch, anyway.”
“Now here’s another one,” Mason said. “Let’s suppose this man has one of these spells, and there isn’t some doctor available to adroitly suggest to him that he really is Carl Packard of Altaville. Then he’d be apt to take some other name. Now, we don’t know how long he’s been here in the city. So, in addition to the Altaville angle, start men working on every disappearance which has been reported within the last two months. In other words, if a man walks out of a hotel or apartment and doesn’t come back, but leaves his things, under circumstances which make it look as though he wasn’t trying to beat a hotel bill, we may have a live lead. I don’t think it’s going to be very difficult to find those cases because the police will have records of all of them. Get in touch with the Missing Persons Bureau at headquarters, and sift through their records. Do it in a rush, because the police may have the same hunch, and I’d like to talk with Packard before the district attorney sews him up. And don’t forget Doctor Wallace said he was headed for San Diego. So do some work on that angle, too.”
Drake nodded and said, “I’ll get at that right away. Now here’s something else, Perry: I’m uncovering a lot of stuff about Prescott. Most of it doesn’t have any particular significance and won’t mean anything until I’ve got enough stuff to be able to put it all together in a complete report. But here’s something you can get a lot easier than I can: Prescott had an account over at the Second Fidelity Savings & Loan. Naturally, they aren’t passing out information to strangers about the accounts of their customers, but I did find this out: There’s something fishy about it. Large deposits were made in the form of cash. And, unless Prescott’s business was a gold mine, he was getting some cash from outside sources.”
“Sure he was,” Mason said grimly. “He got twelve thousand bucks out of his wife, and I only hope his account shows where he deposited that much in cash.”
Drake said significantly, “If my information’s correct, Perry, twelve thousand dollars isn’t a drop in the bucket. He deposited over seventy-five thousand dollars since the first of the year.”
“He did what?” Mason asked.
“Deposited over seventy-five thousand dollars. There’s something over sixty thousand dollars in the account right now in the form of cash. Mind you, Perry, I’m doing a lot of guessing on this business; naturally, the bank isn’t putting out any official information.”
“You’re all wet,” Mason told him. “Whoever gave you the information has been making some bum guesses.”
“Well, that’s the way I figured it at first,” Drake admitted, “but my information isn’t so much a matter of guesswork as you might suppose. Now, here’s my idea: You’re representing his widow. She’s entitled to letters of administration, if there isn’t a will, or to be executrix if there is — unless, of course, the will specifically disinherits her. But, even so, some of this is community property. Now, suppose you go down to the bank, have a talk with them, put your cards on the table, and see if you can’t get the information.”