“What’s the idea?”
“Alden wanted to have plenty of cash to do what he wanted to do. He knew he couldn’t draw twenty thousand in cash without making it look as though he were running away. He figured that if he made that second check to Conway and had me cash it, he could get the twenty thousand, and no one would figure he was checking out. It sounded like a good idea at the time.”
“It looks like hell now,” Mason said. “Twenty grand is too much cash for a pleasure trip. It looks as though you were running away and didn’t intend to come back.”
“I know it,” she admitted.
Leeds said, “Look here, Mason, I can’t be arrested. I’ve got to get back to the Tanana country.”
“Why?”
“Don’t you see? To square up that old killing.”
“You mean John Milicant was blackmailing you over that?”
“Yes.”
“Just what did you expect to do?” Mason asked.