Bob felt up against a blank wall. It was his job to sit tight in the office on the supposition that someone inside must have given out information. He felt now that there was little chance that this had been the case. There were plenty of other loopholes for the information to leak out and Bob was convinced that it must have leaked before the paper came into the filing office.
At five o’clock the other clerks left their desks, but Tully, Bob and the filing chief lingered in the office.
Jacobs spoke to Tully.
“I don’t care what you’re doing outside this office,” he said, “but as long as you’re here and at your desk you’ll have to work. I don’t believe you did five minutes work this afternoon.”
Tully’s eyes dropped and he studied the toes of his shoes. His voice was heavy when he spoke.
“I know I didn’t get much work done,” he said. “But I was so blamed excited over being a federal agent and then trying to figure out how this information could have leaked out. I’ll be back to earth again tomorrow.”
“I’m glad of that for we need your help in getting this mess straightened out.”
Tully nodded and went on, while Bob hesitated.
“I wanted just a word with you alone,” he told the filing chief. “I didn’t say anything earlier, but I’m also working on this case as a provisional federal agent. That means I’m on probation. If I make good on this case there may be a permanent job waiting for me.”
“I rather thought you might be,” smiled Jacobs, “after Tully blurted out that he was a special agent. I kind of put two and two together and it looked like it would be mighty strange if Tully were selected and not you.”