Todrank was his banker, not a warm personal friend, but a man of wide influence and connections. His interest in the fight on Findlater and Macgowan had been keen and tense, because Todrank was a man who never relented unto an enemy. And, at some period in the past, Todrank and Lawrence Macgowan had been bitter enemies. Macgowan might have, probably had, forgotten this fact, but with Todrank there was no past tense. If he liked Armstrong, it was largely because he hated Macgowan.
"Do you know anything about Tom Windsor," he went on, "assistant attorney general of Indiana?"
"No," said Armstrong. "I think I've met him in Evansville. A tall, lean-jawed chap?"
"Yep. He's a friend of mine; straight as a string and can't be reached. He was in to see me yesterday. Didn't know that I knew you, and asked questions. You'll regard this as confidential?"
"Absolutely," returned Armstrong. He made a gesture, and Jimmy Wren closed the door.
"Didn't you market a stock issue of the Deming Food Products Company, around the end of last year?"
"Most of the issue, yes. It's a subsidiary of Consolidated Securities. Why?"
"Windsor intimated that there'd been something crooked about that stock—"
"Oh, that's all old stuff," cut in Armstrong wearily. "You know all about it. Macgowan has tried to get indictments—"
"Wake up, Armstrong!" snapped the banker curtly. "This is something else again—something different! Windsor swears that Macgowan has nothing to do with it—doesn't even know Mac by sight. Get this man right, or you'll make the mistake of your life! He's so straight that he'll fall over backward some day. And he's hot on your trail."