THE LAST CARD
He worked with surprising rapidity, tearing from the machine and passing to Braceway each half-page as he finished it. He wrote triple-space, breaking the story into many paragraphs, never hesitating for a choice of words.
"My name is Thomas F. Splain.
"I am forty years old.
"I am 'wanted' in New York for embezzlement.
"Fear is an unknown quantity to me. I have always had ample self-confidence. The world belongs to the impudent.
"I learned long ago that no man is at heart either grateful, or honest, or unselfish."
With a turn of the roller, he flicked that off the machine and, without raising his head, passed it to Braceway. The detective glanced at it long enough to get its meaning and handed it to Fulton. When it was offered to Greenleaf, he shook his head.
The chiefs rage had reached its high point. To his realization of how perfectly he had been duped, there was added the humiliation of having two members of his force as witnesses of its revelation.
"If he makes a move," he thought savagely, fingering the revolver in the side pocket of his coat, "I'll kill him certain."