“On this side of the desk nearest the window,” Alvord indicated the spot with his hand.
“You dare not swear that you handed Miss Langdon the signed codicil because you fear you gave her the unsigned one,” taunted Duncan. “Wait,” as the harassed lawyer started to interrupt him. “You did hand Miss Langdon the unsigned copy, however, which was found in the safe—therefore her responsibility in the matter ends.”
“Hold hard,” broke in the Admiral heatedly. “As Alvord says, Marjorie could have stolen the signed codicil off the desk; she was the last person to leave this room that evening, and I the first to enter in the morning—and the codicil was not on the desk.”
“You were not the first person to enter this room that morning,” contradicted Duncan. “Ask your butler to step here a moment.”
The Admiral hesitated, but Duncan’s earnest manner solved his doubt, and he rang for his servant.
“Come in, Sam,” he directed as the butler rapped on the door.
“Sam,” began Duncan slowly. “Why have you never told Admiral Lawrence that you knocked a valuable paper off his desk with your feather duster and out of the open window?”
“Fo’ Gawd! boss, how’d yo’ know ’bout dat?” Sam turned ashy.
“I was passing the house and saw the paper sail through the window into the gutter where the water carried it down the sewer. This was the morning of my arrival in Washington, Admiral—November first.”
The Admiral stared speechlessly at Duncan, then wheeled on his frightened servant. “Why did you never tell me of this?”