“Who has a key to it?”
“Only Mr. Gordon and myself.”
“That drawer is always kept locked, I infer?”
“Yes, certainly.”
“Could Pauline Perrot, by any means, have obtained an impression of your key to that particular drawer?”
“No, no, it would have been impossible,” Beckwith declared. “My keys are never out of my possession.”
“How about Gordon’s?”
“It might have been possible, Mr. Carter. He sometimes leaves his ring of keys hanging in the lock of his roll-top desk, after having opened it. I have seen them there, and cautioned him about it. But it is a habit of his.”
“I see,” Chick nodded. “How recently, speaking positively, can you say that the bonds and securities were in the drawer?”
“Three days,” Beckwith said promptly. “I then added a package to them. I don’t think I have opened the drawer since then.”