“But if you wrote Hesset surely your stenographer——”
“I didn’t write. I telephoned.”
“When?”
“Last Monday evening—seven o’clock. I was alone in the office. I told him to be here promptly at eleven this morning.”
Albert Wall said: “If you’ll excuse me a moment—” and was gone. Joe felt the warning pressure of his uncle’s foot upon his toe. The door of the inner room had not been tightly closed. Craning his neck, the boy saw the cashier at a telephone. Presently Albert Wall came back still with that slight frown upon his face.
“This thing was planned ahead,” Captain Tucker said slowly.
“Forgery is always planned ahead,” Dr. Stone agreed. “Somebody knew that at eleven this morning Pelle was to give Hesset a check. By the way, Pelle, when you telephoned Monday evening did you tell Hesset what the amount of the check would be?”
“Certainly. No man settles a damage claim without knowing what he’s going to get. I offered five thousand dollars; he accepted.”
“So somebody knew three important facts—that you were going to pay a check at a certain time, the exact amount of the check and to whom it was to be made payable.”
“Nobody knew it,” the canner insisted.