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“I guess Ellsworth will know how to get in touch with her,” Frank said, issuing the one threat he knew would win De
“Wait!” De
Frank settled back into his chair again, managing not to look smug. “I have to find out if Ellsworth killed that woman, Mr. De
“Because I’m certain that Ellsworth did,” De
“Then why not try to get it back? A
“I… I hadn’t thought of that,” De
“And if Ellsworth didn’t steal it, that means the thief still works for you. Are you going to give him a chance to do it again?”
De
Finally, De
That’s because he hadn’t been interested in learning it, but Frank simply said, “Malloy.”
“Mr. Malloy, no one wants to put their money in a bank if they know funds have been embezzled. While ten thousand dollars is a lot of money, it is nothing compared to what we will lose if our depositors choose to withdraw all their funds.”
Frank nodded sagely, encouraging De
“I have independent means. I will cover the losses myself and make certain this doesn’t happen again.”
“By making sure Ellsworth never works here again?” Frank guessed. “Even if he’s not the thief?”
De
Frank felt another surge of anger and almost reminded De
“What difference could it make?” De
“And what if I told you that isn’t going to happen?”
De
“He hasn’t even been arrested yet,” Frank reminded him. “If there was any reason to think he’s guilty, he’d be in The Tombs by now,” he added, referring to the city jail.
De
Frank felt a shock of surprise. He hadn’t seen this coming, but he should have. His opinion of De
“When the matter of Mr. Ellsworth’s guilt or i
“Then I suppose I’ll be seeing you again, Mr. De
“Indeed,” De
Frank saw himself out, and he was smiling grimly as he walked through the front door of the bank into the morning sunlight. He wouldn’t have to say very much at all about De
“Mr. Malloy, I’m so glad I caught you!” he exclaimed breathlessly. He looked much better than he had last night, or any night since A
“What are you doing out here?” Frank exclaimed, looking around in case some enterprising reporter was hanging around. “I told you not to leave the house.”
“There weren’t any reporters, so no one saw me,” he said. “I had to see you, and I knew you’d be at the bank this morning. I thought of something last night, after you left.”
“Then let’s find a less public place to discuss it,” Frank suggested, still looking around to make sure they hadn’t been seen. He didn’t want anyone from the bank to spot them, either, and report to De
Frank led him away, and they walked two blocks until he saw a hansom cab and flagged it down. When the two men had stuffed themselves inside, Frank gave the driver the Ellsworths’ address. As the cab started off with a lurch, he finally turned to Nelson.
“All right, what is it?” he asked.
“Last night, after you left, I couldn’t sleep,” Nelson said. “At first I was just upset. I never stole a pe
“It doesn’t matter what I believe,” Frank reminded him. “But if it makes you feel any better, I don’t think you took the money.”
This seemed to be a relief to Nelson, and he sighed audibly. “Well,” he said somewhat hoarsely, “that means a great deal to me, Mr. Malloy.”
“No, it doesn’t mean anything at all unless I can find out who really killed A
“That’s just it, I remembered something important last night.”
“You know who killed A
Nelson’s face fell. “I wish to God I did. No, it’s not that. It was about the bank and the missing money. You said Mr. De
“That’s what he told Mrs. Brandt.”
“But that’s just it, Mr. Malloy. She only spoke with him on Sunday, and he told her on Tuesday night that they’d discovered the missing money. Even if he’d been able to get auditors into the bank first thing on Monday morning-which would have been very difficult-they would have only had two days to work. Two days at the most! Mr. Malloy, there is no way they could have made a determination like that so quickly!”