anything as complicated. I’m always running up against investigators who make things complicated by thinking they are. Now, the way I see it, the girl has been handling all this dough for years. She has probably been dreaming what she could do with such a lump sum of money if ever she owned it. Then suddenly she gets herself a boy-friend and he turns her dreams into a concrete fact. He shows her how between them they can grab the money. She has the keys, she knows about this alarm system, he has the nerve, so together they grab the money. It’s not complicated… it’s human nature.’

Travers shifted impatiently.

‘That’s too easy,’ he said. ‘She just isn’t the type to steal nor is she the type ever to have a boy-friend.’

Easton blew out his fat cheeks.

‘There you go again… making things complicated,’ he said. ‘We know she had a boy- friend. Calvin said so, didn’t he? This guy has been seen by these two old people and by Mrs. Loring. What’s the point in you saying she isn’t the type to get herself a boy-friend when we know she has one?’

‘I know… I know,’ Travers said. ‘That’s what foxes me. I am sure she isn’t the type to have a boy-friend.’

Easton hissed through his teeth.

‘Look, you’re young,’ he said. ‘You haven’t the experience of people the way I have. There are girls who don’t look as if they know a thing. There are girls as sexless as hot-water bottles. A girl like Alice is made like other girls. She’s got sex like any other girl. When the right guy comes along, a smooth crook who knows his stuff, she could be a sucker for him.’

Travers saw some sense in this reasoning, but he wasn’t convinced. He thought of Alice Craig. She was so earnest, so dedicated to her work and so shy with men.

‘Well, let’s see what Mrs. Loring has to say. I’m still not sold on the idea.’

Easton glanced uneasily at him.

‘I’m just sounding off,’ he said. ‘I could be wrong. You’re young and smart. I need all the help I can get.’

‘How did you make out with Calvin?’ Travers asked.

Here, Easton felt he was on safe ground. He had talked with Calvin and had been impressed. He liked the guy.

‘He’s quite a man, isn’t he?’ he said enthusiastically. ‘He sure knows his job. That’s a thing I go for – a guy who really knows his job. I bet he plays a fine game of golf.’

‘He’s a scratch player,’ Travers said impatiently, ‘but what has that to do with his job?’

‘It’s tough on him to have this break,’ Easton said, shaking his head. ‘He hasn’t been in charge of the bank for more than six weeks when this girl has to spring this on him. It’s tough.’

Travers flicked his cigarette out of the window.

‘You take the second turning on the right,’ he said, ‘then it’s the third house on your right.’

Ten minutes later the two men were with Kit Loring.

What a woman! Easton thought. He compared her to Mavis Hart and the comparison made him feel old and unsure of himself. Looking at her, Easton realised how sordid and depressing his affair with Mavis was. To be in bed with a woman like Kit Loring would be a major experience. He scarcely listened to what she was saying. His attention was riveted on her slim, sensual body and her blatant breasts that offered a challenge from behind the soft grey covering of her sweater. This was a woman, he told himself. There was nothing skinny nor sordid about her. She had the structure and the flesh that he had so often thought about. She was the most exciting and desirable woman he had ever met.

Travers stayed in the background, watching and listening. He realised that Kit was slightly drunk and this shocked him. When she moved past him, he smelt the whisky on her breath. It hurt and worried him, knowing she was to be his future mother-in-law.

Kit was drunk enough to be very confident.

‘I just can’t believe Alice would do such a thing,’ she said. ‘Of course, this man must have influenced her. Although she is a nice girl, I’m afraid she has no character. She is very weak and unsure of herself.’

‘You know for a fact she did have a boy-friend?’ Easton asked, glancing at Travers with a knowing grin.

‘Why, of course. I saw him. I saw them together.’

‘When was this, Mrs. Loring?’

‘Oh, about ten days ago. I was in my room when I heard a car drive up. I looked out of the window. I saw Alice

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