‘It certainly is,’ Marthy said gravely. ‘You heard Miss Craig has been murdered?’
‘The sheriff telephoned me,’ Calvin said and turning to the sheriff, he went on, ‘I didn’t get all the details. Where did you find her, sheriff?’
‘We found the get-away car in the Downside railroad parking lot. She was in the boot,’ the sheriff said. He looked at his massive gold watch. ‘Easton will be here any moment now. He should have information for us. Let’s sit down.’
As they moved to the big table and began pulling out chairs, the door jerked open and Easton came in. He looked hot and anxious. His fat, weak face glistened with sweat and he wiped his hand on the seat of his trousers before shaking hands with Marthy.
‘Let’s sit down, gentlemen,’ he said. ‘I guess you want to know what’s been happening.’ He waited until Marthy was seated before sitting down himself. Calvin sat opposite Marthy with Travers at the bottom of the table and the sheriff on the other side of Marthy.
‘Well, there’s no doubt the girl was murdered,’ Easton said. ‘She was strangled. The M.O. puts the time of her death around two o’clock on the night of the robbery. The way I see it is this: this guy Acres persuaded the girl to help him grab the payroll. He took his time about it. We know he and she were meeting pretty regularly during the past three weeks. Finally, he persuaded her to help him. He sent her a note the day before the robbery reminding her to leave the back entrance to the bank unlocked. Then after the payroll was delivered, and after Mr. Calvin and Alice had left, he walked in, took all the light bulbs out of their sockets, cutting off the alarm system, and unlocked the safe, using Alice’s key and a duplicate she had got for him from Calvin’s key.’
‘Just a moment,’ Marthy said sharply. ‘Explain that. I don’t understand. How could they have got hold of Calvin’s key?’
‘When Lamb had his stroke, Miss Craig had the two keys for some hours. That’s when we think she took an impression of Calvin’s key she later gave to Acres.’
‘But Lamb had his stroke more than six weeks ago,’ Marthy painted out. ‘Do you mean Acres was hanging around here for six weeks?’
Calvin sat very still, his face expressionless. Easton shifted uneasily.
‘I guess so… he must have done,’ he said finally. ‘I’m not saying he was hanging around here, but he was in touch with Alice… how else could he have got at the second key? Calvin tells me once he had possession of the key, it was never out of his sight.’
‘That’s not exactly correct,’ Calvin said a little too quickly. ‘I guess Alice could have got at it pretty well any time after Lamb’s death. Naturally, I trusted her. I kept my key in my pocket. In hot weather, I left my jacket in the office when I worked in the vault. I guess she could have sneaked into my office and taken an impression of the key.’
Marthy turned and looked hard at Calvin.
‘But if you were working in the vault, you would surely need the key to open the vault, wouldn’t you?’
Calvin rubbed the side of his jaw, his brain racing. Somehow he managed to keep his face expressionless.
What are you saying, you fool? he thought. Watch it! Another slip like that and you’ll be in trouble.
‘When the payroll isn’t in the vault, sir,’ he said, ‘we leave the vault door unlocked.’
There was a pause, then Marthy said, ‘Well, go on,’ this to Easton.
Calvin reached for his pack of cigarettes. He lit a cigarette and drew down a lungful of smoke.
‘Acres had arranged to meet Alice after he had the money,’ Easton went on. ‘She imagined they were going away together, but Acres had other ideas. As soon as he had established the fact they were going to ’Frisco by talking to the gas attendant, he drove her to some lonely spot and strangled her. He dumped her in the boot of the car, ditched the car at the railroad station and then disappeared with the payroll. It now seems pretty certain he is still in the district.’
Calvin leaned back in his chair. His bulk made the chair creak.
Marthy asked in his dry precise voice, ‘What makes you think that?’
Easton felt a slight stabbing pain in his stomach. He winced, shifting in his chair.
‘We’re slowly building up evidence that Acres is a local man. We’ve had some luck. There’s an asylum for the criminal insane at Downside. On the night of the robbery one of the inmates escaped in a stolen car. He got away around the time Acres was driving to Downside after the robbery. The police were alerted and all roads out of Pittsville and Downside were immediately blocked. We know no one left Downside without being checked. The road blocks were so efficient, the nut was captured within half an hour. It so happened that at that time few cars were on the roads and those people checked were known to the police: they were local people. There were no strangers. We are pretty sure Acres didn’t get through so he must either be holed up in Downside or in Pittsville.’
Calvin’s mouth turned dry. He stared at the glowing end of his cigarette, aware his heart was now thumping so violently he was scared that Travers, sitting close to him, would hear it.
‘What makes you think he is a local man?’ Marthy asked.
