“Then Borden Finchley — apparently not trusting us — drew a check on us for the exact amount of the balance on hand in the account of Horace Shelby.”
“And opened a new account as conservator?” Mason asked.
“He did that temporarily. He opened a new account as conservator but, within two hours, went to another bank, opened an account in the name of Borden Finchley, conservator for the estate of Horace Shelby, and cleaned out the account.”
Mason grinned. “He evidently didn’t want to antagonize you until you had transferred the money to his account, then he went out of his way to give you a deliberate slap in the face.”
“Probably,” Paxton said, “he realized that our attitude was somewhat unsympathetic. We considered Horace Shelby a rather elderly but very shrewd individual. Some people are old at seventy five, some people are alert at ninety.”
“And Horace Shelby was mentally alert?”
“We considered him a very lovable old gentleman. I’ll be frank with you, Mr. Mason, he would get a little confused at times and he knew it, and he relied implicitly on Daphne.”
“And what’s your opinion of Daphne?”
“She a jewel. She’s just a sweet, loyal girl who sacrificed her entire life for her uncle and she did it out of affection and not because she was looking to see which side of the bread had the butter.”
Mason nodded, said after a moment, “Well, the money was taken over under a Court order and it’s out of the bank.”
“That is true,” Paxton said. “It might have been better if Finchley had handled it in the ordinary way and simply taken over everything in Shelby’s account at the bank and served us with an order that only the signature of the conservator was to be recognized.”
“What do you mean?” Mason asked.
“Simply this,” Paxton said. “Yesterday afternoon a deposit of fifty thousand dollars was made to the credit of Horace Shelby.”
“What?” Mason exclaimed.
Paxton nodded. “It was a payment due under a contract of purchase,” he said, “and the contract provided that the money could be paid by depositing it to the credit of Horace Shelby in our bank. A grant deed had already been executed by Horace Shelby and placed in escrow with a title company with instructions that whenever the purchaser showed a deposit slip showing that the final fifty thousand dollars had been paid to the account of Horace Shelby at our bank, the deed was to be delivered.
“The purchaser knew nothing of the appointment of a conservator and insisted on depositing the money to the account of Horace Shelby and receiving a duplicate deposit slip, which he took to the escrow company.”
Mason pursed his lips.
“Now then,” Paxton went on, “we are in a peculiar situation. If we notify Borden Finchley of this extra fifty thousand dollars, he will simply have another order prepared and have that account transferred to his name. But do we need to notify him?”
“Certainly,” Mason said. “I think it’s your duty to notify him.”
Paxton’s face showed his disappointment.
“You should write him a letter immediately,” Mason said, “and explain the circumstances to him.”
Paxton got to his feet. “Well,” he said, his manner showing disappointment, “I was hoping that perhaps you could suggest some other means of handling it.”
Mason shook his head. “That’s the only ethical thing to do,” he said. “Go to the bank and write a letter. In fact, I’ll walk down to the bank with you. I have some business in that direction. We can walk together.”
“If Horace Shelby knew about this money,” Paxton said, “I think he’d contrive in some way to take care of Daphne.”
“There’s nothing he can do,” Mason said. “Your attorney would advise you that you couldn’t take chances.”
“Yes, I suppose so,” Paxton said, with a sigh. “But you have the reputation of being very ingenious, Mr. Mason, and I thought I’d let you know.”
“I’m glad you did,” Mason said. “The bank’s only a few doors down the street, I’ll go on down with you.”
“And you feel I should write Borden Finchley a letter?”
“Immediately,” Mason said.
They walked down to the elevator, then strolled down the street. Paxton seemed to be dragging his feet.
“Of course,” Paxton pointed out, “you can see what Shelby was trying to do. He was trying to take care of Daphne financially. That’s what he wanted. If he hadn’t been so anxious to take care of her, the Court might have been more hesitant about appointing a conservator.”
“I suppose so,” Mason said. “How’s my credit at your bank, by the way?”
“Your credit?” Paxton asked in surprise. “Why, absolutely A-1.”
“I’d like to borrow seventy five thousand dollars,” Mason said.
“Why, I think that can be arranged. You have some security?”
“No security,” Mason said. “I would give my note.”
Paxton started to shake his head, then frowned. “How long would you want the money, Mr. Mason?”
“About ten minutes,” Mason said.
Paxton looked at him incredulously. “Seventy five thousand dollars for ten minutes?”
“Yes,” Mason said.
“Good heavens, what do you intend to do with it?”
Mason grinned. “I thought I would deposit it to the account of Horace Shelby.”
“Are you crazy?” Paxton asked. “Are you...” Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks, regarded Mason in a bewildered manner, then broke out laughing. “Come on,” he said, “let’s get to the bank just as fast as we can.”
He started walking more rapidly, and Mason lengthened his strides to keep up with the banker.
They entered the bank. Paxton called in a secretary. He said, “If you don’t mind, Mr. Mason, I’ll dictate a letter to Borden Finchley telling him—”
“I think,” Mason interrupted, “the better procedure would be to make the letter to Horace Shelby, care of Borden Finchley, Conservator.”
Paxton grinned. “I get the point,” he said. “It’s a legal distinction, but an important one.”
Paxton turned to the secretary. “Take a letter to Horace Shelby, care of Borden Finchley, Conservator.
“Dear Mr. Shelby. The $50,000 final payment on the purchase of the Broadway property was deposited to your account by the purchaser, who took a duplicate deposit slip to deliver to the escrow department. Paragraph. That money is now on deposit in your name. Very truly yours, etc.”
Mason nodded. “Now,” he said, “could we visit the Loan Department?”
“Right away,” Paxton said.
Paxton went on, “I think, Mr. Mason, under the circumstances, I’ll okay this loan myself. You want seventy five thousand dollars?”
Mason nodded.
“I’ll make it for thirty days,” Paxton said.
“Any time you like,” Mason said. “I won’t want it that long but if you’d like to have your records so show, why, it will be for that period.”
Paxton made out the note. Mason signed it.
“How do you want this?” Paxton asked.
Mason said, “I think, under the circumstances, cash would be preferable — seventy five one thousand dollar bills.”
Paxton went to the vault and returned with the seventy five one thousand dollar bills.