“Are you actually in danger of losing your business, Mr. Smithson?” “Not yet. But I don’t like to lose money, either. Do you?”
“No, indeed,” said Smithson, “I do not. How many robots do you employ in your business?”
“Twenty-seven, sir.”
“And they are all reliable, I suppose.”
“Undoubtedly. They could not steal. Besides, I have asked each one of them if they took any money and they all said they had not. And, of course, robots cannot lie, either.”
“You are quite right,” said Smithson. “It is useless to be concerned over robots. They are honest, through and through. What about the human beings you employ? How many of them are there?”
“I employ seventeen, but of these only four can possibly have been stealing.”
“Why is that?”
“The others do not work on the premises. These four, however, do. Each one has the occasion, now and then, to handle petty cash, and I suspect that what happens is that at least one of them manages to transfer assets from the company to his private account in such a way that the matter is not easily traced.”
“I see. Yes, it is unfortunately true that human beings may steal. Have you confronted your suspects with the situation?”
“Yes, I have. They all deny any such activity, but, of course, human beings can lie, too.” “So they can. Did any of them look uneasy while being questioned?”
“All did. They could see I was a furious man who could fire all four, guilty or innocent. They would have had trouble finding other jobs if fired for such a reason.”
“Then that cannot be done. We must not punish the innocent with the guilty.”
“You are quite right,” said Mr. Wassell. “I couldn’t do that. But how can I decide which one is guilty?”
“Is there one among them who has a dubious record, who has been fired under uncertain circumstances earlier in his career?”
“I have made quiet inquiries, Mr. Smithson, and I have found nothing suspicious about any of them.”
“Is one of them in particular need of money?” “I pay good wages.”
“I am sure of that, but perhaps one has some sort of expensive taste that makes his income insufficient.”
“I have found no evidence of that, though, to be sure, if one of them needed money for some perverse reason, he would keep it secret. No one wants to be thought evil.”
“You are quite right,” said the great detective. “In that case, you must confront me with the four men. I will interrogate them.” His eyes flashed. “We will get to the bottom of this mystery, never fear. Let us arrange a meeting in the evening. We might meet in the company dining room over some small meal and a bottle of wine, so the men will feel completely relaxed. Tonight, if possible.”
“I will arrange it,” said Mr. Wassell, eagerly.
Calumet Smithson sat at the dinner table and regarded the four men closely. Two of them were quite young and had dark hair. One of them had a mustache as well. Neither was very good looking. One of them was Mr. Foster and the other was Mr. Lionell. The third man was rather fat and had small eyes. He was Mr. Mann. The fourth was tall and rangy and had a nervous way of cracking his knuckles. He was Mr. Ostrak.
Smithson seemed to be a little nervous himself as he questioned each man in turn. His eagle eyes narrowed as he gazed sharply at the four suspects and he played with a shiny quarter that flipped casually between the fingers of his right hand.
Smithson said, “I'm sure that each of the four of you is quite aware what a terrible thing it is to steal from an employer.” They all agreed at once.
Smithson tapped the shiny quarter on the table, thoughtfully. “One of you, I'm sure, is going to break down under the load of guilt and I think you will do it before the evening is over.
But, for now, I must call my office. I will be gone for only a few minutes. Please sit here and wait for me and while I am gone, do not talk to each other, or look at each other.”
He gave the quarter a last tap, and, paying no attention to it, he left. In about ten minutes, he was back.
He looked from one to another and said, “You did not talk to each other or look at each other, I hope?”
There was a general shaking of heads as though they were still fearful of speaking. “Mr. Wassell,” said the detective. “Do you agree that no one spoke?”
“Absolutely. We just sat here quietly and waited. We didn’t even look at each other.”
“Good. Now I will ask each one of you four men to show me what you have in your pockets. Please put everything into a pile in front of you.”
Smithson’s voice was so compelling, his eyes so bright and sharp, that none of the men thought of disobeying.
“Shirt pockets, too. Inside jacket pockets. All the pockets.”
There was quite a pile, credit cards, keys, spectacles, pens, some coins. Smithson looked at the four piles coldly, his mind taking in everything.
Then he said, “Just to make sure that we are all meeting the same requirements, I will make a pile of the contents of my own pockets and, Mr. Wassell, you do the same.”
Now there were six piles. Smithson reached over to the pile in front of Mr. Wassell, and said, “What is this shiny quarter I see, Mr. Wassell. Yours?”
Wassell looked confused. “Yes.”
“It couldn’t be. It has my mark on it. I left it on the table when I went out to call my office. You took it.”
Wassell was silent. The other four men looked at him.
Smithson said, “I felt that if one of you was a thief, you wouldn’t be able to resist a shiny quarter. Mr. Wassell, you’ve been stealing from your own company, and, afraid you would be caught, you tried to spread the guilt among your men. That was a wicked and cowardly thing to do.”
Wassell hung his head. “You are right, Mr. Smithson. I thought if I hired you to investigate you would find one of the men guilty, and then perhaps I could stop taking the money for my private use.”
“You little realize the detective’s mind,” said Calumet Smithson. “I will turn you over to the authorities. They will decide what to do with you, though if you are sincerely sorry and promise never to do it again, I will try to keep you from being punished badly.”
I showed it to Mr. Northrop, who read it silently. He hardly smiled at all. Just in one or two places. Then he put it down and stared at me. “Where did you get the name Euphrosyne Durando?”
“You said, sir, I was not to use my own name, so I used one as different as possible.” “But where did you get it?”
“Sir, one of the minor characters in one of your stories-”
“Of course! I thought it sounded familiar! Do you realize it's a feminine name? “ “Since I am neither masculine nor feminine-”
“Yes, you're quite right. But the name of the detective, Calumet Smithson. That 'Cal' part is still you, isn't it?”
“I wanted some connection, sir.” “You've got a tremendous ego, Cal.”
I hesitated. “What does that mean, sir?” “Never mind. It doesn't matter.”
He put the manuscript down and I was troubled. I said, “But what did you think of the mystery?”
“It's an improvement, but it's still not a good mystery. Do you realize that?” “In what way is it disappointing, sir?”
“Well, you don't understand modern business practices or computerized financing for one thing.
And no one would take a quarter from the table with four other men present, even if they weren't looking. It would have been seen. Then, even if that happened, Mr. Wassell's taking it isn't proof he was the thief.
Anyone could pocket a quarter automatically, without thinking. It's an interesting indication, but it's not proof. And the title of the story tends to give it away, too.”
“I see.”
“And, in addition, the Three Laws of Robotics are still getting in your way. You keep worrying about punishment.”
“I must, sir.”
“I know you must. That's why I think you shouldn't try to write crime stories.” “What else should I write, sir? “
“Let me think about it.”
Mr. Northrop called in the technician again. This time, I think, he wasn't very eager to have me overhear what he was saying, but even from where I was standing, I could hear the conversation. Sometimes human beings forget how sharp the senses of robots can be.
After all, I was very upset. I wanted to be a writer and I didn’t want Mr. Northrop telling me what
I could write and what I couldn’t write. Of course, he was a human being and I had to obey him, but I didn’t like it.
“What’s the matter now, Mr. Northrop?” asked the technician in a voice that sounded sardonic to my ears. “Has this robot of yours been writing a story again?”
“Yes, he has,” said Mr. Northrop, trying to sound indifferent. “He’s written another mystery story and I don’t want him writing mysteries.”
“Too much competition, eh, Mr. Northrop?”
“No. Don’t be a jackass. There’s just no point in two people in the same household writing mysteries. Besides, the Three Laws of Robotics get in the way. You can easily imagine how.”