Bolding flushed. “I can’t help it if a man dies before he carries out his plans.”
“No,” Mason observed, “I daresay you can’t. However, that would seem to be your loss, not ours. You’ve lost a client.”
“But under the law, I’m entitled to recover compensation for my services. A thousand dollars is a most reasonable charge.”
“Go right ahead,” Mason told him, “and recover your compensation. I was simply giving you a friendly tip that Sabin thinks your charges are too high. He’ll probably bring in a couple of the other experts, who have been waiting to take a rap at you, and have them testify that your fees are outrageous.”
“Are you trying to blackmail me?” Bolding asked.
“Just warning you,” Mason said.
“What do you want?”
“Me?” Mason asked, surprised. “Why I don’t want anything.”
“What does Sabin want?”
“I don’t know,” Mason told him. “You’ll be getting in touch with Sabin when you present your bill. You can ask him then.”
“I’ll ask him nothing.”
“Okay by me,” Mason said. “Sabin thinks your charges are plain robbery. He says that whatever you did, you did for Mr. Sabin and not for the estate.”
“I am doing it for the estate.”
“I don’t see how,” Mason said.
“You’d have to understand what it was all about in order to see that,” Bolding said.
“Doubtless,” Mason admitted, “if I knew all the facts, I’d feel differently about it. Doubtless, if Sabin knew all the facts, he’d feel differently about it. You see, he doesn’t know all the facts, and there’s no likelihood he’ll learn them — in time to do the estate any good.”
“You’re putting me in a very difficult position, Mason,” Bolding said irritably.
Mason’s voice showed surprise. “I am? Why, I thought you’d put yourself in it.”
Bolding pushed back his swivel chair, crossed over to a steel filing case, unlocked the catch and angrily jerked the steel drawer open. “Oh, all right,” he said, “if you’re going to act that way about it.”
Bolding opened the files and spread papers out on the desk. “Richard Waid,” he said, “was Fremont C. Sabin’s secretary. He held Sabin’s power of attorney and had authority to sign checks up to five thousand dollars. Checks over five thousand dollars had to be signed by Sabin. I have in this file sixteen thousand five hundred dollars in forged checks. The checks are three in number, each is over five thousand in amount, and each purports to have been signed by Sabin. The forgeries were so clever the bank cashed them.”
“How were they discovered?” Mason asked.
“Sabin discovered them when he audited his bank account.”
“Why didn’t Waid discover them?”
“Because Sabin had the habit of issuing checks from time to time without advising his secretary.”
“Did Waid finally learn of these checks?”
“No, Mr. Sabin wanted it kept a closely guarded secret, because he thought it was a family matter.”
“Just what,” Mason asked, “do you mean by that?”
Bolding said, “Perhaps I can quote from Mr. Sabin’s letter to me, and it will explain matters more clearly.” He picked up a typewritten letter, turned over the first page and read from the second page:
“ ‘I suppose it will be difficult for you to detect any handwriting characteristics of the forger from the signature itself. However, it occurs to me that the payees are probably fictitious, that the endorsements on the back of the check will give you something on which to work. I am, therefore, enclosing herewith, in addition to the checks, a letter written to me by Steven Watkins. Inasmuch as this young man is the son of my wife, you can appreciate the importance of regarding the entire matter as most confidential. Under no circumstances must there be any newspaper publicity. The bank is sworn to secrecy. I am saying nothing at this end. Therefore, if there should be any disclosure, I will know that it was brought about through an indiscretion on your part.
“ ‘As soon as you have arrived at an opinion, please advise me by telephone. I will be in my mountain cabin at least by Monday, the fifth, and will remain there for several days.’ ”
“What conclusions did you reach?” Mason asked.
“The checks are clever forgeries. They are free-hand forgeries; that is, the signatures were dashed off at high speed by a competent and daring forger. There are no tremors in the signatures. The signatures were not traced. There is no evidence of the painfully laborious handwriting of the slow, clumsy forger who must rely upon tracing. Such signatures look quite all right to the naked eye, but under the microscope look quite different from the smooth, fast-flowing lines of a quickly executed signature such as these.”
“I understand,” Mason said.
“The forged signature may be the work of Steven Watkins, the young man whose handwriting was sent me by Mr. Sabin. I don’t know. I am inclined to think the endorsements, however, were not made by young Watkins. In fact, they have all the earmarks of being genuine signatures, although they may have been fictitious.”
“How were the checks cashed?”
“They were put through various banks for collection, in each instance by a person who opened an account, let it remain for a week or two, and then drew out the entire balance. The references, addresses, etc., in each instance were fabricated.”
“And you don’t think Watkins did it?”
“To be frank,” Bolding said, “I do not... That is, the endorsements on the checks. As to the forgery of the signature, I cannot say.”
“Did you so advise Mr. Sabin?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“On Friday, the second of September. He was in the city and called on me for a brief conference.”
“Then what?” Mason asked.
“He said he would think it over and let me know.”
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“About four o’clock on Monday, September fifth. It was a holiday, but I happened to be in my office. Sabin caught me here on a long distance telephone call.”
“Did he say where he was?”
“He said he was in his mountain cabin.”
“What did he say?”
“He said, he’d been thinking over the matter of those forgeries and said he was sending me other handwriting specimens in a letter which he would mail that afternoon.”
“Did you ever receive the letter?” Mason asked.
“No.”
“Then you gather that he didn’t mail it?”
“I think that’s a reasonable inference.”
“Do you know why he didn’t mail it?”
“No. He may have changed his mind; he may have postponed it, or he may have entered into some transaction... perhaps some property settlement... which was conditioned upon the fact... Well, you may draw your own conclusions.”
“What gives you that idea?” Mason asked.
“Certain circumstances which I am not at liberty to divulge.”
Mason said, “Under the circumstances, Bolding, it would seem that your services have been of the greatest value to the estate. I would advise the executor to honor your bill.”
Bolding said, without enthusiasm, “Thank you.”
Mason said, “If you’re in need of money, I might advance the money myself from my personal account and take payment of your claim in the regular course of administration.”
Bolding said, “That would be most acceptable.”
“Your bill was a thousand dollars?” Mason asked.
“Fifteen hundred,” Bolding said.
“I would, of course, want to take possession of the documents in the case on behalf of the administrator,” Mason said.