“I don’t care whom you’re directly under, you’re in my employ. You’re working for me. You’re drawing wages that come out of my pocket. I want loyalty, I want efficiency, and I want cooperation. You’ll answer my questions, my child, and we won’t have any more of this ‘Ask Mr. Campbell’ stuff.
“I’m going to the hotel just long enough to check in and get my bags put in my room, then we’re going up to the office and you’re going to put in the rest of the day answering questions.”
“I am?” Sue exclaimed, despair in her voice.
“Yes, my child, you are. And you’re going to answer them right. I don’t want any attempt to shield anyone, you understand. Yourself or anyone else.”
“Yes, Miss Corning.”
“Now, for your information,” she said, “the reason I arrived on Saturday morning instead of Monday is that I knew good and well Endicott Campbell would be out playing golf or doing something of that sort, and I wanted to descend on the office and get some records before he was expecting me. I gave a wire to an attendant but I felt sure he wouldn’t send it. You said that you had the combination to the safe. We’re going to open it and we’re going to take a look. It’s going to be a strain on my eyes and I’ll have to use a big reading-glass, but I’m going to check some of the figures and you’re going to give me the information I want.
“Now then, I’m going to ask you a straight question. Have you any reason to believe that Endicott Campbell is dishonest?”
“I... why, no.”
“Don’t talk to me like that.”
“Like what?”
“You hesitated after you started to answer the question. I don’t want hesitation, I want straightforward answers. Have you any reason to believe Endicott Campbell is dishonest?”
“I don’t know.”
“Certainly. You don’t know that he’s dishonest, but do you have any reason to believe that he may be dishonest? Yes or no.”
“Well,” Susan said, “there’s one matter that’s been bothering me — the Mojave Monarch.”
“And that’s been bothering me. I think we’re going to get along together pretty well, Susan, once you’ve learned to answer questions promptly, frankly, and honestly.”
At Miss Corning’s insistence Susan not only went to the hotel with her but also signed Miss Corning’s name on the hotel register for her, then went up to the suite of rooms which had been reserved for Monday, the fifth, yet which the clerk said was presently available and which he had been able to assign for immediate occupancy.
Then, after the briefest of intervals, Sue escorted Miss Corning to the office.
“Now then, my child,” Miss Corning said, “I want to see the vouchers in the Mojave Monarch mine. As you probably know, I instructed Mr. Campbell to have everything ready for me.”
Sue said, “The books are in the safe, but all the detailed information seems to be in Mojave.”
“All right, the books show generally the expenses of the mine. What has been received from it by way of returns from ore shipments?”
“I can’t find those records. I think they are in Mojave. There are reports showing the main vein faulted out, but I know from oral reports Mr. Campbell has made to me there has been quite a quantity of milling ore brought out of the ground.”
“What was done with it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Open up the safe. Let’s see what the books show.”
Susan opened the safe, unlocked the inner steel door, and pulled out the books pertaining to the Mojave Monarch Gold Mining & Exploration Company.
Miss Corning sent her wheelchair up to within a few inches of the safe, leaned forward to peer from behind those dark glasses. “What’s this?” she asked, pointing a long bony finger towards the shoe box which Susan had taken from Carleton Campbell.
For a moment Sue was embarrassed. “Why that...” she said, “that’s... something private, something of my own that I’ve put in the safe for a few hours because I didn’t want to take it with me when I went to the airport and—”
“What is it?” Miss Corning insisted.
“Something personal.”
“Love letters?”
“Not exactly.”
“All right, what is it? It’s in the company safe. You shouldn’t be putting your private things in here.”
“I wouldn’t have put it in there, Miss Corning, if it hadn’t been for the fact that you telephoned and your telephone call upset my entire schedule. After all, you know, I’m not supposed to be working today. This is something of a purely private nature.”
Miss Corning tilted her head so that the big opaque lenses of her dark glasses were turned directly towards Sue. Then she said, “Humph,” and spun the chair around and sent it speeding across the office to the desk where Sue had spread out the books and the statements.
Sue was beginning to hold this woman in awe. Miss Corning had an uncanny ability to read her mind, to interpret the faintest nuance of voice. Her long, big-jointed fingers could wrap around the wheels of the chair and send the vehicle darting about with dazzling speed.
“Now, my dear, my eyes aren’t what they should be. I can only read with this big reading-glass and it tires my eyes. I’m going to have to rely on you. Where’s the sheet showing the summary of expenses?”
Susan got it for her.
“Read me the figures,” Miss Corning said.
Sue read off the figures slowly, impressively.
The woman frowned and shook her head. “Don’t dawdle along so much. Read them right out. I’ll remember them. Just get them out.”
Sue read the figures.
When she had finished, Miss Corning cross-examined her on them, recalling figure after figure accurately down to the last penny, as though she had the balance sheet right in front of her.
Then suddenly she had changed the subject. “What about this Oklahoma Royal property?” she asked.
Sue went over to the safe and brought out a statement. At Miss Corning’s insistence she read that statement also.
Abruptly Miss Corning said, “I think Endicott Campbell is a crook.”
Sue was shocked into frozen silence.
“Get me a suitcase,” Miss Corning commanded. “I’m going to take all those papers with me. I want a handwriting expert to look over those. I think most of those checks are phonies. I think they’ve all been endorsed by Endicott Campbell.”
“Why, Miss Corning!” Sue exclaimed. “That... that would be—”
“Exactly,” Miss Corning snapped as Sue finished. “That would be forgery or embezzlement, or both. Now then, I want something that will hold those records. I want a suitcase — two strong suitcases. Here...”
Miss Corning again picked up her bag, opened it, pulled out the billfold, extracted two one-hundred-dollar bills, said, “You’ll find a luggage store open around here someplace, probably not a good one, but you’ll find one that sells baggage. Those places seem to stay open somehow at ungodly hours. Go down and get me two very strong suitcases. I don’t want them fancy, I want them strong. Get back here just as fast as you can.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Sue said.
“Hurry along now. I know a handwriting expert here in the city who will go into these things for me. I’m not satisfied with the way things have been going and you’re not either.”
“Why, what do you mean?”
“You know good and well what I mean. You’re down here working on your Saturday trying to get things straightened up. You’ve been wondering what you were going to say to me when I showed up. You were hoping you wouldn’t have to answer any questions, that Endicott Campbell would be the one to do it.”
“I... I... I don’t think I should discuss Mr. Campbell with you, Miss Corning. After all, I work for—”