I Would Rather Stay Poor

Two police officers approached him. He saw beyond them, two other policemen, guns in hands.

He leaned out of the car window, his mouth turning dry. One police officer turned the beam of a flashlight on him.

‘Identify yourself, please,’ he said curtly.

Calvin took out his wallet and handed it over.

‘What’s all this in aid of?’ he asked, forcing his voice to sound casual.

‘Why, it’s Mr. Calvin,’ the police officer said and suddenly grinned. ‘We’re looking for your bank robber. Every car in and out of Pittsville is being checked.’

Calvin said, startled, ‘But he left town forty-eight hours ago, didn’t he?’

‘Someone thinks he didn’t,’ the police officer said, returning Calvin’s wallet. He stepped back and saluted. ‘Okay, Mr. Calvin, go right on ahead.’

Calvin drove on. There was a set expression on his fleshy face and his eyes were uneasy. Why did they think the man they were after hadn’t left town? he wondered. Had he made a slip somewhere?

He was in for another little jolt as he pulled up outside the sheriff’s office. He saw a big red and black Cadillac with San Francisco number plates standing in the parking lot. He knew the car well. It belonged to Henry Marthy, the general manager of the Federal & National Banking Corporation and his boss. What was he doing here at this hour? Drawing in a deep breath, Calvin walked up the flight of steps and entered the sheriff’s office.

Marthy was talking to the sheriff. Travers was sitting at a desk, talking on the telephone. As Calvin entered the big room, he heard Travers say, ‘A standard Remington: 1959 model? Yeah, fine. Any special characteristics? The letters r and v? Right. Thanks a lot,’ and he hung up.

Only half listening, Calvin crossed the room and shook hands with Marthy.

‘It’s good to see you here, sir,’ he said with his charming smile. ‘This is a terrible thing. I’m glad of your support.’

‘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.