The Mystery of the Scar-faced Beggar - M. V. Carey [13]
He stopped and cleared his throat.
“I’m sorry,” said Jupiter.
“Yes. Well, these things happen. But it was lonely here with the children gone. My son is a production co-ordinator at Elliott Electronics in Sunnydale, and Debra is married now. Her husband is an insurance adjuster. They live in Bakersfield and they have two children.
“So that’s a lot to be grateful for — to raise two kids and have them turn out well.
But I wish they lived closer. They don’t, though. They won’t live at home again, so while I was still at TX-4 I started looking for someone to help with expenses. Shelby
— Shelby Tuckerman — needed a place to live, so we got together… .”
The back door opened and Shelby came in carrying a brown paper bag. He went to the refrigerator and began to store away packages of frozen foods.
“About what happened last night,” said Jupe after a moment. “Would you mind going over it for us?”
“If you think it will help,” said Mr. Bonestell. “There wasn’t anything unusual at first. I’ve had the job almost a year. I go in at noon and take care of some odds and ends — nothing important. I only took the job because time hung heavy after I was … uh … retired from Systems TX-4. I was replaced by a computer.
“So now I’m sort of a uniformed odd-job man at the bank. After the bank closes I supervise the cleaning people. They don’t take long. They’re usually finished by six.
After I let them out and lock up after them, I check the place one last time to make sure everything is in order. Then I leave. There’s no night security man at the bank.
With a time lock on the vault, they don’t need one. No one could open the vault without setting off an alarm that would bring every cop in the city.”
“That’s why the crooks kept you prisoner all night,” said Bob. “They couldn’t move while the time lock was in operation.”
“That’s right,” said Mr. Bonestell. “There were three men, and of course they knew the system. They must have been watching and waiting someplace until the cleaning people left and went up in the elevator. Then one of them came to the door and rapped. There isn’t too much light in the lobby, and when I looked out through the door I saw a man in bib overalls with a lot of shaggy grey hair and a cap pulled down over his eyes. I thought it was Rolf coming back for something. I opened the door and he came in, and then I saw it wasn’t Rolf. He had a gun, so it was too late to do anything.
“Two other people came right away. They had wigs and fake beards and fake moustaches. They made me go back to the board room where I couldn’t be seen from the street. They kept me covered all night, and they didn’t even go near the vault.
When the staff started to arrive in the morning, they herded them into the board room. And when Mr. Henderson came in — he’s the one who has the combination and opens the vault — they knew who he was. They made him open the vault as soon as the time lock went off.”
Shelby Tuckerman sat down next to Pete. “I think someone in the neighbourhood’s been spying on you,” he told Mr. Bonestell. “Either that or one of those old codgers at the senior citizens’ centre decided that the bank would be a pushover.”
Mr. Bonestell looked annoyed. “Shelby, I would recognize a neighbour or a friend.
I did not know those men last night. They were strangers.”
Shelby got up and put a kettle on the stove. “They were disguised, weren’t they?”
he said. “I don’t think it would hurt if the boys kept an eye on the neighbours. They aren’t really a superior lot.”
“Are they supposed to be superior?” demanded Mr. Bonestell.
Jupe leaned forward. “Of course you don’t want to be suspicious of your neighbours,” he said, “but it does seem that someone is thoroughly familiar with the routine at the bank. Are you sure no one has been watching you in recent days? Has anyone been asking questions about your job?”
“No.” Mr. Bonestell looked completely miserable.
The kettle began to boil, and Shelby spooned instant coffee into a cup and poured hot water over it. He came back to the table and sat sipping the black liquid,