The box, Miss Dow called after her. Hell want it and
The cage slid smoothly up to the floor. The operator smiled and said, All finished, Miss Fisher?
Sue could hear Miss Dows steps around the bend in the corridor, prayed that the attendant would not hear them. Yes, she said, and Ive got to get a cab in a hurry.
All right, the attendant said, lets go. The door slid shut just as Elizabeth Dow, holding Carleton Campbell firmly by the hand, rounded the bend in the corridor. The assistant janitor who was operating the elevator didnt see them, but for a swift moment Elizabeth Dows eyes locked with those of Sue Fisher. And, as the door started to close, an expression of angry indignation flooded the face of the governess; then Sue saw only the lights marking the floor numbers as the elevator descended.
She hurried across the lobby and found a taxi at the cab stand near the corner. She jumped into it and said, Ive got to get to the airport. Please get me there as quickly as possible.
After she had started, Sue looked in her purse, wondering if she would have enough money to pay the cab.
It was, she decided, going to be touch and go. She pulled out four one-dollar bills and then removed keys, lipstick, and compact so that she could count out the silver change in her purse.
Having decided she could just about make it, she settled back against the cushions, closed her eyes, and tried her best to get the situation clarified.
Miss Corning was an irascible but exceedingly clever businesswoman. If she could be stalled off until Endicott Campbell could be located, she would ask her questions of the manager. But Sue had a sinking feeling that Amelia Corning was going to ask questions of her; questions that it might be very difficult indeed to answer. In fact, Sue had been asking herself questions during the last few days while they had been getting statements ready in anticipation of Miss Cornings arrival.
Miss Corning was an irascible but exceedingly clever businesswoman. If she could be stalled off until Endicott Campbell could be located, she would ask her questions of the manager. But Sue had a sinking feeling that Amelia Corning was going to ask questions of her; questions that it might be very difficult indeed to answer. In fact, Sue had been asking herself questions during the last few days while they had been getting statements ready in anticipation of Miss Cornings arrival.
There was, for instance, the question of the Mojave mine known as the Mojave Monarch. The company books certainly showed the Mojave Monarch was operating on a twenty-four-hour basis, three eight-hour shifts a day. But a week ago Sunday, when Susan had taken a drive out by Mojave, she had seen an old weather-beaten sign on a dirt road which said simply: MOJAVE MONARCH. Sue had followed this road out to a place where unpainted buildings were sprawled in the sunlight on the side of a mountain.
Not only did the buildings seem unoccupied but they had about them an unmistakable aura of abandonment: the peculiar atmosphere which surrounds buildings in the desert that have not known human occupancy for some time. Only the managers cabin seemed occupied, but no one had answered her knock.
Puzzled, Sue had driven back to Mojave and asked at a service station about the Mojave Monarch. The man she had asked had no personal information, but had relayed the question on to a grizzled miner who had driven up to the station.
The miner had told her there was only one Monarch mine in the vicinity as far as he knew, and that hadnt been worked for more than two years.
At the time, Susan had felt certain there was some mistake, that there must be a Monarch mine the old miner didnt know about, and the mine she had found was simply another mine bearing the same name. After all, Monarch was a name which could easily be duplicated simply through coincidence.
During the past week, Sue had taken occasion to consult the records on the Monarch mine. There was an office in Mojave where the business affairs were administered. The Corning Mining, Smelting & Investment Company simply made regular checks covering expenses.
There were reports from the mine in the files. These reports indicated that engineers felt they were due to break into a big body of high-grade ore. The technical terms meant little or nothing to Sue Fisher when she had given them a hasty perusal. She barely knew the difference between a hanging wall and a foot wall. She did know that the main vein had faulted out and at the time the fault had been encountered, the vein was fabulously rich and getting wider.
Sue knew that there had been something in Amelia Cornings correspondence about the Mojave Monarch records. Geological reports had been forwarded to her in South America. That, however, was only one of several matters that had caused Amelia Corning, after a five-year absence from the country, to return to make a personal check on the affairs of the company.
Sue dreaded the barrage of questions which might be asked. She decided to refer everything to Mr. Campbell and play it just as dumb as she knew how.