Page 56 of Speculations in Sin

Sam cast a glance at Daniel as though asking for rescue from my interrogation, but Daniel offered no help.

“As I said, I copy out many contracts, which are agreements between Daalman’s and the person or other businesses entrusting money to them,” Sam began with reluctance. “Daalman’s doesn’t let just anyone invest, and so I see the same names cropping up again and again. Not much change over the last decade or so. And then I started noticing new names, odd ones, but which seemed familiar at the same time. I’d see the one contract and then nothing else. I took careful note as I copied them and realized that the payment agreement was strange as well. The investor would make a minimal deposit but earn a quite hefty percentage in dividends, paid every other month. Most of Daalman’s contracts are worded so they keep a large part of the money, pay quarterly at most—they strive for annually—and encourage reinvestment of those dividends.”

Sam paused for breath and also to let me write all this down. I did not understand the world of high finance, but thislucrative arrangement for the investor sounded fishy to me. I agreed with Sam that banks liked to take money, not give it out.

“Why did you find the names odd and familiar at the same time?” I asked.

“I wasn’t certain at first.” Sam traced a slow line on the table. “They niggled at me until one night when I started to read to the children before they went to bed.” He flushed. “I still read to them—have since they were tiny tots. Grace too. She loves the stories. I realized that the names I’d found were all characters in books.”

I eagerly pounced on that interesting fact. “What books? What were you reading to them that night?”

“Not in that particular book—we’ve been deep into Mr. Verne’sThe Mysterious Island. But it reminded me. When I decided to become a respectable bloke and work in a shop, I started reading every novel I could come across, both to improve my speech and as a window onto the world I wanted to enter. I read a powerful lot of Mr. Dickens. More than most, I’ll wager. When I began courting Joanna, we had that to talk about. She likes Mr. Dickens too.”

Sam faltered at the mention of Joanna. The longing in his eyes threatened to become despair.

I touched his hand. “Joanna is well, my friend. She is bearing up and is very strong. She knows it’s only a matter of time until you leave this place for home.”

“You are a good woman, Kat.” Sam clasped my hand briefly a moment, his fingertips rough and raw. “You are kind to try to help, you and McAdam both.”

“It’s not kindness,” Daniel rumbled. “Why should you go down for the stiff-necked City hypocrites taking people’s money left and right? No, we’ll find the right person and lethimbeg for mercy.”

Sam’s smile flitted across his face. “You’re a ruthless cove, McAdam. I am happy you’re on my side.”

“We are straying from the subject,” I reminded them both.

“My heavens, Grace is so like you.” Sam turned a full smile on me. “When my boys wander into intense discussions of who knows what, Grace pulls them back to earth. Refuses to let them cut her or my girls out of the conversation.”

My heart squeezed with his declaration, and for a moment, the words on my paper blurred. I cleared my throat. “The names, Sam.”

Sam chuckled, more relaxed now than when we’d come in. “They were not obvious, or I wouldn’t have puzzled over them for so long. Not Martin Chuzzlewit or David Copperfield or anything even the casual reader would recognize. They were names like Edward Dennis—Ned Dennis is a character inBarnaby Rudge, an executioner. Anthony Weller—Tony Weller is the father of Sam Weller inThe Pickwick Papers. Edward Plummer is a character in the Christmas storyThe Cricket on the Hearth, which was very popular in my youth. Allan Woodcourt is a doctor inBleak Housewho falls in love with and eventually marries the heroine. There were more.”

I scribbled all this down, recognizing the titles of the books, especially those that had been made into plays.The Cricket on the Hearthhad often appeared onstage at Christmas when I was a girl.

“You realized that these were contracts for people who did not exist,” I finished.

“Yes, and I took the matter to Stockley. He is the head of the senior clerks’ room—I did not report to the head of the junior clerks’ room, Mr. Chandler, because I frankly do not think he was intelligent enough to understand the implications orbelieve me. Stockley at least has read a book in his day. Though I had to bring in the novels in question and show him the names. The first thing he did was accuse me of inventing the contracts to discredit the bank. So, of course, we had a shouting match about that.”

“Which whoever is doing this took advantage of,” I said.

“Yes.” Sam slumped in his chair. “I was trying to do my job, help keep Daalman’s from being swindled. This is the thanks I received.”

“Honest men always pay,” Daniel said. “At least, that’s what villains in the past tried to tell me. Though in the end, that is not true.”

“Mr. Dickens’s books carry that theme much of the time,” Sam said wryly. “Most have a happy ending, but only after he puts the heroes and heroines through a hard slog.” His grimace said he’d personally rather do without the hard slog.

“How did you convince Mr. Stockley that you were telling the truth?” I asked.

Sam shrugged. “Many discussions and arguments. He told me to bring him any contracts or letters that seemed suspicious to me, so I began trotting them upstairs several times a month. There were only a few at first, but then they began multiplying. I wasn’t certain if the dividends were paid to these storybook people, but I started trying to find out.”

“Presumably something was paid,” I said. “People started whispering that you were embezzling.”

“I know. It made me very angry.” Sam wore a scowl I’d seldom seen on him. “Stockley might have mentioned he suspected me when I first pointed out the problem, or the true embezzler might have started the rumors to divert suspicion from them.”

“Very likely the latter,” I said. “The guilty always try to pin their crimes on someone else. Unfortunately, that ploy is sometimes successful.”

“As you can see.” Sam waved a hand at our surroundings. “The trouble is, anyone could have slid those contracts in with the legitimate ones. Another clerk could have, or one of the bankers, or even Mr. Zachary.”

“It would have to be someone who could make sure they were paid out,” Daniel said. “Who at Daalman’s wouldn’t question why someone fromPickwick Papersis receiving generous dividends on a miserly investment?”

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