Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 117 by Maxwel l Grant

Author:Maxwel,l Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

CHAPTER XIII

FACTS UNSUPPLIED

"Six years ago," began Darrier, "five men arranged a way to raise a million dollars, for equal division among them. They took a large amount of negotiable securities to a banker and asked him to accept them in return for a loan."

Darrier paused. Cardona curbed his impatience by taking a chair opposite the shipping man. Joe could see nothing remarkable in the beginning of the tale. When business men wanted money, they usually borrowed it and gave a bank securities instead.

"George Zanwood and Dudley Mook supplied some of those securities,"

explained Darrier. "Two other men provided the rest. I was the man who contacted the banker and arranged the loan, in accordance with unusual terms.

"No record of that loan was made. The banker simply took the securities and paid one million, two hundred thousand dollars for them, writing off the funds under the head of other business. In return for that special service, the

banker received one-sixth of the borrowed sum: two hundred thousand dollars."

Cardona's interest was fully aroused. The unusual transaction smacked of shady activities. Joe leaned forward, tense, as Darrier proceeded.

"There was a run on that bank," declared Darrier. "The directors voted to liquidate the securities that I have mentioned. They talked down the vice president who had arranged the loan. The securities were brought from the vault. When examined, their numbers did not tally with the vice president's records. It was discovered that they were stolen securities."

Cardona found his feet with a jump.

"The Scarborough National!" he exclaimed. "I remember when that bank folded. Randolph Greville was the vice president!"

DARRIER'S nod of corroboration was unneeded. Cardona had gained the story in a nutshell. A mystery of six years' standing was cleared. It concerned the unsolved case of Randolph Greville, vice president of the Scarborough National Bank.

Greville, the only son of an indulgent father, had gone through several fortunes before he reached the age of thirty. His father, whose resources were plentiful, had finally given Randolph a quarter million dollars with the understanding that he should settle down in a legitimate business. The young man had gone into banking; he had purchased a large holding in the Scarborough National Bank, and in return had been elected a vice president.

Not only had Randolph Greville spent his entire salary and income; he had borrowed on his bank stock. No one, though, had considered his extravagances criminal, until the Scarborough National had crashed. The bank's failure led

to

the discovery that one million, two hundred thousand dollars of assets - in the

form of negotiable securities - were stolen funds. Randolph Greville was the man who had slipped them past the other officials by listing the bonds under wrong numbers.

Immediately after his exposure, Randolph Greville disappeared. He had paid

a short visit to the home of his father, Conrad Greville; but had left there before the elder Greville learned the news about the pilfered funds. While the police still hunted Randolph Greville, the young man committed suicide by leaping from the thirtieth floor of a large New York hotel.

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