Shadow of a Doubt (2 page)

Before her father could answer, Bess, George, and Hannah had joined them, and they were looking at the photograph now.

“This is crazy,” Bess blurted out. “Who would accuse you of hiding evidence?” she asked.

“Who is this guy, anyway?” George asked.

“Hold on, everyone,” Carson said, raising a hand. “One at a time, please.”

Carson sighed, then took another look at the photograph. “That man is Dennis Allard, and now he's employed as a banker at River Heights Bank and Trust. Eight years ago he was accused of embezzlement. I defended him and he was found innocent.”

“Whoever sent this photograph doesn't think he was innocent,” Nancy pointed out.

Carson had turned and was staring out the large window that faced the street. After a minute he continued to speak.

“This sort of thing happens all the time,” he said. “But usually it's judges who get harassed. I can't remember the last time I heard of a lawyer having this kind of problem . . .” His voice trailed off as he stood there, his back to the room, his eyes fixed and staring.

Nancy knew there was more to this threat than her father was letting on. Someone was making a serious accusation against him, and she would have to find out who and why.

“Why don't you tell us about the case?” she asked gently, leading him back to the sofa. “Maybe with the five of us, we can come up with some idea of who's behind this.”

Hannah came back into the living room, carrying a fresh pot of tea and sodas for the
girls. “It looks like it's going to be a long night,” she explained.

“Thanks, Hannah,” Carson said, and indicated that everyone should sit. He cleared his throat and began. “Eight years ago Dennis Allard was accused of embezzling a huge amount of money from the clients of a large law firm here in River Heights.”

“But he was innocent,” George said.

“As far as I was concerned, he was,” Carson told her.

“How was he supposedly embezzling?” Nancy asked. She had to have all the details.

“It was pretty uncomplicated, actually, Nancy.” Carson paused. “The law firm where Allard worked, Mobley and Myerson, got complaints from some very important clients that they were being overcharged. When the firm investigated, they found out that someone in the accounting department had been sending out phony bills.”

“The firm didn't know that had been going on? How could that happen?” Nancy asked.

“Good question.” Carson poured himself a mug of tea, stood up, and began pacing the living room. He held the mug in two hands. “That was exactly what I asked: How could anyone embezzle from the clients of a law firm without the firm knowing what was going on?”

“It must have taken a lot of nerve to do
that,” Bess said. “To try to embezzle under the noses of a group of lawyers would be impossible.”

Carson sat down and loosened his tie. He continued. “Dennis Allard worked in the firm's accounting department. His assistant was a man named Robert Gleason. When the firm discovered that their clients were being overbilled, they knew the embezzlers had to be in the accounting department.”

“Dennis Allard,” Nancy said, simply.

“Allard, yes—and Gleason, too,” Carson said. “The firm prosecuted both Allard and Gleason. I defended Allard, and an attorney named Edward Vaughn defended Gleason. Allard was acquitted, but Gleason was found guilty.”

“Someone is obviously still bitter about it,” Hannah said. “But everyone deserves a fair trial, and that's what you did for this man.” She pointed at the photograph that was lying on the coffee table. “That's what's important.”

“Thank you, Hannah,” Carson said, smiling. “But someone seems to think I did something illegal.”

“And we're going to find out who it is,” Nancy said firmly. She tried to get them back on track. “What kind of evidence turned up at Allard's trial?” she asked.

“Nothing substantial,” Carson answered. “That's why he was acquitted. In fact, as the
evidence was shown, I became more and more convinced that Allard had to be innocent. There wasn't anything concrete to make me think he was guilty.”

“But that wasn't true about Gleason? I mean, all the evidence must have pointed to him, right?” Nancy concluded.

Carson smiled at his daughter. “Absolutely,” he said.

“Why?” Nancy asked.

George was leaning forward in her chair now. From the looks on their faces, Nancy knew that George and Bess felt a case brewing.

“The prosecution found a document on the firm's computer system. Obviously Gleason assumed no one would find it. The file showed how money was taken in from the firm's clients.”

“But how can that one file prove
who
did it?” Bess asked.

“Good point. It can't. Except that only Gleason had access to that program,” Carson said. “Therefore he had to be involved.”

Nancy bit on her lower lip, thinking. “What exactly was in that program, Dad?” she asked finally.

“What I'd call concrete proof. It showed how, when, and in what amounts Gleason had taken the money.”

“This is all so confusing,” Hannah said. “I just don't understand computers. How could
Gleason use this program without other people knowing it was there?”

“Easy. If someone isn't looking for a program, the odds are that it could go unnoticed for a long time,” Carson said.

“Maybe if you explained the details, we'd understand this better,” Nancy said.

Carson sighed. “After all these years I'm not sure I can piece it together, but I'll try.” He paused. “Basically, Gleason set up a fake billing system. He took a client's bill and padded it with expenses that he added to the original amount on the bill. Then he'd send the revised bill to a client.”

“And when the check came back?” Bess asked.

“The system wouldn't work with actual checks. It depends on the direct transfer of money from one bank to another. There is no way he could cash a check made out to his firm. Therefore the firm's clients transferred money from their accounts to the firm's. Any money over the amount shown on the bill would be transferred to an account Gleason had set up,” Carson explained.

Bess's mouth fell open. “That's incredibly sneaky. And pretty clever, too,” she added.

There was something her father had said that didn't make sense to Nancy. “How did Gleason manage to do this without Allard's knowing?” she asked.

“Good question,” Carson said. “At first, he didn't do it with every client or in large amounts. But over the course of a year, he managed to collect quite a bit of money. But then he got greedy, and that was why he was caught.”

“What about the money, Mr. Drew?” George asked.

“Never found. We did find the bank it had been transferred to, but it was withdrawn from that account the day before the indictments were handed down. Gleason's signature was on the check.”

“What?” Nancy blinked. “It was never found? No sign that Gleason had spent any of it? They couldn't trace it to any bank account?”

Carson shook his head. “During the investigation, the district attorney tried to find the money, but it had simply disappeared.” He paused. “But that's not all.”

“What do you mean?” Nancy asked.

“There was a strange twist to the case,” Carson began.

“What?” George asked. Bess and Hannah looked on expectantly.

“The twist was that if Gleason had told the DA where the money was he could've received a suspended sentence,” Carson said.

“But he didn't,” Nancy mused. “Why not?”

Nancy's father leaned forward and rested
his elbows on his knees. “Because he insisted right up to the end that he was innocent and that he'd been framed.” Carson looked across at Nancy and waited for this last piece of news to sink in.

Nancy knew why her father had waited to tell them the most important aspect of the case. If Gleason was truly innocent, Allard might be guilty—and whoever was harassing her father could be thinking the same thing.

Carson continued. “The district attorney tried to get Gleason to tell him where the money was, but Gleason said he didn't have a clue.”

“And what do you think?” Nancy wasn't going to let her father stop now.

“I'm not sure, Nancy,” Carson said, rising. “But one thing I do know: It's getting late, and Bess and George ought to be heading home before their parents start to worry.”

Bess took her cue. “You're right, Mr. Drew. Let's get going, George.”

Bess and George went into the hallway to get their coats. After thanking Carson for dinner again, George took Nancy aside in the hallway.

“Is your dad going to be okay?” she asked. “I'm a little worried about him.”

Nancy gave George a hug, then stood back and faced the cousins. “I know, guys. So am I. But between us we're going to get to the bottom of this,” she said with conviction.

The phone rang, making them all jump.

Nancy reached out to grab it before Hannah or her dad could pick it up.

“Drew residence,” she said into the receiver.

A sinister voice spoke slowly on the other end.

“Carson Drew defended a guilty man and got him off. I know why. And how. Now it's time for him to pay for his mistake!”

I
N ONLY A SECOND
Nancy had pulled herself together. Now wasn't the time to lose her cool, she thought. Not when she had the caller on the phone.

“What do you mean, you know why?” she asked, keeping her voice steady.

“He's going to pay,” the voice repeated. “You tell him—”

Carson Drew must have known what was happening, because before Nancy could hear what the caller had to say, her father had pulled the phone from her hand.

“Listen,” he told the caller. “If you have something to say, tell me. Otherwise, I'm going
to start tracing these calls and have you arrested for harassment.” He slammed the phone down into its cradle.

“We should have let him talk, Dad. We might—” Nancy began.

Carson interrupted her. “Hold on,” he said, facing George, Bess, Nancy, and Hannah, who were standing in a semicircle by the phone. “This isn't anything for you to worry about. You have to let me take care of this. That includes you, Nancy.”

Nancy lowered her eyes and stared at a corner of the rug. When her father sounded that serious, she knew that she had to pay attention.

“But, Mr. Drew,” George said, “Nancy could help you find out who's behind this.”

“George, I understand why you're concerned. But chances are that if we don't take these people seriously, they'll go away. Now you should be heading home, don't you agree?”

Nancy, Bess, and George exchanged a quick look. Carson Drew obviously didn't want them getting involved. The two girls put on their coats and said good night.

After her friends had left and Hannah had gone off to bed, Nancy tried asking her father one last question. “There's one thing that still bothers me: Why do you think the money wasn't found?”

“I don't know,” Carson said with a sigh. “Probably because Gleason had hidden it well—maybe in a Swiss bank account.”

“But what good would it do him in jail?”

“He wouldn't be in jail forever,” Carson explained. “He stole quite a bit of money, but his sentence wasn't long—five to fifteen years. He's probably out on parole by now.”

Gleason would be able to use the money when he got out of prison, Nancy realized. Then another thought occurred to her. “Do you think there's any chance at all that Allard was guilty?”

“It's possible, Nancy,” Carson said. A deep frown cut across his forehead. “But I honestly never found any evidence that he was. And if I had, I certainly wouldn't have suppressed it.”

Nancy's father stood up and stretched. “Now I think you should go to bed. It's been a long day. And, Nancy—”

“Yes?” she asked.

“Don't even
think
that this may be a case for you to solve, okay?” he said pointedly. “In my experience, it's always better to ignore this sort of thing.”

Nancy kissed her father on the cheek. “I hope you're right, Dad. Good night.” But as she went upstairs to bed, Nancy resolved that this was one case she wasn't going to turn down, no matter what her father said.

• • •

Once her father had left the house the next morning, Nancy got to work. She had a lot to do.

After dressing in jeans, a peach cotton sweater, and sneakers, she called Chief McGinnis at the River Heights Police Department.

Her plan was to find out where Robert Gleason was and then go on from there. There were a few people who could know enough about the trial to make the kind of threats her father had gotten. Still, Robert Gleason was as good a person to start with as any.