The Innocent Woman

Fletcher frowned. “I beg your pardon?”
    “I mean, did you write a check? Did you go to a cash machine? How did you get the twenty dollar bills?”
    “I wrote a check.”
    “On what bank?”
    “Chase Manhattan.”
    “You wrote it that day?”
    “Yes, of course.”
    “Was that a company check or a personal check?”
    “A company check, of course.”
    “An F. L. Jewelry check?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Well,” Steve said. “If I understand your testimony correctly, if we were to examine your company bank records, we would find a company check for five hundred dollars made out to cash, signed by you, dated and cashed on April 30th. Is that right?”
    Frank Fletcher took a breath. “Not exactly,” he said.
    “Oh?” Steve said. “And why is that?”
    “I didn’t say I wrote a check for five hundred dollars.”
    “You didn’t? I’m sorry. I guess I misunderstood you. Didn’t you say you took out five hundred dollars from the bank?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    “And didn’t you say you wrote a check?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    “Then please explain yourself. What do you mean when you say you didn’t write a check for five hundred dollars?”
    “That wasn’t the amount of the check.”
    “Oh? And why is that?”
    “Because that wasn’t all the money I needed at the time.”
    “Are you saying you wrote a larger check than five hundred dollars?”
    “Yes, of course.”
    “How large a check did you write?”
    “As I recall, I wrote a check for eight hundred dollars.”
    “Eight hundred dollars?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And what was the extra three hundred dollars for?”
    “Objection, Your Honor,” Pearson said. “Incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”
    “Overruled,” Judge Dalrymple said. “Witness will answer.”
    “It was Friday. Payday. The three hundred dollars was for the payroll.”
    “Payroll?” Steve said.
    “That’s right.”
    Steve smiled. “Mr. Fletcher, as I recall, there are only three people in your company. Yourself, Mr. Lowery and Miss Dearborn. Are those the people on your payroll?”
    “Yes, they are.”
    “You paid them all with three hundred dollars?”
    “Certainly not,” Frank Fletcher said. “Mr. Lowery and I take our salary in the form of checks. Miss Dearborn was paid in cash.”
    “The three hundred dollars was for Miss Dearborn?”
    “That’s right.”
    “That was her salary? Three hundred dollars a week?”
    “Yes, it was.”
    “And did you pay her her salary that afternoon?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    “You paid her three hundred dollars in cash?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And the three hundred dollars you paid her—was that in the form of twenty dollar bills?”
    “Yes, it was.”
    “So, when you went to the bank you took out eight hundred dollars in twenty dollar bills?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Of that, five hundred you gave to Mr. Macklin to write the serial numbers down, and three hundred you gave to Miss Dearborn for her weekly salary. Is that right?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Referring to the money you gave to Mr. Macklin— you didn’t write the serial numbers down from those bills?”
    “No, I did not.”
    “But you were there when he did, is that right?”
    “Yes, it is.”
    “You watched him do it?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    “And he was the one who wrote the serial numbers down?”
    “Yes, he was.”
    “Was he the one who put the money in the cash box?”
    “No, he wasn’t. I did that.”
    “You did so yourself?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    “You’re speaking now of your own personal knowledge. When you say the money was put in the cash drawer, you’re not taking Mr. Macklin’s word for it. And you’re not testifying to something Mr. Macklin did. You’re saying that you yourself placed that money in the cash box and put the cash box in the cash drawer?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And when did you do that?”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “When did you put the money in the cash box and put the cash box in the cash drawer?”
    “Right then.”
    “Right when?”
    “The time we’re talking about. On the lunch hour. Friday. April 30th. When Mr. Macklin was in our office.”
    “I see,” Steve said. “And before the defendant returned from lunch?”
    “Yes, of course.”
    “And did Mr. Macklin leave before she returned from lunch?”
    “Yes, he did.”
    “And why was that?”
    “Like I said. We didn’t want her to know he was there.”
    “Now, when the defendant returned from lunch—you didn’t