Parr's Bank, at the bottom of St. Martin's Lane, to get the cash for him.
Mr. Van Koon stayed in the office, reading a bundle of American
newspapers which had just been delivered. I was away from the office
perhaps forty minutes or so; when I returned he was still there. I gave
him the money; he thanked me, and went away.

"Towards the end of that afternoon, just before I was leaving the office,
I got a wire from Mr. Fullaway, from Hull. It was quite short--it merely
informed me that Mr. James Allerdyke was dead, under mysterious
circumstances, and that the Nastirsevitch property was missing. Of
course, I knew what that meant, and I drew my own conclusions.

"Now I come to the 14th--a critical day, so far as I am concerned.
During the morning a parcels-van boy came into the office. He said that
on the previous day, about half-past twelve o'clock, he had brought a
small parcel there, addressed to Mr. Fullaway, and had handed it to a
gentleman who was reading newspapers, and who had answered 'Yes' when
inquired of as Mr. Fullaway. This gentleman--who, of course, was Van
Koon--had signed for the parcel by scribbling two initials 'F. F.' in the
proper space. The boy, who said he was new to his job, told me that the
clerk at the parcels office objected to this as not being a proper
signature, and had told him to call next time he was passing and get the
thing put right. He accordingly handed me the sheet, and I, believing
that this was some small parcel which Van Koon had taken in, signed for,
and placed somewhere in the office or in Mr. Fullaway's private room,
signed my own name, for Franklin Fullaway, over the penciled initials.
And as I did so I noticed that the parcel had been sent from Hull.

"When the boy had gone I looked for that parcel. I could not find it
anywhere. It was certainly not in the office, nor in any of the rooms of