Part 3 (1/2)
Goil said to me in a low, ominous voice, ”I am invested with certain Company powers out here, and I intend to use them fully. I intend to continue with this investigation in spite of any opposition you give me. Pending on the outcome, Mr. Orrin and Mr. Weston, you are both relieved of your positions as of now--say for mismanagement of personnel and company property.
”Mr. Maloon, I am placing you under station arrest by authority of my position, and because of your admission of theft. Pay and allowances for all of you are suspended as of today.
”That's all. Please leave.”
w.i.l.l.y was the first to leave, with his head hanging low in shame.
Orrin left next, with fury s.h.i.+ning plainly from his eyes. I lingered until w.i.l.l.y had left. Then I closed the door and swung around to face Goil.
Goil was looking at me peculiarly. He said, ”I told you to go, Weston.”
”I will,” I said. ”But first I want to tell you something.”
”When I want to hear your side of the story, I'll ask you for it,”
Goil said nastily.
”It won't wait,” I said in a new voice that caused Goil to look at me closely. ”I want to tell you now while we are alone.”
Goil's eyes narrowed. ”Weston, anything you have to say one way or the other I'll use against you later. Anything you want to say to save your own skin just won't do any good.”
I became suddenly infuriated. I stepped forward and slammed my fist on the desk top and said in a low, poisonous voice, ”Goil, you've shoved your prying nose into something you know very little about. You're jumping to conclusions about something you know only part of. Now I'm forced to reveal certain facts which you shouldn't be knowing. And I'm going to tell you here and now whether you want to listen or not!”
Goil had reddened and risen from his chair. But I towered over him threateningly and he dropped back in his chair in quiet incense.
”That's better,” I said, somewhat cooled off. ”Now listen. What I have to say may seem incredible to you. Hear me out, then speak your piece.
And I think I can prove what I say to your satisfaction. In any event, I hope I can trust your confidence on this. You'll understand what I mean by the time I'm finished.
”First, w.i.l.l.y did take the energizer and the generator. 'Steal,' if you wish to say so. I knew it. Orrin, nor anyone else knows it though.
Second, those are not the only things he has taken. Third, his taking things like that has been happening all the time he has been here. It happened before he got here, wherever he was.
”He is not a kleptomaniac. He steals, not because he has a compulsion to do so, nor for economic gain, but for a more important reason.”
Goil said, ”Stop beating around the bush. If you think you have something to say, go ahead and say it.”
”I'm trying to,” I said. ”But it's not something easily explained.
”w.i.l.l.y is nothing but a great big rabbit's foot.”
”_What?_”
”Mr. Goil, w.i.l.l.y is the exact opposite of an accident p.r.o.ne. w.i.l.l.y is a safety p.r.o.ne. No accidents involving personal injury ever happen when he is around. Not even minor ones.”
Goil looked hostilely skeptical at me. ”I seem to recall some accident reports you sent in. You signed them yourself, I believe, as safety officer.”
”That's right,” I said feeling foolish. ”But they were falsified reports. And I've requisitioned medical supplies too, that were never needed.”
”Now why would you want to do a thing like that?” asked Goil in a tone cold with obvious disbelief, and the tenor of humoring a madman.