In the polished routines of a big-city bank, Cliff Wallace and Phyllis Robinson pull off a theft so precise it nearly disappears inside payroll-day chaos. Wallace, the chief paying teller, slips $100,000 into Phyllis's satchel and then calmly helps expose the loss, forcing President Robert Warren into a stunned investigation that finds the bank exactly short and its detective helpless. Meanwhile, Phyllis hides the cash under a dead sister's name, and the pair cling to the illusion that their careful timing and ordinary appearances will keep them safe. But the novel's world of fraud widens fast. Wallace and Phyllis, secret fiancés, justify their crime with cold logic and uneasy rationalizations, while the arrival of the deceptively plain but formidable detective Jim Hanvey raises the stakes. Around them, other schemes unfold: Johnny Norton and Helen stage alibis, counterfeit records, and bond scams, aided by watchful confederates and a messenger marked for robbery. In every thread, charm, nerve, and performance mask danger just beneath respectability. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.
