I pick my own partners, Lowry said, and I pick em carefully.
No, you dont, Della Street said. Endicott Campbell picked you as a partner and hes sold you a bill of goods. Youre his partner in this thing right now, just the same as though you were partners in a mining enterprise.
He isnt any partner of mine, Lowry said.
Thats what you think, Mason said. Campbell came out here. He handed you a razzle-dazzle and told you not to talk and now youre refusing to give out pertinent information information that were entitled to, information that you should give out in order to protect yourself, to say nothing of this young woman.
Now wait a minute, wait a minute, Lowry said. This thing sort of gets me when you put it that way. I tell you, the guy isnt my partner.
And I tell you he is, Mason said. Hes hypnotized you into a partnership. Youre playing right along with him. Youre following his instructions and doing exactly what hes told you to do. Youre not his partner in a mine, youre his partner in something that may be a criminal enterprise and the partnership may leave you in a lot of trouble.
For the first time Lowry turned, took his eyes off his visitors, looked out through the windshield, down the long street.
Why should I tell you anything? he asked.
Why shouldnt you? Mason said. Unless you have something to conceal. Ill put it another way. Why should you go into partnership with Campbell just because he comes out and tells you what he wants you to do?
For the first time Lowry turned, took his eyes off his visitors, looked out through the windshield, down the long street.
Why should I tell you anything? he asked.
Why shouldnt you? Mason said. Unless you have something to conceal. Ill put it another way. Why should you go into partnership with Campbell just because he comes out and tells you what he wants you to do?
Because in a way Im working for Campbell.
Following Campbells instructions?
Well, following instructions from headquarters.
And do you think Endicott Campbell is representing headquarters?
He said he was.
Masons smile was enigmatic.
Lowry narrowed his eyes, took a deep breath. All right, he said, I want to talk. I want to explain my position in this matter. But I promised Campbell Id not tell you anything.
Then you did take Campbell as a partner, Della Street said.
For heavens sake, quit harping on that, Lowry said irritably. I tell you, the man isnt my partner.
Mason looked at Della Street, smiled and shook his head tolerantly.
Della Street said, Im sorry you cant see it, Mr. Lowry.
Lowry thought things over for a moment, then said, All right, Im going to tell you this much. I did some peculiar things but everything I did was the result of orders I received directly from Miss Corning.
Personally? Mason asked.
Over the long-distance telephone.
How many conversations?
Two.
From South America?
No. She called me up from Miami. She made two business trips up to the States and she called me personally.
You know her personally? Mason asked.
Ive never met her.
In other words, Mason said, you listened to a voice on the telephone. The voice on the telephone told you to do certain things. Those things were highly irregular. Then a man whom youve never seen before comes out here and tells you not to discuss those things... It seems to me youre rather a credulous individual, Mr. Lowry.
You mean that wasnt Amelia Corning who was talking with me on the telephone?
I dont know, Mason said. Furthermore, you dont know. Let me ask you this: did Endicott Campbell tell you that a woman showed up yesterday who impersonated Amelia Corning?
Heavens, no! Lowry said.
Well, she did. If anyone is desperate enough to impersonate Amelia Corning in a personal interview, it certainly wouldnt be hard to do it over long-distance telephone.
Lowry thought things over.
All right, he said at length. Im not going to buy Endicott Campbell as my partner. I dont like the guy. Hes a little too smooth and a little too slick. I guess you opened my eyes, Miss Street, when you asked me if Id like to camp out in the desert with him. I wouldnt share blankets with that guy on a bet. I dont think Id trust him.
Mason said, Now is a good time to get the situation clarified.
Ill tell you this much, Lowry said. I was hired by a letter from Amelia Corning. She had taken over the Mojave Monarch. Shed bought all the mine lock, stock, and barrel. She told me to go ahead and run it in accordance with her instructions.
What about the Corning Mining, Smelting & Investment Company?
Thats an affiliated enterprise, Lowry said, but I was working directly under Miss Corning and I was making reports to her... Well, we ran into trouble. The vein faulted on us and I didnt know what to do. I wrote to her and she told me that shed let the Los Angeles company give me instructions. Then the next day she called me up and said shed changed her mind. She asked me what I thought about closing the mine up and I told her that I thought it was the only thing to do; that we might spend a fortune trying to find that vein.
All right, she told me shed let me know. Then she called me up a little later and told me that for tax purposes she couldnt afford to have the mine closed. She told me shed turned the thing over to the Corning Mining, Smelting & Investment Company with headquarters in Los Angeles; that I would write every month and send them figures on what the payroll would have been if the mine was going full blast; that as far as the books were concerned Id be having twelve men on each of three eight-hour shifts working here, which would make a total of thirty-six employees. I was to tell the Los Angeles office how much money I wanted for this payroll, and theyd send me a check which I was to cash in one-hundred-dollar bills, deduct my salary, and then mail those hundred-dollar bills in to Los Angeles. In that way, she said, it was just a cash transaction and all shed be out would be the employers liability insurance and incidental expenses, but as far as the books were concerned, for tax purposes it would show that the mine was still being operated... Now then, was that crooked?
What do you think? Mason asked.
Thats what bothers me, Lowry said. I followed instructions all right and did what she told me but I didnt like doing it.
All right, Mason said, you sent the money to the Los Angeles company?
No. I sent the money to the Corning Affiliated Enterprises in Los Angeles. I sent it to a post office box there.
You sent it in the form of cash?
I just got that check cashed at the bank here in hundred-dollar bills. Id deduct the amount of my salary, then wrap the rest of those hundred-dollar bills in a plain package. Now thats the thing that I didnt like about the whole business. She told me not to register the money, not to have it appear that there was anything of value in the shipment; to just wrap it up and send it parcel post to this Corning Affiliated Enterprises at the post office box.
Id get checks from the Corning Mining, Smelting & Investment Company to cover all operating expenses. Every two weeks Id endorse the check and take it in to the bank here to be cashed.
Didnt the bank know something was wrong? Mason asked.
What do you mean wrong?
Well, I mean, didnt the bank think there was something unusual?
Sure the bank thought there was something unusual, but the bank wasnt blowing the whistle. I told the bank that I was acting under direct orders from headquarters and... Well, the bank knows me.
Youve lived here quite a while?
Thats right.
And, I take it, have a pretty good local reputation for integrity?
I certainly hope so.
How much money did you send altogether to Los Angeles?
Somewhere around a hundred and eighty-one thousand dollars.
You sent in money for social security and...
No, I just sent the cash back to Los Angeles.
I never got so much as the scratch of a pen from the Corning Affiliated Enterprises, but Id receive a telephone call after each shipment telling me that the shipment had been received okay.
Who made the call?
I dont know who it was. Some woman. Shed simply state this was the Corning Affiliated Enterprises office and that she wanted to report the shipment had been received okay and to keep on as before.
Then youve heard two voices over the telephone, Mason said, the voice of the woman who acknowledged the shipments, and the voice of the woman who told you she was Amelia Corning.
Then youve heard two voices over the telephone, Mason said, the voice of the woman who acknowledged the shipments, and the voice of the woman who told you she was Amelia Corning.
Well, I guess so, Lowry said. I dont remember the Corning voice too well.
Could it have been the same voice?
I dont know. I... I... Im beginning to get bothered about all this, Mr. Mason.
How about the voice that reported the receipt of shipments to you over the telephone? Do you think you could recognize that voice if you heard it?
I have an idea I could. At least I could make a stab at it.
Where were those calls received?
At my house at the mine, the managers house.
During office hours?
No. Every one of them would come in in the evening.
And Endicott Campbell told you not to say anything about this to anyone?
He told me not to say anything to you, but the more you come to think of it the more you realize that Im in a peculiar position here. Im not buying Endicott Campbell as a partner.
Thats right, Mason told him. I think youll realize that you did the right thing by telling me what happened.
Well, Lowry said, the thing that got me was what Miss Street said about having Campbell as my partner.
Thats right, Mason told him, you dont want him as your partner... Now then, have you heard anything from Amelia Corning lately?
Not a word.
Did you make any other reports on what you were doing?
No, I was told not to just to cash the check and send the money to Los Angeles.
Didnt that impress you as being a peculiar way of running a business?
Sure it did. But I figured that there was a tax angle in it somewhere and, of course, you hate to have a mine close down. It gives it a black eye. Of course, people around here know the mines closed but as far as the books of the mining company are concerned, it would send out a big payroll every month and every month it would get back a shipment, which I suppose theyd claim came from ore. Since it was in the form of cash it couldnt be traced.
Thats your supposition, Mason said.
Thats right.
And, as you so aptly remarked, since its in the form of cash it couldnt be traced.
Say, what are you getting at? Lowry asked.
Mason opened the car door, said, Just be careful who you pick as a partner, Lowry. Perhaps truth is the best partner you can pick.
Abruptly Lowry reached out and shook hands. Say, he said, Im awfully glad I met you, and this secretary of yours. I think youve given me some pretty darn good advice. Im feeling just a lot better right now than I have been feeling all day.
Della Street gave him a smile and her hand. Its been so nice meeting you, Mr. Lowry, she said. I could see that you were uncomfortable keeping this stuff bottled up inside of you. Youre not the type of individual to get mixed up in any shady transaction.