This things been worrying me for a long while, Lowry admitted.
Thanks a lot, Mason told him. It was awfully nice meeting you.
Lowry watched Mason and Della Street as they walked back to the service station.
Thanks, Della, Mason said, you pulled that one out of the fire very nicely. That was good psychology, telling him that hed bought Endicott Campbell as a partner... How did you think of that approach?
Im darned if I know, Chief, Della Street said. It just popped into my head since he was the outdoor mining type.
I think I need your head along with me all the time, Mason told her.
Its a good idea, Della Street said. Its available. What do we do now?
Now, Mason said, we beat it back to Los Angeles. But first we get Paul Drake on the telephone. We concentrate on Endicott Campbell. We also find out all we can about this Corning Affiliated Enterprises. And Im afraid were not going to find out very much.
Chapter 7
From a telephone booth at Lancaster, Mason called Paul Drake.
Put a tail on Endicott Campbell, Mason instructed. This thing is even bigger than I thought it was, Paul, and somehow I have a feeling its deadly dangerous. Get a tail on Campbell and try and find out where that son of his is.
Drake said, Thats going to be a pretty difficult assignment. He anticipated youd be looking for the boy and he planned the cover-up well in advance. When an intelligent man does that, he makes it almost impossible for any private agency to backtrack him. The police might be able to, but it will be a long and expensive job if we do it.
See what you can do anyway, Mason said. Im on my way back to the city. Wait in the office for me. I want to see you when I arrive.
What did you do up there any good?
I think so, Mason said.
Lets hope so, Drake told him, because youre sure as hell running up a detective bill, Perry.
My credit still good? Mason asked.
Up to a million, Drake told him.
All right. Keep going, Mason said, and hung up.
He called the number of the Arthenium Hotel so that no one except the exchange operator would know it was a long-distance call and asked to be connected with Amelia Cornings suite.
When he heard her voice on the line, Mason said, This is Perry Mason, Miss Corning. Id like to see you some time in the early part of the evening.
Oh, that will be wonderful, Mr. Mason. I enjoyed talking with you and I think you and that client of yours can do me quite a bit of good. For your information, my talk with Endicott Campbell was not in the least satisfactory.
I see, Mason said noncommittally.
Now, Ive just received a wire that my sister and my Brazilian agent have left Miami and are due to arrive here on the ten twenty-five plane. Id like to see you before they arrive... could you run up now?... Where are you?
It would be inconvenient for me to come up right now, Mason said, without divulging his location, but how would seven-thirty do?
Id like to see you before that but I realize, of course, that youre a very busy man. Im going to do something rather nice for that Susan Fisher. I have come to the conclusion that... well, Id better tell you that personally when I see you. And youll bring your secretary with you?
Yes, indeed, Mason said.
Well, just come right up. Dont bother to be announced. Ill be expecting you at seven-thirty.
At seven-thirty, Mason said.
Theres one thing perhaps I should tell you, Mr. Mason. Im a demon for being prompt. If you can be here at seven-thirty well fix that time. If theres any question about it, well make it seven forty-five.
Seven-thirty will be all right, Mason told her. Ill be there.
Thank you, Mr. Mason. Goodbye.
Mason returned to the car, said to Della Street, We have a date at seven-thirty on the button with Amelia Corning. Paul is putting a tail on Endicott Campbell.
How did Endicott Campbell get along with Amelia Corning? Any clues? she asked.
More than clues, Mason told her. Miss Corning didnt make any bones about it. She said the interview was highly unsatisfactory.
Della Street grinned. I just had a feeling that fellow was going to overreach himself.
He can still make trouble, Mason said. Were going to have to move right along, Della, and Miss Corning emphasized particularly that she wanted her appointments kept on the dot. By the way, her sister and her business agent have flown up from South America. They wired her from Miami and theyre corning in on the ten twenty-five plane.
Then the net is closing around Endicott Campbell, Della Street said.
It could be closing, Mason said. But dont ever discount a man of that type. Hes ingenious, clever, daring, and he very probably has been anticipating a situation of this sort for some time and has planned ahead.
But what good do his plans do him? Della said. Sure, he had his getaway money all neatly tucked into a shoe box and then his son took it and gave it to Susan Fisher.
And then what happened to it? Mason asked.
Well, Della Street said, either the person who was impersonating Amelia Corning got it, or...
Go ahead, Mason said, as she paused.
Or, she said, Endicott Campbell went back to the safe and got it... Of course he did, Chief.
He had the opportunity, Mason said, and undoubtedly he went back to the office and opened the safe. But remember, if the woman impersonating Miss Corning had taken the box, it wasnt there by the time Campbell arrived.
But, Chief, I dont see what difference it makes. They were working hand in glove. He deliberately planted this impostor and set the stage so that Susan Fisher would fall for it. She gave this woman all of the documentary proof that would indicate irregularities and
That, of course, Mason interposed, was the reason she was sent up there. But a shoe box full of hundred-dollar bills is something different.
You mean she may have double-crossed Campbell?
Mason said, Campbell is acting in a most peculiar way. You know, theres just a possibility, Della, that someone double-crossed him and he doesnt know for sure whether it was Susan Fisher who got the money and secreted it after telling him the story about leaving the shoe box in the safe, or whether his accomplice, the woman he got to pose as Amelia Corning, decided she might just as well look at the side of the bread that had the butter.
In other words, you feel, from the way hes acting, that he doesnt have the money? Della Street asked.
Its a possibility, Mason said. Lets let it go at that.
Mason eased the car up to the legal limit of speed and concentrated on his driving.
As they neared Los Angeles, Della Street consulted her wristwatch several times, glanced apprehensively at Mason. Are you going to try to call on Paul Drake first? she asked.
We wont have time, Mason said. The road was a little slower than I thought it would be and were going to have to go right to the Arthenium in order to keep our appointment.
Do you want me to drop you off there and then go to check with Paul and have him call you?
No, Mason said. I want you to go up with me. Incidentally, Miss Corning asked for you particularly. She wanted me to be sure and bring you along. Youve evidently made quite an impression with her... in fact, Della, youve been invaluable today.
You make me blush, she said demurely.
And you make me very, very proud, Mason said. You really did a job working out that approach with Lowry. I think we have some information now that will prove of the greatest interest to Amelia Corning. I wouldnt be too surprised if she didnt want to swear out a warrant for Campbells arrest. There is, however, one thing that bothers me.
Whats that?
I think Campbell must realize that we dashed out to Mojave to look up that mine.
Well? she asked.
In that event, Mason said, hell wonder what weve found out.
Does that make any difference? she asked.
It makes this difference, Mason told her. If he wanted to find out just how much we had discovered, what would he do?
Why, hed... I guess hed call Lowry.
Exactly, Mason said. And when Lowry talks with him on the telephone now, Lowry isnt going to be the same cooperative conspirator that he was earlier in the day. So Campbell is going to ask him if he told us the story of what had happened, and Lowry would make a poor liar.
He wouldnt even try to lie, Della Street said. Hed tell the truth.
Mason nodded. So then try thinking what a desperate Endicott Campbell would be doing all this time before we can get back.
Della Street became thoughtful. That isnt a reassuring thought.
Mason nodded, gave the Sunday-evening traffic his frowning concentration, arrived in front of the Arthenium Hotel at seven twenty-seven.
Mason handed the doorman a couple of dollars. Youve got to take care of that car for me, he said. I havent time to park it.
Ill take care of it. Itll be all right, right there for a while, the doorman said. Will you be long?
I dont think so. Well let you know if were detained beyond ten or fifteen minutes.
Mason and Della Street hurried across the lobby to the elevators, then up to the Presidential Suite.
As Mason and Della Street walked down the corridor towards the Presidential Suite, Della Street said, It looks as if the door is open.
Mason observed the oblong of bright light which was corning from the door of the suite and quickened his pace.
The door of the Presidential Suite was standing wide open. All of the lights inside were turned on. There was no sign of the wheelchair, no sign of Amelia Corning.
Now what? Della Street asked.
Mason, standing in the doorway, said, I would presume, Della, that, knowing she had an appointment with us, she left the door open so we could come in and be seated.
They entered the room. Mason gestured towards the half-open door to the bedroom. Better see if shes in there, Della, he said.
Della Street flashed him a quick apprehensive glance, started to say something, then checked herself, moved towards the half-open door, knocked on it and called out, Hello, Miss Corning. Were here.
There was no answer.
Della Street pushed the door all the way open, walked into the bedroom.
Anybody home? she called.
She heard quick steps and Mason was standing behind her.
The room gave evidence of feminine occupancy; an open closet door, dresses on hangers, creams on the dressing table.