They went to a little restaurant around the corner where the service was prompt. As Della Street had jokingly surmised, there was meat loaf and gravy ready for immediate service.
Within thirty minutes they were back and Mason had parked his car in front of Sue Fishers apartment house.
Mason was escorting Della Street to the door when a slender figure in a long raincoat with a hat pulled low, started to push open the door, then suddenly stopped with a gasp.
Mr. Mason! Susan Fisher exclaimed.
Mason looked at the garb the mans hat, the sweater, the slacks, the raincoat, the flat shoes and said, Now, what are you doing masquerading as a man?
I... I dont know, Susan Fisher said. Oh, am I glad to see you! Oh, I... I was hoping that I could get in touch with you.
Mason said, You could have been in touch with me if youd only followed my instructions and remained in your apartment.
I know, I know, but I couldnt.
Why not?·
Because she telephoned me.
Who?
Amelia Corning.
What did she want?
She wanted me to do something without anybody knowing about it.
Masons eyes narrowed. What happened? he asked.
I... is it all right to talk here?
Probably not, Mason said. Lets go up to your apartment... look, child, youre shaking.
I know Im shaking. Im so nervous I feel like I could wilt on the doorstep.
The lawyer escorted her to the elevator, then down the hallway. Della Street said, Let me have your key, dear, and Ill unlock the door.
After they had entered the apartment Mason said, All right, Susan, lets have it.
Susan seated herself, started twisting her gloves nervously as though wringing water from them.
Go on, Mason said encouragingly. And then added, We may not have much time, you know.
Susan said, She telephoned and told me exactly what to do. She told me to take a pencil and write down her instructions in shorthand.
What were they?
I have them in my notebook but theyre etched in my mind. She told me to go to the office of the drive-yourself car company that is only four blocks away, to rent an automobile, then to go up Mulholland Drive to an intersection she described, then on one and three-tenths miles to a service station. At the service station I was to go on down the road for another two-tenths of a mile. There was a wide place there and I was to park the car. Then I was to walk back to the service station and ask for a one-gallon can of gasoline. She said I was to take the can of gasoline, pay for it, take it down and put it in the car that anyone driving at night should be equipped for any emergency.
And why was all this? Mason asked.
She said that she wanted to get me to drive her to Mojave and she didnt want anyone to know what she was doing. She said she absolutely had to interview a man in Mojave before the banks opened tomorrow.
Did she say why?
No.
Or what name?
No.
And what about the clothes youre wearing?
She said I was to get a mans hat that had a good broad brim, that I was to wear slacks, a sweater, and a raincoat, that I must wear flat shoes so I could do quite a bit of walking, if necessary.
And she told me the nicest things, Mr. Mason. She told me that she had checked very carefully on me, that she appreciated my candor and my straightforward sincerity as well as my loyalty to the company. She told me that she was going to throw Endicott Campbell out and that I was going to be placed in an executive position. She said
Never mind all that, Mason said. Tell me exactly what happened. What else did she say about instructions, and what did you do?
I did exactly as she told me. I knew that there was a broom closet here where the janitor kept some old clothes and I knew he had this broad-brimmed hat there, so I borrowed it. I had a heavy opaque raincoat. I left so that I got to the designated place on Mulholland Drive a good twenty minutes before the appointed time. I parked the car, went to the gasoline station, got the one-gallon can of gasoline and went back to the place and waited and waited and waited and waited.
The man gave you the one-gallon can of gasoline, Mason asked, the man at the service station? He didnt offer to drive you down to where your car was standing?
The man gave you the one-gallon can of gasoline, Mason asked, the man at the service station? He didnt offer to drive you down to where your car was standing?
No. Miss Corning told me that if he did that, I wasnt to encourage him. She said she didnt think hed do it, however, because only one man would be on duty.
He didnt offer to drive you?
He wanted to, all right, but he said he was there alone. If there had been two of them, he would have driven me down. He even contemplated closing up the station long enough to drive me down there, but I didnt encourage him and... I guess he was afraid someone would come along and find the station closed and report it.
What about the rented car? Mason asked.
I waited and waited, and when she didnt show up I took the rented car back and paid the rental. She had told me to do that if she didnt meet me there by seven-fifty. She said if she wasnt there by that time I was to leave at once and return to the apartment, turning in the rented car. I asked what I should do with the can of gas and she specifically told me not to return it to the gas station, but to throw it in the bushes by the side of the road.
Where did you get the money to pay for the car?
This other woman gave me money for expenses when I was working there at the office yesterday morning. Miss Corning told me to use that money and that shed replace it.
What time did she tell you shed be there, Mason asked, at this rendezvous on Mulholland Drive?
She didnt tell me. She told me to be there by at least fifteen minutes past seven and to wait until exactly seven-fifty. She said that she would join me during that interval if she could.
When did this call come in?
About... oh, I guess it was five forty-five.
Mason glanced at Della Street. That couldnt have been too long after we talked with her.
She told me that she had talked with you on the phone, Mr. Mason. I wanted to know if she knew where I could reach you, and she said no, you couldnt be reached, that you were out of the city but that youd telephoned her.
Youre sure it was her voice on the telephone? Mason asked.
Oh, yes, Im quite sure. She has certain little mannerisms of speaking and I have a good ear for voices on the telephone. Im quite certain it was she.
You turned the car in and walked here from the car-rental agency?
She hesitated.
Did you?
No. Mr. Mason, I know I shouldnt have, but I was so upset... I stopped at the cocktail lounge and had a drink. I needed it.
They know you there?
Yes. The bartender is very nice. I stop in there once in a while.
How long were you there?
Not long ten or fifteen minutes.
Then you came here?
Yes.
Mason frowned. The thing simply doesnt make sense, he said. You cant fit it together any way so it does make sense... did Miss Corning tell you anything about her sister or her business manager from South America?
Not a thing, Susan said.
Look here, Susan, Mason said. This woman is from South America. She hasnt been here for years. She couldnt have given you all that detailed information. She couldnt have known about the distances, whether or not the attendant at the service station was alone, or
Oh, but she could, Susan interrupted. She said shed engaged a detective agency and that all of these things were bits of a puzzle that would all fit together. She said the persons who had been planning to loot the company were planning a meeting that we were going to walk in on. She said that by the time you returned to town wed have all the evidence you needed... and it was Miss Corning, all right. I knew her voice. There couldnt be any mistake.
Mason said, Im afraid youve either been a credulous little fool, or that Miss Corning has exposed herself to danger and may have been injured and in that event youre really in trouble.
But, Mr. Mason, what could I do? Absolutely everything depends on having the confidence and the backing of Miss Corning. I couldnt do anything except what I did... She said her detectives had just reported and that there was no time to spare. She said shed have given ten thousand dollars if theyd reported a little earlier and before you had phoned her. She said she thought you were in Mojave.
Abruptly Mason started pacing the floor, his eyes level-lidded with concentration.
Whats the matter? Susan Fisher asked. Do you suppose...?
Della Street, knowing the lawyers habits of thought, motioned Sue to silence with a finger on her lips.
Mason paced back and forth for nearly two minutes. Suddenly he whirled. All right, Sue, can you draw me an accurate diagram of the place where you parked the car?
Of course. She gave me a description of mileage and I took it down in shorthand and
Wheres the shorthand?
Right here.
Have you transcribed it?
No.
Do you have a typewriter here?
Yes.
Write out the description, Mason said, just as fast as you can. Then sit right here in this apartment. Dont leave until I tell you to, no matter what happens.
Spurred by the urgency of his manner, Sue Fisher uncovered a typewriter, ratcheted in paper and typed out the driving directions.
Mason studied the paper for a moment, folded it, shoved it in his pocket, said to Della Street, Come on, Della.
Im to wait here? Sue Fisher asked.
Right here, Mason instructed, and if Miss Corning phones find out where she is, then call Paul Drake and tell him. In the meantime, Im going to phone Paul Drake to put a bodyguard on duty here.
Suppose she phones and tells me to go out to join her and
Find out where she is, phone Drakes agency, and then do exactly as she says. If you notice a man following you, dont be afraid. That will be Drakes man.
Mason hurried Della Street to the elevator, paused to phone instructions to Paul Drake from the booth in the lobby, then hurried to his car.
Were going out there? Della Street asked.
Mason nodded.
Why? What do you expect to find?
Mason said, We may be in time to prevent a murder.
Chief, you think... you mean...?
Exactly, Mason said.
Ordinarily an exponent of careful, safe driving, Mason on this occasion crowded his car into speed.
Youll be picked up, Della Street warned as Mason shot through a changing traffic signal.
So much the better, Mason told her. Well impress an officer into service and take him along.