Say, this is a rental car, isnt it?
Thats right.
You understand Ive got to protect myself in this thing, Abert said. So far, this is only a private deal. But Ive got the license of the car and all that and
Sure, Mason said. I dont want you to do anything thats going to get you in bad. You have a right to do outside work on your own time.
Thanks. I just wanted to be sure we had it straight, Abert said.
Weve got it straight, Mason told him.
Abert looked at his watch and yawned. Just about two hours shut-eye before I have to go to work, he said.
Youre fortunate, Drake told him.
In what?
In getting two hours shut-eye, Drake said.
Mason grinned, opened the door of the car, slid in behind the steering wheel. Come on, Paul, he said, were going places.
Where? Drake asked, as they backed out of the garage.
Bed, Mason told him.
Those, Drake said, are welcome words.
We stop by your office, Mason told him, and see if they have anything more on any of the characters involved.
Why not phone?
All right, Mason told him, well phone.
They stopped at a telephone booth, Drake put through a call, came back and shook his head. Nothing doing, he said, they havent found Endicott Campbell yet, theres no trace of the seven-year-old son or the governess, the police are turning Mojave upside down trying to get some dope on Ken Lowry, and, so far, the police havent taken any interest in Amelia Corning. Were ahead of them on that information.
Okay, Mason said. It gives us about two hours and a half. We dont have to get up quite as early as your expert.
Chapter 10
Perry Mason was up at seven forty-five. He shaved, showered, dressed and, without breakfast, stopped at a supermarket, bought two dozen large, luscious eating apples, drove the rented car down to the front of a junior high school, parked it near the curb, let the air out of the left front tire until the tire was flat, and stood helplessly by the car until a group of students came along chatting and laughing, completely immersed in their own world and their own problems.
Hey, Mason asked, you boys want to make twenty bucks?
The group paused and looked at him suspiciously.
Here are the car keys, Mason said. Ive got an appointment and I dont want to get all mussed up changing a tire. Fact of the matter is, I dont even know how to go about it. I dont know where the tools are. Here are the car keys and heres twenty bucks.
What do you know? one of the boys said.
Manna from heaven, another remarked.
Im going to go over here to the snack bar and get a cup of coffee, Mason said. Id like to have you do the best you can with it.
Mason dropped a twenty-dollar bill on the seat of the automobile and walked across the street to the snack bar. You boys help yourselves to some of those eating apples, if you want.
Looking back, he saw boys literally swarming all over the car.
By the time the lawyer had finished his coffee and walked back across the street, the tire was changed and one of the boys standing by the car said, Gee, thanks a lot, Mister. We felt we shouldnt charge you that much. The boys felt they were sort of taking advantage of you.
Not at all, Mason said. Im going to come out all right on this deal myself.
By that time, a crowd of some fifteen or twenty boys had gathered around the car, those who had not been in on the tire-changing deal looked enviously at those who had.
Not at all, Mason said. Im going to come out all right on this deal myself.
By that time, a crowd of some fifteen or twenty boys had gathered around the car, those who had not been in on the tire-changing deal looked enviously at those who had.
One of the boys said suddenly, Say, Ive seen you before. Ive seen your picture some place. Arent you... my gosh, youre Perry Mason, the lawyer!
Thats right, Mason grinned, and seating himself behind the steering wheel, left the door on the left-hand side of the car wide open while he visited with the boys for some four or five minutes. Then he closed the door and drove to his office.
He drove the car into the parking lot where he and Della Street kept regular stalls for their cars. Mason jumped out of the car and said to the parking lot attendant, Im in the deuce of a hurry. Would you mind parking it in my stall when you get a chance? Thanks a lot.
Mason smiled his thanks and hurried to the elevators.
He stopped in at Paul Drakes office. Paul in yet? he asked the switchboard operator.
Not yet, she said. He left word that he was working until five oclock in the morning and he was going to get a little shut-eye.
Ask him to come in as soon as he shows up, will you? Mason asked, and went on down to his own office. He went in through the reception room and told the receptionist, Della Street probably wont be in today, Gertie. Im going to be in my office for a while, but I may have to tell you to cancel all appointments.
Gertie, always the romanticist, said with awe, Gee, Mr. Mason, it isnt another murder case, is it?
Im afraid it is, Mason told her.
And youre mixed up in it?
Mason grinned. Lets say we have a client who may become involved.
Mason walked back to his private office, seated himself and, picking up the phone, said, Gertie, I want to get the Presidential Suite at the Arthenium Hotel. Ill talk with anyone who answers the phone. Im afraid its going to be rather a tough day today. Were going to have to get along without Della and
Oh, no, we arent. Shes just corning in, Gertie said.
What! Mason exclaimed, jumping up out of his chair.
Shes just corning in.
Mason dropped the phone into its cradle, crossed the office with rapid strides, and jerked open the door to the private office just as Della Street was about to open it from the other side.
For a long moment they stood there all but in each others arms, then Mason said, Good gosh, Della, Im glad to see you! Although I suppose its bad news.
Its bad news, Della Street said.
Come on in and tell me about it. Where have you been?
I, Della Street announced, have been in the district attorneys office since six oclock this morning. We were routed out of bed by deputy sheriffs from Kern County at a very early hour. Our friend, Lieutenant Tragg of Homicide, showed up and started questioning me in great detail.
What did you tell him? Mason asked.
I told him the truth, Della Street said.
All of it?
Well, there were some phases of the matter on which I didnt elaborate, but I have never seen Lieutenant Tragg more insistent and there was a deputy district attorney who was positively insulting.
They didnt have any right to hold you, Mason said.
Thats what I told them. But they had an answer for all that. They said I might be a material witness, that I might be aiding and abetting a felony, that I might be trying to conceal evidence... oh, they had lots of answers.
Did they give you a rough time?
They were rather insistent, Della Street said, putting her hat in the hat closet and dropping wearily into a chair. I think the deputy district attorney and one of the deputy sheriffs would have been really rough in an insulting sort of way if it hadnt been for Lieutenant Tragg. He was probing and insistent, but very much a gentleman of the old school.
And what did Susan Fisher have to say? Mason asked.
As to that I wouldnt know, Della Street said. They had her in a separate room and they never let us have a word together from the time they took us into custody. They brought her in, in one car, brought me in in another, and they interrogated us in separate rooms.
Well, Mason said, I guess the fats in the fire, the wind is about to start blowing.
Gertie, in the outer office, gave a series of several short, sharp rings on the telephone and simultaneously the door from the outer office opened and Lt. Tragg stood smiling on the threshold.
Good morning, Perry, he said, and turning to Della Street, bowed, said, Ive already seen you this morning, Della.
You have for a fact, she said.
Tragg said, Youll pardon me for walking right in without waiting to be announced, Perry, but as Ive explained to you on several occasions, the taxpayers dont like to have us cooling our heels in the outer office and sometimes after a man knows were waiting he takes steps which tend to defeat the purpose of our visit.
And the purpose of your visit this morning? Mason asked.
Well now, Tragg said, I was instructed to ask you to look at certain sections of the Penal Code.
Indeed, Mason said.
Sections having to do with concealing evidence, being an accessory after the fact, and things of that sort. But Im not going to say anything about those sections.
And why not? Mason asked.
Because, Tragg said, still smiling, Im satisfied youre familiar with them already, Counselor, and quite probably have taken steps to see that they dont apply.
Then what is the purpose of your visit? Mason asked.
Right at the moment, Tragg said, the purpose of my visit is to advise you that were taking into custody a rented car which you picked up late last night from the We Rent M Car Company... and Im instructed to ask you just why you deemed it necessary to rent that particular car.
What particular car? Mason asked.
The one you rented.
Mason smiled. The reason I rented a car was because Della Street had work to do and you had ordered me to remain at a service station. It therefore became necessary for me to call a taxi to take me back to town from the service station after you finished questioning me. Quite naturally one doesnt care to keep a taxi and pay taxi rates for ordinary driving. Even a fairly prosperous lawyer could run up too much of an expense account that way.
I dare say, Lt. Tragg said. I suppose you knew that the car you rented was the same one that your client, Susan Fisher, had rented earlier in the day and driven out to the place where the body of Ken Lowry was discovered?
No! Mason exclaimed in surprise.
You didnt know that?
How was I to know that?
You rented a car from the same agency.
Certainly, Mason said. I believe it was the nearest car-rental depot to the service station where you ordered me to remain.
I see, Tragg said. In other words, it was just one of those coincidences.
You might call it that, Mason said.