We had, Mason said, but I didnt want the house detective to know just where we were going.
Where are you going?
To my office, Mason said. Were going to get Paul Drake on the trail of Amelia Corning and were going to try to reach her before Endicott Campbell does. When Endicott Campbell left I feel certain he was planning to do a little amateur detective work of his own. Unless I miss my guess hes on his way to the Union Depot right now and when he gets there hell start checking with the various redcaps, trying to find out just what happened.
Then arent you afraid hes beating you to the punch? Susan Fisher said.
Not necessarily, Mason told her. There are ways of going about these things. Up in the office we have a timetable. Well check what trains were pulling out at about that time. Well get Paul Drake to put some professionals on the job and well find out what tickets were sold. Campbell may find out where she went after she got to the Union Depot before we do, but Ill bet we find out where she is now before Endicott Campbell does. That is, unless hes shrewd enough to hire professional detectives.
And then what?
Then, Mason said, well wait in my office until we get some definite word. A woman who is nearly blind and confined to a wheelchair cant simply vanish into thin air.
The lawyer retrieved his car from the restaurant parking attendant. They drove to Masons office. Della Street rang Paul Drake and asked him to come to the office.
A few moments later Paul Drakes peculiarly spaced knock sounded on the door of Masons private office and Della Street let the detective in.
Mason said, Paul, this is Susan Fisher. Shes an employee of the Corning Mining, Smelting & Investment Company. The company is pretty much a one-man outfit thats owned by Amelia Corning, a wealthy woman whos been living in South America.
Miss Corning is about fifty-five years old, nearly blind, wears very large-lensed dark blue glasses, and apparently because of arthritis has to spend most of her time in a wheel chair. She was at the Arthenium Hotel. She checked out shortly after five oclock, and took a cab to the Union Depot.
Drake, his manner indolent to the point of suggesting chronic laziness, listened with a bland expression which masked the professional competence with which he was sizing up Susan Fisher.
What do you want done? he asked Mason.
Find her, Mason said.
Drake walked quietly towards the outer office. Ill use the phone in your reception room, if you dont mind. It wont disturb you so much.
Drake gave Susan Fisher a vaguely reassuring smile, vanished into the outer office.
Hes good? Sue Fisher asked.
The best, Mason said.
Drake returned to the private office after some ten minutes, said, Ive been playing tunes on your telephone, Perry. Ive got men on the job. Ive got men covering the taxi companies and broadcasting inquiries over their communications system asking for information. Ill have three men at the depot within ten minutes, probably less. Theyll be interrogating the cab starter, the redcaps; inquiring at the ticket windows.
Good work, Paul, Mason said.
Della Street handed a neatly typewritten piece of paper to Paul Drake. These are the scheduled trains on both Southern Pacific and Santa Fé leaving after four PM tonight.
Paul Drake folded the paper, slipped it in his pocket, said, Thanks, Della. And then added, after a moment, Great minds run in the same channel.
Meaning youve already checked on the timetables? Mason asked.
Meaning the first thing my men will do when they reach the depot after giving it a quick once-over to see if shes still there in the waiting-room will be to find the outgoing trains. If shes on a train, Perry, I take it youd like to know where she is before the train reaches its destination.
Thats right, Mason said.
Any ideas? Drake asked.
Mason said, Theres a train that goes up to Sacramento. It goes through Mojave. I wouldnt be at all surprised if the person we want was a passenger to Mojave.
Good heavens! Sue Fisher exclaimed. Ill bet thats exactly what she did.
If she waited for that train, Della Street said, she would have been in the waiting-room for some little time.
Mason nodded.
Any ideas why she would have checked out of the hotel and gone to the depot in order to put in the time waiting in a public waiting-room when she could have put in the time just as well in a luxurious suite at the Arthenium?
Now, wait a minute, Drake said, youre going at this thing all backwards. Youre starting out with a surmise and then trying to fit facts to it. Now, lets first find out the facts, and then well make our surmises afterwards okay?
Okay, Mason said, grinning.
All right, Drake assured them, Im going down to my office and start handling calls from there.
He left the office and Sue Fisher turned uneasily to Mason. You havent asked me for money yet.
Thats right, I havent, Mason told her, smiling.
Im a working girl on a salary, Mr. Mason, and Well, I didnt want to say anything in front of Mr. Drake, but I simply cant afford all these detectives and all of this high-priced action.
Thats all right, Mason told her. Right at the present time this is my party.
But even so, Mr. Mason, I just havent got enough
Miss Corning has money, Mason interposed.
She raised puzzled eyebrows.
Mason merely smiled.
After a few moments, Sue Fisher said, But, Mr. Mason, Miss Corning isnt going to pay for my legal expenses.
Certainly not, Mason told her. But I think we may be helping Miss Corning do something that she wants to do very much indeed. This makes for a very interesting situation.
Della Street smiled at Susan Fisher and said, Just get a magazine from the outer office and make yourself comfortable. We have work to do and were going to have to utilize every minute.
Della Street went to her office and presently the keyboard of her typewriter exploded into noise. Mason picked up a copy of the Advance Decisions, and said to Sue Fisher, Im so busy that its awfully hard to keep up on these new decisions. If it werent for moments like these I wouldnt be able to catch up.
Sue nodded, went to the waiting-room, then tiptoed back with several magazines. She tried to read for a while, then, finding herself too excited to get lost in the printed page, left the magazines on her lap and sat quietly watching Masons face, noticing that his concentration was so great that he seemed to have completely dismissed her from his mind.
The phone shattered the silence within thirty minutes after Paul Drake had left the room. Della Street, hurrying to the telephone, said, Hello, then said, Yes, what is it, Paul?
She listened with a frown, then said, I think youd better come down... Yes, shes still here.
Della Street hung up the telephone and said, Pauls corning down. Theyve uncovered a peculiar situation.
I thought perhaps they would, Mason said, putting down the paper-backed Advance Decisions.
Della Street moved over to stand by the door.
He has his offices on this floor? Susan Fisher asked.
Mason nodded.
Drakes knock sounded on the door and Della Street had the door open with the first touch of the detectives knuckles.
Well? Mason asked, as Drake entered the room.
Drake shook his head. Something goofy, Perry.
What?
All right, Drake said, heres what happened. She made no attempt to cover up on her arrival at the depot. She attracted a lot of attention. She had four suitcases. Two of them were very heavy, as though they contained books of some sort.
Or bottles, Mason said, grinning.
Or bottles, Drake admitted. Somehow the redcap thought they were books.
She wanted the suitcases put in some of the key lockers, where you drop a quarter, put in the suitcase, close the door, turn the key, and walk away.
Mason nodded.
She got rid of all the suitcases, gave the porter a good tip, and then went whizzing along in her wheelchair towards the ladies room and completely disappeared.
Didnt enter the ladies room? Mason asked.
She got rid of all the suitcases, gave the porter a good tip, and then went whizzing along in her wheelchair towards the ladies room and completely disappeared.
Didnt enter the ladies room? Mason asked.
No one knows. From that point she just vanished into thin air.
You covered the trains?
Train dispatchers, redcap porters, ticket sellers, everybody. We got the redcap porter who had put the suitcases in the lockers for her to point out the lockers. We got one of the locker superintendents with a pass-key to open them.
Empty? Mason asked.
Empty, Drake said.
That, Mason said, is what I was afraid of.
What? Susan Fisher asked.
Masons face hardened. I told you, he said, that a woman of fifty-five, with dark blue glasses, a woman who is almost blind and confined to a wheelchair couldnt go to a public place like the Union Depot and simply disappear into thin air.
I know you did, Sue Fisher said, but
Mason smiled as she broke off.
Sue Fisher went on, But she seems to have done it?
Mason turned to Paul Drake. Paul, he said, I want you to close up every possible avenue out of that Union Depot. I want your men to get to work and cover everything. Everything, you understand? I want to know every way by which a person could leave that depot, and I want every one of those ways checked. I dont care if they have to stay on the job all night.
Will do, Drake promised, and left the office.
Sue Fisher said, Can you tell me what youre afraid of, Mr. Mason?
Mason said, A woman of that sort couldnt vanish into thin air. Therefore, if she did vanish into thin air, we have to start out with the idea that our premise is wrong.
You mean that she couldnt do what she actually did?
No, Mason said, I mean that she wasnt a woman of that description.
You mean...? Are you trying to tell me that...?
Suppose, Mason suggested, this woman was an impostor? You dont know Amelia Corning. Youre the only one who saw her. She called you and said she was Amelia Corning. She looked like the Amelia Corning youve had described to you. You went down to the airport. She was sitting there surrounded with luggage with South American labels that alone may be a significant fact.
What do you mean?
Mason said, Under ordinary circumstances, the baggage would have been held in the checkroom of the airport. This woman was sitting in the lobby in a wheelchair. She had the baggage around her. Now, how did she get it there? Obviously she didnt go and pick up the baggage and carry it in a wheelchair. Therefore, she must have had a porter bring it to her.