Case of the Footloose Doll (23 page)

“The case against the defendant is dismissed,” Judge Bolton said.

“Court’s adjourned.”

Fern Driscoll started to leave the witness stand, then suddenly stopped, her eyes on the tall man who was hurrying toward her.

“Forrie!” she said quietly.

Forrester Baylor didn’t waste time in conversation. He simply took her in his arms, held her close to him, and made no attempt to conceal the tears which were coursing down his cheeks.

“My darling!” he said at length. “My darling . . . ! Oh, my darling . . . !”

So intent were the newspaper photographers on catching the scene, that Mason and his client were able to slip out of the courtroom.

Chapter 18

MASON AND Della Street entered the lawyer’s private office.

Della Street moved close to Mason, held his arm, and he could feel her trembling. “Chief,” she said, “I’m so darned excited, and so . . . so . . . I want to cry.”

Mason patted her shoulder. “Go ahead and cry.”

“The look in his eyes—he really did love her. Chief! He really did! I mean he really does!”

“He shouldn’t have let her get away,” Mason said. “He was like so many men who take too much for granted.”

She looked at him for a long, searching moment, then asked, “How in the world did you know she was alive?”

“When people start doing things that are definitely and decidedly out of character, you know that there’s been a mistake somewhere,” Mason said. “Hamman Baylor might have paid money to Carl Harrod and started working with Carl Harrod, if Harrod had the letters his son had written to Fern Driscoll.

“However, Harrod didn’t have those letters. I had them.

“We know that Harrod was stalemated. He couldn’t sell his story without proof. He couldn’t get proof until he got the letters, and he couldn’t get the letters. Yet suddenly Harriman Baylor began to be very palsy—walsy with Carl Harrod.

“And as we gradually began to get the picture of Fern Driscoll, we learned that everything in connection with her as the hitchhiker was out of character. She wasn’t the sort of girl who would have been in the second month of pregnancy, who would have tried to wreck Mildred Crest’s automobile. The whole thing simply didn’t add together into a total.

“Then when I learned that the money in Fern Driscoll’s purse had come from a bank robbery, that Fern Driscoll’s car had been found wrecked where it had evidently been driven off the road, it didn’t take too much brainwork to realize that the woman who had wrecked Mildred Crest’s car wasn’t Fern Driscoll at all. After all, we only knew she had Fern Driscoll’s purse and suitcase and was using Fern Driscoll’s name.

“Therefore, I felt that if we could broadcast the fact that Fern Driscoll was wanted for the robbery of a national bank, we’d probably get some fast action. Fortunately we did. Paul Drake’s correspondent was able to get Fern Driscoll on a midnight plane, giving a happy solution to an otherwise puzzling case. Then, by calling Harriman Baylor to the stand, we had the whole case really buttoned up.”

“But you wouldn’t have ever thought of calling him unless you had known—”

“I should have known a lot sooner than I did,” Mason said savagely. “I made the mistake of looking at things from the police viewpoint instead of from an objective viewpoint. I knew that Mildred Crest couldn’t possibly have stabbed him with that ice pick which was produced in court. Therefore, either the police had to have mixed up the ice picks, or Nellie Elliston was the only person who could have killed Carl Harrod.”

“What about Mildred Crest?” Della Street asked. “What’s going to become of her?”

Mason’s face became granite-hard. “Mildred Crest,” he said, “is going to have a very nice job with the Baylor Manufacturing and Development Company. And Mr. Harriman Baylor is going to see to it that she advances just as fast and just as far as her ability warrants.” 

Della Street looked up at him with misty eyes. “Will you please bend over,” she said, “so I can kiss you on the forehead?”

Mason regarded her with eyes that were tender. He said gently, “I’m afraid, Della, I can’t bend quite that far. You won’t mind if I’m a few inches short, will you?”

“Not at all” she told him.

The End