The Case of the Baited Hook (20 page)

"Yes, of course."

"With what result?"

She said, "I was advised that Mr. Bilback hadn't been seen this morning-that he wasn't in his room."

Mason said, "You've gone to a lot of trouble in this case keeping me groping in the dark."

She smiled. "I was trying to protect Mr. Peltham," she said. "Under the circumstances, you can appreciate my position."

"That was your only reason?"

"Why, yes, of course."

Mason said, "On Monday night Mr. Tidings had an appointment with a woman, a woman who was in a position to cause him a great deal of trouble. When he left his office, he was in a hurry to keep that appointment."

Her face was a studied mask.

Mason said, "Suppose you tell us about that appointment, Miss Hastings."

"I don't know what you mean."

Mason said, "I'm warning you, and I'm warning you for the last time."

She blinked tears back from her eyes.

Mason consulted his wrist watch. "You have exactly thirty seconds," he said.

She waited for ten seconds, then said, in a voice that was choked with emotion, "I saw him."

"Where?" Mason asked.

There was another interval of silence, then at length she said, "Here."

"Not here," Mason said. "On the turntable out by Mrs. Tidings' bungalow. He asked you to meet him there. He didn't want to be seen coming to your apartment. You'd already accused him of being short in the trust accounts. He said that if you'd meet him there, he'd explain everything."

She shook her head in tight – lipped silence.

"Where," Mason asked, "did you meet him?"

"Here."

Once more Mason crooked his elbow so that he could consult his wrist watch. "Thirty seconds," he said.

The room became uncomfortably silent. At the end of twenty – five seconds, Adelle Hastings stirred and inhaled a quick breath, as though getting ready to speak. Then she clamped her lips again into dogged silence.

Mason got to his feet. "Come, Della," he said, and held the door open to let her precede him into the corridor. Then he turned to face the motionless form of Adelle Hastings sitting mutely on the chair. "Remember," he said, "you had your chance." He pulled the door shut.

12

MASON LATCHKEYED THE DOOR OF HIS PRIVATE OFFICE and said, "Skip out to the reception room, Della. See who's there, and tell Gertie I'm back but that I don't want to see anyone."

Della Street slipped silently through the door. She returned to find Mason lighting a cigarette.

"What's new, Della?" he asked.

She motioned with her finger on her lips for silence, and tiptoed across to him. In a low voice, she said, "There's someone in the law library."

Mason raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Who?"

"I don't know," she said. "He wouldn't give any name to Gertie, said that he simply must see you, and that he couldn't wait in the reception room. She told him she'd have to have his name, and he pushed his way past her into the law library and told her to go peddle her papers. Gertie was peeved about it, but she said he seemed to be a rather high – class individual, and she didn't want to have him thrown out."

Mason said, "That, Della, will be Robert Peltham."

He strode across the office, jerked open the door to the law library, and said, "Hello, Peltham. Come in."

Peltham, who had been seated at the long table, nervously puffing a cigarette, jumped to his feet and walked rapidly across to where Mason was standing. "What the devil," he asked, "has happened? How could anyone have got my overcoat, my car, and…"

Mason said, "It took you long enough to get here."

"What do you mean?"

"I had to see you," Mason said. "I tried to get you in here the easy way. That didn't work. So I tried the hard way."

Peltham stared at him. "You mean that you…" His voice trailed away into silence.

Mason said, "This is Della Street, my secretary. I don't have any secrets from her. Come in and sit down. Why didn't you let me talk with you?"

"I didn't think it was wise."

"Why didn't you put your cards on the table the first time you came to the office?"

"I did."

Mason said, sarcastically, "Yes, you certainly did. You and your masked friend. You and your mysterious allusions to what was going to happen. Why the devil didn't you tell me Tidings was dead?"

"Because I didn't know it."

"Bunk," Mason said. "And why didn't you tell me that I was to represent Mrs. Tidings? Then I might have done a decent job of it instead of floundering around."

"You've done nobly," Peltham said.

"That's what you think," Mason told him. "Now you listen to me. Time is precious. I want you to do exactly as I tell you to do… You're dead, do you understand?"

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I say. You're dead. You've been murdered."

Peltham said impatiently, "Mason, can't you understand? I wanted you to protect Mrs. Tidings. I…"

"I am protecting her," Mason said, and then added significantly, "now."

"Weren't you before?"

"How could I? I was chasing will – o' – the – wisps. Why the devil did you say it was okay for me to represent Byrl Gailord?"

"Because it was. I know all about her. Tidings was trustee handling her funds-and a sweet mess he made of it, too. You'll probably find that there's an enormous shortage in her trust accounts."

"How does it happen you know all about her?" Mason asked.

"Through Mrs. Tump. Mrs. Tump has been sort of a godmother to her, rescued her from Russia, and brought her over here, and saw that she had a chance… That is, she did her best. The child was spirited out of the welfare home where she was left for safekeeping and…"

"And you thought there wouldn't be anything inconsistent in the representation of Byrl Gailord's interests and of Mrs. Tidings'?"

"That's right."

"And you know Byrl Gailord personally?"

"No, I don't. I only know of her through her godmother."

"Then," Mason said, "you didn't know that Byrl Gailord was a social climber, that she was trying to crash the set that Adelle Hastings travels with, that she's set her cap for a young man in whom Adelle Hastings is interested."

"Byrl Gailord!" Peltham exclaimed.

Mason nodded.

"Why, I can't believe such a thing is possible. Adelle Hastings has never said a word to me about it."

"She," Mason told him, "would be the last person on earth to say a word about it to anyone-particularly to you."

"But your request to represent her was forwarded to me through Adelle."

"All right," Mason said. "We won't argue about it. That's done. That's water that's already gone under the bridge. What's Nadine Tidings to you?"

"What do you think?"

"I'm not thinking," Mason said. "I want to know."

Peltham met his eyes and said tersely, "She's everything in the world to me."

"And Adelle Hastings?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's she to you?"

"Why, nothing. Just a friend, that's all. She's a swell girl, and I've always admired her, but that's all there is to it."

"She knows about your feeling for Mrs. Tidings?"

"Certainly not. No one knows about that. I've gone to the greatest trouble to keep that entirely secret."

"Why?" Mason asked.

"Because of what would have happened. Can't you see? I was on a board of trustees with Tidings. Tidings distrusted me. There was a shortage. Tidings would have yelled 'frame – up,' that I wanted him in prison so I could marry his wife. Nadine wanted a divorce. Tidings had just enough on her so he could drag her name through the mud."

Mason said, "And you were foolish enough to think that any such crazy scheme as the one you tried, would protect Mrs. Tidings?"

"Of course it would. It has, hasn't it?"

"No," Mason said shortly, "it hasn't. Police took Mrs. Tidings into custody an hour or so ago. They're going to charge her with first – degree murder."

Peltham said, "I didn't see how they could connect Nadine with it. Her alibi should have held up."

Mason said, "Let me show you where you made a whole flock of mistakes… People found out about Tidings being dead and where he was. As each person made that discovery, he started protecting himself or herself by building up an alibi."

"Well?" Peltham asked.

Mason said, "The district attorney has all of those alibis in front of him. They're mathematical clues. No one except the murderer of Tidings knows exactly when he was killed. Each person thought that he was killed shortly before he or she made the discovery of the body… Therefore, the district attorney only has to check back on the alibis to pick the ones that cover the longest periods, and he knows he's getting warm. Mrs. Tidings started making her alibi date back from Monday afternoon… You can figure what that means."

Peltham frowned.

Mason said, "Here's what the district attorney is going to say in front of a jury. You made love to Nadine Tidings underhandedly, surreptitiously. You had clandestine meetings. You took the name of Hushman and gave her the name of Mrs. Hushman. You…"

"Good God!" Peltham exclaimed. "Who knows that?"

"The district attorney," Mason said. "What do you think he is, a damn fool?"

Peltham stared at him in speechless dismay.

Mason said, "Tidings found out about you. He…"

"No, he didn't. I swear that he didn't."

"I'm telling you," Mason said, "what the district attorney is going to say to a jury. You were having a secret rendezvous with Nadine Tidings in her house. Albert Tidings was still her lawful husband. You decided to kill him, thereby getting him out of the way as a husband, sealing his lips, protecting Nadine's good name, and your good name, and leaving the way free to marry her."

"I swear that's not true. I swear by all…"

"Save it," Mason said. "You don't have to convince me."

"But I want to convince you."

"It won't do any good," Mason told him. "I bought this package. Whatever's in it is mine. I hope Nadine Tidings isn't guilty, but I'm going to represent her whether she's guilty or innocent. It's a bargain I've made, and I keep my bargains… But after this, if anyone ever gets me to go groping around in the dark, you can have me committed to an insane asylum. You baited a trap with a ten – thousand – dollar bill. You probably didn't know it was a trap at the time, and I didn't. But the trap has sprung. I'm caught, and you're caught. Nadine Tidings is caught… We've got to get out. The first thing is to let the district attorney believe that you're dead-and let the murderer of Albeit Tidings believe that you're dead."

"Why?"

"Can't you see?"

"No."

"All right," Mason said. "You don't have to see. I've got you dead, and all I want you to do is to stay dead."

Mason turned to Della Street. "Della," he said, "this man is dead. Take him out and bury him where I'll know where he is."

"Where," she asked, "do you want him taken-and when?"

Mason said, "You've got to get him out of this office building. Once out, you can use your ingenuity. You…"

The telephone on Mason's desk rang. Mason frowned irritably at the interruption, but Della Street picked the receiver off the hook, and said, "Don't ring us, Gertie, unless it's something… Oh, it is?"

She looked up at Mason. "Paul Drake on the line," she said. "He says it's important."

Mason picked up the receiver.

Drake said, "I haven't time to talk. Perry. This is a hot – tip. You're getting the double cross."

"How do you mean?"

"Your own clients," Drake said, "are giving you the double cross. They're going to drag all of us up to the D.A.'s office. They… Here they come now, Perry."

Mason heard the receiver slam up at the other end on the line.

Mason whirled to Della Street. "They're in the building. You'll have to sneak Peltham out of this office while they're getting me… You and Peltham stand by that door to the corridor. When you hear the officers coming in, you slip out into the corridor. I'll hold them here. Let's hope they're not watching the entrance to the building. They…"

Mason heard a commotion in the outer office, heard Gertie's voice raised in shrill protest. "You can't go in there. Mr. Mason can't be disturbed. You…"

Mason nodded to Della Street. She grabbed Peltham's arm, rushed him to the door of the corridor, and held it open.

The door leading to the outer office opened an inch and then was slammed closed. From the other side of the panels came the noise of a struggle.

Mason nodded to Della Street. "Now," he said.

She and Peltham slipped out into the corridor. Della Street closed the door silently behind her.

The door from the reception room jerked open. Sergeant Holcomb said, "You little hell – cat, get away from there," and wrestled Gertie's ample figure away from the door. A plain – clothes man grabbed her shoulders, spun her around, and the two men pushed their way into the office.

Mason, sitting at his desk, apparently engrossed in studying a law book, looked up, frowning at the interruption. "What the devil's the meaning of this?" he asked.

Sergeant Holcomb said triumphantly, "It means that you've skated on thin ice once too often. Now, you've broken through."

"What are you talking about?"

"I have my instructions. Mason. You can either come with me to the district attorney's office to answer questions now, or you can go to jail."

"What sort of blackmail is that?" Mason asked, indignantly pushing back his chair and getting to his feet "There's no blackmail about it," Holcomb said. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm hoping you say 'no.' I want to arrest you and throw you into the can right now. The D.A has you dead to rights, but just because you're a lawyer, he says you're going to have a chance to explain -if you want it."

Mason paused, frowning at Sergeant Holcomb, making a mental calculation of the time it would take Della Street to get Robert Peltham down in the elevator and out through the back entrance to the alley.