The Case of the Daring Divorcee (5 page)

"Why didn't you notify the police then?" Mason asked.

"My husband said it would be a waste of time and-Well, he didn't want it known that I was spending the night there in our house. You see, we've separated and-"

"Was your reluctance to call the police due in part to the fact that there was something else in your bag?" Mason asked. "The something that you were looking for just now in the drawer by the side of the bed?"

"The gun?" she asked.

"Yes."

"My gun wasn't in the handbag," she said. "For all I knew it was in that drawer in the stand by the bed. Someone evidently has taken the gun, presumably the same person who stole my handbag, since the keys to this apartment were in the handbag-and now you show up with those keys. Perhaps it is your story that should be checked, Mr. Mason."

"You didn't take the gun with you on your trip to Los Angeles?"

"Certainly not. I went in to Los Angeles to keep my appointment. I drove back this afternoon and got in just about twenty minutes ago. I smoked a couple of cigarettes, bad a drink, and was taking a shower when I heard voices out here. – .. Now then, Mr. Mason, if you have my bag I'll trouble you to return it."

Mason said, "I'd like to ask a couple of questions first."

"You have no right to ask questions-no more right to have your questions answered than you had to take my key and make an illegal entry into this apartment."

Abruptly Mason became crisply businesslike. "You went in to Los Angeles yesterday?"

"Yes."

"You had an appointment with your husband?"

"Yes, I tell you."

"You kept it?"

"Yes."

"What did you want to see your husband about?"

"That's none of your business."

"A property settlement?"

"I say it's none of your business."

"You didn't reach any agreement with him?"

"Again, that's none of your business, Mr. Mason."

"Where did you spend the night last night?"

"For your information, I spent it in my own home, but there again, that's none of your business."

Mason said, "Look here, Mrs. Hastings, if you're lying, and apparently you are, you've worked out what you feel is a very ingenious lie. But I warn you that you can't get away with it. The police are too thorough and too clever."

"I'll worry about my affairs, Mr. Mason. You worry about yours."

Mason said, "The bag which you left in my office shortly after noon had your driving license, a purse with a considerable sum of money in it, keys, and a gun; and for your information, two of the cartridges in that gun had been freshly discharged."

"What!" she exclaimed, her eyes growing large.

Mason said, "You're a very convincing actress. There are times when I find myself believing your story, and I believe it very much against my better judgment."

Adelle Hastings moved over to a chair, abruptly sat down as though her knees refused to support her weight.

"Won't you… won't you sit down?" she asked.

Mason nodded to Della Street.

They took chairs.

She said at length, "Mr. Mason, you've entered my apartment unlawfully for a purpose I don't quite understand. Lawyerlike, you've managed to put me on the defensive by asking me questions and talking about my story not being true. Now I'd like to find out about your story."

Mason said, "My story can be vouched for by my secretary and by my office receptionist. She said you arrived about twelve-twenty, shortly after Miss Street and I had gone out for lunch. She said that you told her that you had to leave the office for just a moment, that you would be right back, but you never returned.

"Then, later on in the afternoon, we found this hand bag by the chair where you had been sitting. Naturally we didn't know it was yours at the time. I took it into my private office and Miss Street and I made an inventory of the contents."

"Did you," she asked, "open the coin purse?"

"Yes."

"What did you find in there?"

"Money."

"How much money?"

Mason nodded his head to Della Street.

Della Street took a notebook from her purse, said, "Three thousand, one hundred and seventeen dollars and forty-three cents."

"And a gun was in there?"

"Yes."

"You say it had been fired twice?"

"Yes."

"Where… where is that gun now?"

"In a drawer in my office."

"Where is my bag with the contents?"

"I have it with me."

"Have you," she asked, "some way of proving that you're Perry Mason?"

"Certainly," Mason said.

He took a folder from his pocket, showed her his driving license and credit cards.

"Well," she said at length, "I guess I have to accept your story. Where's my handbag?"

"In my brief case here," Mason said.

"Well, at least I can have that back."

"You can when you have convinced me that you're Adelle Hastings or Mrs. Garvin S. Hastings."

"But I can't convince you. You have all the proof-it's in the handbag and you have that."

Mason said, "And I'm not going to turn that handbag over to anyone until I'm positive of the identification."

She thought for a moment, said, "If you have my bag you have a folder containing my driving licenses."

Mason nodded.

"The California driving license," she said, "has a thumbprint on it and also my picture."

"The picture," Mason said, "isn't good enough to suit me."

"There's the thumbprint," she said. "That should convince you."

She walked over to a writing desk, opened it, spilled a little ink from a bottle onto a blotter, pressed her thumb against the blotter, then pressed it against a sheet of writing paper several times.

"I think these impressions are clear enough," she said. "You should be able to make a comparison from those."

"You don't happen to have a magnifying glass, do you?" Mason asked.

"No, I don't. I-Wait a minute, I do, too. Just a moment."

She opened another drawer in the writing desk and rummaged around among some odds and ends and then produced a magnifying glass.

Mason opened his brief case, reached in, took out the card case, turned to the thumbprint on the California driving license and carefully compared the thumbprint with the thumbprints on the paper she had given him.

Satisfied, at length, the lawyer took the handbag from the brief case and said, "It's all here except the gun. I'm holding that."

"Why?"

"It may be evidence."

"Of what?"

"Murder."

She looked at him wordlessly, panic in her eyes.

"Where did you get the gun?" Mason asked.

"My husband gave it to me."

"Where did he get it?"

"He bought it."

"Why did he give it to you?"

"For my protection, because I do a little driving at night."

"What happened last night?"

"My husband and I reached an agreement."

"On a property settlement?"

"Yes."

"Know an attorney by the name of Banner?" Mason asked.

"Huntley L. Banner?" she asked, her voice dripping with distaste.

"Yes. Who is he?"

"He's my husband's attorney, and I think it is largely due to him that my marriage split up."

"It split up?"

She made an inclusive, sweeping gesture with her hand, indicating the apartment. "What do you think I'm doing here?" she said. "I'm establishing a residence."

"So you can get a divorce?"

"Yes."

"It's amicable?"Of course. My husband is paying all my expenses."

"I had a talk with Banner this afternoon," Mason said.

"You
did?"

"That's right."

"How did you happen to get in touch with him?"

"I didn't," Mason said. "He got in touch with me. He said that you had telephoned his office that you were going to put your affairs in my hands for the purpose of negotiating a property settlement."

"Why in the world would he say a thing like that? I never called him and there was no need for me to get a lawyer. My husband and I reached an agreement without any difficulty. We had been holding off to see what developed in connection with certain oil property."

"Banner said he had been authorized to make a deal on a property settlement," Mason said.

She said, "I just can't understand it."

"Understand what?" Mason asked.

"The fact that Garvin didn't call Huntley Banner and tell him that everything had been fixed up… What time was it he called you?"

"Around two o'clock or so this afternoon, perhaps a little after two. I didn't make a note of the time."

"Why, Garvin was going to call him first thing in the morning."

"That was this morning?"

"Yes."

"Evidently," Mason said, "he didn't do it. Is there any reason why he wouldn't have done it?"

"No. He told me he was going to and I knew he would keep his word"

"Evidently," Mason said, "he didn't keep his word."

"I just can't understand that. It's not like him. He-"

Mason indicated the telephone. "Suppose you call him right now," he said, "and ask him what the score is."

"That's a good idea," she said.

She went to the telephone, called long distance and said, "I want to put through a collect call to Garvin S. Hastings in Los Angeles. That's a person-to-person call and I want the charges reversed. This is Mrs. Hastings calling."

She gave the operator her number and the number of the Los Angeles telephone and settled down to wait.

"Do you always call him collect?" Mason asked.

"Yes," she said. "He likes it that way. It gives him an opportunity to know I'm calling and where I'm calling from. He doesn't like to have someone just call him on the telephone and not know who it is."

"Doesn't he have a secretary to handle the telephone?" Mason asked.

"Not at the house at night. He…"

She broke off and said into the telephone, "Are you sure?… No, I guess that's all right. Just cancel, please."

She dropped the telephone into place, looked up at Mason and said, "I can't understand it. The long distance operator says a tape recording connection is on. That's an answering service Garvin has when you call and a voice answers stating it's a tape recording, that you will have thirty seconds after the voice ceases talking to transmit any message you may wish, that the message will be recorded on the tape so it can be played back when the subscriber returns to answer the telephone personally."

"I tried calling that number," Mason said, "and got the same message."

"You did?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"This afternoon after we had inventoried the contents of your purse."

"But I can't understand it," she said. "I just can't understand why Garvin didn't call up Huntley Banner and tell him."

"He was to do that this morning?"

"Yes."