The Case of the Daring Divorcee (9 page)

"That's my thinking," Perry Mason said, "but I thought I should notify you because so many times you complain that I have concealed evidence and that has hampered your investigation."

"It's a crime to conceal evidence," Tragg commented.

"I realize that."

"And that," Tragg said, "is why you're calling me up now. You wanted to clear your own skirts."

"I thought you should know."

"Well, why not call the Las Vegas police?"

"Perhaps I should," Mason said, "but since they're in an entirely different jurisdiction I felt that I would first discharge my responsibility by notifying you."

"All right," Tragg said, "you've notified me. Thanks a lot. I'll keep it in mind. Thanks for calling, Mason. Good-by."

Mason dropped the receiver into the cradle, turned to Adelle Hastings and said, "Tragg will probably be up here just as quick as a siren and the red light on an automobile can get him here. Now, you're going to have to answer questions. If you have told me the truth, answer Tragg's questions fully, fairly and frankly. If you haven't told me the truth, just say that you have no statement to make. Don't, under any circumstances, try to lie to Lieutenant Tragg."

"I understand."

"You weren't the woman who was in this office yesterday?"

"No."

"You didn't leave that handbag here?"

"No."

"You didn't fire that gun?"

"No."

"You left your revolver in your apartment and last saw it there?"

"Yes."

"If you're lying to me," Mason said, "it could very well mean a life sentence or perhaps the death penalty."

"I'm not lying to you."

Mason nodded to Della Street. "Call Paul Drake."

Della Street put through the call, nodded to Perry Mason.

Mason picked up the telephone. "How are you coming, Paul?"

"I've got six women," Drake said, "and as of now they're getting pretty impatient."

"You won't have to hold them much longer. You have dark glasses for them?"

"Yes."

"Big ones?"

"I'll say they're big."

"All right," Mason said, "sit tight. You'll have action within five to ten minutes."

"How long will it take?" Drake asked. "They want to know."

"It won't take over a couple of minutes," Mason said. "Within twenty minutes from now they can go home. stick around and wait for the signal, Paul. When you get it, act promptly."

Mason hung up and turned to Adelle Hastings. "Put your dark glasses in the case in your handbag. Have them so you can get them at a moment's notice. Now, when Lieutenant Tragg comes here, don't pay the slightest attention to anything that I say. That is, don't let it confuse you."

"What makes you think this officer is going to come here, Mr. Mason? From what I gathered in listening to your end of the telephone conversation there was nothing that he considered very urgent."

Mason said, "I'm putting two sets of two and two together and making two fours, Mrs. Hastings. Then I'm putting those two fours together and making eight."

There was a moment of silence.

"Did you tell Simley Beason that you were going to be here?' Mason asked.

"Yes. I told him I'd call him later but that I was trying to get an appointment with you and he could reach me at your office in case there was anything real important."

"Did you tell him-"

Mason broke off as the telephone rang.

Della Street picked up the instrument, said, "Yes, Gertie… Just a moment, please."

Della Street turned to Mason and said, "A Mr. Beason is calling Adelle Hastings."

Mason indicated the telephone instrument to Adelle Hastings. "Want to take the call here," he asked, "or in the law library?"

"Why, I'll take it here," she said.

She picked up the telephone, said, "Hello, Simley. This is Adelle. You… What! WHAT!!… Oh, my God!… No… You've… you've notified the police?… Good heavens… There's nothing I can say. This is a terrific shock!… Look, Simley, I'll be in touch with you later. I-Oh, I just can't adjust myself to-Well, thanks for letting me know… Yes, of course you can tell the police where I am, but if it's all right with Mr. Mason I want to go out there right away… I-Well, yes… yes, you can tell them. Perhaps that will be best, after all. Thanks for letting me know, Simley."

She hung up and turned to Mason. "My husband," she said, "has been murdered!"

"Surprised?" Mason asked.

"I… I guess subconsciously I've been fearing it, Mr. Mason, but the-This information has knocked me for a loop.,'

Mason said, "You may not have much time. You'd better tell me what he told you."

"He went out there and let himself into the house. My husband was in bed. He'd been shot twice in the head, apparently while he was asleep. He's -.. he'd been dead for some time."

Adelle Hastings started to cry.

Again the telephone rang.

Della Street answered and said to Mason, "Huntley Banner is calling. Do you want to talk with him?"

"Right now," Mason said.

He picked up the telephone, said, "Hello, Banner. This is Mason. What's on your mind this morning?"

"About that property settlement," Banner said. "I wanted to check with you and see what the situation was."

"Well, as a matter of fact," Mason said, "Mrs. Hastings is in my office right now. I'm not much of a horse trader, Banner, and I'd like to know just how high you're prepared to go."

"I gave you the figure yesterday."

Mason said, "Look, Banner, when I'm negotiating a settlement of a lawsuit or property matters between husband and wife, I make it an inflexible rule to reject the first offer that is made by opposing counsel."

There was a moment's silence, then Banner said, "Well, what about the second offer?"

"That," Mason said, "depends on the counsel, the amount of the offer, the tone of voice in which it's made and a few other considerations. Now, let's forget this business about what you are prepared to advise your client to do and tell me the most he's willing to do. Make your top offer and make it now. I'll either give you an acceptance or a rejection within thirty minutes. If it's a rejection we won't do any more negotiating. We'll go to court. I want your top figure."

"You had it yesterday," Banner said.

"No, I didn't," Mason told him. "Give me your top figure now."

"I gave you my top figure yesterday," Banner said. "That is, that was all I was authorized to offer. I would have to call my client and get authorization if I'm to go any higher."

"Call your client then," Mason said.

"You're going to be there in your office for a while?"

"Yes."

"I'll call you right back," Banner said.

Mason hung up, looked at his watch and said, "We can expect Tragg in about three to five minutes. Mr. Banner is going to call me back as soon as he has conferred with his client."

"You didn't tell him that Garvin was… had been…?"

"No," Mason said. "Let's put Mr. Huntley L. Banner to the test and see just how he works."

There was a period of tense, expectant silence. Then the telephone rang and Della Street, picking it up, said, "Mr. Banner again."

Mason picked up his own telephone, said, "Yes, Banner."

"I got my client on the phone, Mason. I put the situation up to him just as you had put it up to me. I told him that you weren't satisfied with the best offer he had authorized me to make, that you were a fighter and you didn't want to do any horse trading. I told him that if that was his top offer to let me know and we'd prepare to go ahead and fight, that if he wanted to make any higher offer under the circumstances to tell me what it was and to give me his top figure."

"And what happened?" Mason asked.

"Well, when he found that you were going to be representing his wife he thought the matter over and told me that he'd been giving the whole thing quite a bit of consideration, that he was prepared to make a figure that would be his top figure and that you could either accept it or reject it, that it was as high as he was going to go."

"How much was it?" Mason asked.

"It was a rather substantial increase," Banner said. "Frankly, I was very much surprised, Mr. Mason."

"How much was it?" Mason asked.

"One hundred thousand dollars, payable at the rate of ten thousand dollars a year for ten years plus fifty thousand in his will," Banner said. "And that really knocked me off the Christmas tree because he had told me yesterday that fifty thousand dollars was as high as he would go, no matter what happened."

"You're sure your figures are correct now?" Mason asked.

"Yes."

"You were talking with Hastings?"

"Yes."

"No question about it?" Mason said. "There won't be any backing up or any question that you didn't recognize his voice or were talking with someone else?"

"Look here, Mason, I'm an ethical attorney. I don't do business that way. I've been doing Mr. Hastings' business for some time now. I know his voice and I was talking with Mr. Hastings personally, and that's his top offer. Now, do you want it or not?"

Mason said, "Congratulations on the neatest trick of the week, Banner."

"What do you mean?" Banner asked.

"Your client," Mason said, "has been dead for more than twenty-four hours."

During the silence at the other end of the line, Mason hung up.

Della Street's telephone suddenly exploded into a series of short, sharp rings, Gertie's signal that a police officer had entered the outer office and was on his way in without waiting to be announced.

Mason said to Adelle Hastings, "Here it comes. Get ready."

The door of the inner office opened abruptly and Lt. Tragg stood in the doorway surveying the occupants of the office with skeptical eyes.

"I take it you're Mrs. Garvin S. Hastings," he said, tilt ing his black hat slightly, studying the shaken client.

"Come in and sit down, Lieutenant," Mason said, "and there's no need leading up to a dramatic period of questioning in which you try to get Mrs. Hastings to betray herself. She knows now that her husband is dead. She received a telephone call from her husband's office manager just a few minutes ago. He advised her that her husband had been shot, and had evidently been dead for some time. He also advised her he was notifying the police. She told him to tell the police she was here."

"So then you called me with this story about the gun and the lost bag?" Tragg asked, his shrewd eyes suddenly shifting from Adelle Hastings to Perry Mason.

"This call," Mason said, "was after I had notified you about the bag."

"How long after?"

"Several minutes."

"And I take it you have witnesses to prove it."

"I certainly do. I hope you kept a record of the time my call came in."

"Pretty shrewd," Tragg said thoughtfully, as though talking to himself. "Pretty damned shrewd!"

He suddenly shifted his eyes to Adelle Hastings. "All right, Mrs. Hastings, you now know your husband is dead. You know that he's been shot. Do you know that the shots were fired from the gun that was in your purse?"

"No."

"But you weren't too surprised to learn he had been murdered?"

"I was… I was shocked."

"Mr. Mason tells me that you lost your handbag or it was stolen."

"It was stolen."

"Where?"

"In Los Angeles. It was stolen from the seat of my automobile. I ran in to a drugstore just long enough to get a package of cigarettes and-Heavens, I didn't have my back turned on the automobile for more than thirty seconds. Someone just grabbed my purse."