“Take it, Donald. She’s nuts, too!”
I took the telephone, said, “Lam talking, Miss Rushe.”
Georgia Rushe poured words into the telephone with such rapidity that it was difficult to understand them. It was a steady stream of almost hysterical sound.
“I want you to call everything off, Mr. Lam. I want you to stop it. Don’t do another thing. Let it go just as it is. I’m sorry I ever started it. I didn’t realize what it would lead to or I wouldn’t have done so. And don’t worry about the two hundred dollars. Simply keep that and forget about the whole thing. Only don’t... don’t under any circumstances ever let on that I employed you to do anything. And please, please stop everything right now. Don’t do another bit of work. Just stop whatever you’re doing. Quit the whole business.”
“May I ask why you’ve reached this decision, Miss Rushe?”
“I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you a thing in the world about it. I don’t have time to discuss things. I don’t want to. Just let it go, please.”
I said, “Perhaps you’d better come into the office personally and confirm these instructions.”
“You don’t need them confirmed. They’re all right. You do just as I tell you. Surely it doesn’t need any signature before a notary public to tell you to quit work. What’s the matter with you people! What are you trying to do, anyway? Just quit it. I tell you I want you to stop. Don’t do another thing. Just forget the whole business. Keep the money. Stop right there.”
She was keying herself up to an hysterical pitch.
“But, Miss Rushe, we’re just beginning to get some really valuable information. We’re getting...”
“That’s what I was afraid of. That’s why I want you to stop. Stop right now. I don’t want anything more. I’m... I’m going away. I’m... I’m not going to be here. You won’t see me again — ever.”
I heard the sound of a choking sob at the other end of the line, and then abruptly the receiver was hung up.
I dropped my receiver back into the cradle.
“What do you make of it?” Bertha asked.
I looked at Bertha gravely and said, “As nearly as I can make anything of it, she wants us to quit working on the case.”
Red blood flushed into Bertha’s face. “Damn it! Don’t you think I can understand the English language? I know what she said. I was asking you what you made of it. At times you’re the most despicable little...”
A timid knock sounded on the door.
“Mysgart,” I said.
Bertha gave me a final glare, then put on her best receiving-a-client smile and said, “After all, the son-of-a-bitch is making money for us. Come in.”
Mysgart opened the door almost apologetically. The way he moved into the room was an indication of the pussy-footing tactics in which he was indulging. The feet unconsciously adjusted themselves to the man’s mental processes. He all but tiptoed over to the client’s chair. “Mr. Lam,” he said, “I think that if you could make that one thousand dollars we could effect a settlement.”
I looked at my watch and grinned at him. “You’re just two minutes too late.”
“What do you mean?”
I said, “I mean, Mrs. Cool and I have just received a very unpleasant jolt. A very important case on which we were working has been canceled.”
“A big case?” he asked.
“It was a small case,” I said, “as cases start. But it was leading to something big, very big.”
Mysgart scratched his nose with his mustache.
I said, “Under the circumstances, I don’t see how we can even contribute five hundred dollars toward a settlement. I’m afraid we’ll have to just let the thing take its course.”
“Oh, but you can’t do that! You can’t do that! I’ve already made the settlement!”
“On the basis of a thousand dollars?” I asked.
“Just a minute,” he said. He came up out of the client’s chair with a rush. “Just a minute now. Don’t go away! Just a minute now!”
He was out through the door like a fleeting shadow.
Bertha looked at me and said, “Whatever Georgia Rushe said over the telephone doesn’t affect the job we are doing for Mr. Crail.”
I said breezily, “Well, let’s not be narrow-minded about it — particularly when we’re dealing with an automobile lawyer.”
Bertha batted her eyes at me, said suddenly, “I love you, you little bastard. I have the greatest admiration for the thinking machine that’s back of your eyes — and you make me so goddamn mad I could kill you a dozen times a day. You...”
Mysgart’s timid little knock sounded on the door, and this time he didn’t wait for an invitation to enter, but having made the knock as a matter of formality, he twisted the knob, opened the door just far enough to accommodate his pudgy body, and slipped into the room, closing the door silently behind him. He was nodding his head. His lips were smiling, but his eyes were dubiously apprehensive.
“It’s all right. I’ve got it fixed. It’s all settled. My congratulations to both of you. You’ve worked out a very fine settlement. You’ve extricated yourselves from a very precarious position. It’s all right. Five hundred dollars will do it. I’ve explained to the parties that the cash will be immediately forthcoming.”
I said, “Mrs. Cool will want releases signed by Mr. Lidfield, Mrs. Lidfield, and Esther Witson.”
“She shall have them. I’ve taken the liberty of asking your secretary to type out a release from Esther Witson, Mrs. Cool; and Mr. Glimson has the releases all signed by Mrs. Lidfield and Mr. Lidfield.”
“Where did he get Mrs. Lidfield’s signature?” Bertha asked suspiciously.
“Glimson had a signed release with him, the consideration, of course, being blank.”
Bertha pushed back her chair an inch or two. “Do you mean the son-of-a-bitch came up here and put on that act for the sole purpose of blackmailing me into a settlement? You mean that he had the signed release in his brief case all the time he...”
Mysgart held up a pudgy hand. “Just a moment, Mrs. Cool. Just a moment. Calm yourself, please! I beg of you, don’t get all excited. It’s not entirely an unusual situation. An attorney secures a written Power of Attorney from a client to effect a settlement, then has the client sign a release, the attorney being given a certain leeway, a certain discretion. That’s so that when all of the parties are together and are in a mood for settlement, a prompt settlement can be put through without the necessity of a lot of delay which sometimes leads to complications. I can assure you that it’s not at all unusual, Mrs. Cool. I’ve even done it myself!”
I said to Bertha Cool, “Make out a check to John Carver Mysgart, attorney for Esther Witson; and Cosgate & Glimson, attorneys for Mr. & Mrs. Rolland Lidfield, in an amount of five hundred dollars.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bertha said. “I make out a check to the Lidfields and to Esther Witson, and I turn it over when I get the release and not before.”
Mysgart coughed.
I said to Bertha, “No soap, Bertha. You’re dealing with a couple of automobile lawyers.”
“What the hell do you mean?” Bertha asked.
I said, “It’s a matter of professional courtesy to make the check payable to the lawyer rather than the client.”
“Then what protects me?”
“The release of the client,” Mysgart interposed, smiling gratefully at me. “You have the signed release of the client, a release which will be ample in form, Mrs. Cool, releasing you from all claims of any sort, nature, or description from the beginning of the world to the date hereof.”
“From the beginning of the world?” Bertha said.
Mysgart’s bald head reflected the light as he nodded vehemently. “A legal form, Mrs. Cool, a safeguard.”