“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 Ups, 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 Albert 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.