"Yeah?" he asked.
"I am Perry Mason," the lawyer said. "I have an appointment with George Winlock."
"C'mon in," the young man said.
Mason followed him into a reception hallway. The young man gestured toward a door on the right. "George," he yelled. "C'mon down."
He turned to Mason and said, "Go on in there."
Having said that, the young man turned his back, walked through a curtained doorway and disappeared.
Mason went through the door indicated and found himself in a large room which was evidently used for entertaining purposes. In addition to the arrangement of chairs around the table in the center of the room and in front of the fireplace, there were enough chairs along the sides to seat a dozen guests.
Mason was standing, looking around, when a tall, thin individual in the early fifties, wearing dark glasses entered the room. He came forward with an air of quiet dignity, extended his hand and said, "How do you do, Mr. Mason? I'm George Winlock."
Mason shook hands and said, "I'm sorry to disturb you outside of office hours but it is a matter which I considered to be of some importance."
"I would certainly trust your judgment as to the importance of the matter," Winlock said.
Mason studied the man thoughtfully. "The matter is personal and it's rather embarrassing for me to bring it up."
"Under those circumstances," Winlock said, "if you will be seated right here in this chair, Mr. Mason, I'll take this one and we'll start right in without any preliminaries. I have an appointment later on and my experience has been that those things which may prove embarrassing are best disposed of by going right to the heart of the matter and not beating around the bush."
Mason said, "Before seeking this interview, Mr. Winlock, I tried to find out something about your background."
"That," Winlock said, "would be simply a matter of good business judgment. I frequently do the same thing. If I am going to submit a proposition to someone, I like to know something about his background, his likes and dislikes."
"And," Mason went on, "I found you had enjoyed a very successful career here in Riverside over the past fourteen years."
Winlock merely inclined his head in a grave gesture of dignified assent.
"But," Mason said, "I couldn't find out anything at all about you before you came to Riverside."
Winlock said quietly, "I have been here for fourteen years, Mr. Mason. I think that if you have any business matter to take up with me, you can certainly find out enough about me in connection with my activities over that period to enable you to form a pretty good impression as to my likes and dislikes and my tastes."
"That is quite true," Mason said, "but the matter that I have to take up with you is such that I would have liked to have known about your earlier background."
"Perhaps if you'll tell me what the matter is," Winlock said, "it won't be necessary to take up so much of the limited time at our disposal searching into my background."
"Very well," Mason said. "Do you know a Dianne Alder?"
"Alder, Alder," Winlock said, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "Now, it's difficult to answer that question, Mr. Mason, because my business interests are very complex and I have quite an involved social life here. I don't have too good a memory for names, offhand, and usually when a matter of that sort comes up I have to refer the inquiry to my secretary who keeps an alphabetical list of names that are important to me… May I ask if this person you mention, this Dianne Alder, is a client of yours?"
"She is," Mason said.
"An interest which pivots about the affairs of some other client?" Winlock asked.
Mason laughed and said, "Now you're cross-examining me, Mr. Winlock."
"Is there any reason why I shouldn't?"
"If you are not acquainted with Dianne Alder, there is no reason why you should," Mason said.
"And if I am acquainted with this person?"
"Then," Mason said, "a great deal depends upon the nature of that knowledge-or, to put it another way, on the measure of the association."
"Are you implying in any way that there has been an undue intimacy?" Winlock asked coldly.
"I am not implying any such thing," Mason said. "I am simply trying to get a plain answer to a simple question as to whether you know Dianne Alder."
"I'm afraid I'm not in a position to answer that question definitely at the moment, Mason. I might be able to let you know later on."
"Put it this way," Mason said. "The name means nothing to you at this time? You wouldn't know whether you were acquainted with her unless you had your secretary look it up on an alphabetical index?"
"I didn't exactly say that," Winlock said. "I told you generally something about my background in regard to people and names and then I asked you some questions which I consider very pertinent as to the nature and extent of your interest in ascertaining my knowledge or lack of it as far as the party in question is concerned."
"All right," Mason said, "I'll stop sparring with you, Mr. Winlock, and start putting cards on the table. Dianne Alder's father disappeared fourteen years ago. He was presumed to have been drowned. Now then, is there any possibility that prior to the time you came to Riverside there was a period in your life where you suffered from amnesia? Is it possible that, as a result of some injury or otherwise, you are not able to recall the circumstances of your life prior to arriving in Riverside? Is it possible that you could have had a family and perhaps a daughter and that your memory has become a blank as to such matters?
"Now, I am putting that in the form of a question, Mr. Winlock. I am not making it as a statement, I am not making it as an accusation, I am not making it as a suggestion. I am simply putting it in the form of a question because I am interested in the answer. If the answer is no, then the interview is terminated as far as I am concerned."
"You are acting upon the assumption that Dianne Alder may be my natural daughter?" Winlock asked.
"I am making no such statement, no such suggestion, and am acting upon no such assumption," Mason said. "I am simply asking you if, prior to the time you arrived in Riverside, there is any possibility that there is a hiatus in your memory due to amnesia, traumatic or otherwise."
Winlock got to his feet. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Mason, but there is no hiatus in my memory. I have never been bothered with amnesia and I remember my past life perfectly in all its details.
"I believe that answers your question, and, as you remarked, an answer of this sort would terminate the interview as far as you are concerned."
"That is quite correct," Mason said, getting to his feet. "I just wanted to be certain, that's all."
"And may I ask why you came to me with this question?" Winlock asked, as he started escorting Mason to the door.
"Because," Mason said, "if there had been any possibility of such a situation existing, I might have been in a position to have spared you a great deal of embarrassment and trouble."
"I see," Winlock said, hesitating somewhat in his stride.
Mason stopped, faced the other man. "One more question," he said. "Do you know a Harrison T. Boring who is at the moment registered in Unit io at the Restawhile Motel?"
"Boring… Boring," Winlock said, frowning. "Now, there again, Mr. Mason, I'm going to have to point out to you that one of my pet peeves is having someone pull a name out of a hat and say, "Do you know this person or that person?" My business affairs are rather complex and-"
"I know, I know," Mason interrupted, "and your social life is not by any means simple. Buf if you know Harrison T. Boring in the way that you would know him if my surmise is correct, you wouldn't need to ask your secretary to look up his name on an alphabetical list."