“How come?” Mason asked.
“Tracks of a woman’s heels on both sides of the wall,” Drake said, “and the way the police have it worked out, it would have taken a minimum of three people to have scaled the wall. Two people could hardly have done it. A man could have boosted a woman up to the top of the wall, but she couldn’t have pulled him up by herself. However, she could have given an assist to another man who was also being helped up from the ground.”
“All very interesting,” Mason said.
“I thought you might find it quite interesting,” Drake observed. “Under the circumstances, the police are naturally taking quite an interest in the stolen car which was found overturned on the grounds.”
“When did they find the car, by the way?” Mason asked.
“Not until this morning. Police telephoned Borden last night to see if any such car was in the grounds, but there was no answer on Borden’s telephone. They sent a squad car out, and, since the gates were closed and the place locked up for the night, they decided to let it wait until morning.”
“Any indication as to the identity of the people who were in Borden’s grounds last night, Paul?”
“Not yet, Perry. At least, if the police have any evidence, they’re not releasing it. Doubtless you’ll receive a visit from members of the Homicide Squad this morning. They’ll want to ask you more about the client who reported the stolen car careening off the highway.”
“Well,” Mason said, “that starts the day off with a bang, Paul. I was afraid I was going to be up against a routine morning of answering mail. Thanks for telling me.”
“You want me to do anything?” Paul Drake asked.
“Just keep quiet,” Mason said.
“I mean along investigative lines.”
Mason stretched back in his chair and yawned. “I had met Meridith Borden a couple of times, and, of course, I’m sorry to learn of his tragic demise. But the mere fact that a client reported seeing a car swerve and go out of control into the Borden driveway doesn’t give me any interest in the Borden murder.”
Drake’s face showed unmistakable relief. “Well, thank heavens for that! I was afraid you’d become mixed up in something that could prove embarrassing. There’s no chance you, Della and your mysterious client were climbing over Borden’s wall last night, is there?”
Mason threw back his head and laughed. “You do a lot of worrying, Paul. What put that idea into your head?”
“The curve of the driveway,” Drake said dryly, “is such that a person following a car along the highway might have seen the car swerve into the Borden driveway, but couldn’t possibly have seen the car crash through the hedge and then roll over — not without stopping the car, backing up and then walking along the driveway to investigate. There’s evidence that quite a number of people were leaving tracks around the Borden driveway. Or, let me put it this way, there’s evidence that some people left a lot of tracks. There must have been quite a bit of nocturnal activity, probably prior to eleven o’clock, when the gates were automatically closed by this timing device.”
“I see,” Mason said thoughtfully.
“And,” Drake went on, “in view of the fact that the police are now investigating a murder which may have taken place between nine and eleven o’clock last night, it might be very embarrassing for you to with-hold information or to make some statement which you might have to amend at a later date.”
“Thanks for the tip, Paul.”
“Not at all,” Drake said. “You’re sure you don’t want me to do anything — any investigative work?”
“Not now,” Mason said.
“Okay. Keep your nose clean,” Drake told him, and, heaving his long length from the overstuffed chair, started for the door, paused, looked speculatively at Mason and said, “You know, the police are pretty thorough, Perry. There are times when you think they do dumb things, but once they start after something, they sure as hell keep after it.”
“Well?” Mason asked.
“You and Della went out to dinner,” Drake said. “I saw you when you left the office building. You were wearing a brown, double-breasted business suit. Della Street had on a dark-blue tailored suit with white trim. When you came into my office to report that an automobile had skidded into Borden’s driveway, you were wearing different clothes.”
“Do you always notice things like that?” Della Street asked.
“It’s my business,” Paul said. “The point is, Perry, that the police, as I have said, aren’t dumb. The fact that they haven’t called on you this morning may be because they’re digging out some facts to work with. They may have found some bits of clothing or some threads stuck to the barbed wires or the broken glass on the Borden wall. It would be just like the police to check on where you had dinner last night, to ask some of the waiters who know you how you were dressed, and then call on you this morning and ask if you’d have any objection to producing the clothes you were wearing last night.”
“Why should I have any objection?” Mason asked.
“There might be some significant tears in the cloth.”
“And if there were?”
“They might match threads that police found adhering to the barbed wire and the broken glass on top of the wall at Borden’s place.”
“And if they did?”
“You’d have some explaining to do.”
“And if I explained?”
Drake shrugged his shoulders. “It’s up to you, Perry. I’m not telling you how to practice law. I’m telling you what the score is.”
“Thanks,” Mason said. “I’ll let you know if I want anything.”
“Okay,” Drake told him. “Be seeing you.”
As soon as Drake had closed the door, Mason nodded to Della Street. “Get Ansley on the phone.”
Della Street hurried to the phone book, looked up his number, said, “Shall I have Gertie at the switchboard dial him, or—”
Mason shook his head. “Try him on our unlisted line, Della. Perhaps it’s just as well not to let Gertie know anything about this.”
Della Street’s nimble fingers dialed the number. After a moment, she said, “Mr. Ansley, please.”
She cupped her hand over the mouthpiece, said to Perry Mason, “His secretary wants to know who’s calling.”
“Tell her,” Mason said.
Della Street removed her hand, said into the telephone, “It’s Mr. Perry Mason, the attorney, and it’s quite important.”
There was a moment’s silence, then she said, “I see. Will you please tell him when he comes in to get in touch with Mr. Mason, that Mr. Mason would like to have him call at his earliest convenience. And please tell him that it’s a matter of some importance.”
She hung up the phone, turned to Mason. “Ansley isn’t in. He phoned his office that he wouldn’t be in this morning and might not be in all day.”
“Didn’t leave a number where he could be reached?”
Della Street shook her head. “His secretary said he’s undoubtedly out on the job somewhere. There are no phones on those construction projects, and Ansley moves around quite a bit from the jobs to the supply houses. She said that she’d have him call as soon as he came in.”
“All right,” Mason said, “I guess that determines our pattern for the day, Della.”
“What does?” she asked.
“We’re out of the office and may not be in all day. I’ve got to talk with Ansley before I talk with the police.”
“How much time do we have before they develop a clue which will lead them here?” Della Street asked.
“That’s hard to tell,” Mason said. “Remember that my car was parked in front of Borden’s wall for a while last night. Someone may have noticed the license number. Remember that we told the police the stolen car was in Borden’s grounds and that a client had seen it swerve off the road and roll over, a story which is completely impossible because a motorist couldn’t have seen the car after it swerved off the road, and couldn’t have known that it rolled over. Put all of these things together in connection with a murder case, and you can gamble that our friends from the Homicide Squad are working on other clues pointing to me, otherwise they would have been here before this.”