“In other words, Drake finds himself in a spot,” Mason said.
“Exactly,” she said.
“What did he do?”
“He told the police that he thought the car had been involved in an accident of some sort, that a client of his had telephoned in asking him to check the ownership, that he expected the client to call back again in a short time, and at that time Drake would tell the client to report to the police at once.”
“The police are satisfied with that?” Mason asked.
“They’re not satisfied,” she said. “They’re accepting it temporarily because they have to. Drake told me he’s had trouble enough with the police because of things he’s had to do for you in the past, and he doesn’t want any more.”
Ansley said, “Good heavens! I don’t want to have it known that I was out there at Borden’s. Can’t we—?”
Mason said to Della Street, “Call Paul Drake, tell him he can tell the police that the client he’s working for is Perry Mason, that Mason is going to call in after a while, and Drake will tell Mason to report to police everything he knows about the car. That will put Paul Drake in the clear.”
“Where will that leave you?” Della Street asked.
“I’ll be all right,” Mason said. “I’ll report to the police where the car is, but I won’t tell them the name of my client. I’ll simply state that I happen to know the car tried to turn into the driveway and was going at too fast a speed and rolled over.”
“That wasn’t what happened,” Ansley reminded Mason. “She was dodging something in the road.”
“That’s what she told you,” Mason said. “Now let’s think a little more about that woman who was driving the car. We were talking about shoes. What sort of heels?”
Ansley said thoughtfully, “You suggested she must have been wearing high heels. She wasn’t. The shoes were— Say, wait a minute. She must have— She couldn’t have changed shoes!”
Mason’s eyes were level-lidded. “Go on,” he said.
“Why, I remember now. I saw one of the shoes when she was lying unconscious. When she got out of the automobile, they weren’t the same kind of shoes.”
“What do you mean?”
“When she was lying there I saw... let’s see, I guess it was the right shoe. It was open at the end. You know, open over the end of the toe. But when she got out of the car, her shoes were solid over the toe. She couldn’t have had one shoe on one foot and another on another foot, and yet she couldn’t have changed shoes. She—”
Mason pushed back his chair from the table. “Come on,” he said, “we’re going out and take a look at that car.”
“At the car?”
“Sure,” Mason said. “There were two women.”
“What!”
“One woman was lying there unconscious,” Mason went on. “You saw her, then you started running toward the house and yelling for help. The other girl didn’t want that. She must have dragged the unconscious girl to one side, taken her place, assumed the same position of the other girl, then called out for help. When you came back, she gave you just enough of a glimpse so that you would see she was lying in the same position the other person had been. Then she scrambled to her feet, said she was all right, told you she’d been driving the car by herself and asked you to take her home... You said you didn’t see her driving license, didn’t you?”
“That’s right. I remember she laughingly said something about the fact that it was only when people were formal that they were supposed to show their driving licenses and all that, but that we were getting along informally.”
“And she let you kiss her in order to show that it was informal. I take it, it was an informal kiss?”
“Well,” Ansley admitted, “it distracted my attention from such things as her driving license.”
“Come on,” Mason told him. “Let’s go. I want to see how deep you’re into this thing before I start cutting any corners.
“Della, ring up Paul Drake. Tell him he can tell the police I am the one who made the inquiry, but have him tell the police that he doesn’t know where I can be reached. That will be technically true.
“I’ll be getting the car while you’re phoning, and we’ll run out there and take a look at the situation.”
“Then what?” Ansley asked anxiously.
“If that other young woman isn’t hurt too badly,” Mason said, “you may be able to keep from reporting the accident. If, as I rather suspect may be the case, we find another woman rather badly injured, we’re going to have to do some tall explaining and you’re going to have to answer a lot of questions.”
Chapter Three
The drizzle which had been intermittent during the late afternoon and early evening had settled into a cold, steady rain by the time Mason’s headlights picked up the entrance to Meridith Borden’s grounds.
“Here you are,” Ansley said. “It happened right here. Right inside the gate there. If you’ll stop right here, you can see the gap in the hedge.”
Mason braked his car to a stop, opened the glove compartment and took out a flashlight.
“Now, we’re not going to get caught prowling in the grounds,” Mason said. “The first thing is to find out whether my suspicions are correct. If they are, we’ll take a quick look for this other young woman who was a passenger in the automobile. If we don’t spot her right away, we’ll go to Borden’s house and then you’ll have to notify the police. Do you know much about Meridith Borden?”
“Only his reputation and what little I know from talking with him,” Ansley said.
Mason said, “He’s supposed to have lots of enemies. This wall topped by broken glass and barbed wire is rather eloquent in itself. I understand that at a certain hour electrically controlled gates are swung shut. Moreover, savage watchdogs can be released to patrol the grounds in case of any alarm. Now, let’s stay together, carry on an organized search in an orderly manner and get out of here. First let’s take a look at the car. You can show us that.”
“The car’s right over here, Mr. Mason, through this gap in the hedge.”
Mason said to Della Street, “Perhaps you’d better stay in the car, Della. This is going to be wet and muddy and—”
She shook her head emphatically. “You’ll need witnesses if you find anything, and if it’s a woman, you’ll want me along.” She slid across the seat and out of the car.
Ansley led the way through the gate toward the overturned automobile. Mason directed the beam of his flashlight on the pathway, pausing to help Della Street through the tangled, wet, broken branches of the hedge.
“We’ll give the place one quick going over,” Mason said, “and then we’ll know what to do. Where was this young woman lying, Ansley?”
“Right over here on the other side of the car — around this way.”
Mason played the beam of the flashlight along the ground.
Abruptly Della Street said, “Someone with heels did a lot of walking around here, Chief.”
“Yes,” Mason said, “and you can see over here where she was dragging something. She braced herself. Look at those heel marks. She was digging in with her heels.”
“Then there were two women,” Ansley said.