They heard the sound of the cane, of steps, and Barton Jennings stood in the doorway.
“Barton,” she said, “Norda has shown up with Perry Mason, the attorney, and this is Miss Della Street, his secretary.”
Barton’s face showed a flash of surprise, then he bowed gravely to Della Street, shook hands with Perry Mason, said, “Well, Lorraine, what’s holding us up? Invite them in. Have you folks had breakfast?”
Lorraine hesitated, then stood to one side. “Yes,” she said, “do come in. What about breakfast, Norda?”
“I’ve had breakfast,” Norda said shortly.
“And so have we,” Mason said. “I want to talk to you about a rather serious matter. I am at the moment representing Miss Allison, and something happened early this morning which disturbed her greatly. I would like to discuss it, but I want you to understand that I am an attorney and that I’m representing Miss Allison. If you care to have any attorney of your own here, I would suggest you get in touch with him, or you can refer me to your attorney. But there are certain things which should be explained.”
“Well, for heaven’s sake!” Lorraine Jennings said. “I never heard of any such thing in my life! What in the world are you talking about? Norda, what is this?”
Norda said, “It’s something I found, Lorraine. It proves exactly what you were trying to do... what—”
“Just a minute,” Mason said. “Let me handle this, if you will, please, Miss Allison. And I suggest we all go inside.”
“Well, I’d certainly like to know what happened,” Lorraine said, leading the way into a living room. “I knew Norda was a little worried about seeing my lawyer, but there was no reason for her getting a lawyer of her own. If she didn’t want to co-operate with me, all she had to do was to say so. But since she has you here, Mr. Mason, I can explain exactly what I plan to do.
“Please do sit down and let’s try and get this situation unscrambled. I’ve never been so absolutely bewildered in my life. I went up to Norda’s room and found she’d left... As I told you, Barton’s bad knee started bothering him in the night and he took codeine. And I took some too because by that time he had me wide awake, what with his twisting and turning, putting on hot compresses. I didn’t even hear him when he got up to take Robert and the dog out to the place where the boys were to meet at five o’clock this morning, and... well, I guess we owe you an apology, Norda. After Barton returned we slept pretty late. We’re usually up and have breakfast a lot earlier. What in the world possessed you to leave, and when did you leave? If you were hungry, why didn’t you just go out in the kitchen and look in the icebox? We had fruit juice, eggs—”
“Never mind that,” Norda said. “Something happened which upset me.”
“I think,” Barton Jennings said to Mason, “you’d better start talking, Mr. Mason.”
“Would you care to be represented by counsel?” Mason asked.
“Heavens no!” Jennings said impatiently. “We’ve tried to accommodate Norda Allison. My wife wanted to do her a favor. We know something of what she’s been going through — that is, at least Lorraine does. Now, if you have anything to say, please go ahead and say it.”
Mason said, “Did you know Miss Allison had been getting offensive matter in stamped envelopes which had been addressed by a small, hand printing press? The letters containing clippings of—”
“Of course, we did,” Lorraine interrupted. “That’s one of the reasons I had Norda come down here. Mervin Selkirk was bombarding her with those clippings, trying to frighten her — the poor child, I know exactly what she went through. Mervin can be the most—”
Barton Jennings interrupted his wife to say, “Just a moment, Lorraine. Let’s let Mr. Mason tell us what he has in his mind.”
Mason said, “I believe you know Miss Allison’s address on those envelopes had been printed on a small hand press, Mrs. Jennings?”
“Of course I did. I’m the one who suggested to Norda that she check on a small printing press I had given my son, Robert. As I understand it, the postal authorities got hold of that press and checked it, but the envelopes couldn’t have been printed on that press — the type wasn’t the same.”
Mason nodded gravely and said, “Miss Allison was restless this morning. She got up early, walked out in the patio and then went into a rumpus room. There’s a storage room down below. She took the stairs down to the storage room.”
“The old basement,” Lorraine interposed.
“I suppose I had no right to,” Norda apologized. “However, something happened which led me to think... I mean...”
“Norda, please,” Lorraine interrupted. “You’re our house guest. I don’t suppose it’s particularly usual for a house guest to get up early in the morning and go exploring, but you were our guest and I told you to make yourself at home. If you wanted to look around, it was quite all right. What in the world are you leading up to?”
“Simply,” Mason said, “that in the basement Miss Allison found the printing press on which she believes those envelopes had been printed. She found some of the envelopes with the address on them, and her name and address were all set up in type in the printing press. Moreover, the press showed evidence of having been recently used. There was, I believe, printer’s ink glistening on the steel table over which the rollers operate.”
Barton Jennings motioned his wife to silence. “Just a minute, Mr. Mason. You say that Norda claims she found that in this house?”
Mason nodded.
“Well,” Barton said, “that’s very easily solved. First, we’ll go take a look at that printing press and then we’ll try and determine where it came from.”
“I want to warn you,” Mason said, “that that printing press is evidence. I suggest that no one touch it. Miss Allison will show you where it is, but as soon as we have done that, I intend to call the authorities.”
“You intend to?” Barton Jennings said. “What about us? We want to get at the bottom of this thing just as much as you do.”
Lorraine Jennings arose, looked at Norda, and for the first time there was angry exasperation on her face. “Norda,” she said, “if you found anything, why didn’t you come to us? Are you absolutely certain you found what you said you did?”
“Of course I am!” Norda snapped. “I found a whole package of envelopes waiting to be used. I know now where those clippings came from. You pretended to—”
“Just a moment, just a moment,” Mason interrupted. “I think Mr. Jennings and I understand the situation. It’s going to be advisable for all of us to withhold comments until after we’ve appraised the evidence and called the officers. Now let’s go take a look at that press. Will you lead the way, Miss Allison?”
“I suppose there’s a shorter way,” Norda said. “I went around the back, and...”
“Just go right through the kitchen,” Lorraine said.
“Follow me,” Barton Jennings said, stepping quickly forward, then grimacing with pain. “I guess you’d better do the honors, Lorraine. I forgot about the knee for the moment.”
“This way,” Lorraine said, and stalked across the living room, through the dining room. She flung open the door of the kitchen, crossed it and stood on the stairs leading to the rumpus room.
“Now where, Norda?” she asked.
“Down the stairs,” Norda said, “then into the basement storeroom. It’s just under the big shelf to the left of the stairs.”
“It’s going to be a little crowded for all of us to get down there,” Jennings pointed out. “Why don’t you and Mr. Mason go down, Lorraine? Norda can stand at the head of the stairs and direct you.”