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Mason frowned. “Darn it, Paul. You kick the props out from under me just when I’m showing off to my secretary. Why the hell couldn’t you have waited a half hour with that information?”

“Well,” Drake said cheerfully, “that’s the way with theories. You form them, and they get upset.”

“But everything in this pointed absolutely to one logical conclusion,” Mason said. “It just doesn’t fit in to have those fingerprints belong to young Gentrie.”

“Well, they’re his prints all right. Keep it under your hat. I got a straight tip from one of the newspaper boys. Tragg isn’t saying anything. The newspaper guys got it straight from the fingerprint man in the D.A.’s office, but had to promise not to use it until he got a release. Apparently, Tragg’s going to give the boy a little rope and see if he’ll get himself tangled up.”

“Okay,” Mason said, “keep me posted, Paul.” He dropped the receiver into place, looked at Della Street, and shook his head. “The darn thing just doesn’t fit.”

“They’re Junior’s fingerprints?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Then the message must have been for him.”

Mason pushed his hands down deep in his pockets. “That is what comes of sticking my neck out,” he announced.

Chapter 8

The strident bell summoned Perry Mason from the depths of slumber. While his drugged senses were still trying to adjust themselves, his hand automatically reached for the telephone. He said thickly, “Hello.”

Only Della Street and Paul Drake had the number of that telephone which was by Mason’s bedside, a telephone which rang only in cases of grave emergency.

Paul Drake was on the line. “Hello, Perry,” he said. “Sorry to bust in on your slumbers, but snap awake, because this is important.”

“All right,” Mason said, “I can take it. What is it?”

“Remember,” Drake said, “the evening paper mentioned that you were working on the case and that you had employed the Drake Detective Agency to make an investigation?”

“Yes,” Mason said, switching on a light.

“Well, she read the paper and called me up.”

“Who did?”

“I’m coming to that in a minute. I want to make certain you’re awake before I give you this.”

Mason said impatiently, “I’m awake all right. I’ve got the light on. What is it?”

“Mrs. Sarah Perlin, Hocksley’s housekeeper, telephoned the office and said that if she could talk with Mr. Mason personally, she’d make a complete confession. She wanted to know where she could reach you. What do I do?”

“A complete confession?” Mason asked.

“Yes.”

“Where is she?”

“Waiting on one of the other trunk lines.”

“Trace the call?” Mason asked.

“Yes. It’s from a public pay station. I didn’t know what to do. I thought I’d get in touch with you and let you be the goat. If we don’t relay the information on to the police and try to hold her there until a radio car can get on the job, we’re sticking our necks out. But, on the other hand...”

“Tell her to call this number,” Mason said. “Tell her she can talk with me here.”

“And how about the police?”

“Forget ’em.”

“Okay,” Drake said, “I’m stalling her along on the other line. Hold the phone, Perry, until I see if she’s still on the line.”

Mason held the telephone, hearing only the slight buzzing sound of the wire. Then he heard Drake’s voice once more. “Okay, Perry, she says she’ll call you in twenty minutes. She thinks I was having the call traced and notifying the police. She says she’ll go to another pay station. She says if I’ve notified the police, it won’t do a bit of good, that you’re the only one she’ll talk with.”

“Said she’d call in about twenty minutes?” Mason asked.

“That’s right.”

“Okay, Paul. What are you doing up at the office this time of night?”

“No rest for the wicked,” Drake said wearily. “A lot of stuff has been coming in. I’m up here sifting the reports, and juggling the men around on new assignments. I was just ready to quit.”

“What time is it?”

“About one o’clock.”

“How did that woman sound on the telephone, Paul?”

“She didn’t seem particularly excited. She has a good speaking voice.”

“But she said she was going to make a confession?”

“That’s right. I guess that’ll crack the whole case. The way the police figured it out, there was only one shot. Two people had disappeared. That meant Hocksley had killed his housekeeper, removed the body, and was in hiding, or that she had killed him.”

Mason said, “In that latter event, I think there was an accomplice. She didn’t give you any inkling of who it was, did she?”

“No, not a thing. Just said that if she could talk with Mr. Mason personally, she’d make a complete confession. Otherwise, there was no dice.”

“Better stick around,” Mason said, “in case I need you.”

“For how long?”

“Oh, until I tell you to quit.”

Drake said, “Okay, there’s a couch here in the office. I’ll bed down on that, and the night operator will call me in case you phone in.”

“Hate to bust up your sleep,” Mason apologized.

“Oh, it’s all right. I’m used to that.”

“Okay,” Mason said, “I’ll give you a ring.”

He hung up the telephone, stretched, yawned, got out of bed, closed the windows in the room, dressed, and was smoking a cigarette when his telephone rang.

Mason picked up the receiver, said, “This is Perry Mason talking,” and heard a low voice saying in a tone of calm finality, “This is Mrs. Perlin. It’s all over. I’ve decided to confess.”

“Yes, Mrs. Perlin.”

“Don’t try to have this call traced.”

“I won’t.”

“It won’t do you any good if you do try.”

“I tell you I won’t try.”

“I want to talk with you. I must talk with you.”

“Go ahead. You’re talking with me now,” Mason said.

“Not this way. I want to be where our conversation can be absolutely confidential.”

Mason said, “Do you want to come here?”

“No. You’ll have to come to me.”

“Where are you?”

“You promise you won’t notify the police?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll come alone?”

“Yes.”

“How soon?”

“As soon as I can make it. That’s on the understanding that you’re going to play absolutely fair with me and will make a frank statement.”

She said, “Come to six-o-four East Hillgrade Avenue. Don’t park your car directly in front of the house. Leave it half a block down the hill. Don’t go to the front door. It will be locked, and I won’t answer the bell. Go around to the garage in the back of the house. Wait there until you see a light turned on in the house. When you see that light turned on, go in through the back door. It will be open and unlocked. Be certain you come alone and don’t try to tip the police off.”

Mason said, “It will take me fifteen or twenty minutes to get there.”

“That’s all right, only remember to do just as I told you.”

Mason said, “That’s all very well, Mrs. Perlin, but I certainly can’t go chasing around at night simply on the strength of a telephone conversation with a woman who says she has something confidential to tell me.”

“You understand who this is talking, don’t you?”

“Mr. Hocksley’s housekeeper?”

“Yes. I’m going to tell you the truth. I want someone in whom I can confide.”

Mason, trying to draw her out, said, “That’s all rather vague, Mrs. Perlin.”