Eden frowned. “I had an idea that he was negotiating some sort of a deal and wanted to avoid publicity until the deal was consummated.”
“Any idea what sort of a deal it was?” Mason asked.
Eden shook his head.
Mason said, “The man had a breezy informality about him. I assume that was his natural manner. Knowing that I was about to file suit against him for fraud, I didn’t want to discuss anything with him. I kept telling him to get an attorney. He told me he didn’t need one, that he could talk with me, and chided me for being something of a stuffed shirt as far as legal ethics were concerned. Frankly he made me feel just a little embarrassed. He had a friendly manner of wanting to talk and get things settled on a man-to-man basis, and I had to adopt the position that I couldn’t discuss things with him unless his attorney was present.”
Eden said, “That was Carson’s way. He’d put on the pressure and keep putting on the pressure. When he wanted something, he just kept boring right in.”
“How did he get out to the house here?” Mason asked. “Did he come by car?”
“I don’t know. There was no car parked here when I arrived except a couple that the newspapermen came in. Then two more press cars followed just behind me.”
Mason said, “One thing is certain, he didn’t walk out here. He either came in a taxicab or someone brought him. If he had someone with him, that person could have driven his car away. Did you come right out here from your office?”
“Actually I didn’t,” Eden said. “A woman phoned me and said she had some information on a piece of property I wanted to buy. She said that if I’d meet her out there in half an hour she’d show me how I could save ten thousand dollars on the deal and if I did that she’d want one thousand dollars as her cut.”
“What did you do?”
“Told her I’d meet her there and listen to what she had to say.”
“Who was she?”
“Wouldn’t give her name, said she was a stranger to me but that she’d be wearing a dark green outfit with a white carnation corsage.”
“Dark green,” Mason said musingly. “That’s where the original mix-up between Vivian Carson and Nadine Palmer took place. They were both wearing dark green. All right, you went out there. Did you meet the woman?”
“No. I waited half an hour. She never did show up.”
Mason frowned. “That delayed you?”
“You might say... although your secretary told me you had one person you had to see before you arrived and I didn’t need to hurry — just so I got here at one.”
“You didn’t see anything of Mrs. Carson when you did get here?”
“No.”
“Did you notice whether her car was there at her side of the house when you arrived?”
“No.”
“Could it have been there without your noticing it?”
“Oh, sure. I had other things to think about. And it could have been in the garage. That’s on her side of the fence.”
Mason regarded him thoughtfully. “Let’s get this time element straight, Eden,” he said. “What time did you actually arrive here?”
“Heavens, I don’t know,” Eden said somewhat irritably. “It was a little before... well maybe a little after one. There’s no use trying to cross-examine me.”
“I’m not cross-examining you,” Mason said. “I’m simply trying to get at the facts. I also want to know when you left your office. The police are going to want all this information pinpointed down to the last minute.”
“Well, I can’t give it to them,” Eden snapped. “I can’t run my business on a stopwatch basis. I don’t know just what time I left where.”
“You were alone?”
“Yes, I went out there to this corner lot I was negotiating for, waited around for this woman in green, then after half an hour or so I decided I couldn’t wait any longer and so drove straight out here.”
“Did you see the knife that was in Carson’s body?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever seen it before?”
“I think I have.”
“Where?”
“I think it’s part of a set; that is, a duplicate of the set that Carson gave me.”
“Carson gave you a set of knives?” Mason asked.
“That’s right,” Eden said. “He completed the house and I gave him his check in final payment and he said he wanted to make me a little present; that he’d put up a magnetic bar for knives by the range in the kitchen. He had a whole set there, starting from small paring knives up to knives for slicing bread, knives for cutting roasts and a utility knife that had a wooden handle. I presume he got a set for himself at the same time. One of the knives in that set is very similar to the knife that was in Carson’s body.”
“But you don’t know whether that knife came from the set he gave you or not?”
“Heavens, no, Mason. What are you trying to get at? I saw Carson’s body lying there. I guess you saw it before I did. I tried my best to keep away from it. I went up close enough to make sure it was Carson. Then some of the reporters started questioning me. Actually I thought they had no business messing things up the way they were doing.”
“They didn’t,” Mason said, “and don’t become so annoyed with me for trying to get your story straightened out. The police are going to want to know everything about your movements. They’ll want to know how much of your time can be accounted for. They’ll ask you for the names of witnesses who can tell where you were.”
“Well, I can’t give them the names of witnesses. How long is all this going to cover — this period of time the police will want to know about?”
“That,” Mason said, “will depend on what the autopsy surgeon finds as to the time of death.”
“Well, they’ll have to take my word for it,” Eden said.
“They’ll take your word for nothing,” Mason said.
Mason stepped over to the archway leading to the living room where Tragg was down on the floor on his hands and knees, raising and lowering his head so as to get reflections of light from the moist spots on the floor.
“Will you want me anymore, Lieutenant?” Mason asked.
“Want you anymore,” Tragg repeated. “Don’t be silly, I haven’t started with you yet. And don’t let Morley Eden go away. I haven’t started with him.”
“What are you doing now?” Mason asked.
“Right at the moment,” Tragg said, “I’m trying to account for these spots of water on the tile floor. Now do you suppose by any chance these came from melted ice cubes?”
“Meaning that Carson had a drink in his hand at the time of his death?” Mason asked.
“Exactly,” Tragg said.
“I wouldn’t know,” Mason said, “but I have a suggestion that you might care to consider.”
“What’s that?”
“As I have previously pointed out, it’s comparatively easy to go from one side of the fence to the other by using the swimming pool. That is, the fence goes right along the surface of the swimming pool but doesn’t go under water. A swimmer could dive under the fence and come up on the other side with the greatest of ease.”
“You think this water may have come from the swimming pool?”
“There’s a chance,” Mason said. “Water in the swimming pool is, I believe, chlorinated more heavily than drinking water. If you had some small bottles and could get that water before it evaporates...”
Tragg turned to one of the officers. “When Mason gets this cooperative he has something in mind, a very definite something. I was about to suggest that we collect this water so we can make a chemical analysis and, of course, Mason, noticing that I was inspecting the puddles of water and anticipating what I had in mind, has now made a very constructive suggestion.”