“And that was all false?” Drake asked.
“Was it false!” Mason said. “You don’t know the half of it. Apparently Carson was lying about the whole setup. In addition to that, he either deliberately or accidentally steered his private detective onto another woman in place of his wife. The indiscretions of this other woman were duly chronicled in Carson’s cross-complaint in the divorce action as being those of Mrs. Carson. Moreover, there seems to be a pretty general feeling that he has money stashed away somewhere in the form of cash. Evidently he has seen this coming for some time and he was getting ready to clean up and skip out if he had to.
“Judge Hewitt L. Goodwin, before whom the divorce case was tried, feels pretty much worked up about this and would like to get at the bottom of it. He’d dearly love to find where Carson has money hidden.”
“So you’re filing a complaint on the ground of fraud?”
“That’s right,” Mason said. “And I’m going to follow that up with a request to take Carson’s deposition. I’m going to examine him about certain matters under oath. I’m particularly interested in any hidden assets in the form of concealed cash.”
“And what do you want me to do?”
“For one thing,” Mason said, “I want you to locate Carson. Later on I’ll want you to put a shadow on him. In case he has any tendency to skip out after the papers are served on him I’d like to know where he’s going in case he should take to the tall timber.
“I particularly want to find out all I can about his background so that I will have questions to ask on the deposition that will make it difficult for him to lie.”
“Such as what?”
“Such as where he’s been living; whether he’s ever used any other names; whether he has any other bank accounts under different names; whether he has any safety-deposit boxes; things of that sort.
“Moreover, it seems Carson has a girlfriend who’s a hostess at one of the night spots in Las Vegas. Her name is Genevieve Honcutt Hyde, and Carson has been seeing a lot of her. He’s used this Las Vegas background to support his claim that he’s been losing heavily at the tables.
“Judge Goodwin, however, feels Carson has been getting his assets in the form of cash and concealing them somewhere. We have to find out.”
“That stuff’s virtually impossible to get at,” Drake said.
“You’ve had a hard night?” Mason asked.
“I’ve had a hard night and a hard morning,” Drake agreed, smiling ruefully. “I got to bed about three o’clock. It certainly seemed that the sun moved around mighty fast; but even if I did have a hard night, that Las Vegas stuff is hard enough to get to justify my pessimism. Okay, Perry, I’ll see what I can do. Where can I find this Carson, do you know?”
Before Mason could answer the question the telephone bell on Della Street’s desk jangled. She picked up the phone, said, “Yes, Gertie... What?... Who?... You mean Loring Carson?... Just a minute, Gertie.”
Della Street put her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and said, “Mr. Loring Carson is in the office and wants to see you at once upon a matter of the greatest importance.”
Mason grinned. “Speaking of angels,” he said, “we hear the flutter of their wings. Just stand in the doorway, Paul, and be taking leave as Carson comes in. That will give you a chance to see him. After that you’ll be able to recognize him.”
“That,” Drake said, “will also give him a chance to see me. If you don’t mind, Perry, I’ll case him from the hall when he leaves. Just be sure that he goes out this door and when he leaves be sure to say, ‘Well, good day, Mr. Carson,’ or ‘I’m afraid that’s all I can do for you, Mr. Carson,’ or something of the sort. Mention his name.”
Mason nodded, said to Della Street, “Go out and escort Mr. Carbon into the office, will you please, Della?”
Paul Drake slipped silently through the exit door to the corridor.
Della returned after a moment, holding the door open to admit a chunky man with an aggressive personality who came barging forward with hand outstretched.
“Mr. Mason!” he said.
Mason bowed and after a moment accepted the outstretched hand.
“I’m Loring Carson. My ears have been burning a bit. Guess you think I’m pretty much of a heel, eh?”
“I don’t know that my personal opinion has anything to do with it, Mr. Carson. I think I should tell you that I am representing interests that are adverse to yours, and those interests will take such steps as are deemed necessary by me in order to protect themselves.”
Carson laughed. “That’s certainly a diplomatic way of putting it, Mr. Mason. Suppose you and I have a little talk and at the end of that time perhaps you won’t feel like taking this action you’re talking about.”
“I don’t think I should talk with you,” Mason said. “You are an adverse party and if you don’t have an attorney representing you at the present time it’s going to be necessary for you to get one. I’m willing to talk with your attorney, but not with you.”
“Oh, phooey with all that professional ethics business,” Carson said. “I’m the captain of the ship. If I get an attorney he’ll do what I tell him to.”
“I still don’t want to talk with you,” Mason said. “You aren’t going to try to throw me out, are you?”
“I might,” Mason said.
“Well, unless you do throw me out I’m going to talk with you. As a matter of fact I haven’t any attorney. My attorney quit me in a huff. Said that I’d misled him and got him into an impossible position.”
“I see,” Mason said noncommittally.
“As a matter of fact it wasn’t anything of the sort,” Carson went on. “The whole trouble was with that stupid private detective I hired. Man by the name of LeGrande Dayton. And if he’s a detective, I’m a nursemaid’s aunt.
“He wanted me to point my wife out to him. Naturally you can’t walk up with a private detective, point your finger and say, ‘That’s the woman right there. Hello, honey, how are you?’ And then your wife will say, ‘Well, what’s this all about? Who’s this man you got with you?’ And you say, ‘Oh, he’s just a guy — someone that wanted to know what you looked like so I told him I’d point you out.’ ”
Carson threw back his head and laughed.
“You have to handle these things judiciously, Mason. I told this detective to shadow the one in dark green just coming out of the door; the one on the edge of the sidewalk. Then I ducked down behind the seat. Well, naturally I meant the inside edge of the sidewalk. He thought that I meant the woman who was on the outside edge of the sidewalk — at least that’s what he says now.”
“And he shadowed the wrong woman?” Mason asked.
“That’s right. Went ahead and got all the dope on her. He asked me if I wanted to break a door down and take pictures and I decided I didn’t want to go that strong. That’s where I made my big mistake — I’d have found it was the wrong person. But he had all the affidavits, photostats of registrations at the motel and all of that, and I went along for the ride — and believe me, they took me for a ride.”
Mason said, “I still don’t care to discuss matters with you, Mr. Carson. You’re going to need an attorney.”
Carson said, “I don’t need any lawyer. I sympathize with Eden. Everything I told him I told him in good faith. There wasn’t any fraud connected with it. There wasn’t any breach of trust. Morley and I were dealing at arm’s length.”
“I don’t care to discuss it with you,” Mason said.
“You’re not discussing it with me; I’m discussing it with you. Now, I’m just going to tell you something, Mr. Mason. You just sit back on this thing and hold your horses. I’ll get it straightened out, but I don’t want you filing any suit charging me with fraud or anything of that sort. You get that now, that’s important. I’m in a position right at the moment where I’m conducting some delicate negotiations. I don’t want any further litigation pending.”