“As a matter of fact,” Mason said, “I found them.”
“You did?”
“That’s right. I was running through these Helen Cadmus diaries, and I noticed that she referred to a hiding place where one of the more mischievous monkeys had a habit of putting trinkets, particularly trinkets in which he thought Helen Cadmus was interested. So I went out to see Addicks at his suggestion, and told him I thought it would be a good plan to look in this hiding place.”
“Where was it?”
“A stone urn in the hallway.”
“Well, well, well!” Etna exclaimed. “That certainly puts a new face on the situation. As a matter of fact, Mason, that was what bothered me about the case. I couldn’t be absolutely certain of my client. I thought she was honest, but, after all, the evidence in the case, that is, the evidence indicating that she might have taken the articles in question, was entirely in the control of the opposite side. You know how that is. They might have introduced any amount of circumstantial evidence which would have shown that Addicks had at least a reasonable ground for believing that she had taken the objects. Then I’d have been on the defensive all through the case.”
“Of course,” Mason pointed out, “there’s another legal hurdle. As Hardwick tried to tell me, the situation is not exactly changed in its legal implication. The fact that the articles have been found doesn’t affect his defense that it’s a privileged communication, and...”
Etna laughed gleefully. “Let him try to pull all those technicalities,” he said. “If I’m not on the defensive, I can smash through their defensive. I’ll reduce the case to its simplest form, Mason. A hard-working woman does her best to give satisfaction to a millionaire. The millionaire discharges her abruptly and without any reason. Thereafter he accuses her of dishonesty and blackens her reputation and prevents her from obtaining a livelihood because he claims she stole a very valuable diamond ring and a platinum watch. Then he finds the platinum watch and the diamond ring right there in his own house, where they had been all the time. My client is without funds, and hasn’t been able to get work, and Addicks is a multimillionaire. Now you figure how that’s going to look to a jury. I don’t give a damn how many technicalities they raise now. They’re hooked, and hooked good.”
“Well, I thought I’d let you know,” Mason said.
“Look here, Mason, that’s mighty fine of you. Now, of course, I assume that you want to be associated in the case. I haven’t as yet made definite arrangements in regard to a fee, but, of course, this information that you have given is...”
“Wait a minute,” Mason told him, “don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to be associated in the case. I’m simply giving you this information as a matter of friendly accommodation.”
“Well... well, what do you want?”
“Nothing,” Mason said, “except that after the settlement has been completed I’d like to have Mrs. Josephine Kempton drop in at my office for a visit.”
“A visit?”
“That’s right,” Mason said. “I’m interested in the strange death of Helen Cadmus, and the circumstances under which it happened. I’d like to know just a little something about the setup there.”
“Mrs. Kempton will be in your office at any time you say,” Etna told him.
“How about ten o’clock tomorrow morning?”
“She’ll be there, and I’ll be there with her. I want to shake hands and tell you how much I appreciate the information you’ve given me, Mr. Mason. Good night.”
“Good night,” Mason said.
Chapter number 6
Della Street said, “Our ten o’clock appointment is here, Chief.”
Mason looked up from the papers on his desk. “Mrs. Kempton?”
“That’s right. Mrs. Josephine Kempton, and her attorney, James Etna.”
“How do they look to you, Della?”
“Mrs. Kempton is something of an enigma. She’s spare, somewhere around fifty, and rather poker-faced I would say. You gather that life hasn’t been kind to her, and she’s had to adjust herself to take things philosophically.”
“And Etna?”
“He’s just a good, active, young lawyer. He’s an admirer of yours and makes no secrets of the fact that the chance to meet you is one of the big thrills of his life.”
“Well, let’s get them in,” Mason said, “and see what they have to say.”
Della Street went into the outer office and returned with the visitors.
James Etna, a man in the middle thirties, came rushing forward to grasp Mason’s hand. “Mr. Mason, I can’t begin to tell you how much this means to me. I want to tell you that I think what you did last night was one of the most splendid things, one of the finest things — I have found out a lot about it since I talked with you.”
“Well, I’m glad I was able to be of some help,” Mason said. “And I take it this is Mrs. Kempton.”
Mrs. Kempton smiled, a tired, patient smile, extended her hand and said, “How do you do, Mr. Mason?”
“Do you know what happened?” Etna went on, bubbling with enthusiasm. “You hadn’t any more than hung up your phone when Hardwick telephoned. He told me that he wanted to apologize for putting through a call at that hour, but that he was going to be busy in the morning and he felt that the information he had was important enough so that it would be of interest to me.”
“Indeed,” Mason said.
“That’s right, and the he offered me five thousand dollars to settle the case — five thousand dollars.”
“Did you take it?” Mason asked tonelessly, conscious of the presence of Etna’s client.
“Do I look silly?” Etna said. “Yesterday afternoon I’d have settled the case if he’d promised not to write any more letters accusing my client of dishonesty, but last night, knowing what I knew, I wouldn’t have accepted the first offer they made if it had been five hundred thousand dollars.”
“Good boy,” Mason said. “What happened after that?”
“Well, then there was a lot of hemming and hawing over the telephone, and he increased his offer to seventy-five hundred dollars.”
“What did you do?”
“I refused.”
“Then what?”
“Then he asked me point blank if I had heard from you.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Told him the truth. I told him, yes, I’d heard from Mr. Mason, that Mr. Mason had promised me that if he found out anything that would be of interest in the case he’d let me know, that he had certainly found out something of interest and that he had let me know.”
“So then what?”
“Then Hardwick said, ‘Very well. I don’t think Mr. Mason had any right interfering in this case. I think it was a matter that, to put it plainly, was none of his damn business, but in view of the circumstances and since he already has made this interference, and since my client desires to be fair, I am offering you twenty thousand dollars. That’s our top limit, and that’s all there is to it. Otherwise we’ll sit tight on the fact that the communication was a privileged communication made in good faith.’ ”
“And what did you do?” Mason asked.
“I sank my teeth into that offer,” Etna said. “I told him that we’d take it.”
“Good boy,” Mason said. “I have an idea that Hardwick was probably telling you the truth and that was their final offer.”
“That’s the way I figured it. Of course, there’s a lot of law involved. There’s the question of good faith, absence or presence of malice, a privileged communication, and all of that.”
“But, as you pointed out last night, when you come right down to a showdown,” Mason said, “when a multimillionaire, who is rolling in money and is able to indulge in all of his hobbies, proceeds to take it upon himself to persecute a working woman who is trying to make her way in the world... well, you know how a jury would have looked at it.”