Drake nodded. “One other thing, Perry: You could drop into the Doran Building and talk with George Wray, the surviving partner. Even if you can’t get anywhere with the bank, you can certainly get places with Wray, because he’ll have to account to the widow, and, as her attorney, you could make things rather disagreeable for him if you wanted to. You see, that’s a partnership, and, as I understand it, on the death of one partner the surviving partner has to wind up the business. Is that right?”
Mason nodded, picked up his hat, grinned at Della Street and said, “I’m on my way, Della. That’s what comes of hiring a high-class private detective to do the leg work. He drifts into the office with a lot of routine reports and sends me running errands around the city. I m going to get shaved, then if anything urgent comes up and you want me, I’ll either be at Prescott & Wray’s offices in the Doran Building, or down at the Second Fidelity Savings & Loan. Come on, Paul, and walk as far as the elevator with me. There are a couple of questions I want to ask you. How about the gun the police found? Was it the weapon with which the murder was committed?”
“I’ll say it was. Not only that, but they’ve tied it up to Driscoll by a manufacturer’s number and a sales record. All three of the fatal bullets were discharged from that gun, and at close range. There were powder bums on the clothing and skin.”
“What time did death occur?” Mason asked, holding the door open for the detective.
“The autopsy surgeon isn’t too definite,” Drake said. “You know how it is, Perry. They used to probe around in a guy’s digestive apparatus, talk about rigor mortis, and give you a time as though they’d been standing by the side of the victim, holding a stop watch, when he croaked. Then that Thelma Todd case, and the Rattlesnake Murder case, and a couple of others hit them right where they lived, and they’ve been so cagey ever since they won’t fix a definite time.”
“I know,” Mason told him, ringing for the elevator. “What’s the best they can do in this case?”
“Between noon and two-thirty, and that’s as far as they’ll go.”
“My God!” Mason exclaimed, “they found the body before five o’clock, didn’t they?”
“Something like that, but between noon and two-thirty is the best you can get them to do. That suits the police all right, because it brings the earliest time limit just within the time Jimmy Driscoll was seen in the house with the gun.”
Mason rang again mechanically for the elevator. His eyes were slitted in thought. “Wouldn’t it,” he said, “be a funny trick for Rita to play on her sister if—”
The elevator cage slid smoothly into position. The door glided back and Mason said, “Okay, Paul, keep working on those other angles. Get in touch with me if you find out anything.”
He was still frowning in thoughtful contemplation as he entered Helmold’s pet store. “Well, what is it?” he asked of the excited proprietor.
“They took it, Herr Counselor. They took it!” Helmold said excitedly.
“You mean the canary?”
“Ja! Ja! They came, the police, with many questions, and they took the canary.”
“Did they ask you about his being lame?”
“Not asked. But they looked at his feet.”
“Did they seem to know anything about canaries?”
“Not them, but they talk of taking him to an expert.”
Mason nodded and said, “Well, don’t let it bother you, Karl. It’s just one of those things. I tried to get that canary out of the way, but I couldn’t do anything without involving you, and I didn’t want to do that.”
“It is evidence?” Helmold asked.
Mason nodded and said, “They think it is, anyway. All right, Karl. Thanks a lot for telling me.”
Mason dropped in at his barber shop and was shaved. Then he called a cab, went to the Doran Building, saw from the directory Prescott & Wray were in 382, took the elevator to the third floor, walked down the corridor to the inside offices, pushed open the entrance door, and said to a red-headed girl who surveyed him with snappy blue eyes, “I’m Perry Mason. I want to see George Wray. Tell him it’s important.”
He watched her idly while her deft fingers flipped over a telephone key, and heard her transmit the message. She nodded toward a door marked “Private,” and said, “Mr. Wray said for you to come right in.”
Before Mason had reached the door, it was pushed open by a chunky man of forty, who clamped Mason’s outstretched hand in a cordial grip and said, “Mr. Mason! This indeed is a pleasure! I’ve heard a lot about you, read a lot in the papers, but hardly expected to be so fortunate as to meet you in the flesh. Come in! Come right in! Come in and sit down.”
Mason turned to say over his shoulder to the red head at the desk, “If anyone should call, asking for Mr. Mason, will you see that I’m connected?”
Her eyes showed interest as she looked him over in frank appraisal. “Sure,” she said.
Mason allowed Wray to pilot him to a chair. The automatic door check swung the door firmly shut.
“Well, well, I’m glad to see you,” Wray said, assuming the conversational aggressive at once. “I’d thought some of coming to your office; but I realized how busy you were, and didn’t want to intrude on you. This is a most unfortunate occurrence! Doubly unfortunate because Walter’s wife is involved. I can’t understand how the police could suspect her of anything like that.”
“You don’t?” Mason asked.
Wray shook his head vehemently. “Indeed not,” he said with booming finality. “I’ve known her for eight or nine months. She’s every inch a lady.”
“You knew her before the marriage then?”
“Yes, I met her almost as soon as Walter did. They’ve been married about six months, going on to seven, I think.”
“It was a brief courtship?”
Wray nodded and became suddenly noncommittal, his booming, genial manner obscured by a screen of cold, watchful caution.
Mason said, “Of course, under the circumstances, routine matters of administration will be delayed, but sooner or later, Mrs. Prescott will be entitled to some share of the estate, how much depends upon whether Walter Prescott left a will. I thought perhaps you’d like to talk things over informally in a preliminary way.”
Wray regained his geniality immediately.
“Now listen, Mr. Mason, I’m only too glad to cooperate with you in any way. Mrs. Prescott won’t be dependent on any will or any estate.”
Mason offered Wray a cigarette, took one himself,snapped a pocket lighter into flame and asked, “Why not?”
“Because it’s all taken care of.”
“How?”
“Walter took care of it. We have business insurance covering the death of a partner. His life is insured in my favor for twenty thousand dollars, my life is insured in his favor for twenty thousand dollars. The articles of partnership provide that in the event of the death of one of the partners, the wife of the deceased partner will receive the twenty thousand dollars in cash, in lieu of any interest in the partnership.”
“Twenty thousand dollars, eh?” Mason asked.
Wray nodded.
“Rather a large amount, isn’t it? If you liquidated your business, do you think it would run to a gross of forty thousand?”
“No, I don’t,” Wray admitted, and added with a grin, “In fact, I know damn well it wouldn’t. That was the idea of making the insurance large enough so there couldn’t be any question about it. In other words, the widow of the deceased partner would be tickled to death to take the cash instead of the half interest in the business. In that way, the survivor could keep the business going without having to wind it up. And then, of course, we paid the premiums on the insurance policies out of our partnership funds and those insurance policies were in the nature of a partnership asset which automatically increased our assets proportionately.”