Hamilton Burger got to his feet, his face dark with anger.
Tragg said, “Just a minute.” He arose, walked over and whispered in the District Attorney’s ear.
“We’ll give you ten minutes,” Hamilton Burger said after a moment. “There’s an office in there on the left.”
Mason nodded to Garvin. “This way, Garvin.”
Garvin was out of his chair with alacrity. Mason opened the door and disclosed a secretarial office equipped with a typewriter desk, a machine, a cabinet of stationery, and several chairs.
Mason looked the place over quickly, then moved over to another door and opened it, disclosing a small coat and hat closet.
“In here,” he said to Garvin.
Garvin entered the closet. Mason switched on a light. They stood close together within the narrow confines.
Mason said, “That room is probably bugged. I didn’t like the expression on Burger’s face. He gave in too easily. Keep your voice low. Now tell me what the devil this is all about and tell me fast.”
Garvin said, “I should have told you before, I guess. I— Hang it, Mason! I was disappointed in my son.”
“Lots of parents are disappointed in their children.”
“Well, it’s all right now. I thought for a while he was marrying the wrong girl, but now I think he married the right girl.”
“By that, do you mean you think Stephanie Falkner is mixed up in this murder?”
“By that,” Garvin said, “I mean that I’m in love with Stephanie Falkner. I guess I always have been in love with her ever since I met her. I wanted Junior to marry her. That is, I thought I did. But when he married someone else, I... I knew I should have been disappointed, but I wasn’t. I was suddenly elated.”
“Have you told her about it?” Mason asked.
“I’m afraid I hinted at it. That’s all there’ll ever be to it. I’m old enough to be her father.”
“Barely,” Mason said. “Some women prefer older men.”
Garvin brushed the subject aside impatiently. “It’s not in the cards, Mason, but I’m telling you that one fact so you can understand the situation.”
Mason said, “We only have a minute. Give me facts, and give them to me just as fast as you can dish them out. You took that murder gun down to your son’s office and planted it in his desk. I wanted to divert attention from the gun you had left with Stephanie, and thought I could do something smart. I loused things up, and—”
“Wait a minute. Wait a minute,” Garvin said. “You’re all wet. I didn’t put any gun in my son’s desk.”
Mason said impatiently, “You went to Casselman’s apartment before you went to your office. Did you kill him or not?”
Garvin said, “Don’t be silly. Stephanie saw him after I did.”
“Just what did you do?”
Garvin said, “I stopped in to see Casselman on the way to my office. I had just driven in from Las Vegas. It was around eight-fifteen. I had a key that worked the lock on the outer door of the apartment. I didn’t want to tip him off by ringing his bell.
“You know how these street doors on apartment houses are, Perry. Almost any sort of key will work them. Well, I went up and knocked on Casselman’s door. He opened it, but didn’t invite me in. He seemed strangely disturbed when I told him who I was.
“He told me he had someone with him and was all tied up. He said I should return at eleven o’clock and he’d see me then. Then he all but slammed the door in my face. I took the stairs to the street.
“I don’t know how you found out about this, Mason. I haven’t told a soul.”
“Never mind how I found out,” Mason said. “You went to your office from Casselman’s apartment?”
“Not directly. I stopped to get gas and called Las Vegas. Then I went to my office. I have a little emergency apartment fixed up in connection with my office. I had previously telephoned on ahead and asked Eva Elliott to wait for me. I wanted some information on some business matters, and wanted her to give it to me personally.”
“All right,” Mason said. “You went to your office. What happened?”
“I changed my clothes and took a shower. I told Miss Elliott to get the information for me while I was taking the shower and put it on my desk. After my shower, I asked Eva Elliott what the devil she meant by not telling you where I was. One thing led to another and I fired her. You know what happened after that.”
“I’m not sure I do,” Mason said.
“Well, I went to see you, and then we went down to see Stephanie Falkner, and...”
“And you were at Stephanie’s when we left,” Mason said.
“I stayed there for a short time. I tried to let Stephanie know how much I had wished to have her in my family.”
“What about the gun?” Mason asked.
“I always carry a gun. I have a shoulder holster and my suits are tailored so I can carry the gun under my left arm without it showing. I took my gun out of the holster and gave it to her.”
“Was that gun fully loaded when you gave it to her?”
“Of course.”
“Had it been fired?”
“That gun hadn’t been fired for months, Mason. I’m telling you this, but I’m not going to tell anyone else. Before I left Las Vegas I removed the shells in the gun and put in fresh shells. I intended to get rough with Casselman and I wanted to be armed when I called for a showdown. I felt I might need my gun.”
“All right,” Mason said. “Go ahead. What happened?”
“I keep another gun in my safe in the office. I was going to see Casselman at eleven, but I didn’t tell anyone about that appointment. I wanted to be armed when I saw him, so after I left Stephanie’s apartment I returned to my office, got the other gun out of my safe, put that gun in my shoulder holster, and then went to call on Casselman.”
“That was at eleven o’clock?”
“Perhaps five or ten minutes either way.”
“All right, what happened?”
“I used my key on the front door. I went up to Casselman’s apartment. I knocked and got no answer. I tried the apartment door. It was unlocked. It had a key lock, not a night latch. I could walk right in, and I did.
“Casselman was in there, sprawled in a pool of blood. He was dead as a mackerel. I looked around. Some woman had stepped in the blood and there was the imprint of her foot and heel plate as plain as could be.
“I felt certain it was the print of Stephanie’s shoe. I had to know for sure. So I left Casselman’s apartment leaving the door unlocked.
“I went to Stephanie’s apartment. She was in bed. She got up and let me in. I didn’t tell her where I had been or what I had found. I told her I was terribly nervous and simply had to see her and talk with her for a while.”
“All right. What happened?”
“I tried to tell her something about how I felt toward her without going too far. I told her to call on me if she ever needed a friend.
“I could see the gun I had given her was under the pillow. I made an excuse to handle it very briefly. When she had her back turned, I surreptitiously opened the cylinder and sure enough one shell had been fired since I had given her the gun.
“She was wearing a bathrobe, pajamas and slippers. I saw a pair of shoes. I managed to get a good look at them. One of them was still damp. Evidently it had recently been washed. There was a metal heel plate, it matched the imprint of the bloody shoe print I’d seen in Casselman’s apartment.”
“Did you ask her about it?” Mason asked.
“No. I stayed until around midnight. I told her I wanted her to know I’d be her friend if anything ever happened and she needed a friend, and then I left. I knew I had work to do.”
Mason regarded him with level-lidded appraisal. “You went back to Casselman’s apartment?”