“Now you’ll remember Glenn Falkner was riding in a car with somebody at the time he was murdered. The car was seen to come down the street at pretty good speed. The door on the right-hand side was flung open, and a body was pushed out of the car. It hung half in and half out of the car for about half a block, then hit the pavement with a thud and rolled over and over. The car sped away.
“Horrified pedestrians ran up to the man and found that he was dead as a mackerel. He had been shot once in the head, twice through the body. One of the bullets was still in the body.
“The car Casselman was driving at that time, or at least the car that he owned at that time, had been pretty carefully cleaned up, but by looking with a magnifying glass I could still find several small spots down between the opening of the door and the side of the front seat. There is also a dent in the metal of the door frame which in all probability was made by a bullet.
“I got a detective over there in Las Vegas to make some tests for me. He’s a pretty good detective and understands something about scientific investigation. There’s a test for blood they can make with luminol, that brings out blood spots and causes them to glow in the dark. He treated this car with luminol and got a very strong blood reaction from folds in the leather upholstery in the front seat, from a spot down underneath the seat cushion, and from the spots I had found between the side of the seat and the door.”
“Of course,” Mason said, “that’s very interesting. It is a clue. It’s what we might call a suspicious circumstance. However, it’s not proof.”
“I know. When I confront Casselman with that proof he’s going to start explaining. Then I may get proof.”
“When you confront him with it?” Mason said.
“That’s right.”
“You’d better let the police do that.”
Garvin flipped back the lapel of his coat. “I’m not afraid of the cheap crook. I’d shoot the guy like a dog if he so much as lifted a finger against us.”
Mason said sharply. “Do you have a license to carry that?”
“Don’t be silly,” Garvin said. “I have something better than a license. I’m a deputy sheriff. I’m supposed to carry arms. I have several revolvers and I’m not foolish enough ever to be without one. If anybody ever tries to hold me up he’s going to have his hands full.”
Mason regarded Garvin thoughtfully. “Where do you keep those other guns?”
“Various places. Junior has one, there’s always one in my safe. I own a sporting goods store among my other investments. I always carry a gun. I’m never without one, day or night.
“It makes me sick to open the papers and read about thugs beating their victims to death, old women being robbed and clubbed.
“Someday one of those guys will tackle me and then there will be fireworks. Kill a few of those people off and it will be a good thing all around.
“The way it is now the honest citizen is disarmed by law. The crook carries a gun as a matter of habit. Arm the law-abiding citizens, kill off some of these crooks and we’d have a lot better law enforcement.”
Mason shook his head. “Police who have studied the situation don’t agree with you, Homer.”
“Sure,” Garvin said, “but their way isn’t working out so well, either.”
Della Street caught Perry Mason’s eye.
Mason got her signal, turned to Homer Garvin.
“By the way,” he said, “I see you’re to be congratulated on a new daughter-in-law.”
Garvin sighed. “Yes,” he said. “I haven’t seen her yet. I talked with her on the telephone and gave the couple my blessing.”
“She’s a nice-looking girl,” Della Street said.
“Leave it to Junior! He picks them nice-looking... The trouble with him is that he’s restless, no emotional stability. A year or so ago it was all Eva Elliott. He wanted to marry her. Then that blew up. I felt sorry for Eva and gave her a job in the office when Marie left. By that time, Junior was rushing Stephanie Falkner.
“You may not know it but that’s how I became interested in this Falkner corporation. Six months ago I thought that Stephanie Falkner was going to be one of the family — and, hang it, I wish she had been. There’s a fine, level-headed girl! She could have been a balance wheel for Junior.
“Well, I hope he settles down now. That was what he needed — to get married and settle down. He’s too darned impulsive.
“Mason, what the devil are we going to do about this situation with Casselman?”
“Let’s go have a talk with Stephanie Falkner,” Mason said.
“Do you suppose it’s too late?” Garvin asked.
“We can find out,” Mason told him. “Della, ring the Lodestar Apartments, and see if Stephanie can talk with me. You don’t need to tell her that Mr. Garvin is with me. Simply tell her that we’d like to come over.”
“You want me along?” Della Street asked.
Mason nodded. “There might be a stock pooling agreement to write up.”
Della Street went out to put through the telephone call.
“Gosh! What a pleasure it is to have a real dependable secretary,” Garvin said. “I can’t begin to tell you how I miss Marie Arden.”
“Marie Barlow now,” Mason said.
Garvin frowned. “There should be a law against secretaries committing matrimony,” he said. “Hang it, Mason! Do you know she’s never been in to see me since she got married. I just can’t understand it.”
“What makes you think she hasn’t been in to see you?” Mason asked.
“She hasn’t, that’s all. I’ve never heard a word from her, not even a telephone call.”
Mason said, “For your information, Homer, she was in twice to see you. She got such a cold shoulder from your new secretary that she made up her mind she wasn’t wanted.”
“You mean Eva Elliott kept her from coming in to see me?” Garvin asked incredulously.
“That’s right. She told her you were busy. She didn’t even offer to ring your telephone.”
“Why... why... Well, that makes me feel a lot better.”
“Better?” Mason asked.
“Yes,” Garvin said. “I fired Eva Elliott tonight. I got back and asked her what the devil she meant by not telling you where I was. She told me that I’d told her not to tell anyone and that she was simply following instructions.
“That girl is completely show crazy. She wants to dramatize everything she does in terms of what some actress has done on film somewhere. Believe me, Mason, she makes it a point to go to every movie she can find that features a secretary. She tunes in on every television program where there is a secretary playing a part. She studies the Hollywood concept of secretarial efficiency and then goes into the office and tries to act that part. It’s a case of a poor actress trying to take the part of a good actress who in turn is trying to follow the concept of a Hollywood director as to what a good secretary should be like. I got good and tired of it. I...”
Della Street returned from the switchboard, said, “Miss Falkner says to come right over.”
“Come on,” Mason said, “let’s go.”
Chapter Six
Stephanie Falkner opened the door, said, “Hello, Mr. Mason. Hello, Miss Street... Homer!”
Garvin said, “I tagged along, Stephanie.”
She gave him both of her hands. “Congratulations! Have you seen her?”
“Not yet,” Garvin said. “I’m just back from Las Vegas and I’ve been busy.”