Mason said, “A client telephoned me to come to that room.”
“Who was the client?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“What happened?”
“Someone came to the room.”
“The client?”
“Not the one who telephoned me, no.”
“And then what happened?”
“The person who was in the room left for a few minutes. I wanted Paul Drake to get on the job and shadow this woman. I telephoned him. That’s just about all I know.”
Sergeant Jaffrey got up out of his chair.
“Just a minute, Sergeant,” Tragg said hastily, and this time unmistakably motioned toward the shorthand reporter. “Let’s interview Paul Drake. He doesn’t have the professional immunity and privileges that a lawyer does, and I think under the circumstances he’s going to be more co-operative — a lot more co-operative.”
Lieutenant Tragg turned to Paul Drake. “All right, Drake, this is a murder case. We have every reason to believe that you have evidence dealing with the homicide. I’m not trying to pry into your private relationship with Perry Mason, but I want your story of everything that happened that can have any possible bearing on that homicide. Now get started.”
Drake coughed nervously, shifted his position.
“And we don’t want any run-around,” Sergeant Jaffrey said. “Not from you. This is a show-down. Whether you go on making a living out of running a detective agency, or whether you’re all done and buttoned up, is going to be determined within the next few minutes right here in this room, so start talking.”
“Perry,” Paul Drake said in an agonized voice, “I’ve got to tell what I know that’s evidence.”
Mason said absolutely nothing.
“And we don’t have all night,” Sergeant Jaffrey said.
“You kept us waiting more than an hour,” Mason reminded them.
“That’ll be all out of you,” Sergeant Jaffrey said. “We kept you waiting because we were getting some evidence, and don’t kid yourself we haven’t got it. We can check up on you boys. This is one chance we have to find out which side of the fence you’re on. Start talking, Drake.”
Drake said, “I was at home asleep. The telephone rang. Mason wanted me to find out who was in room 721 with him.”
“Man or woman?”
“A woman.”
“Did he mention a name?”
“If he did, I can’t remember. I was rather sleepy at the time. He said this woman had been in the room and had gone out and was going to come back. He wanted me to tail her and find out who she was.”
“All right, you’re doing better,” Jaffrey said, assuming an attitude that was slightly less belligerent. “Let’s hear the rest of it.”
“I only had a few minutes in which to work,” Drake said. “I knew that I would have to have someone on the outside of the hotel and also someone who could put a finger on this woman when she came out of 721. I felt certain that it would be impossible to have one person do both jobs. She’d be suspicious of anyone she happened to meet in the corridor when she emerged from 721, doubly suspicious of anyone who might happen to ride down in the elevator with her at that hour in the morning.”
Tragg nodded.
Drake said, “It was an emergency. You may know how Perry Mason is when he’s working on a case. He wants everything, and he wants it fast. He’s an important client. Pie accounts for a good percentage of my business. I cater to him.”
“Never mind that. What did you do?” Tragg asked.
“I telephoned my office to find out if anyone was immediately available. No one was. I have a switchboard operator who seems to be very competent.”
“Her name?” Sergeant Jaffrey asked.
“Minerva Hamlin.”
“Go ahead.”
“I telephoned Minerva to close up the office temporarily, to look in the lockers where we keep occupational disguises, to take a maid’s cap and apron, put them in a suitcase, dash to the Keymont Hotel, register, and tell the clerk she had to have a room that was on the front of the hotel.”
“Why the front of the hotel?” Tragg asked.
“So she could signal me,” Drake said. “She was to put on the maid’s uniform and hang around in the corridor so she could see who came out of 721. When the girl started down in the elevator Minerva was to run to her room and signal me with a flashlight. I was parked in front with a car. At that hour of the night there wouldn’t be much chance of slipping up. If I knew when the woman was taking the elevator down, I’d be in a position to watch her as she crossed the lobby and follow her as she went out... I parked my car where I could see into the lobby and see the elevator. I had my outside rear-view mirror adjusted so that I could pick up a signal made with a flashlight from a front room.”
“Damn good work,” Jaffrey admitted grudgingly.
“What happened?” Tragg asked.
“I stopped by the office and picked up Minerva Hamlin. We made it up here in record time. I parked my car, adjusted the rear-view mirror so I could pick up any flashlight signals, sat and waited. Minerva went into the hotel, told the clerk she needed a front room, registered, and was shown to her room. Of course, she immediately put on the maid’s disguise and walked over to where she could see 721.”
“Then what?”
“Then nothing happened,” Drake said, “until I saw Minerva herself emerging from the elevator. She seemed rather upset about something.”
“Go ahead,” Tragg said.
“She crossed the lobby and came out to report directly to me. That was something she shouldn’t have done. However, we’d been in pretty much of a hurry and we hadn’t had a chance to agree on signals that would cover unexpected developments. She thought I should know what had happened, and she had to tell me. There was no other way to relay the information.”
“All right, what had happened?”
Drake related Minerva’s actions up to the point were the girl she was shadowing went into room 815.
“Then what?” Tragg asked.
“Then Minerva waited awhile, realized that Mason would be getting nervous, that I might want to change my entire plan of operations, so she dashed down and across the lobby, and out to where I had parked my car.”
“What did you do?”
“I went up and reported to Perry Mason.”
“What did Minerva do?”
“She went back to the office,” Drake said.
“She didn’t shadow room 815?”
Drake shook his head. “Remember, I had parked my car where I could see the elevator. That meant the night clerk saw the whole business. When Minerva came running out to report to me he knew that I was waiting there to shadow somebody. I felt that Minerva’s usefulness was finished. She couldn’t drive the car and shadow the girl. That was in my department. I felt pretty certain the woman would stay in room 815, at least until I had time to get some instructions from Mason... In the meantime, we’d called a couple of operatives, who were presumably on their way to the office. I told Minerva to send them down and have them report to me as soon as they arrived... Now then, gentlemen, that’s my story.”
“That’s a hell of a story,” Jaffrey said.
“It’s the truth,” Drake told him hotly.
“Is it the whole truth?” Tragg asked.
“It’s the truth so far as it relates to room 815.”
“We’re interested in finding out something about this woman.”
“Of course, I never did see her,” Drake said.