“Where are they?”
“Some of them went down with that slide which followed the rain and some of them caved in when the contractor was taking out dirt on the Claffin property.”
“I see,” Mason said. “In other words, they deliberately excavated some of our property?”
“Not exactly, but they excavated close enough to it so that there was a cave-in.”
Mason said, “I would like to see Mr. Lutts at the earliest possible moment.”
“You and about ten other people,” Doxey said.
“How’s that?” Mason asked.
Doxey laughed. “Your little stock transaction set off a chain reaction. Everybody wants to know how much you paid for that stock, and somehow there seems to be a rumor that my father-in-law is in the market for a lot more stock in the company.”
“To take the place of the holdings which he sold me?” Mason asked.
Doxey said, “He doesn’t confide in me. I was merely giving you the rumor which has resulted in a whole flock of phone calls. I’ve been trying to find him myself.”
“If he should come in,” Mason said, “tell him that I’m looking for him.”
“Thank you,” Doxey said. “I will. Can you leave a number where he can call you?”
“Have him call me at my office.”
“Won’t your switchboard be disconnected?”
“No, I’m connecting the main trunk line through to my private office.”
“Very well, I’ll have him call.”
“As soon as he comes in,” Mason said.
Doxey said dubiously, “Well, there are quite a few other messages, Mr. Mason. It seems as though everyone wants him to call the minute he comes in. However, I’ll see that he gets your message.”
“Thank you,” Mason said. “Tell him that it’s important.”
Mason hung up, said to Della Street, “The board is connected so that incoming calls will be received in here, Della?”
She nodded.
After a while, Della Street said, “Chief, are you in the clear, protecting Mrs. Harlan on this thing?”
“I don’t know. Of course, I only know what my client told me, and that’s a sacred confidence.”
“What about the canons of ethics?”
“The first duty of a lawyer is to protect his client. You have to understand the relative values, Della.
“Take, for instance, the case of a doctor speeding to the bedside of a patient who is critically ill. He’s probably violating a whole assortment of traffic laws, but the emergency makes it advisable to do so. He has to use his own judgment.”
Della Street shook her head, “Every time I argue with you, I get the worst of it. And yet—”
The telephone rang. Della Street picked up the receiver, said, “Perry Mason’s office... Yes, he is, Mrs. Harlan. I’ll put him on.”
She nodded to Mason and he picked up the telephone on his desk, while Della Street continued to listen in on her telephone.
“It’s all right, Mr. Mason. I’m back home.”
“It’s all right to talk?”
“Yes.”
“You recognized the cab driver?”
“Yes, of course.”
“It’s the same one?”
“Yes.”
“No question about it?”
“No, none whatever.”
“He didn’t recognize you?”
“He didn’t pay the slightest attention to me, Mr. Mason. I had Ruth flag him down. After we got in the cab I told him where I wanted him to go, but I was seated in such a position that I was directly behind his back. He turned around and saw Ruth, but I don’t think he even gave me a good look — and, of course, I was dressed differently.”
“You have the taxicab receipt, showing a meter reading of two dollars and ninety-five cents?”
“Yes.”
“That’s fine,” Mason said. “Leave that receipt in your purse.”
“And what do I do now?”
“Now, you simply relax and forget everything — provided you’ve been telling me the truth and you didn’t pull any triggers.”
“I have been telling you the truth, Mr. Mason.”
“All right, fine. Go ahead and enjoy your fifth wedding anniversary.”
“You can’t enjoy a wedding anniversary without a husband.”
“You expect him home, don’t you?”
“I expect him home, yes. I’m all jittery. I’m so nervous I don’t feel that I can—”
“Do what I told you to do,” Mason said. “Forget everything. This is a crucial period as far as your marriage is concerned. You’ve sacrificed a lot in order to get this opportunity. Now, go ahead and capitalize on it.”
“I’ll... I’ll do my best.”
“And that,” Mason told her, “should be pretty good.”
“Make no mistake about it, Mr. Mason, it’s going to be damn good,” she said and hung up.
Chapter 7
Mason looked at his watch. It was several minutes since Mrs. Harlan had called. “I thought we’d hear from Doxey before this. He should be getting worried. I’d like to get some action before dark. I hate to do this to you, Della, but you’re going to have a late dinner. Get Doxey again, will you please?”
Della nodded, put through the call, and said, “Just a moment, Mr. Doxey. Mr. Mason again.”
Mason said, “Hello, Doxey. I’m just leaving the office. Any word from your father-in-law?”
“No,” Doxey said. “I’m worried. We dine at seven o’clock every night. It’s a schedule that is like clockwork, and Daddy Lutts doesn’t let anything interfere with dinner. Once or twice, when he has been in the middle of a big business deal that he couldn’t conclude he’s telephoned to let us know that he couldn’t be here. But tonight we haven’t heard a word. He’s nearly an hour late, now. We went ahead and had dinner.”
“Oh, well, he’ll probably show up all right. I’m—”
“But there’s something wrong, Mr. Mason. He’s been in an automobile accident or something. He would have shown up or telephoned. He’s a stickler for dinner. He wants it on the table right on the dot — that’s been one of the things that has bothered us in connection with our housekeeping help. He doesn’t realize that some of these things can create rather difficult problems.”
“Well,” Mason said, “it’ll probably turn out all right. I wanted to get him to take me out to show me the actual location of that north boundary line on the ground. He promised me he’d co-operate in every way he could. I wanted to get out there before dark.”
“Yes, I’m certain he’ll help you all he can. He appreciated the fact that you didn’t do any haggling and that you were most considerate in your dealings with him.”
Mason said, “I’m very much interested in this thing. I’m going to need certain information tonight. Would it be possible for you to go out there and show me the location of that line? Even with daylight saving time, we haven’t very many minutes of daylight left.”
“Well... you know where the property is, of course.”
“I’ve been there.”
“Well, the line is just to the north of the building. You can see one of the stakes and—”
“I’d like very much to have you show me. It wouldn’t take long. I could drive by and pick you up.”
“Very well,” Doxey said. “It isn’t a long drive from here. We could get there in about seven minutes from my house. Do you know where I live?”