“In a way. We understood each other and respected each other. Daddy didn’t confide very much in anyone.”
“You knew that he had sold his stock in the Sylvan Glade Development Company?”
“I know it now.”
“And you knew it on the third, the date that Mr. Lutts died?”
She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Yes I knew it on the third.”
“On the afternoon of the third?”
“On the evening of the third.”
“When?”
“After he failed to show up for dinner — usually, he was very prompt. He wanted dinner at a certain hour — that was one of Daddy’s peculiarities. People kept telephoning about stock.”
“Do you have servants?”
“A servant who helps with housework — part time.”
“And as a rule, dinner was right on time?”
“Right to the minute.”
“So when he didn’t show up you thought it was rather unusual?”
“It was very unusual. I may say it was unique. It was his custom either to be here or give us ample notice by telephone.”
“So I take it, you discussed with your husband what might have been keeping him, when he didn’t show up on the evening of the third.”
“Yes.”
“And it was then your husband told you about the transfer of stock?”
“Yes.”
“And told you I had bought the stock?”
“Yes.”
“Now then,” Mason said, “your husband also told you that I was acting in a representative capacity?”
“He thought you were.”
“And he told you the name of my client?”
“No, he didn’t know.”
“He didn’t know?”
She shook her head.
“You asked him about it?”
“Of course. We speculated as to just who it might be. Herbert thought it might be either Cleve Rector or Ezekiel Elkins. He wouldn’t have put it past either one of them to have manipulated things in that way, so that trouble could have been stirred up.”
“I see,” Mason said. “Eventually, you found out the identity of my client?”
“No, I don’t know to this day who it was. I don’t think any announcement has ever been made, has it?”
“But you’ve learned from your husband, informally and off the record, who that client is?”
She tightened her lips and shook her head.
“Do you know Mrs. Claffin?”
“I’ve met her.”
“More than once?”
“Yes.”
“Several times?”
“Three or four.”
“Are you just on speaking terms, or are you close friends?”
“Just speaking terms.”
Mason hesitated for a moment.
“Why are you asking me these things, Mr. Mason?”
“Because I’m trying to clarify a matter which may be of some importance.”
She remained silent.
“Did you at any time speculate with Mrs. Claffin as to the identity of my client?”
“No.”
“Did you discuss with Mrs. Claffin the fact that I had bought stock in the company?”
“No, I haven’t seen her since you bought the stock.”
Mason exchanged glances with Della Street. “Well, thank you,” he said. “I was just trying to find out something about Mrs. Claffin and her attitude.”
“I’m afraid I can’t help you at all, Mr. Mason.”
She was obviously waiting for him to take his departure. Abruptly, the front door opened, a cheery voice sang out, “Hello, honeybunch.”
Mrs. Doxey got up. “We have company, Herbert.”
“I saw a car parked out front — didn’t know whether it was someone who had parked or— Why, hello, Mr. Mason. What are you doing here? And Miss Street. It’s a pleasure.”
Mason said, “I was trying to find out something about what had happened after the directors’ meeting on the third.”
Doxey lost much of his cordiality. “My wife doesn’t know anything about the business.”
“So she was telling me. Now, Mr. Lutts evidently had a shrewd suspicion as to who my client was when I put across that stock deal.”
“He did. He knew who it was, but he didn’t tell me. I’ve already explained that.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“That afternoon — after the directors’ meeting. We went over to the restaurant and had a couple of hamburgers. You know all that, Mason. I’ve told you all this.”
“Did he discuss my buying that stock with you?”
“We didn’t talk about anything else — what did you think we’d be talking about?”
“And at that time he made some speculation as to the identity of my client?”
“Of course. That was what interested us. That was the sixty-four dollar question, but there weren’t any answers, I was inclined to think it was Elkins. Daddy Lutts thought it had to be an outsider. Then some idea came to him, and Daddy Lutts went to make a phone call. He learned something he didn’t see fit to pass on to me.”
“Do you know Mrs. Claffin?”
“Of course, I know Mrs. Claffin.”
“You’ve met her several times?”
“What the hell is this — some sort of a cross-examination? I know her, yes. What’s that got to do with it?”
“Did you ever talk with her about my buying the stock?”
“I haven’t seen her for — Enny Harlan is her business agent, and nearly all my dealings with her were through him.”
“How about telephone conversations?”
“Sure, I’ve had telephone conversations with Harlan.”
“Any speculation with him as to who my client might be?”
“Some on his part, none on mine. He tried to pump me for information, and I told him I didn’t have any.”
“In other words,” Mason said, “you haven’t told anyone that I was representing any particular party.”
“I don’t like the idea of you coming in here and asking my wife a lot of questions and then asking me a lot of questions,” Doxey said.
“You’re the secretary of the company,” Mason told him. “I’m a stockholder. I have a right to know.”
“You don’t want to know because you’re a stockholder in the company. You want to know because you’re representing Mrs. Harlan in a murder case.”
“All right. But the fact still remains that you’re the secretary of a company in which I’m a stockholder.”
“All right, so what.”
“I want to know if you communicated any ideas you might have had concerning the identity of my client to Enright Harlan or to Mrs. Claffin?”
“The answer to that is no. Now, I take it that’s all you wanted to find out.”
“That’s all,” Mason said.
Mrs. Doxey said, “Herbert, Mr. Mason has been very nice and very considerate. There’s no need to be nasty about it.”
“I’m running this,” Doxey said.
“All right,” Mason told him. “Thank you very much.”
“Don’t mention it,” Doxey said sarcastically, and escorted them to the door.
“After all,” Della Street asked Mason when they were back in the car, driving to the office, “does it make any great difference?”
“It may.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know yet, but Doxey certainly changed his attitude.”
“Yes. You’ve made an enemy out of him now, Chief.”
“That’s right. That’s what interests me. Why did he blow up?”
“He just didn’t like the idea of being questioned. Just because Enright Harlan says Mrs. Claffin got the information from some person doesn’t mean that that’s where she really got it.”
Mason parked his car. He and Della took the elevator and stopped in at Drake’s office before going down the corridor to Mason’s office.
“Hi, Paul,” Mason said. “How was La Jolla?”