“I know,” Mason said, “but it’s a chance I have to take. Fortunately I like to take chances.”
Drake said lugubriously, “I’ll say you do.”
Mason paid the cheque. When they were once more on the road, Drake asked, “Exactly what are your plans, Perry? Not that I want to interfere, but in case you expect police officers to be there, I’d like to know about it in advance. My heart won’t stand many more of those little surprises.”
“Oh, this is all right,” Mason said cheerfully. “I don’t think the officers will follow us any more tonight. The worst we can expect now is to be arrested for burglary.”
“Perry!” Drake exclaimed. “You’re not going to try to get in that house?”
“I am if I can make it,” Mason said.
“Good Lord, why?”
Mason said, “We’ve overlooked one of the most significant things in the entire case.”
“What do you mean, Perry?”
“No one heard the shot.”
“Well, what if they didn’t? The man was shot. His body shows that, and Mae Farr’s statement shows it.”
Mason said, “Did it ever occur to you, Paul, that if the shot was fired just at the moment when Hal Anders was dunking in the waters of the bay, it was timed to a split second?”
“Well, it was, wasn’t it?”
Mason said, “I don’t think so. I don’t think there was any shot.”
Drake slapped on the brakes so that he could turn to stare incredulously at the lawyer without wrecking the car. “You don’t what?” he exclaimed.
“Don’t think there was any shot,” Mason said.
“Then Mae Farr is lying.”
“Not necessarily.”
“What do you think happened?”
Mason said, “I’ll tell you more about that when I’ve indulged in a little high class housebreaking.”
Drake groaned and said, “Gosh, Perry, I should have known better.”
“You don’t need to go any farther than the gate,” Mason said.
“That’s far enough,” Drake said, and then, after a moment, added, “it’s too damn far.”
Mason settled back against the cushions, his eyes staring steadily through the windshield at the lighted ribbon of highway which flowed smoothly toward them. Della Street, in the back seat, kept her own counsel, glancing from time to time at the back of Mason’s head, studying the set of his shoulders, studying what she could see of the angle of his jaw. Drake, driving the automobile carefully, was given to periods of contemplation during which he would slow the car appreciably, then, catching himself, would push the speedometer needle up another ten or fifteen miles an hour.
Mason gave no sign that he noticed the irregularities of the driving, and Della surrounded herself with an observant, self effacing silence.
Drake turned to the right from the main highway, drove several miles, then turned left, following a road which snaked its way up the side of a sharp headland. To the left could be seen the glittering lights of a city and roads studded with automobile headlights. To the right, occasional glimpses of moonlit water finally resolved themselves into a magnificent view of the ocean as the road straightened out on the relatively level ground at the top of the headland.
Drake slowed the car until it was running at a scant twenty five miles an hour. He said, “There’s a turn off right around here someplace. It—” He interrupted himself to swing the wheel sharply to the left, and the car climbed a short pitch to disclose the gables of a house silhouetted against the sky, a long sweep of hedge, and, after a few moments, in front of the headlights the forbidding barrier of locked iron gates crossing a driveway.
Drake switched off the headlights, turned on the dome light, and said, “Well, here we are.”
“Your man’s supposed to be here?” Mason asked.
“Yes,” Drake said. “Here he is now.”
A lighted cigarette glowed as a red coal in the darkness. A moment later a man in rough clothes and with a trace of a Scottish accent said, “You’re a bit late.”
“The coast all clear?” Drake asked.
“Yes.”
Mason took a good look at the man’s face, then switched out the dome light as Drake introduced Della Street and the lawyer.
“Exactly what was it you wanted to know?” the man asked.
Mason said quietly, “I want to get in the house, MacGregor.”
There was a moment’s stiff, uncomfortable silence, then the operative said, “I’m afraid that’s going to be a pretty tough order.”
“How tough?” Mason asked.
“Plenty tough. Old Angus goes to bed early, but he always reads for an hour or two before he turns out the light. He’s a light sleeper.”
“Where does he sleep?”
“In a cottage down near the hangar.”
“You have a key to the gate?” Mason asked.
“Gosh, no. I’m just an assistant to the gardener. I sleep in a cubbyhole in the basement.”
“The door from the basement to the other part of the house unlocked?” Mason asked.
“I could get in. Of course, I’d be fired if I were caught. Then I could either produce my credentials and show I was a private detective on a job, or be sent to jail as a burglar.”
“Do you know how long they’re going to be gone?”
“The servants won’t be back until one or two o’clock. The chauffeur took them to see a picture show in town. God knows when Eversel will show up.”
“Doesn’t he usually send the servants away when he plans on spending the night elsewhere?”
“He didn’t the other night,” MacGregor said. “He sent them away to get rid of them.”
Mason grinned and said, “Well, let’s take a chance.”
“You can’t leave the car there,” MacGregor said, “and I can’t get it through the gates. You’ll have to drive it back down to the main road and park it.”
“I’ll take it down,” Drake said.
“And stay in it?” Mason asked.
Drake took a deep breath. “Hell, no, Perry,” he said. “I’ll stay with you. I don’t want to, but you may need my moral support.”
Mason glanced inquiringly at Della Street. By way of answer, she opened the door and slipped out of the car to stand by the driveway. “We’ll wait for you here, Paul,” she said.
Mason said, “Look here, Della. I don’t know just what I’m getting into. This may be embarrassing, and it may be dangerous.”
“I know,” she said quietly, in a tone which completely disposed of the discussion.
Drake slipped the car into reverse. Mason joined Della Street at the driveway, quietly closed the door. “Don’t make any more noise than necessary, Paul,” he said.
“It’s all right,” MacGregor told him. “Lots of cars come up here on moonlit nights — not an awful lot, but enough so Angus gets accustomed to hearing them turn back when they come to the locked gates.”
Abruptly Mason signalled Paul Drake, walked over to stand near the front left hand window of the car. “On second thought, Paul,” he said, “I think you’d better stay with the car, and you’d better take Della with you.”
Della Street quietly shook her head.
“Why not?” Mason asked.
“You may need a witness,” she said. “I’m going to stay with you.”
Mason said to Drake, “Go back to the main highway, drive about three hundred yards up the road, stop the car, turn out the lights, and wait until you hear from me. If things go all right, I’ll join you inside of half an hour. If, at the end of half an hour, you haven’t heard from me, beat it back to town.”
“If I can help, Perry,” the detective said, “I want to...”
“No,” Mason told him. “Go on. Beat it. I don’t know just what we’re getting into. MacGregor’s here. He can stand by if it comes to a showdown. You’d better keep on the sidelines, Paul, and get started. Time’s precious.”