"All right, what about Janice?"
There were dark circles under Brownley's eyes. His face was white and haggard. He lit a cigarette with a hand that trembled, but when he spoke his voice was steady. "I took the message the cab driver left last night-or rather this morning," he said.
"What did you do with it?"
"Took it up to my grandfather."
"Was he asleep?"
"No. He'd gone to bed, but he wasn't sleeping. He was reading a book."
"So what?" Mason asked.
"He read the message and got excited as the devil. He jumped into his clothes and told me to have someone get his car out, that he was going down to the beach to meet Julia Branner; that Julia had promised to give him back Oscar's watch if he'd come alone without being followed and go aboard his yacht where she could talk with him without being interrupted."
"He told you that?" Mason asked.
"Yes."
"What did you do?"
"I advised him not to go."
"Why?"
"I thought it was a trap."
Mason's eyes narrowed slowly. "Did you think someone would try to kill him?"
"No. Of course not. But I thought they might try to trap him into some compromising situation, or into making statements."
Mason nodded. There was a moment or two of silence, and then the lawyer said. "Go on. This is your party. You're doing the talking."
"I went down personally and opened the garage so Grandfather could get his car out. When he came down I begged him to let me drive him. It was a mean night, and Grandfather isn't… wasn't… so much of a driver. He couldn't see well at night."
"And he wouldn't let you drive?" Mason asked.
"No. He said he must go alone; that Julia's letter insisted he must be alone and that no one must follow him, otherwise he'd have his trip for nothing."
"Where is this note?"
"I think Grandfather put it in his coat pocket."
"Go ahead… No, wait a minute. He told you he was going to his yacht?"
"That's what I understood him to say; that Julia wanted to meet him aboard the yacht."
"All right. Go ahead."
"Well, he went out of the garage and I went back to the house, and there was Janice, all dressed and waiting for me."
"What did she want?" Mason asked.
"She said she'd heard the commotion and thought perhaps there was something wrong and wanted to know…"
"Wait a minute," Mason interrupted. "How was she dressed-in evening clothes, or what?"
"No, she had on a sport outfit."
"Go on," Mason said.
"She wanted to know what had happened, and I told her. She was furious with me for letting Grandfather go, and said I should have stopped him."
"Then what?"
"Then I told her she was crazy; that I couldn't have held him with a block and tackle, and I went upstairs. I waited for her to come up. I heard her come up just behind me, and then, after a minute or two, I heard her leave her room and start downstairs again. So I sneaked out in the hall and took a look down the stairs. She was tiptoeing so as not to make any noise, and she was wearing a rain coat."
"What sort of a rain coat?" Mason asked tonelessly.
"A very light yellow rain coat."
Mason pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it silently. "Go on," he said.
"She sneaked downstairs," Brownley said, "and I followed her."
"Trying not to make any noise?"
"Yes, of course."
"Go on."
"She went to the garage and took out her car."
"What sort of a car?"
"A light yellow Cadillac coupe."
Mason settled back against the cushions. "You saw her leave?"
"Yes."
"How long after your grandfather left?"
"Just a minute or two."
"All right, what did you do?"
"I waited until she'd left the garage and then I sprinted for my car and got it started. I didn't turn on the lights, and followed her."
"Could you keep her car in sight?"
"Yes."
"You had told her your grandfather was going down to his yacht to meet Julia?"
"Yes."
"And she went down to the beach?" Mason asked.
"I don't know. That's what I wanted to tell you about."
"But I thought you said you'd followed her!"
"I did, as well as I could."
"Go ahead," Mason told him. "Tell me in your own way just what happened, but tell it to me fast. It may be important as hell."
"She was driving like the devil," Brownley said, "and it was raining pitchforks. I had to keep my lights out, and it was all I could do to follow her…"
"Skip all that," Mason told him. "You followed her, did you?"
" Yes."
"Okay. Where did she go?"
"She went down Figueroa to Fifty-second Street, and then she turned off and parked the car."
"On Figueroa, or on Fifty-second?"
"On Fifty-second."
"What did you do?"
"Slid my car into the curb on Figueroa, switched off the ignition and jumped out."
"And of course that's on the road to the beach," Mason commented musingly.
Brownley nodded.
"Go on," Mason told him impatiently. "What happened?"
"She was walking ahead of me in the rain. In fact, she was running."
"Could you see her?"
"Yes. The light yellow rain coat showed up as a light patch. I ran as hard as I could without making any noise, and of course, I could go faster than she could. That light-colored rain coat was easy to follow. I could see it indistinctly, but you know how it would be…"
"Yes. I know," Mason said. "Where did she go?"
"She walked four blocks."
"Walked four blocks!" Mason exclaimed.
"Yes."
"Why didn't she drive?"
"I don't know."
"You mean to say she was driving a light yellow Cadillac coupe and she parked it on Fifty-second just off Figueroa and then walked four blocks through a driving rain?"
"She ran most of the way."
"I don't care whether she was running or walking. What I mean is, she left the car and went on foot?"
"Yes."
"Where did she go?"
"There's a little apartment house there. I don't think it has over eight or ten apartments in it. It's a frame house, and she went in there."
"Any lights?" Mason asked.
"Yes. There were lights on the second floor in the right-hand corner and on one side-it's only a two-story building. The shades were drawn, but I could see the light through the shades, and occasionally I could see a shadow moving across the curtains."
"You mean you stayed there and watched?"
"That's right."
"How long?"
"Until after daylight."
Mason gave a low whistle.
"I went up to look the place over," Brownley said, "and as nearly as I could figure from the mail boxes, the front apartment was in the name of Mr. and Mrs. Victor Stockton. I couldn't tell whether the side apartment which was lighted was in the name of Jerry Franks or Paul Montrose."
"And you stayed there until after daylight?"
"Yes."
"Then what happened?"
"Well, after it got light I moved farther away of course. And then I could see the back of the building as well as the front. There were a bunch of vacant lots along there and I found one where I could stay and watch."
"And it had quit raining then?"
"It was just quitting."
"Then what happened?"
"Then Janice and a short, chunky fellow, with a felt hat, came out of the place and walked rapidly down the sidewalk toward Figueroa Street. It was daylight then and I didn't dare to crowd them too closely. I waited until they'd got quite a start. You know, it wasn't bright daylight, just the gray of dawn."