Erle Gardner: The Case of the Lame Canary

She snapped open her purse, fished out a square of scented lace and jabbed furiously at the tears which oozed from her eyes.

Mason settled back in his chair with a deep sigh of contentment. “An automobile accident, a love story, a lame canary, and Mrs. Snoops. What could be better? Something seems to tell me that I’m going to take your sister’s case. At any rate, I’m going to hear all about it. Now quit crying and tell me about Mrs. Snoops.”

Rita Swaine blew her nose, tried to smile away her tears, and said, “I hate to cry. Usually I take things on the chin. Don’t think I put on an act to impress you, Mr. Mason, because I didn’t.”

He nodded and said, “Who’s Mrs. Snoops?”

“We call her Mrs. Snoops because she’s such an old busybody. Her name’s Stella Anderson. She’s a widow who has the house next door, and she’s always snooping and prying into other people’s business.”

“And Jimmy told you he loved you?”

“Yes.”

“And this was over at Rosalind’s house?”

“Yes.”

“How did Jimmy happen to come there to tell you he loved you, and where was Rosalind?”

“Well,” she said, drying the last of her tears, “Walter found Jimmy’s letter and started making an awful scene. He went to see his lawyer and Rossy was afraid he was going to do something terrible. He’d threatened to kill her, and Rossy thought he might do it. She wanted to leave right away. So she ran out of the house and was afraid to go back.”

“What time was that?”

“I don’t know exactly what time. It was early this morning, around nine or ten o’clock, I think. Well, anyway, a little after eleven, Rossy telephoned me and told me what had happened, and asked me to go over to the house and pack up her clothes in her wardrobe trunk and a couple of suitcases which were in the closet of her bedroom. You see, her house is over at 1396 Alsace Avenue. Walter bought it just before they were married. It’s only a couple of blocks from where I live.”

“You have a key to the house?” Mason asked.

She shook her head.

“How did you get in, then?”

“Oh,” she said, “Rossy just ran out and left the doors unlocked. Walter said he was going to kill her, and she was frightened.”

“And the canary?” Mason asked.

“It’s her canary. She’s had it for years. She wanted me to keep it for her. Walter would have killed it just out of spite. That’s how mean he is. He’ll be simply furious when he returns and finds her gone.”

Mason said, “I’m sorry. I should have let you walk out, then I could have indulged in a lot of speculation as to what combination of circumstances had forced a frightened young woman to carry a caged canary through the streets and into my office. Now you’ve explained a perfectly intriguing mystery into an uninteresting commonplace.”

Her eyes showed indignation.

“I’m so sorry I bored you, Mr. Mason!” she blazed. “After all, my sister’s happiness doesn’t mean a thing as compared with your entertainment!”

The lawyer smiled and shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong,” he explained. “I’m going to see you through. That’s the price I’ll pay for indulging my curiosity. So go ahead and tell me the rest of it.”

“You mean you’re going to represent her?”

Mason nodded.

Her face showed relief. “That’s splendid of you.”

“Not at all,” Mason said wearily. “I became interested in that canary. The only legitimate reason I had to pry into your private affairs was as your attorney. So I made my decision and will pay the price. The fact that I’m about to embark on a distasteful case naturally needn’t concern you. So Jimmy Driscoll told you he loved you, did he?”

She nodded.

“Had he ever told you that before?” Mason asked, watching her shrewdly.

“No,” she said, “never before.” And her eyes dropped down to rest on the caged canary.

“But you knew it, of course,” Mason went on.

“Well, not exactly,” she said in a low voice. “I knew that I liked him and I hoped he liked me. But it came as a surprise.”

“And how,” Mason asked, “did it happen that Jimmy Driscoll came over to Rosalind’s house?”

She lifted her eyes to his, then, and said, “He went to my apartment first. The clerk at the desk over there thinks Jimmy is just about right. Jimmy was able to make him a little money once, so the clerk told him that my sister had called and seemed very much excited and that I’d dashed over to her house in a hurry.”

“He’d been listening in on the wire?” Mason asked.

“No, I don’t think so. He knows Rossy’s voice, so he knew she’d called, and then when I left I told him where I was going.”

“So Jimmy went over to Rosalind’s house?”

“Yes. You see, it’s only a couple of blocks.”

“And found you there?”

“Yes.”

“And you told him Rossy had left?”

“Yes.”

“And then what happened?”

Once more her eyes avoided the lawyer’s.

“Well,” she said, “we talked for a while, and I was holding the canary in my hand and clipping his claws, and then the first thing I knew Jimmy’s arms were around me, and he told me how he loved me, and I let go of the canary and clung to him. And then, while I was trying to catch this canary, all of a sudden there was this terrible crash out in front of the house, and, naturally, we ran to the living room window — we were in the solarium at the time — and found this big covered moving van and a coupe had had a smash-up, and of course the coupe had got the worst of it. The driver was hurt, and Jimmy ran out to help lift the driver out of the coupe. The driver of the van said he could rush the man to the hospital quicker than waiting for an ambulance, so he and Jimmy loaded him in the van.”

“Then Jimmy came back into the house?” Mason asked.

She nodded.

“And what happened after that?”

“Well, we talked things over, and I decided perhaps he’d better leave, because Walter was going to make trouble and I didn’t think it would be a good thing for people to know Jimmy had been there in the house. I thought he might be called as a witness to that automobile accident. You see, he’d parked his car on the side street and I thought perhaps the driver of the van would come back and try to involve Jimmy in some way. And Mrs. Snoops had been watching us when Jimmy took me in his arms, and—”

“So Jimmy left the house?”

“Yes. But Mrs. Snoops must have telephoned for the police when the accident happened, because when Jimmy walked out of the house, he walked right into the arms of a couple of officers who’d driven up in a radio car. They asked questions about the accident and took Jimmy’s name and address. They made him show them his driving license so he had to give them his right name.”

“What time was this?” Mason asked.

“It must have been two or three hours ago. I think it was right about noon when the accident happened.”

“What time did Rosalind call you?”

“Around ten or eleven o’clock, I think— I can’t tell exactly.”

“Well,” Mason said, “if you want me to represent your sister in the divorce action, you’d better have her come in and talk with me.”

Rita Swaine nodded, leaned across the arm of the chair and spoke rapidly. “Yes, that’s all right, Mr. Mason, I’ll have her do that, but don’t you think it would be a good plan to fix things so we could keep Walter from ever finding out that Jimmy was there at the house? You see, Rosalind left this morning and Walter might make it appear that Jimmy had something to do with her leaving.”

“But Jimmy is in love with you,” Mason said.