Erle Gardner - The Case of the Phantom Fortune

"And then they'll pounce onyou?"

"Then they'll pounce on me. Thesmooth shadows will have been keeping up with me all the time."

"Can't you ditch them?"Mason asked.

"Oh, it can be done,"Gideon said. "It's not a simple matter but there are ways. It takes time,however, and a certain amount of capital.

"Now, very frankly, Mr Mason, Ihave time but I don't have much capital."

"I see," Mason said."I thought you could remedy that."

"In what way?"

"I felt that Mr Horace Warrenwould be glad to make some contribution toward my rehabilitation."

"You assume Mr Warren is myclient?"

"I assume he is a friend,otherwise you would not have been at his house last night. I also assume yourpresence at that little gathering was not without some significance. I feelthat you have some official contact with someone who is interested. But I seeno reason to cudgel my brains over a point which, as far as I'm concerned, isimmaterial. The point is that Mr Warren would follow any suggestion you mightmake which had for its purpose seeing that his wife's past was not brought intothe pitiless glare of publicity."

"And you are threatening to -"

Gideon held up his hand. "No,no, please, Mr Mason. Please!"

"I must have misunderstood youthen," Mason said.

"You certainly did. The pointis this, Mr Mason. Every move that I make is being reported to the governmentalagencies. The fact that I am here this afternoon is causing a lot ofspeculation. Why did I come here? What possible connection can I have with youor you with me? My correspondence has been censored for years. I've had nocontact with you. You haven't written me and I haven't written you.

"Therefore the authorities willassume that you must be representing the person who has the forty-seventhousand dollars and that I am calling on you to try and make a deal."

"I see," Mason said.

"So the government will startchecking on your clients, particularly those who have been in touch with you orwith whom you have been in touch during the past few days, or with whom youwill be in touch alter I leave this office.

"You'll be surprised howefficient some of these government operatives are. They can put two and twotogether just as I have. They doubtless have read or will read the societycolumn in the evening paper."

"And so?" Mason asked.

"And so they'll wonder why ithappens you broke your usual rule to attend what was seemingly a purely socialgathering. They'll start probing into the background of the guests, andeventually, of the host and hostess.

"That would be unfortunate, MrMason."

The lawyer remained silent.

"Now then," Gideon said,"if Mr Warren would make a contribution toward my financial welfare, itwould give me the margin I need to ditch the government's smooth shadows,vanish completely and be on my way."

"Otherwise?" Mason asked.

"Otherwise," Gideon said,"I am trapped in an economic net. They stripped me clean when they sent meto prison. They released me with only what is referred to as 'gatemoney'."

Mason regarded the man's clothes andthe cigar. "You seem to have done very well for yourself in a short periodof time."

Gideon smiled. "Let ussay," he said, "that I am resourceful and not entirelyunintelligent."

"And so you come to me?"Mason asked.

"And so I come to you,"Gideon said.

"And if your requests are notcomplied with?"

"Then I keep coming toyou," Gideon said. "Every time I come to you it causes more and morespeculation on the part of the government. And if, after my visits, you get intouch with Horace Warren or his wife, that triggers an investigation which wouldbe disastrous to the welfare of your clients."

"This is a very interestingform of blackmail," Mason said.

"Please, please, Mr Mason!Don't use that word! This is not blackmail. I have the greatest respect forHorace Warren and I am very, very fond of his wife. I wish them everyhappiness. I am trying to give them an opportunity to achieve that happiness.

"If I remain financiallyembarrassed, it is almost certain that sooner or later I will have to betraymyself. Some clue will crop up which will enable the authorities to know thereal identity of Loma Warren. Of course, they don't have anything against herat the moment, but they would bring her in and question her and it would soonbecome known that she was none other than Margaret Loma Neely who was tried andacquitted for conspiracy to defraud by use of the mails.

"Now surely, Mr Mason, youwouldn't want that to happen, and Mr Warren, with his present social andbusiness contacts, wouldn't want it to happen.

"I don't want any financialconsideration given me to keep quiet. That would be blackmail. I simply want tovanish. I want to elude the smooth shadows of the government. In order to dothat I need money. I have to be able to buy an automobile."

"Why an automobile?" Masonasked.

"Because I would need that inorder to ditch the smooth shadows and disappear."

"Surely," Mason said,"the government operatives could follow an automobile."

"Oh, of course. That's thesimplest thing in the world, particularly in these days when they haveelectronic shadowing devices. They simply put a little installation on myautomobile and the thing gives off little 'beeps' which would enable governmentdetectives in an automobile to follow me without the slightest bit of trouble.They wouldn't even have need to get close to me. They could get three or fourblocks behind me and still have no difficulty following me."

"Then perhaps you'd betterexplain why you want the automobile," Mason said.

"I would want to play the sametrick on the government detectives that they are trying to play on me. In otherwords, they want me to become overconfident and I want them to becomeoverconfident.

"You see, Mr Mason, I wouldn'tget a new car, and I would buy it on a contract. Then I would assume theinitiative. It has been my experience that one can do very much better when hehas the initiative.

"Of course, the money withwhich I paid for the automobile would be pounced on by government agents whowould look it over for some clue. I would, therefore, like to have this moneyin older bills of five-and ten-dollar denominations and some ones. It wouldappear that I had put the bite on someone who had had to dig deep into hissavings in order to get that money."

"Go on," Mason said.

"Then," Gideon went on, "Iwould take that automobile and let the government think that I had no ideathere were any smooth shadows on the job. I'd ditch the rough shadow, which, asI said, wouldn't be very much of a job."

"Go on," Mason said.

"So then the smooth shadowswould handle things in such a way that they would flatter themselves that Iwould have no idea I was being shadowed. They might perhaps have as many asfive cars on the job. They might even work with a helicopter andbinoculars."

"And they'd keep you in sight?"Mason asked.

Gideon grinned and said, "Ofcourse."

"They could do that?"Mason asked.

"They're clever," Gideonsaid, "and they hold all the face cards. I would, of course, go throughall the expected motions. I'd take a lot of evasive tactics so the governmentdetectives would know that I felt certain I had ditched the rough shadow. Iwould then go into a restaurant to eat, and leave the car parked outside.

"While I was gating, thegovernment agents would, of course, put an electronic bug on the car so that Iwould be shadowed by cars that were two or three blocks away."

"Just how would you handle thatsituation?" Mason asked.

Gideon smiled. "You have toleave me with some cards I don't turn face up, Mr Mason. I'd handle it. Thegovernment agents would never see me again. Just when they were flushed withtriumph, I'd trump their aces and be on my way."

"You're certain you could dothat?" Mason asked.