Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Stepdaughter’s Secret

“You’re going out to see Kelsey?” she asked.

“I’m going to have a talk with a blackmailer,” Mason said. “A perfectly frank, heart-to-heart talk.”

“You be careful,” she warned.

Mason grinned at her as he shot through the door.

Mason made time to Eve Amory’s apartment house. Drake’s man, who was staked out on the job, recognizing Mason, came forward and said, “He’s still up there, Mr Mason. You want me to go with you?”

“No, you stay here,” Mason said. “You have radio communication in your car?”

“That’s right.”

“Keep in touch with the office,” Mason said. “If they want me, come and get me.”

“What’ll I say?” the operative asked.

“Just that my office wants me,” Mason said.

“How long will you be up there?”

“Not very long,” Mason said.

He took the elevator, walked down the corridor and jabbed the mother-of-pearl call button on Eve Amory’s apartment.

Chimes sounded on the inside.

After a moment Eve Amory opened the door.

“Hello,” Mason said.

As she stood uncertainly in the doorway, Mason pushed on past her and entered the apartment, where a powerfully built man of around fifty years of age with steady, cold grey eyes looked up at him in venomous appraisal.

“And,” Mason said, “I suppose you’re Stilson L Kelsey, sometimes referred to as Con-King Kelsey, and that document you’re holding in your hand is something you’re trying to get Eve Amory to sign.

“I’m here to tell you that she’s not going to sign it, that I don’t like blackmailers, and that you can get the hell out of here and leave this young woman alone or you’re going to go to prison.”

Kelsey slowly rose, pushed back the chair, said, “I don’t like lawyers. I’m not a blackmailer. I’m a businessman. Call me a sharpshooter, if you want to. I’m smart enough to know a phony setup when I see it.

“This wasn’t blackmail, this was a publicity deal. It’s as phony as a three-dollar bill. For your information, Mr Mason, Eve Amory has just admitted as much to me and I have in my hands a document showing that the whole thing was a frame-up.”

“I’ll show you the kind of a frame-up it was,” Mason said. “Who do you think put that three thousand dollars in the coffee can?”

“I don’t know and I don’t give a damn.”

“I can show exactly who put it in, and that it wasn’t any publicity stunt,” Mason said.

Kelsey regarded the lawyer with shrewd, unblinking eyes, sizing up the situation.

“All right,” he said at length, “I’ll put my cards on the table with you, Mister Lawyer. I get around. I know people. I know a guy by the name of Willmer Gilly. Gilly uncovered some information and started putting the bite on certain people I won’t name at the moment.

“I’m in a position to control Gilly. If somebody wants to deal with me, okay. If they don’t, okay.”

“They don’t,” Mason said. “Get out.”

“Are you paying the rent on this apartment?” Kelsey asked.

“I’m a taxpayer,” Mason said. “I’m paying part of the cost of maintaining the city jail. Now then, I’m going to call your bluff, Kelsey, and I’m going to call it cold. You try to bring any pressure to bear on this young woman to state that this was a publicity stunt, and I’ll come out and show that I put up the money that went in that coffee can. I’ll have the cancelled cheque to prove it and the statement of the banker that the money was handed over to me in ten and twenty-dollar bills and some of the numbers of the bills were kept on a list just to prove where the money came from, in case the question ever arose. Eve Amory isn’t going to sign this statement saying that it was a publicity stunt and that you put up the money or had anything to do with putting up the money because that’s false, and if you try to make any commotion about it we’ll have you up for extortion, for obtaining money under false pretences, and making false statements to the authorities.”

With that, Mason stepped forward, picked up the paper that was on the table in front of Kelsey, tore it into four pieces, and tossed the pieces to the floor.

“Got anything to say, Kelsey?” he asked.

Kelsey regarded him with cold fury. “Not now,” he said. “I’ll have something to say later.”

“Say it to me,” Mason said.

“I’ll say it to you,” Kelsey said, “and when you hear it, you won’t like it.”

Chimes sounded on the door.

Mason jerked it open. Drake’s man was standing on the threshold. “Your office phoned. They want you,” he said.

Mason jerked his head toward the door and said to Kelsey, “Out.”

“You don’t own this apartment,” Kelsey said.

“That’s right,” Mason told him. “Out.”

“You can’t put me out.”

“Want to bet?”

“Now that reinforcements have arrived, maybe you can,” Kelsey said. “Who the hell is this guy?”

“Private detective,” Mason said. “He’s had you under surveillance. We’re getting evidence to throw the book at you on extortion.”

Kelsey’s eyes wavered. He looked for a moment like a trapped animal.

“Show him your credentials,” Mason said to the operative.

The operative took a leather folder from his pocket, exhibited his credentials.

“All right,” Kelsey said, “all right, I’ll go. But you haven’t got a case against me. You may have something against Gilly but you haven’t got it against me.”

Mason said, “Want to bet?”

“No, I don’t want to bet,” Kelsey flared at him. “I’ve half a mind to—”

“Go ahead,” Mason said, as Kelsey’s voice trailed off into silence.

Kelsey turned, stalked out of the apartment.

Mason said to Eve Amory, “Come on, Eve. You’re going to Paul Drake’s office. You’re going to stay there for a few hours until we get this thing ironed out.”

“He threatened to—”

“Sure he did,” Mason said. “He makes his living by making threats. His threats are bluffs. He isn’t going to do any of the things he said he was going to do. He can only get by, by frightening people. Come on, you’re going to Drake’s office and sit there for a while. Get your things. I’m in a hurry.”

“It’ll take me a few minutes,” she said. “I—”

“All right,” Mason said, “I can’t wait.”

He turned to Drake’s operative. “Put her in your car,” he said. “Drive her up to Drake’s office. Let her stay there for a couple of hours. If that man, Kelsey, should be waiting outside and try to make trouble — do you think you can handle him?”

“With one hand,” the operative said with calm confidence.

“All right,” Mason said, “handle him.”

The lawyer turned, dashed down the corridor, took the stairs two at a time, jumped in his car and hurried to the heliport.

Bancroft and Della Street were waiting for him.

“Been here long?” Mason asked.

“Just a few minutes,” Bancroft said. “The pilot said the fog is lifting down at the bay.”

“Let’s go,” Mason told him.

They strapped themselves in the helicopter, and the pilot revved the engine and abruptly took off. They gained elevation rapidly, skimming over the city and the outskirts, then came down lower and raced along over relatively open country.

The fog bank was still ahead of them but as they approached the bay the fog was melting into wisps and streamers, and the pilot, carefully skirting the edge of the fog, slowed the helicopter so that it was hovering motionless over the bay.

“All right,” Bancroft shouted, “there’s the yacht club over there. There’s the mooring that the Jinesa usually occupies.”