Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom

“And why did you take the gun out of your purse and have it in your hand when you were out on the fire escape?”

“Because I was scared. I didn’t know what would happen if I were caught.”

“And what were you doing out on the fire escape?”

“As I’m telling you, Mr. Mason, my mother had received the usual proxy and had signed it, and then as we were casually discussing the company, she just happened to tell me that she’d received another proxy and signed it. I couldn’t understand why they would have sent out two proxies, but didn’t think much about it until she mentioned that the proxy had been just a little different in its wording from the way they usually came out; that the proxy listed the certificate number of Mr. Garvin’s share of stock. Well, I started wondering about that and I went down and asked the girl who had charge of the office about the date of the stockholders’ meeting and a few questions, and then told her who I was and asked her if I could see my mother’s proxy.”

“And what happened?”

“Well, she went over and asked this Mr. Denby about it, and Mr. Denby came over, all smiles and courtesy, and told me, certainly, he’d be only too glad to let me see the proxy my mother had signed. He went to the files and took out what must have been the first proxy. It was made out just that way, to E. C. Garvin. There was nothing on it about any certificate number.”

“So you went back out and climbed out on the fire escape and...”

She said, “You’re trying to make it sound absurd, aren’t you, Mr. Mason?”

“Well, it does sound a little fishy to me, to tell the truth.”

She struggled to fight back a yawn, then, putting her hand over her mouth, surrendered to the yawn. Her eyes seemed heavy from lack of sleep.

“Go ahead,” Mason said.

“You can call it a woman’s intuition if you want to. I don’t know what accounts for it, but in any event I’ve always followed my hunches. When I was up there, looking things over, I saw that the Drake Detective Agency was in the building and there was a sign on the directory board stating that it was open twenty-four hours a day and that persons who went to the Drake Detective Agency did not need to register with the elevator operator after hours.

“I kept thinking that over and finally decided I’d go up and talk with the Drake Detective Agency. Then I had a brilliant idea. I remembered a landing of the fire escape was outside the window of the office of the mining company. I got off at Drake’s floor, found the stairs, walked up two flights, located the landing to the fire escape, went out on it, crept down one flight and found I was on the landing just outside the window of the office I wanted.

“The window was open just a little bit. It wasn’t locked. I was wrest-ling with the temptation to go in when all of a sudden a shadow formed against the frosted glass on the outside of the door. I could see that someone was coming in... There was a night light in the corridor and it showed the shadow of some person fitting a key to the door of the office.

“I was in a panic. I was... well, Mr. Mason, I’d just made up my mind that I was going to go in and take a look at the proxy file from which Mr. Denby had removed Mother’s proxy when he showed it to me. I actually had one leg over the sill.”

“Go on,” Mason said.

“Well, I backed up fast and started down the fire escape. Then this person came in and switched on the lights and I realized that the lights were streaming out through the window and that I would be plainly visible. Well, I started down the fire escape and then you moved and I saw you, and my skirts blew up, and — well, frankly, Mr. Mason,” she said, smiling disarmingly, “I was in what I would consider one hell of a fix.”

Mason said, “You seem to me to be a very determined young woman.”

“I am and I’m... Mr. Mason, I’m sorry, I’m downright sorry about what I did — slapping your face.”

“You should be. I owe you one for that.”

She laughed. “You were so darned decent about — well, about everything. I didn’t feel that I could tell you all about what was happening and what I was doing there and — well, I felt you wouldn’t believe me even if I did try to explain and I was desperate.”

Mason said, “You’re telling me all about this quite readily now.”

“The circumstances are entirely different. You’ve found me. I suppose that means — oh, I’ll bet I know!”

“What?” Mason asked.

“You found that gun,” she charged. “I wondered what happened to it.”

“Suppose you tell me a little more about the gun?” Mason invited.

“I didn’t throw it down in the alley. I made a motion with my hand, as though I was going to throw it, but I didn’t. I made that motion and then whirled around and put the gun on the fire escape right next to the wall on the landing. I intended to go back and get it later — but when I had a chance to go back it was gone. I supposed you’d figured out what must have happened and had gone back and found it. You must have done that, traced the numbers, found my brother had bought it and — so that’s the way it was!”

Mason said, “How did you know the gun was gone, Virginia?”

She shifted her eyes for a moment, then turned back to face him squarely. “I led with my chin on that one, didn’t I?”

“I’m interested in knowing,” Mason said.

She said, “I was back there last night as well as the night before. All last night, in fact. That’s why I’m so damn sleepy this morning. This business of working all night — and I almost froze to death last night. I’m telling you, Mr. Mason, I looked longingly down in your office and thought I’d give almost anything to get warm.”

“You stayed out there all night last night?” Mason asked.

“All night.”

“Suppose you tell me a little more about that?”

“Well,” she said, “I waited until the scrub women had left. Then I did just as I’d done before. I went up to the floor where Mr. Drake’s office is. The janitor who operates the night elevator knows me by this time and we’re palsy.”

“So you got off at Drake’s office, and then what?”

“Walked up two flights of stairs, went out to the landing on the fire escape, crawled down and took up my position. I looked for the gun, and it was gone. That frightened me.”

“Go on,” Mason said. “Let’s have the rest of it. I think I know now why you’re talking so glibly.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Never mind,” Mason said. “Go ahead.”

“That last sounded like a crack.”

“I guess it was,” Mason told her, “but go ahead. Let’s have your story first.”

“Well,” she said, “I was prepared for what might happen. This time I was bundled up against wind and rain. I even had on what we call in Idaho my ‘long-handled underwear,’ and I had a heavy sweater and a leather coat over the sweater, and a ski cap — oh, I was all dolled up for a long wait. I’d taken those extra clothes in with me in a bundle.”

“And you stayed there all night?”

“All night.”

“Didn’t you think it was a little unlikely anyone would come in after — oh, say, one or two o’clock in the morning?”

She said, “I wasn’t taking any chances, Mr. Mason. That stockholders’ meeting is at two o’clock this afternoon. I’m going to be there and I’m going to protect my mother’s interests. And I’m here to tell you there’s something very funny going on in that company. The whole thing is crooked.”

“What makes you think so?”

She said, “That man, that secretary and treasurer, I think his name is Denby — he was in the office ail night doing things.”