Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Careless Kitten

“Having reasoned that far, if Lieutenant Tragg finds any evidence indicating that you tried to get in touch with Leech earlier in the evening or actually did get in touch with him, it would be only natural for him to consider you as a very logical suspect.”

Mason ceased talking, took a cigarette from his cigarette case, lit it, and settled back in the seat.

Gerald Shore drove silently for some ten blocks, then said, “I guess it’s about time I retained you to act as my attorney.”

Mason took the cigarette from his mouth long enough to observe, quite casually, “Perhaps it is.”

“How about your secretary?” Gerald Shore asked, indicating Della Street who was sitting silently in the back seat.

“The soul of discretion,” Mason assured him. “You may speak freely — and it may be the last opportunity you’ll have to speak freely.”

“You’ll represent me?”

“That will depend,” Mason said.

“Upon what?”

“Upon the circumstances, and upon whether I think you’re innocent.”

“I am innocent,” Shore said with feeling, “entirely innocent. I’m either the victim of the damnedest set of circumstances fortune could conjure up, or of a deliberate conspiracy.”

Mason continued smoking in silence.

Shore slowed the car so driving it would not require quite so much attention on his part, and said, “I was the one who called on my brother the night he disappeared.”

“You denied it afterwards?” Mason inquired.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“For various reasons. One of them was that too much of my conversation had been overheard, and made public. You’ll remember that the person who was with Franklin immediately prior to his disappearance had been heard to ask for money and had intimated that his own financial affairs were in desperate straits.”

Mason nodded.

“I was engaged in carrying out some promotional transactions at the time. These could have shown a very considerable profit if I carried them through to completion, and could have shown a staggering, ruinous loss if I failed. The only thing which was enabling me to keep my head above water was the fact that the other parties in the transaction never for a moment suspected the possibility that I didn’t have ample capital back of me.”

“Your brother?” Mason asked.

“Well, my brother’s connections perhaps had something to do with it. They didn’t think he was directly interested. They did think that I had plenty of capital, and that if anything happened and I found myself in need of more than I had available, my brother was always ready to stand back of me.”

“So,” Mason said, “you didn’t dare to admit that you had been the one who had been with your brother because so much of that conversation had been published in the newspapers.”

“That’s exactly it.”

“Didn’t your brother’s disappearance have a bad effect upon the transaction?”

“I’ll say it did,” Shore said with feeling, “but I was able to find and interest a man who furnished me the necessary capital — taking, as it happened, the lion’s share of the profits. The fact that the affairs of the Shore National were so promptly investigated, the fact that my brother left so large a cash balance — those all helped.”

“You didn’t confide to Mrs. Shore perhaps that you were the one who had been with Franklin?”

“I didn’t confide in anyone. I didn’t dare to at the time.”

“And after the necessity for the secrecy was removed?” Mason prompted.

“I stuck with my story. Put yourself in my position, and you’ll realize I had to.”

“Go ahead.”

“Tonight when Helen told me that Franklin had telephoned her, I was sick with apprehension. I felt that I had to see Franklin before anyone else did.”

“So while Helen returned to the hospital to see how Amber Eyes was getting along, you were out trying to get in touch with your brother. Is that right?”

“Yes. Helen went to the hospital directly after dinner to pick up the kitten. She then took the kitten down to the place where our gardener maintains a little bachelor shack, and then went up to keep her appointment with you.”

“And during that interval of time, you went to the Castle Gate Hotel?”

“Yes. That was why I didn’t come up with Helen to see you.”

“You were trying to see Leech?”

“Yes.”

“Any success?”

“No. I inquired first over the telephone, and was told that Leech had gone out with a man, but would be back soon. That left me in something of a spot. I thought the man might well have been my brother, Franklin. So I went to the hotel and waited. I didn’t know Leech, but I felt certain he was with Franklin and that he’d be back within an hour.”

“You waited?” Mason asked.

“Yes. I sat there waiting until it came time to go and meet you.”

“He didn’t come in?”

“No. At any rate, I don’t think so. I do know Franklin didn’t come in.”

“And the clerk noticed you?”

“Yes. He spotted me as not being one of the regulars. I sat there by the door, and he kept looking at me. He may have thought I was a detective. As I gather from what Lieutenant Tragg said, the hotel apparently caters to men who have somewhat shady backgrounds, and that must make them suspicious of strangers. At first I intended to park my car near the door and wait in the car; but I couldn’t find a parking place within half a block, so I decided I’d go inside and wait.”

“And the fact that you were afraid the clerk might identify you as being the man who had been waiting around earlier in the evening made it absolutely essential that you shouldn’t be seen in the hotel.”

“Yes — that, of course, is in the strictest professional confidence.”

Mason said, “I think you can rest assured Tragg will reason all this out for himself.”

There was a vacant space at the curb. Shore swung his car to the side of the road, parked it, and shut off the motor.

“I can’t keep on driving,” he said. “Give me a cigarette, will you?”

Mason handed him a cigarette. Shore’s hands were shaking so that he could hardly hold the flame from the match to the end of the cigarette.

“Go on,” Mason said.

“That’s all there is to tell you.”

Mason glanced back at Della Street, then said to Gerald Shore, “It’s all right, except the motivation.”

“What is wrong with the motivation?” Shore asked.

“You wouldn’t have done what you did and as you did unless the necessity for seeing your brother before anyone else did had been much greater than would have been the case if you were merely trying to protect yourself against an original discrepancy in your statements.”

Shore turned to Mason. “I see that I’ve got to be frank with you.”

“It’s always an advantage,” Mason observed dryly. “As a practicing attorney, you should realize that.”

Shore said, “I think you’ll realize that no one ever knows exactly how honest he is. He goes through life thinking he’s honest, because he’s never been confronted with a sufficient temptation; then suddenly he’s confronted with some crucial situation where he finds himself facing ruination on the one hand and with a chance to turn defeat into victory by doing something which seems very simple but which is — well, not dishonest, but not strictly legal.”

“Never mind the excuses,” Mason said somewhat sharply. “Don’t underestimate Tragg. When he works on a case, he works fast. I want facts. You can fill in reasons and excuses later. And get this straight. All that you’ve told me before this is what I had already deduced. All you’ve done so far has been to cross the t’s and dot the i’s. The thing you’re coming to now — if you tell me the truth — is going to be the determining factor in whether I represent you.”