Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Careless Kitten

“People of that sort sometimes live a lot longer than the husky, strong people who don’t know what an ache or a pain is.”

“That’s right.”

Della said, “Mr. Shore must have been a very fine man.”

“Yes, ma’am. He sure was. He was certainly nice to me.”

“Letting your brother stay in the house that way. I don’t suppose they charged him board.”

“Nope. They didn’t,” Lunk said. “And I’ll never forget how Shore acted when my brother passed away. I’d been spending my money on doctors and things, and — well, Shore just called me in and told me how he understood the way I felt, and — know what he did?”

“No. What did he do?”

“Gave me three hundred and fifty dollars so I could ship him back East, and gave me time off from work so I could go along with him on the train. My mother was alive then, and it meant a lot to her having me bring Phil home that way and having the funeral right there.”

“She’s passed away since?” Della asked.

“Uh huh. Five years ago. Never had anything hit me quite as hard as the way Mr. Shore acted about that. I thanked him at the time. I wanted to thank him some more, but he was gone when I got back from burying Phil.”

Mason nudged Della Street with his knee so that she wouldn’t pounce on that opening and alarm the gardener. Then, after a moment or two, Mason asked casually, “That was right about the time he disappeared?”

“Just that time.”

Mason said, “Those Japs certainly are clever. The Orientals know a lot about drugs that we don’t know.”

Lunk leaned forward so he could look searchingly into the lawyer’s face.

“What made you say that?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Mason said. “I was just thinking out loud. I sometimes get funny ideas.”

“Well, what was funny about that idea?”

“It wasn’t even an idea,” Mason said. “I was just thinking.”

Lunk said, significantly, “Well, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking too.”

Mason waited a few seconds, then observed, casually, “If I had a Jap around and I didn’t like him — I’d sure hate to be living in the house with him... Have him fixing or serving food for me. I don’t trust ’em.”

“That’s the same way I feel,” Lunk said. “I’m going to tell you something, Mr. — what’d you say your name was?”

“Mason.”

“Well, I’ll tell you something, Mr. Mason. There was a while after I heard about Mr. Shore disappearing that I’d have bet dollars to doughnuts the Jap had something to do with it. And then, later on, I began to wonder if maybe the Jap hadn’t had something to do with the way Phil died. It could have been something, you know.”

“Poison?” Mason asked.

“Well, I ain’t saying anything. Personally, I ain’t got any use for the sneaking, treacherous race, but I want to be fair. I’ve done him one injustice already.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Lunk said, “Well, to tell you the truth, I sort of suspected him of having a hand in — well, I’ll tell you. I thought for a while that maybe he wanted to get Mr. Shore out of the way, and he sort of practiced first on my brother to see if he had the right dose and — you know, the way Mr. Shore disappeared and all that, and coming right on top of Phil’s death... I didn’t think so much of it at the time, but I got to thinking more about it later on.”

Mason again nudged Della Street with his elbow as he piloted the car around a corner toward the hospital. “Well, I don’t see that that’s doing the Jap any injustice.”

“Nope,” Lunk said positively. “He didn’t do it. But up to a few hours ago, you couldn’t have convinced me of that if you’d argued all night. Just goes to show how we get an idea through our heads and it sticks. To tell you the truth, the reason I didn’t want to live on the place any more was on account of the way that Jap was hanging around. Phil was gettin’ worse all the time. I got to feeling kind of sick myself and went to a doctor, and the doctor couldn’t find nothing wrong with me, so I up and left.”

“Did that cure you?” Mason asked.

“Perked right up,” Lunk said, warming to his subject. “I got a place of my own, did all my own cooking, and carried my lunches with me. And I’ll tell you something else. Mister, I didn’t leave my lunches hanging around where anybody could open up a box and sprinkle something on my sandwich, either. No siree!”

“And you were cured immediately?”

“Within a week or two. But Phil was sick anyway. He didn’t make it. He was all shot.”

“What did Komo say when you moved out?”

“The damn Jap didn’t say nothin’. He just looked at me, but I knew he knew what I was thinkin’, and I didn’t care.”

“What made you change your mind? Why don’t you think he poisoned Mr. Shore?”

“Nope,” Lunk said, shaking his head positively. “He didn’t poison the boss. I do think he poisoned Phil though, and I think he tried poisoning me; what’s more, he poisoned that kitten, and if Matilda Shore got a dose of poison, you’ll never convince me that Komo didn’t do it. He ain’t foolin’ me none. You mark my words, he wanted to poison someone, but he wanted to see how the poison worked first. Ten years ago he used Phil to try things out on. Last night he used this here kitten. Thought for a while ten years ago he was practicin’ up on Phil to have a go at the boss. Now I know it was me he was after.”

“But if you thought your brother was poisoned, why didn’t you go to the police, and...”

“Didn’t have a thing to go on. When Phil died, I asked the doc about poison. He laughed at me. Said Phil had been living on borrowed time for five years.”

Mason said, “Well, here’s the hospital. You want to go in with me and see if the officers are still on duty?”

“I don’t want to see no officers.”

“Of course,” Mason said. “But there’s just a chance we can get through to see Mrs. Shore.”

Della Street looked at Mason apprehensively. “I can run up, Chief,” she said, “and see if they’re on duty, and...”

“No,” Mason said significantly. “I want to take Mr. Lunk up with me. You see,” he explained to Lunk, “I was in to see her once this evening.”

“Oh,” Lunk said. “Didn’t you say you were working for Gerald Shore?”

“Yes. He’s a client of mine. I’m a lawyer.”

Mason opened the car door. “Come on, Lunk. We’ll run up. Della, you won’t mind staying here?”

She shook her head, but there were little creases of worry down the center of her forehead.

Mason took Lunk’s arm, and the two climbed up the stone steps to the hospital.

As they walked down the long corridor past the receiving and admittance desk, Mason said to Lunk, “Probably just as well to let me do the talking. But you listen carefully, and if I’m not doing all right, give me a nudge.”

“All right,” Lunk said.

Mason rang for the elevator, went up to the floor on which Matilda Shore’s room was located. A nurse, working on some records at a desk, looked up from her work. Two men got up out of chairs at the far end of the corridor and came marching toward the visitors.

Mason had his hand on the door of Mrs. Shore’s room when one of the men said, truculently, “Hold it, buddy.”

The other man said, “That’s Mason, the lawyer. He was here before. Lieutenant Tragg had a talk with him”

“What you want?” the man who seemed to be in charge asked.

“I want to talk with Mrs. Shore.”

The man shook his head and grinned. “Nix on it. Nix on it,” he said.

Mason said, “This man with me wants to talk with her.”

“Well now, does he?” The officer grinned, surveying Lunk as though enjoying a huge joke. “So you both want to talk with her, eh?”