Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Careless Kitten

“Leech was murdered.”

“When?”

“Some time early last night.”

“Well?”

“Don’t you see,” Mason said, “if you conceal a witness, knowing he’s a witness and wanted as such, you’re guilty of a crime.”

“How do I know he’s a witness?”

“I’m telling you so. Now then, you’d better tell me everything that happened.”

Lunk thought things over for a few minutes, then said, “Well, I guess I might’s well. Franklin Shore came to my place. He was excited and scared. He said somebody was trying to kill him. That he had to have a place to hide. He told me about what he’d done for me in giving me a home for my brother and all that and said it was up to me to help him out.”

“And you asked him why he didn’t go home?”

Lunk said, “I asked him some questions, but he wouldn’t talk much. He acted like he was still the boss and I was just a hired man. He said he didn’t want Mrs. Shore to know anything about his bein’ here until after he’d found out what had been done with certain property. He said his wife was going to try to strip him of every penny and he didn’t propose to stand for it.”

“Then what?”

“So then I told him he could stay with me. It was just the way you doped it out. I got a spare bedroom in the back, and I put him to bed. After he got to sleep I sneaked out and went to tell Mrs. Shore.”

“You hadn’t gone to bed at all?”

“No.”

“And you didn’t go to bed?”

“Nope. Told him I had some letters to write.”

“And Franklin Shore didn’t know you had sneaked out?”

“Nope. He was lyin’ on his back with his mouth open, snoring, when I left.”

“To betray the man who had once been so kind to you,” Perry added.

Lunk’s eyes shifted uneasily. “I wasn’t going to tell her where Mr. Shore was — just that I’d heard from him.”

“Did you know Henry Leech?” Mason asked suddenly.

“Yes, I knew him — a long time ago.”

“Who was he? What did he do?”

“He was a plumber — used to come to the house and do some work once in a while. Franklin Shore liked him. Mrs. Shore never did go much for him. He and my brother Phil used to get along pretty well, but I never cared too much for him. Thought he was full of hot air — always tellin’ about how he was goin’ to get rich in some mining deal. Told Phil a while before Phil died that Franklin Shore was goin’ to finance him on a mining proposition — said he was goin’ to be living on Easy Street in a couple of months. I’ve been wondering if maybe Franklin hadn’t gone in partners with him, and when Franklin left he went out to work on that mine.”

“Where was it?”

“In Nevada somewhere.”

“Did Leech continue working after Franklin Shore disappeared?”

“No, he didn’t. Mrs. Shore never liked him. Soon as she got in the saddle she canned him. He was puttin’ in a lot of new plumbing up in the north end of the house, and every time he’d get a chance, he’d talk over this mining deal with Mr. Shore and with my brother. For some reason or other, Shore liked him, and would take time out to kid with him about his mine, an’ when he was goin’ to strike it rich.”

Mason said, “When Franklin Shore showed up at your house, you asked him some questions about where he’d been, and whether he’d put any money in this mining deal. Now go ahead and tell me the truth.”

Lunk blurted out, “The boss ran away with this woman. He went to Florida, but he had an interest in some mine out in Nevada. I don’t know whether it was Leech’s mine or not. They struck it kinda rich, and Shore’s partner froze him out for a few thousand, when he could have made a lot more money if he’d held on.”

“And that partner was Leech?” Mason asked.

Lunk faced Mason then with steady-eyed candor. “I’m goin’ to tell you the truth, Mr. Mason. I don’t know who that partner was. Shore wouldn’t say. He dried up when I tried to pump him. It might have been Leech, and it might not.”

“Didn’t you ask him?”

“Well, I didn’t come right out and ask him in so many words. When I was talkin’ with him, I’d forgotten what Leech’s name was. I did ask the boss what’d ever become of that plumber that was trying to interest him in a mining proposition, and the boss dried up like a clam.”

“And you didn’t press the inquiry?”

Lunk said, “I guess you don’t know Franklin Shore very well, do you?”

“I don’t know him at all.”

“Well,” Lunk said, “when Franklin Shore don’t want to tell you a thing, he don’t tell you. And that’s all there is to it. I don’t s’pose he’s got any dough at all now, but you’d think he was still a high-and-mighty millionaire, the way he acts when you try to get any information out of him.

“Now, I can’t stay away no longer. I’ve got him out there at the house and I’ve got to get back before he wakes up. If he wakes up and finds me gone, there’s goin’ to be hell to pay. Now you drive me back home and I’ll find some way of gettin’ in touch with Mrs. Shore. Ain’t she got a telephone in that hospital?”

Mason said, “I was in the room for a few minutes. I saw that she had a telephone by the bed, but I don’t think I’d try to telephone her except as a last resort. Even then, I wouldn’t dare to tell her anything important over the telephone.”

“Why?”

“Because Lieutenant Tragg will either have taken the telephone out, or have left instructions at the switchboard not to put through incoming calls.”

“But she could call out all right?” Lunk asked.

“She might be able to.”

Lunk creased his forehead in thought. “I got a phone,” he said, “and if we could think up some way of gettin’ her to call my number, I could give her the message.”

Mason said, “I’ll drive you home and after we get there, we may be able to think up some way of getting her to put through a call. You might send her some flowers with your card on them and your telephone number on the card. The flowers would be delivered. The officers wouldn’t stop them. When she saw your name and telephone number on the card, she’d know that you wanted her to call you on the phone. That might be a good way to work things.”

Lunk said, “Now you’re really talkin’ sense. That’d work all right. The first thing she’d think of when she saw my card on the flowers would be what the hell I was sending her flowers for. But you understand they’d have to be bought flowers. If I sent her flowers out of the garden, it would be a natural thing to do. But bought flowers would tip her off right away that there was some reason for sending ’em.”

Mason said, “I know a flower shop that’s open all night. We can get an immediate delivery to the hospital. Have you got any money?”

“Only about a dollar and a half.”

Mason said, “It should be a good big bouquet of expensive flowers. I’ll drive up to the florist’s with you, and then take you back home. I’ll pay for the flowers.”

“That’s mighty white of you.”

“Not at all. I’m glad to do it. Now there’s one question I want to ask you, and I want you to think carefully before you answer it.”

“What is it?”

“Henry Leech was interested in mines. Now, do you know whether he ever hired Gerald Shore as a lawyer to do anything in connection with his mining company?”

Lunk thought that question over for almost a minute, then said, “I can’t tell you for sure, but I think he did. I’ll let you in on something, Mr. Mason. I think Franklin Shore was double-crossed somehow — after he’d left.”

“How do you mean?”