Erle Gardner: The Case of the Borrowed Brunette

“Let’s not have any misunderstanding about this thing,” Mason said. “Did you talk with her?”

“Why, yes.”

“In person or over the phone?”

“Over the phone.”

“And you’re certain of the identity of the person with whom you talked?”

“Absolutely.”

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Hines: I’ll give you exactly ten minutes more. At the end of that ten minutes, my clients go out of that apartment — and, as far as they’re concerned, the job’s over until I know what it’s all about.”

“Mr. Mason, please don’t do that. I simply can’t afford to have them leave that apartment now. It would be... it would be disastrous!”

“Then get the Reedley woman in here within ten minutes,” Mason said and hung up.

He noted the time. “Now,” he said to Della, “have Gertie get Adelle Winters on the line. Tell her to rush the call through because Hines will probably be calling them, putting up some sort of stall.”

Della Street gave the number to Gertie, telling her to rush it. Then, while she was waiting on the line, she asked, “Do you want Adelle Winters or Eva Martell?”

“Eva Martell. She’s the one I’m retained to protect.”

Della nodded, then suddenly turned to the telephone. “Hello. This is Mr. Mason’s office. Is this— Oh, yes, Mrs. Winters, is Miss Martell there? This is Mr. Mason’s office... Just a minute. Mr. Mason wants to talk with you, Miss Martell.”

She nodded to Perry Mason. “She’s on the line. Gertie has your line plugged in.”

“Miss Martell?” Mason asked, picking up his receiver.

“Yes.”

“Perry Mason talking. Hines has stood me up on that promise he made. Now, I want you to follow certain instructions to the letter.”

“Yes, Mr. Mason.”

“Get Mrs. Winters to accompany you. Take such clothes as you have there and have her get all the clothes she brought. Wrap them up in a package somehow, and get out.”

“She has quite a few clothes, Mr. Mason. There are some suitcases here. Could we borrow one, and then—”

“Definitely not,” Mason said. “I don’t want anyone to have it in his or her power to trap you. Do you understand?”

“Not exactly.”

“If you take so much as a penpoint out of that apartment, the real owner can claim that your original entry was felonious and that when you took her personal property from that apartment you were guilty of larceny following an unlawful entry. That’s burglary, and it’s a serious offense. Get what I mean?”

“Oh, yes, I see. Do you think someone might claim that?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to take any chances. Wrap your things up in a bundle. Never mind what it looks like. Never mind what anyone says to you. Get your things together and get out.”

“Mr. Mason?”

“Yes.”

“Does Mr. H. know we’re leaving?”

“I told him that you were going to.”

“Then he’ll probably come dashing over here?”

“Yes.”

“He may make some promises.”

“Never mind what he says,” Mason told her. “You folks get out, just as I told you.”

“And then what?”

“And then telephone me that you’re out. That will let me know I have a free hand. Now, be sure not to take anything from that apartment. Not so much as a paper match folder.”

“Where shall we go?”

“Any place. To your apartment, or to a movie — only get out, fast.”

“Very well. We’ll be out within thirty minutes.”

“Make it fifteen,” Mason said, and hung up to return to his dictating.

Some little time later the phone rang, and Della Street announced that Eva Martell was on the line.

“Hello, Eva. Where are you?”

“At a pay station in the Lorenzo Hotel.”

“No trouble about getting out?”

“Well, he rang up. He said he was going to come to the apartment, but he didn’t.”

“What did he want?”

“Wanted us to stay — made us all sorts of offers. Then asked us to stay at least until he could get up and talk with us. But, Mr. Mason, the reason we’re not home is that — well, we’re being followed!”

“By whom?”

“Two men that we’re sure of. There may be others — we don’t know.”

“I was afraid of that,” Mason told her. “Now, you’re absolutely positive that you haven’t taken a single thing from that apartment that didn’t belong to you?”

“Not so much as a cigarette.”

“And you’re sure these men are following you?”

“Yes.”

“Do they know that you know it?”

“I don’t think so. We wouldn’t have noticed them if it hadn’t been that we were.. well, you know, sort of watching, a little nervous.”

“Hines didn’t come up?”

“No. We got out at one-forty-five. I noticed the time, just in case it should be necessary to tell exactly when we left. Aunt Adelle was a little slow or we’d have been out before. She had some phoning to do, and I made her do it from the lobby. She tried to get you but your line was busy, and no one answered at the Hines number. It’s the first time that’s happened; he told us there’d always be someone at that number day and night. Once before when we called and he wasn’t there a woman answered. We’re wondering, since what he said to you, whether that woman might not have been the real Helen Reedley. That is, I suggested it to Aunt Adelle. You know what she thinks — she says Helen Reedley is dead, and—”

“What did Hines say over the phone?”

“He was awfully excited. Said you’re unreasonable; that we’re not doing anything wrong, and that, after all, the party that was to see you had another engagement. He said that if you’d only been patient for a short time she’d have been there and given you a complete release and everything would have been all right.”

“Talk is cheap,” Mason said. “I’ll ring up and tell him that whenever he can satisfy me you girls will go back, but that in the meantime you have walked out because he was asking you to do something that was illegal; that, as far as we’re concerned, you’re still entitled to compensation. We’ll expect him to come through.”

“He made us all sorts of promises,” Eva said. “One thing that he did do, Mr. Mason — he asked us particularly not to go home until after five o’clock. He said that if we’d go to some public place and wait, by five o’clock everything would be all right and we could come back; but that if we ever went to our own apartment, the whole thing was off.”

“Did he say why?”

“No, but he was very emphatic about it, and that was his phrase — that if we went to our apartment, then the whole thing was off as far as he was concerned.”

“And that’s why you went to the Lorenzo Hotel?”

“That, and because of the people who are following us.”

“I’m glad you’re out,” Mason told her. “I’m free to do my stuff now. Wait right there at the Lorenzo. Don’t leave until you telephone me and get a clearance that it’s all right. Be sure now, stay right there.”

Mason received her promise, then said to Della Street, “Della, run down the hall to the Drake Detective Agency. Tell Paul Drake these two women are at the Lorenzo Hotel and that they’re being shadowed. I want to find out who the shadows are and to whom they’re reporting. Tell Paul to send four or five men to handle the job. I want him, first, to spot the people that are doing the shadowing, and then to get on their trail and shadow them. You can describe the women to Paul so that his men can pick them up without any trouble. They’ll be there in the lobby of the Lorenzo. Tell him to spare no expense. A smart guy by the name of Hines is going to pay for it.”