Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Daring Divorcee

“Could you come up here during the noon hour?” Mason asked.

“Let’s see, I was just getting ready to leave for lunch. I— Yes, I could eat later all right. I’ll be there.”

“Good,” Mason said. “I’ll wait for you. Thank you very much, Mr. Beason.”

The lawyer hung up the telephone and looked at Della Street.

“Well?” she asked.

“It’s rather significant,” Mason said, “that at no time did he ask me where my office was.”

“Of course,” Della Street said, “he could look up the address in the phone book.”

“And that would take time,” Mason pointed out. “He’s in a hurry. It would have been very simple to have said, ‘Where’s your office, Mason?’ He didn’t ask. I think that means he knew.”

“Get Paul Drake on the line, tell him to get Mrs. Grump and ask her to come up here right away. Tell her she may not have to wait over a very few minutes.”

“Tell Gertie she can take her lunch hour now, Della, and you can sit out there and watch the outer office. If Beason comes in before Mrs. Grump, bring him right into the office and then go back and wait for Mrs. Grump. Let me know as soon as she comes in.”

Della Street nodded. “Sandwiches?” she asked.

Mason grinned. “We’re on a Paul Drake diet. Order a couple of hamburgers sent up from the restaurant downstairs.”

“With everything?” Della Street asked.

“Everything,” Mason said. “Every little bit helps.”

Mason’s office phone rang and the lawyer, picking up the receiver, heard Della Street’s voice saying, “Mr. Simley Beason in the office. He says you’re expecting him.”

“Show him in,” Mason said.

A moment later Della Street opened the door and a tall man of about thirty-five with wavy, dark hair, dark intense eyes and wearing a dark suit, came forward with his hand outstretched.

“Mr. Mason,” he said, “I’m very glad to meet you.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Mason said, gripping the hand cordially. “Won’t you be seated?”

Beason settled himself in the overstuffed leather chair.

Mason said, “I want some information. I need it fast and I think you’re the person to give it to me.”

“I’ll do anything I can.”

“Of course I understand that as an employee of Hastings’ far-flung business enterprises you have a lot of responsibilities and this is probably a very bad day for me to take up any of your time. Nevertheless, I consider the matter of some importance.

“I also realize that you have a loyalty to the dead man and to the business, but I think you’re essentially fair and feel certain you won’t mind my asking a few questions.”

“Go right ahead,” Beason said. “I’ll be glad to do what I can.” And then added meaningly, “In the brief time that I can spare from the business today. You’ll understand I’ve had to answer a lot of questions.”

“I understand,” Mason said. “I’ll try to be as brief as possible. You’ve been working for the Hastings Enterprises for how long?”

“About twelve years.”

“You knew the first Mrs. Hastings?”

“Yes.”

“She died?”

“Yes.”

“And the second Mrs. Hastings?”

“That’s Minerva Hastings,” Beason said. “Yes, I know her.”

“Would you care to express an opinion?” Mason asked.

Beason looked at the carpet for a moment, then raised his eyes to Mason’s. “No,” he said.

“And, of course you know Adelle Hastings.”

“Yes.”

“Would you care to express an opinion?”

“I have known Adelle since she came to work for the organization,” Beason said. “She is a very fine woman. She was Mr. Hastings’ secretary before he married her.”

“There was some sort of a scandal, I believe?” Mason asked. “Wasn’t she named as corespondent?”

Beason started to say something, stopped, stroked the angle of his jaw with the tips of his thumb and forefinger, said, “I wouldn’t care to be quoted, Mr. Mason, but I can give you the situation in a nutshell. The first Mrs. Hastings was a very fine woman. When she died Hastings was lonely and he thought of women and of marriage in terms of his first wife. He met Minerva. It never occurred to him that marriage with her would be radically different from what it had been with his first wife. He was a pushover.”

“You mean Minerva was the aggressor?”

“I didn’t say that,” Beason said.

“Not in so many words,” Mason said.

“Let’s leave it the way I said it.”

“Go ahead. Tell me about Adelle.”

“Mr. Hastings’ thoughts of marriage were in terms of the happiness he had enjoyed with his first wife. Reality gradually dawned on him after he married for the second time.

“Adelle was his secretary and— Well, we could all of us see that Mr. Hastings was suffering, suffering tremendously. I think he confided in Adelle and they were together a great deal. A close friendship ripened into love.”

“And of course Minerva was furious,” Mason said.

Simley Beason looked up quickly. “Not necessarily,” he said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“There is, of course, a possibility that Minerva did not regard her marriage to Hastings as a permanent alliance, looking upon it as a means of financial advancement.

“Mind you, Mr. Mason, I am not saying that is the case but if it had been the case, then of course she would have looked upon the situation which developed with a great deal of satisfaction because it would give her an opportunity to get a divorce, to pose as the aggrieved woman, to put Garvin Hastings in the wrong and to collect a large sum by way of alimony.”

“Were there indications that this might have been the case?” Mason asked.

“About the time Mr. Hastings began to develop a warm friendship for Adelle, Minerva Hastings went back east to visit relatives and— It seemed to persons around the office that Minerva deliberately closed her eyes and created all sorts of opportunities for Garvin Hastings and Adelle Sterling to be together.”

“And then?” Mason asked.

“Oh, then there was the usual blow-up, the recriminations, the negotiations for a property settlement, and it wound up by Minerva going to Carson City, Nevada, establishing a six weeks’ residence and getting a divorce. Adelle Sterling and Garvin Hastings were married within a week of Minerva’s divorce.”

“And what happened to Minerva?”

“She’s around.”

“Do you ever see her now?”

“No, but I talk with her on the phone from time to time. You see, she secured a rather large sum of cash by way of settlement and also some properties that Mr. Hastings had acquired, and of course I was familiar with those properties. Minerva Hastings rings me from time to time to ask questions about them.”

“What is her manner?”

“I don’t think she likes me at all. Her favorite is Connely Maynard who is the general manager of the Enterprises. They have known each other for some time.”

“How long have they known each other?”

“For some time.”

“Before her marriage to Hastings?”

“I think they had some friends in common.”

“And how well do they know each other now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Would you care to speculate as to whether there is anything more than friendship involved?”

Beason hesitated a moment, then said, “No. Speculation in such a matter would be profitless.”

“Where does Minerva Hastings live now?”

“She alternates her time between here and friends she formed in Nevada while she was establishing her residence there. Minerva is restless. She comes and goes.”

“All right,” Mason said, “I want your opinion. Do you think she’s in love with Gonnely Maynard?”