Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Spurious Spinster

“Those,” Della Street announced, “are words that ring musical chimes in my brain. Those words tinkle upon my eardrums with the effect of music — we eat.”

Mason said, “Well, we’ll do it on the installment plan, Della. I notice there’s a cocktail lounge a couple of blocks down the street. We’ll go down there, have a cocktail, then get back here in about twenty minutes, check on our client once more and then if she isn’t in we’ll go get a nice dinner.”

Della Street said, “May I offer an amendment?”

“What is it?”

“Long experience with you has taught me that the bird in the hand is far, far better than two in the bush. In place of having a cocktail now and eats later, let’s forget the cocktail and put in the half-hour at the restaurant around the corner. I would much prefer digesting a meat loaf in my stomach than to get through until midnight on the promise of a filet mignon. Meat is more nourishing than words.”

“Okay,” Mason said, laughing, “but I want to be back here within thirty minutes at the outside. There’s something about this case which worries me.”

They went to a little restaurant around the corner where the service was prompt. As Della Street had jokingly surmised, there was meat loaf and gravy ready for immediate service.

Within thirty minutes they were back and Mason had parked his car in front of Sue Fisher’s apartment house.

Mason was escorting Della Street to the door when a slender figure in a long raincoat with a hat pulled low, started to push open the door, then suddenly stopped with a gasp.

“Mr. Mason!” Susan Fisher exclaimed.

Mason looked at the garb — the man’s hat, the sweater, the slacks, the raincoat, the flat shoes — and said, “Now, what are you doing masquerading as a man?”

“I... I don’t know,” Susan Fisher said. “Oh, am I glad to see you ! Oh, I... I was hoping that I could get in touch with you.”

Mason said, “You could have been in touch with me if you’d only followed my instructions and remained in your apartment.”

“I know, I know, but I couldn’t.”

“Why not?’·’

“Because she telephoned me.”

“Who?”

“Amelia Corning.”

“What did she want?”

“She wanted me to do something without anybody knowing about it.”

Mason’s eyes narrowed. “What happened?” he asked.

“I... is it all right to talk here?”

“Probably not,” Mason said. “Let’s go up to your apartment... look, child, you’re shaking.”

“I know I’m shaking. I’m so nervous I feel like I could wilt on the doorstep.”

The lawyer escorted her to the elevator, then down the hallway. Della Street said, “Let me have your key, dear, and I’ll unlock the door.”

After they had entered the apartment Mason said, “All right, Susan, let’s have it.”

Susan seated herself, started twisting her gloves nervously as though wringing water from them.

“Go on,” Mason said encouragingly. And then added, “We may not have much time, you know.”

Susan said, “She telephoned and told me exactly what to do. She told me to take a pencil and write down her instructions in shorthand.”

“What were they?”

“I have them in my notebook but they’re etched in my mind. She told me to go to the office of the drive-yourself car company that is only four blocks away, to rent an automobile, then to go up Mulholland Drive to an intersection she described, then on one and three-tenths miles to a service station. At the service station I was to go on down the road for another two-tenths of a mile. There was a wide place there and I was to park the car. Then I was to walk back to the service station and ask for a one-gallon can of gasoline. She said I was to take the can of gasoline, pay for it, take it down and put it in the car — that anyone driving at night should be equipped for any emergency.”

“And why was all this?” Mason asked.

“She said that she wanted to get me to drive her to Mojave and she didn’t want anyone to know what she was doing. She said she absolutely had to interview a man in Mojave before the banks opened tomorrow.”

“Did she say why?”

“No.”

“Or what name?”

“No.”

“And what about the clothes you’re wearing?”

“She said I was to get a man’s hat that had a good broad brim, that I was to wear slacks, a sweater, and a raincoat, that I must wear flat shoes so I could do quite a bit of walking, if necessary.

“And she told me the nicest things, Mr. Mason. She told me that she had checked very carefully on me, that she appreciated my candor and my straightforward sincerity as well as my loyalty to the company. She told me that she was going to throw Endicott Campbell out and that I was going to be placed in an executive position. She said—”

“Never mind all that,” Mason said. “Tell me exactly what happened. What else did she say about instructions, and what did you do?”

“I did exactly as she told me. I knew that there was a broom closet here where the janitor kept some old clothes and I knew he had this broad-brimmed hat there, so I borrowed it. I had a heavy opaque raincoat. I left so that I got to the designated place on Mulholland Drive a good twenty minutes before the appointed time. I parked the car, went to the gasoline station, got the one-gallon can of gasoline and went back to the place and waited and waited and waited and waited.”

“The man gave you the one-gallon can of gasoline,” Mason asked, “the man at the service station? He didn’t offer to drive you down to where your car was standing?”

“No. Miss Corning told me that if he did that, I wasn’t to encourage him. She said she didn’t think he’d do it, however, because only one man would be on duty.”

“He didn’t offer to drive you?”

“He wanted to, all right, but he said he was there alone. If there had been two of them, he would have driven me down. He even contemplated closing up the station long enough to drive me down there, but I didn’t encourage him and... I guess he was afraid someone would come along and find the station closed and report it.”

“What about the rented car?” Mason asked.

“I waited and waited, and when she didn’t show up I took the rented car back and paid the rental. She had told me to do that if she didn’t meet me there by seven-fifty. She said if she wasn’t there by that time I was to leave at once and return to the apartment, turning in the rented car. I asked what I should do with the can of gas and she specifically told me not to return it to the gas station, but to throw it in the bushes by the side of the road.”

“Where did you get the money to pay for the car?”

“This other woman gave me money for expenses when I was working there at the office yesterday morning. Miss Corning told me to use that money and that she’d replace it.”

“What time did she tell you she’d be there,” Mason asked, “at this rendezvous on Mulholland Drive?”

“She didn’t tell me. She told me to be there by at least fifteen minutes past seven and to wait until exactly seven-fifty. She said that she would join me during that interval if she could.”

“When did this call come in?”

“About... oh, I guess it was five forty-five.”

Mason glanced at Della Street. “That couldn’t have been too long after we talked with her.”

“She told me that she had talked with you on the phone, Mr. Mason. I wanted to know if she knew where I could reach you, and she said no, you couldn’t be reached, that you were out of the city but that you’d telephoned her.”

“You’re sure it was her voice on the telephone?” Mason asked.