Erle Gardner - Case of the Silent Partner

“The missing paper cups in the candy box, the identical cards, your handkerchief, the telephone on the floor with the receiver in place — and the other things the police will find.”

“What other things?”

Mason smiled. “Think back,” he said, “on what you’ve done. Remember that the police now know exactly what happened. They only need to look for confirmation.”

Her voice was defiant. “All right, let them look.”

“By that time,” Mason said, “it will be too late for you to tell your story.”

“Why?”

“Newspapers will think it’s something your lawyer thought up.”

She regarded him with the thought-clouded eyes of one who is striving to reach a decision.

“Suppose I tell it now?”

“The facts will sound a lot better coming all at once.”

She studied the tip of her cigarette. “You may be right at that.”

Tragg started to say something, but Mason’s quickly imperative gesture motioned him to silence.

“Coll has a key to your apartment?” Mason prompted.

“Yes.”

“Then he kept Bob Lawley here the day after the murder while you were in the hospital?”

“I suppose so. I wouldn’t know about that.”

“You’re in love with Coll?”

“Not now. I was crazy over him. I’ll get over it all right. It’ll wear off. It has before, and it will again.”

Mason looked at his watch. “Well, if you’re going to...”

“Oh, all right,” she said. “Here it is. I was color for the gambling house. It was my job to make men play, and keep them from quitting when they started losing. I got a commission. A while ago Coll and Lynk put it up to me that Bob Lawley was a rich playboy. I was to help them relieve him of some of the worldly possessions with which he was overburdened.

“I did my part.

“When things got ready for the payoff, they planned to double-cross me out of my cut, and plant Coll’s new girl in on my job.

“That’s all right. I was fed up with the life anyway, but I didn’t propose to stand for a double-cross. I decided to do some calling on my own.

“Bob Lawley carried this gun in the glove compartment of the automobile. I don’t think he even knew it was gone when I lifted it. Of course, I knew they’d suspect me first thing, and I needed an ironclad alibi.

“I decided to send myself some poisoned candy. I fixed it up four days ago — took a few pieces out of the box and put them in a paper bag which I could carry with me, poisoned the rest, wrapped the box and held it in readiness to send to myself by a messenger whenever Lynk gave me the chance to grab the stock. I was all set and waiting.

“The night he went out to Lilac Canyon I knew he’d have the stock with him. I thought the payoff was to be that night. Then Miss Faulkner got in touch with me, and gave me a lot of information I hadn’t had before, also arranged for me to be at your office at one o’clock. I had intended to call the police to fix up my alibi, but you were a better bet. Coll knew where I lived and had a key to my apartment. I wanted to be certain he was out. I knew he’d be meeting Lynk out at Lilac Canyon. I shadowed Coll’s place until I saw him leaving, then I went to the lobby, telephoned you I’d been poisoned, and started for Lilac Canyon. On the way, I ate the unpoisoned candy out of the paper bag, so the stomach content would show chocolate creams. Just before I went to Lynk’s cabin, I took a big dose of veronal, put on a mask, and a raincoat.

“I knew Lynk was expecting a woman, from the way he answered my knock. When he saw my mask and the business end of the gun, he almost collapsed. I told him to get out that Lawley stock and put it on the table.”

“Did you have any trouble with him?” Mason asked.

“Only that he was frightened and his hands were trembling so I was afraid he couldn’t unlock the drawer that held the stock. Then, just as he did it, I heard a noise and looked back over my shoulder.”

“The other girl?” Mason asked.

“That’s right. You see I’d neglected to close the door behind me when I pushed Lynk back into the room. I’ll say one thing: she was dead game. I swung the gun around and tried to bluff her. She didn’t bluff. She came at me like a wildcat. She grabbed my right wrist with both hands and tried to wrench the gun loose. It was a double action. My finger was caught in the trigger guard. She kept pulling it back. I yelled at her to stop. She didn’t stop. The gun went off. That scared her, and she jumped back. The gun fell to the floor. And then we saw Harvey Lynk.

“My mask was still on. She didn’t know who I was. We made for the door. She left her overnight bag. I left the gun.

“I had an awful time getting home. The veronal was commencing to take effect. The last part of the drive I was having goofy ideas. I thought I’d dreamt the whole thing. I managed to get my car parked in the garage, got to my apartment where I’d left things all planted the way I wanted you to find them. I was asleep before I hit the floor. You know the rest of it.

“It wasn’t until I regained consciousness in the hospital that I realized I’d left the raincoat and the mask in my car. That mask was a giveaway. I was going to destroy it tonight.”

Mason nodded to Tragg. “All right, Tragg, go ahead.”

The police lieutenant said, “Both of you women ran out without waiting to see how badly he was hurt?”

“We didn’t need to examine him. He collapsed like a punctured tire.”

“What was he doing while you two were struggling for the gun?”

“Trying to get the stock back in the drawer,” she said. “He had his back turned toward us, but I saw he was fumbling with the drawer. Now I want you to do one thing.”

“What?” Tragg asked.

“Get that other girl and make her tell her story before she knows who I am or what I’ve told you.”

“Who is she?” Mason asked.

Her laugh was bitter. “That,” she said, “is the payoff. An empty-headed little fool who thinks being a gambling-house decoy on a commission basis beats working for a living. She wants my job, and I want hers.

“That’s the trouble with those empty-headed, high-spirited girls who have youth and looks. They think they’ll always have youth. Age is something that leaves its mark on other people. I remember when I felt that way myself — and you last quick in this game. When you’re thirty here, it’s the same as being forty in any other...”

“ Who is it?” Tragg interrupted.

Esther Dilmeyer’s laugh was harsh. “Lois Carling,” she said, “—and that’s the payoff.”

Mason picked up the telephone and handed it to Lieutenant Tragg. “Call headquarters and tell them to release Carlotta Lawley,” he said.

Tragg took the telephone with a little bow toward Mason. “You win,” he said.

While he was waiting for the connection, he said, “And the next time you try to decoy me away from your sister, Miss Faulkner, don’t have a gun go off accidentally and don’t be such an obvious suspect. You had me fooled for a while, but after I got to know you well enough to know what a bright mind you had, I realized you were overplaying your part... Hello. Hello, Headquarters? Lieutenant Tragg of Homicide. We’re releasing Carlotta Lawley. Perry Mason is arranging to put her in a private sanitarium. Rush it through and cut the red tape.”

It was late that night when Della Street snuggled up beside Perry Mason in the lawyer’s car and said, “Well, that’s one thing about Lieutenant Tragg. When he promises to co-operate, he co-operates.”

Mason nodded.

She wrapped her fingers around his right arm, a gentle, reassuring touch. “Did it occur to you, Chief, that Lieutenant Tragg is falling pretty hard for Mildreth Faulkner?”