Erle Gardner - Case of the Beautiful Beggar

Daphne came rushing forward. “Oh, Mr. Mason, I am so sorry. I got caught in a traffic jam and—”

“That’s all right,” Mason said. “Just be seated.”

Mason turned to the Court and said, “As far as I am concerned, Horace Shelby’s disappearance came as a big surprise to me. I was summoned to the sanitarium by Dr. Alma and that was the first intimation I had that Mr. Shelby was no longer there.”

Judge Ballinger said, “The Court isn’t going to try a moot case. If it is impossible for Dr. Alma to examine Horace Shelby, the Court is going to continue the case until he can examine the man.”

“But what about this manipulation of property so that fully fifty thousand dollars of the ward’s estate has been spirited out from under control of the Court by Mr. Mason’s subterfuge?”

Judge Ballinger looked at Mason, then at Melrose. There was a trace of a smile on his countenance. “Did Mr. Mason specifically violate any order of this Court?” he asked.

“No order that had been served on him — no. Your Honor.”

“Did the bank violate any order of this Court?”

“Well... I believe the bank had notice that a conservator had been appointed.”

“And the bank paid out funds which had been taken over by the conservator?”

“No, Your Honor. The bank paid out funds before the conservator had an opportunity to take them over.”

“Didn’t the order served on the bank specifically cover any and all accounts, credit, monies on deposit? And didn’t the conservator order the account of Horace Shelby to be changed to the account of the conservator?”

“Not in exactly that way,” Darwin Melrose said. “The order was that the bank pay over the entire sum that was in the account of Horace Shelby to the conservator.”

“And where did this other money come from?”

“It was other monies that came in and were whisked out of the account before the conservator knew anything about them.”

“But they were not specifically covered in the order served on the bank?”

“Not those funds, no.”

Judge Ballinger shook his head. “The better practice would have been to have anticipated such a situation,” he said. “We will take that up with the bank at a later date but certainly, as far as Mr. Mason is concerned, no order had been served on him. Mr. Mason’s position is that the man was fully competent to carry on and transact his own business and, if this man had sufficient ingenuity to escape unaided from the institution where he was strapped to a bed, he would hardly seem to be disoriented, confused, senile and incompetent.”

“We don’t know that his escape was unaided,” Darwin Melrose said.

“We certainly do not,” Judge Ballinger pointed out, “and that is the thing which concerns the Court. It opens up rather sinister possibilities. If it should appear that Shelby was spirited out of that sanitarium so that Dr. Alma couldn’t examine him, the Court is going to take very drastic steps.

“The matter will be continued until next Wednesday afternoon at four o’clock. In the meantime, court is adjourned.”

Mason beckoned to Daphne to join him and once more led the way into the witness room.

“You’ve got to keep in touch with me, Daphne,” he said sternly. “I’ve taken all sorts of chances on your behalf and I’ve been trying to get you. My office repeatedly has called, left messages at the hotel, and—”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she interrupted. “Mr. Mason, you’ll have to forgive me just this once. I became involved in a matter and— I just can’t explain now. I’d have been here in plenty of time if it hadn’t been for that horrible traffic jam. Traffic on the freeway is getting so it’s absolutely impossible!”

“I know all about that,” Mason said. “But I want you to keep in touch with my office. You have my telephone number you can pick up the telephone and call me from time to time.”

Her eyes refused to meet his. “Yes, I know,” she said.

“Look here,” Mason asked. “What have you been up to?”

Her eyes wide, innocent and naive, raised to his. “What do you mean, what have I been up to?”

“I thought you were acting a little guilty,” Mason said.

“Guilty of what?”

“I wouldn’t know. You knew that your uncle had disappeared from the sanitarium?”

She said bitterly. “That’s no surprise to me. They didn’t dare to let a physician appointed by the Court examine him.”

“That’s the way it looks, all right,” Mason said. “But sometimes the obvious deduction isn’t the only deduction or the correct one.

“Now, I want you to keep in touch with my office and I want you to keep in touch with your hotel so if I leave any messages for you, you can pick them up. Is that clear?”

“Yes. I’m very sorry, Mr. Mason.”

“You said you’d been having trouble with traffic,” Mason asked. “Were you riding with somebody?”

“No, oh no. I— Well in a way... I was using a friend’s car.”

“What friend?” Mason asked.

“Uncle Horace.”

“His car?” Mason said. “Why, Finchley took over his car at the same time he took over the bank account and all that.”

She lowered her eyes again and said, “This was one that Mr. Finchley didn’t know about.”

Mason said, “Look here, young lady, I’ve got to get back to my office. I have two or three lines out. I think you’d better come up there in about an hour and let’s find out a little more about this.”

“But what is there to find out?”

“I don’t know,” Mason said. “That’s what I want to investigate. How did you get hold of another car belonging to Horace Shelby?”

“It was one he had.”

“That they didn’t know about?”

“Yes.”

“A good car? Any good?” he asked.

“Practically new,” she said.

Mason regarded her in frowning contemplation.

There was a knock on the door.

Mason opened it.

A court attaché said, “There’s a telephone call for you, Mr. Mason. They say it’s most important and that you’re to take it right away.”

“All right,” Mason said. “Excuse me for a moment, Daphne.”

Mason followed the attaché into the courtroom,

“You can take the phone on the clerk’s desk,” the officer said.

Mason nodded, picked up the telephone, said, “Hello,” and heard Paul Drake’s voice sharp with excitement.

“Did Daphne show up in court, Perry?”

“That’s right.”

“Tell you anything about where she had been?”

“No.”

“Are you giving her a detailed examination as to where she’s been and what she’s been doing?”

“I’ve just started,” Mason said.

“Forget it,” Drake told him. “Let her go. Tell her to get in touch with you tomorrow morning. Let her go.”

Mason said, “She’s acting rather strangely, Paul, and she says there’s another automobile that Finchley doesn’t know about—”

“I’ll say there is,” Drake interrupted. “There’s a lot no one knows about. Now, I haven’t time to explain, but for heaven’s sake let her go. Get her started. I want her on her way. I’ll see you at your office shortly after you get there and explain.”

“Wait a minute,” Mason said. “I’m beginning to get the glimmer of an idea. You checked on the tip I gave you that some woman might have applied for a job and got a job at the sanitarium last night?”

“Right.”

“Is there,” Mason asked, looking over his shoulder to make certain that no one was listening, and lowering his voice, “any chance that—”

“Don’t mention it over the phone,” Drake said. “There’s all the chance in the world. Meet me in your office and don’t let Daphne know you’re suspicious.”