The Case of the Lazy Lover (5 page)

The banker paused, inviting Mason's further confidence.

The lawyer pushed back his chair. "Will you," he asked, "telephone me at once, in the event there should be any question on the part of your handwriting expert?"

Pawling nodded.

Mason said, "I take it he will make a preliminary examination and then perhaps a more detailed examination. I should like to be kept advised."

" I feel certain you are entitled to that courtesy."

Mason, turning over the letter in his hand, said casually, "I'm not certain that you advised me as to whether there had been any other unusual activity on the part of Mrs. Allred's account lately."

Pawling said, "This is the only withdrawal that has been made during a period-- well, of some time, Mr. Mason."

Abruptly, Mason tilted the letter to one side so that light struck it from an angle. Then he slid the tips of his fingers over the signature.

"Something?" the banker asked.

Mason said, "I would say that we may now safely put two and two together. You'll notice a very slight indentation along the lines of this signature. Quite evidently, this was the signature from which the signature on the forged check was traced."

"Dear, dear" Pawling said as though he had suffered some minor irritation such as breaking the point of a pencil.

Mason regarded him quizzically. "A matter of some twenty-five hundred dollars," he said.

Pawling positively bead, "Which the bank has not paid, of course."

"That does not alter the seriousness of the crime," Mason said.

"No, I suppose not."

"Nor the fact that I feel something should be done about it."

"Such as what, Counselor?' "Taking steps to see that no other forged checks are cashed"

"That, of course, will be done, almost as a routine-- fancy a forged check being used to retain a lawyer to ask that the account be protected from further forgeries! One would almost think that…"

"Yes, go on," Mason said as the banker hesitated.

"That it had been planned that way."

"Well, it wasn't," Mason snapped "No, no, of course not! I merely said one would almost think so."

"Thank you," the lawyer said, "for stopping your thinking at the almost," and walked out.

Mason handed his oblong parking ticket to the attendant of the lot next to the bank, said, "Were you on duty at ten o'clock?"

The attendant nodded, said cautiously, "What's the trouble?"

"No trouble," Mason said. "I wanted to get some information about someone who parked an automobile here for a few minutes."

The man laughed and said, "Look, buddy, in order to keep this lot running, we have to handle hundreds of automobiles in the course of a day and…"

"This young woman," Mason interrupted, "is one you probably would have noticed. She had a good figure, a tight-fitting blue suit, blue suede purse, a saucy little hat with red trim, on one side of her head, long dark eyelashes…"

"Would I have noticed a number like that!" the man said with enthusiasm. "Just hearing you describe her makes my mouth water. What about her?"

"Nothing, if you didn't notice her."

"I don't think she parked her car here. You say it was this morning?"

"Almost exactly at ten o'clock this morning."

"I don't think so. We're not too busy at ten o'clock in the morning. It isn't until the streets begin to fill up that they start coming in here."

Mason thanked him, paid for his car, circled around the block and drove into the parking station across the street from the bank.

"You on duty at ten this morning?" he asked the attendant.

The man hesitated before answering.

Mason said, "You're eligible for a five dollar reward, if you were."

"That's different! What's the reward for?"

I am trying to find out something about a girl about twenty, twenty-one, or twenty-two years old, blue suit, nice figure, brunette, blue leather purse, blue gloves, a tricky little hat on one side of her head, who…"

"What do you want to know about her?"

"Anything I can find out. Do you remember her?"

"I think I do. What about the five bucks?"

"A little information about the make and model of the car she was driving, or anything of that sort."

The man grinned. "Give me the five bucks, mister."

Mason passed him a five dollar bill.

"It's a Chrysler convertible from a drive-yourself agency in the city. I don't know the name of the agency, but I know it was a drive-yourself outfit. I remember her because she was a neat little number and I was especially nice to her. Sometimes that gets you something."

"Get you anything this time?" Mason asked.

"A smile."

"That's all?"

"That was enough."

"You didn't try to find out anything about her or…"

"Nope. She wasn't that kind" 'That's all you know?"

"That's it."

Mason said, "Play the ponies with the five bucks. Perhaps you'll be lucky."

"Perhaps I will. Thanks."

From a telephone Mason called Drake's office and when he had the detective on the line, said, "Paul, I want you to cover the drive-yourself agencies. I want you to find out anything you can about a woman around twenty-one, twenty-two, or twenty-three, who rented a drive-yourself car this morning." Swiftly he described her. "She may or may not have given the name of Milford. She had a Chrysler convertible, and I want every place in the city covered and covered fast."

"Okay," Drake said "Anything else?"

"That's all. What's new at your end?"

Drake said, "I haven't made too much headway, Perry. I haven't been able to get a photograph of Mrs. Allred, as yet. Patricia Faxon left the house shortly after nine o'clock this morning and hasn't been back since. No one seems to know exactly where she is. I've found the place where the runaway couple stayed in Springfield. Provided it is the runaway couple and not a couple of ringers who are acting as red herrings."

"How come?" Mason asked.

"This couple," Drake said, "showed up in a motel at Springfield a little after midnight Saturday. They wanted a double cabin. The motel had only one left. They took it. The woman was driving the car and she conducted all the negotiations and did the registering. The man sat in the car with his arms folded, apparently too lazy to move, and didn't show the slightest rest in what was going on. The woman registered as 'R.G. Fleetwood and Sister,' and said they would occupy the cabin for two nights.

"Sunday morning, the woman went over to the motel office and inquired about renting dishes and about a grocery store that would be open on Sunday."

"Was there a kitchen in the double cabin they occupied?" Mason asked.

"That's right. The motel rented her a set of dishes and told her where she could buy groceries. She drove off and returned with a big basket of groceries on the seat beside her."

"Did the man go with her?"

"No. She said he was sleeping, he liked to sleep late on Sunday mornings. The woman evidently did all the cooking all day Sunday, and also this morning. She showed up about nine-thirty this morning, returning the dishes all nicely cleaned and polished, announced that they were checking out, and left shortly after. No one seems to know in which direction she was headed."

"They got in about midnight Saturday?" Mason asked 'That's right. It may have been a half an hour after midnight, but I figure a good two hours' driving time from here to Springfield, so they must have left around-- oh, say around ten o'clock in the evening, and figuring that they might have got into Springfield at half an hour or so after midnight, you can figure they must have left the city by ten-thirty at the latest."

"And the woman wanted a double cabin?"

"That's right, insisting that it must have three separate beds."

"Why did she want three separate beds for herself and her brother?"

"She didn't say. Simply said she wanted a double cabin. She preferred one double bed and twin beds. Of course, at the time, the people at the motel didn't ask how many were in the party. They acted on the assumption there would be three, at least, and fixed the price accordingly."

"How about descriptions?" Mason asked.

"Descriptions check as nearly as I can get them," Drake said "Of course, the woman could have been a ringer and it could all be a beautiful red herring. I also have something on the telegram. The telegram was sent from Springfield by a woman who telephoned in from a pay station. She was advised that the charge for the telegram would be forty cents, and dropped the forty cents into the coin slot of the pay station telephone. That's all Western Union knows about it."

Mason laughed and said, `The bank unhesitatingly accepts the telegram as confirming the check and it now appears the telegram has no greater authenticity than a voice saying it belonged to Lola Faxon Allred."

"That's right," Drake said. "I couldn't get anything more on the man. The only time anyone saw him was in the car when they arrived."

"That's a hell of a way for a man who's running away with a married woman to act," Mason said. "He didn't show any interest in the accommodations?"

"No, while the woman made all the arrangements, he just sat there, slumped down in the seat."

Mason said, "All right Keep plugging on this car rental business. I want to get this girl located. I have a hunch the car was rented this morning, probably around nine o'clock, and there's just a chance it hasn't been turned in yet. Sprinkle enough operatives around so that when she returns the car, you can put a shadow on her."

"Okay, Perry. I'll get some men on the job."

"And start covering hotels, tourist camps, motels and all the rest of it to try and find a trace of this couple," Mason said.

Drake said irritably, "What the hell do you think we're doing, Perry?"

"Probably thinking up some new way to pad expense accounts," Mason said, and hung up.

Chapter 6

It was three-thirty when Mason's unlisted telephone rang sharply. This unlisted telephone was on Mason's desk. Only Della Street and Paul Drake held that number, and the lawyer, scooping up the telephone, said, "Yes, Paul. What is it?"

Drake's voice, sharp with urgency, said, "We've located the girl who rented the car from the drive-yourself agency, Perry!"

"Great stuff!" Mason said. "What about her?"

"She took it out about nine o'clock this morning, giving the name of Jane Smith, and a phony address in Denver," Drake said. "She put up a large cash deposit and said she'd return the car about two this afternoon. We had that much uncovered about an hour after my men started work. I didn't notify you because there wasn't anything particular to go on at that time. I simply put operatives around to tail her when she drove back."

"Go ahead," Mason said.

"She came back a little over an hour ago," Drake said, "and wanted to make a deal by which she could rent a car by the week. She said she was going to be living in one of the suburbs, and there wouldn't be any great amount of mileage run up on the car, that she wanted to use it just for running back and forth. The drive-yourself agency worked out the deal with her and, of course, my men picked up her trail as soon as she left."

"Did she have any idea she was being tailed?"

"I don't think so."

"Where did she go?"

"I don't know yet, Perry. My men are shadowing her. I've got a couple of damn good men on the job and they'll run her to earth. I just wanted to be sure you'd be standing by."

"The same woman?"

"No question about it. The description fits to a T. It's the only Chrysler that's been rented to a woman who comes anywhere near answering your description. It looks like pay dirt to me."

"It does to me too," Mason said.

"Okay, I'll have something most any minute now."

The lawyer hung up and Della Street said, "Gertie says George Jerome is in the office waiting."

"Jerome?"' Mason asked, frowning.

"Mr. Allred's partner in some mining deals. He wants to see you, but won't say what it's about. He says it's highly confidential."

Mason said, "All right. Hold everything open for that call that's coming in from Paul Drake. As soon as we get that woman in the Chrysler located, I want to get in touch with her. Send Jerome in."

Della Street went out to the reception room to usher Jerome into Mason's private office.

George Jerome was plainly impatient, a man who was not accustomed to waiting anywhere for anyone. He was tall, barrel-chested, rawboned with high cheek bones and from under shaggy brown eyes looked out upon the world in cold appraisal.

He was perhaps fifty-five or sixty, and the man radiated awkward strength as he lumbered across the office to shake hands with Mason.

"Sit down," the lawyer invited. "I've been wanting to see you."

"What about?"

Mason smiled. "About the thing you want to see me about."

Jerome returned the lawyer's smile. "If you're a mind reader, then there's no point of my saying anything."

Jerome settled himself in the big client's chair and the size of the man made the chair shrink in proportion until it seemed to lose its atmosphere of deep comfort.

"What's Allred up to?" he asked.

"I'm afraid I can't help you on that," Mason said.

"Are you Allred's lawyer?"

"No."

"Whose?"

Mason said, "At this time I feel there is no need to make further concealment of the name of my client. I am Mrs. Allred's attorney."

"Have you actually seen Lola Allred?"

"Why?"

"I just wanted to know."

"You've talked with Allred?" Mason asked.

"I've listened to him."

"You're his partner?"

"In a way, yes. That is, I'm his partner in some things. We're in process of settling up our affairs. We were supposed to have settled them Saturday. He was to have made a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. I didn't want to act until after I'd talked with Fleetwood."

"May I ask why?"

"He's a bright boy. He's been Allred's right-hand man-- but if I bought Allred out, I think Bob Fleetwood would come over to work with me. I think he would. I'd want to make certain."

"Is he that valuable?"

"He knows lots of details no one else does."

"Then your intention is to buy Allred out?"

"I didn't say that."

"You implied it."

"I might imply lots of things. Have you talked with Lola Allred personally?"

"Why do you keep coming back to that question?"

"Because you keep avoiding it."

Mason laughed.

Jerome said, "You're a deep one, Mason."

The lawyer shook his head. "Flattery won't get you anywhere, Jerome."

"What will?"

"Candor."

Jerome said "All right, I'll try that. I want you to get hold of Fleetwood. I want to have a secret conference with him. I want to see whether he will come over to me, pull with me, play the game my way. When I go into a business deal, I try to drive the best bargain I can. But when I make a deal, I stand by it. I'm not like Allred. He's always squirming around. You make an agreement with him and he remembers it some other way, and he never will put anything in writing. He always says that's up to his lawyer and his lawyer stalls along just as much as he does.

"Bob Fleetwood is a good kid. Allred says Bob ran away with his wife. If you ask me, I think it was something that was wished off on Bob. I think that Mrs. Allred may have gone for him pretty strong and, the first thing the kid knew, he was being taken for a ride. I'm not saying so, you understand, but that's one explanation."

"Is there another?"

"Yes."

"What?" 'The other explanation is that Mrs. Allred isn't alive at all, and Bert is trying to account for her disappearance. You're a lawyer. I don't need to dot the i's or cross the t's for you, Mason. I'm giving you an idea."

"And in that event, where would Fleetwood be?"

"Now then," Jerome said, "you're beginning to talk the way I want to hear you talk."

"Yes?" Mason asked.

Jerome said, "I'm making you a proposition, Mason. If you can get me a chase to talk with Bob Fleetwood before Allred sees him, I'll pay you a thousand dollars. And if Fleetwood sees things my way, and I'm satisfied he will, you get two thousand dollars. You hire detectives if you have to. I'll stand their charges, anything up to a thousand dollars."

"That's all right," Mason said, "but I can't accept any employment from you which might be adverse to the best interests of my client."

"I know you can't. I know your reputation, Mason. You're just as clean as a hound's tooth and as smart as a steel trap. That's why I came to you. Forget it,unless it turns out that you can do it without interfering whit the interests of your client. You're representing Mrs. Allred You go ahead and represent her, but if you find that you can give me a break on this thing, you've had my proposition.

"If you're Mrs. Allred's attorney, she's going to get in touch with you sooner or later. If Bob Fleetwood is running away with her, you'll have a chance to get word to him through her, or directly to him, that I've got to see him. That's all there is to it. And if Lola Allred isn't alive, then you're going to find that out, and when you do, you may find Fleetwood. The proposition stands win, lose or draw."

"What makes you think that Mrs. Allred may not be alive?"

Jerome looked steadily at Mason, then he closed one eye in a slow, calculating wink.

He got up from the chair, said, "I think I've made my proposition plain, Mr. Mason."

He turned to Della Street. "You've got all this straight, young lady?"

She nodded.

"Good. How do I get out of here?"

Mason indicated the exit door.

Jerome said, "Here's my card, Mason. There's a number on there you can call. I'll have someone at that phone day and night, twenty-four hours a day. The minute you call that number, you're in touch with me. And you can tell Fleetwood that well, dammit, tell him what I want. Fleetwood knows me and he knows Allred. Thank you, Mr. Mason. Good day."

And Jerome strode out of the office without bothering to shake hands or to even look back over his shoulder.

Mason turned to Della Street, but before he spoke the unlisted phone rang sharply.

Della Street picked up the receiver, said, "Hello… yes, hold the line, Paul."

Mason grabbed the phone.

"Just had a report from my men who trailed this auto-rental girl, Perry."

"Good! What happened?"

"She went directly to Las Olitas, stopped in at a garage there, the Central Garage & Machine Works on Eighth Street, was in there about five minutes, then she came out and drove to the Westwick. That's an exclusive apartment hotel."

"Calling on someone there?" Mason asked.

"She lives there, Perry." 'The devil she does!"

"That's right."

"What name? Jane Smith?"

"No, Maurine Milford. She rented apartment 802 there recently, and she's expecting her aunt to come from the East and join her. Tells a perfectly straightforward story. She put the rented car in the garage at the Westwick and tipped the attendant at the apartment garage five bucks, and told him her aunt was coming to visit her, that she was going to be doing quite a bit of running around, that she had rented this car, that she'd like to have it kept dusted off and the windshield cleaned."

"How long does she intend to be there?"

"She told the management about thirty days."

"Why did she stop at the Central Garage & Machine Works, Paul?"

"I don't know. Probably some minor trouble with the car, a spark plug or something. My man didn't try to go in there and find out He just stuck around the entrance and waited for her to come out; then he followed her to the Westwick."

"Okay," Maser said. "That's fine. What else is new? Anything?"

"Nope. Still working on the runaway couple," Drake said "Here's a funny one, Perry. There's another detective agency on the job."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Who's hired them?"

"I don't know, but there are private detectives combing the country. Somehow I have an idea they're after the man instead of the woman."

"You mean Fleetwood?"

"That's right."

"Any idea why?"

"Only that they've been paid by someone to get information on him. When they ask questions, they ask about Fleetwood first and describe the man before they describe the woman."

"What's Fleetwood's description?" Mason asked.

"Around five foot seven or seven and a half. Weight about a hundred and thirty-five pounds. Dark eyes, wavy hair, rather romantic looking."

"No wonder Mrs. Allred is supposed to have gone overboard for him," Mason said.

"That's the way it looks," Drake said, "but this Mrs. Allred is quite a dish herself. She may be forty-two, but from all the dope I can get, she looks around thirty."

"Any pictures yet?"

"I've got one of her in a bathing suit that isn't too good as far as the face is concerned, but it's swell for the figure. And believe me, she's got one!"

"Have you been able to find Patricia yet?"

"No. She dusted out shortly after breakfast and hasn't been back since."

"Okay," Mason said, "keep plugging. I'll go see this Milford gal. Keep your man on the job until I get there, then he can go."