“Fleetwood has for some time been Allred’s right-hand man. Allred hatches up the schemes and Fleetwood helps put them into execution. Fleetwood has a lot of admiration for Bertrand Allred and would do damn near anything Allred told him to.
“From all I can find out about Fleetwood, he wanted to get ahead in the world. He had the idea that you didn’t get ahead by being too damn altruistic. If you wanted things out of the world, you went out and got them. Otherwise, you didn’t get them. Allred inculcated that philosophy in him.
“Now if Fleetwood wants to talk, and I think perhaps he may want to talk, he can tell a lot. The things he’ll tell are things I want to hear, but I want to hear them first.
“I’m going to make you a proposition. You want to get hold of Fleetwood before anyone else gets hold of him. If you find Fleetwood, I feel sure you’ll talk with him about the thing that you want to know about. Then you’ll turn him over to the police.
“That’s where my proposition comes in. I’ll pay you well not to turn him over to the police, but to turn him over to me.”
Mason grinned. “You have detectives working on the job. You admit you’ve found out quite a good deal. Now suppose you get hold of him before I do. Will you turn him over to me? After you’ve got a statement from him?”
Keith shook his head determinedly.
“Why not?”
“Because I want the good will of the police. I can make quite a grandstand if I can turn Fleetwood over to the police. After I get a statement from him, I want to be damned certain that statement isn’t changed in any way. I think perhaps the police can help me there a little bit.”
“So you want me to play ball with you, but you won’t play ball with me?”
Keith didn’t hesitate for a minute. “That’s quite right.”
Mason merely smiled.
“On the other hand, Mr. Mason, I have inducements which I can offer.”
“Money?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Quite a bit. A certain amount for being put in touch with Fleetwood, and a further amount if he can answer some of the questions I want answered.”
“What are they?”
“I’ll leave you a list that will contain the answers that I hope Fleetwood will give, the answers that will be to my advantage.”
Mason shook his head and laughed.
“What’s wrong with that?” Keith asked.
“Everything’s wrong with it,” Mason said. “You want me to act as a sort of a coach for Fleetwood.”
“I don’t see what you mean.”
“The hell you don’t. You’ll give me a certain, rather modest, amount for putting you in touch with Fleetwood. You’ll give me quite a bit more money in the event he answers questions the way you’ll want them answered. You’ll leave me the list of the questions and a list of the answers you want Fleetwood to give. I’d be a damn poor lawyer if I didn’t realize that it was to my advantage to have Fleetwood answer the questions just that way, and it would be quite a temptation in running over the list with him to try and see that he did answer them that way.”
“Well, what’s wrong with that? It’s done every day. Whenever any lawyer takes a suit, he knows what answers the witnesses are supposed to give if he’s going to win that suit.”
Mason said, “The discussion is academic, anyway, because when I get hold of Fleetwood, I’m going to take him to the police myself. That’s in case the police want him.”
“You can get one thousand dollars by turning him over to me.”
“Okay,” Mason said grinning. “The line forms at the right.”
Keith’s eyes narrowed. He studied Mason thoughtfully for a few seconds, then said, “That should have occurred to me earlier. Mason, I want to be sure that if there’s any line that forms at the right, I’m standing at the head of it.”
“So I gathered.”
“All right, just so you know. I’ll top any other bid,” Keith said and walked out.
Mason got up and started pacing the office floor, swinging rhythmically back and forth, his thumbs pushed into the armholes of his vest, his head bowed in concentration.
Della Street was watching him silently when the phone on Mason’s desk rang. She picked up the instrument.
“Hello... yes, Paul... okay... All right, hang on to the line; I’ll tell him.” Della looked over at Mason, “Drake says there are detectives watching the office here. He says he thinks they are employed by Dixon Keith and that the idea is that if you should start out of here in a hurry, the detectives will figure you’re going to get Fleetwood and will tag along behind.”
Mason laughed, “I’d already anticipated that. Let me talk with Paul.” Mason picked up the telephone, said, “Hello, Paul. I’m going to leave the office. I’ll shake the shadows and establish headquarters where the shadows can’t pick me up.
“You stick in your office and wait for my call. I think this man Fleetwood is a lot more important than anyone realizes.”
“Okay,” Drake said, “but what are you going to do if you locate him, Perry? Think you can make him talk?”
“I’ll try to make him talk,” Mason said, “but I’ll sew him up first.”
“Suppose he doesn’t want to go with you?”
“I’ll make him. I think I know how it can be done.”
“Well, that’s your funeral,” Drake said. “There are penalties for kidnaping, you know.”
“I know,” Mason said. “I read a law book once.”
Drake laughed, “Watch your step, Perry. This is going to get pretty hot.”
Mason hung up the phone and said to Della Street, “I want to ditch those detectives, Della, and I want to do it in such a way it will never occur to them that I deliberately ditched them. Get Gertie in here, will you? Tell her to lock the outer door. We’ll close up the office.”
Della Street nodded, glided out of the office, and a few moments later returned with Gertie, the big, affable, somewhat overweight receptionist.
Mason said, “I want you to do something for me.”
“Anything,” she said.
“How would you like to act the part of a married woman for a while?”
Gertie grinned. “What is this, Mr. Mason, a proposal or a proposition?”
“A proposition.”
“They all are,” Gertie said. “Tell me what I’m supposed to do.”
“I’m hoping we can locate a man by the name of Fleetwood. He either is an amnesia victim or he’s pretending to be an amnesia victim. I’m rather anxious to find out which.”
Gertie nodded.
“The police are looking for Fleetwood, and at least one other private detective agency is looking for him. The man is hotter than a stovelid.
“Now then, the play is to get Fleetwood where he is entirely in our control. That isn’t going to be easy. Fleetwood isn’t going to want to play. If it really is amnesia, he’s going to need convincing. If he has been faking, he’s not going to like any part of it. But a man who is pretending amnesia is exceedingly vulnerable.”
“How?” Della asked.
“If you tell him anything about his past life, he isn’t in any position to contradict you.”
Della Street’s face lit up as Mason’s idea impressed itself upon her. “Then you mean that Gertie...”
Mason grinned.
“What’s the bird like?” Gertie demanded.
“I think he’s quite a wolf, Gertie. Long eyelashes, dark wavy hair, the romantic type...”
“Sold,” Gertie announced, and then added with a laugh, “and, I’ll either crack that alibi of his or I’ll prove that he has genuine amnesia. One or the other.”
Mason said, “I’ll bet you will! But first, detectives are watching the office. I want to ditch them once and for all, but I don’t want them to know that I am trying to ditch them or they will realize we’ve got something important on.