“Why?”
“Well, it’s causing a lot of comment and I guess you probably realize that virtually none of it is favorable.”
“That’s all right,” Mason said. “I know you don’t like to see me get in bad.”
“Actually I don’t, Perry. You and I are pretty good friends, despite the fact we keep on the opposite side of the fence a good deal of the time.”
“Well,” Mason said, “just in order to cement our friendship still further, I’d like to tell you who killed Collin Durant.”
“I think I already know,” Tragg said. “I’m quite sure Hamilton Burger knows, and I think it’s quite probable that Judge Madison knows.”
“Do you want to get a confession?”
“A confession would help things very much indeed,” Tragg said. “What are you going to do, plead her guilty?”
“I don’t know,” Mason said, “but if you’ll get up to my office right away, I’ll give the matter some consideration. I have one client I’ve got to dispose of and then I’ll be willing to give you all the help I can.”
“That’s mighty nice of you,” Tragg said. “I’ll be up.”
“Now, don’t misunderstand me,” Mason said. “I said right away.”
“What do you mean by right away?”
“I mean right away.”
“Is it that important?”
“It’s that important,” Mason said. “Get up here!”
The lawyer hung up the phone, grinned at the perturbed detective, said, “Go to your office, Paul. I’ll call you when I need you.”
He waited until Drake had left by the exit door, then said to Della, “Ask Otto Olney to come in, if you will, please.”
Della Street went to the outer office and a moment later stepped to one side as the angry Olney strode past her.
“Look here, Mason, what the devil’s the idea of serving a subpoena on me in that murder case?” Olney asked.
“Frankly, I don’t think Maxine did it. I’d like to see her beat the rap. When the case comes to trial in the Superior Court I’m going to check everything carefully and see if I know anything or if there’s anything I can do, but I certainly am not going to perjure myself and I’m not going to go traipsing down to some little inferior court that doesn’t have any discretion in the matter and make a spectacle out of myself trying to stick up for an artist’s model.
“And remember, if you put any witnesses on the stand to testify on her behalf, the district attorney is just going to ask them if they ever saw her with her clothes off — and because she was an artist’s model—”
“Did you ever see her with her clothes off?” Mason asked.
Olney said, “As a matter of fact, I think I did, and damn it, Mason, that’s not fair! My wife is very much— Well, this is a critical time for her and she’s inclined to be... well, insanely jealous.”
“Of course,” Mason said, “I wouldn’t want to cause any domestic discord.”
“I’m satisfied you wouldn’t and I— Well, my lawyer, young Hollister at Warton, Warton, Cosgrove and Hollister, was pretty much worked up about this. He wanted me to go to court and claim that you’d been abusing the process of the court and a lot of things like that.
“Well, I just told him, nonsense. I said Mason’s a reasonable man, he’s got some grounds for what he wants to do, and I’m going up and see him and have a talk with him. I’ll find out what it is he wants and I’ll find out if there isn’t some way we can help him.”
“Well,” Mason said, “suppose you tell me just what you want.”
“I want to know what I can do to help you,” Olney said, “and then I want you to give me a letter to the effect that you’re releasing me from attendance on the court. For your information, I’m leaving for Honolulu on the ten o’clock plane tonight and then I may have to go on to the Orient.”
Mason looked at his watch, said, “I’m expecting a visitor momentarily, Mr. Olney. I’ll hurry right along with this.
“Della, will you take this in shorthand, please?”
Della Street picked up her shorthand notebook.
“A letter to Otto Olney, Esquire, with a copy to Judge Madison and a copy to Hollister of Warton, Warton, Cosgrove and Hollister. ‘Dear Mr. Olney: Upon receipt of your assurance this afternoon that you knew nothing about the case, nothing about the false Phellipe Feteet painting, that you didn’t know Goring Gilbert, who was painting the copy, knew nothing about the copy being painted, and had no business contacts with Collin Durant, I have agreed to release you from attendance in court tomorrow in the case of People versus Maxine Lindsay, and agree to recall the subpoena which has been served on you and permit you to leave the jurisdiction of the court.’ ”
Mason hesitated a minute, said, “I think that covers it, doesn’t it, Olney? I’d like to have you ask Hollister over to check it.”
“I think it covers the situation,” Olney said. “There’s no need for Hollister, and I want to apologize to you, Mr. Mason, for flying off the handle a little. I guess I... well, I got a little worked up about it.”
“That’s all right,” Mason said, “and Della, you probably had better put a little note at the bottom of that to be signed by Mr. Olney, stating quote, I assure you that the facts mentioned by you in the letter are correct and that I have given you my assurance I have no knowledge of any of the matters mentioned.”
Mason hesitated a moment, then said, “I think that covers it. Make a blank for Mr. Olney to sign, type the words ‘Otto Olney’ underneath the blank, and I guess that’s all. Can you get that letter out right away?”
“Within a very few minutes,” Della Street said, watching Mason’s face curiously to see if he was giving her some signal.
Mason, completely poker-faced, nodded. “Go right ahead, Della.”
Della looked from Mason to Olney. Mason took out his cigarette case, said, “Want to smoke, Mr. Olney?”
“No, thank you,” Olney said. “I’ll be on my way. I’ve got a lot of things to do— Oh, I suppose you want me to sign that letter and I suppose I should have that letter in my possession in case anything is said about my disregarding the subpoena.”
“Yes. You’ll have to wait for it,” Mason said. “But it will only be a few minutes. Don’t you think you’d better check with Hollister?”
Olney looked at his watch, started to say something, changed his mind, settled back in the chair and said, “No need to bother Hollister. I’ll handle this. All of this has, of course, come as a terrific shock to me. I put great value on that Phellipe Feteet painting. I have instructed Rankin to buy more of them if he can find them at anything like a reasonable price. I’m telling you that in confidence, Mr. Mason, it’s not to be given to the press.”
“I understand,” Mason said.
“I’m a nut on Phellipe Feteet,” Olney confessed. “I wouldn’t take a hundred thousand for that one painting I have and I’ll pay up to thirty thousand for any more.”
Mason said, “This man Goring Gilbert is quite a character. The man has a remarkable amount of ability. He’s made a copy of your Phellipe Feteet that is really remarkable.”
Olney said, “I’d like to correct you on one thing, if I might, Mr. Mason. It isn’t a copy, it’s a forgery.”
“Wouldn’t it be difficult to make a forgery of that sort from memory?” Mason asked.
“I assume that it would. I suppose, however, that there are colored photographs available of the painting. After all, it had had two prior owners before I purchased it.”
“I assume so,” Mason said, “but it certainly takes a high degree of skill to copy a painting of that sort, no matter how it’s done.”