Mason nodded, said, “Now why the devil would Ed Davenport have been so anxious to find out who occupied that unit, and why did he wire funds to reserve the cabin and then hire a detective to see who occupied the place?”
“It must have been someone that he wanted to trap in some way,” Della Street said. “Or someone whose loyalty he suspected.”
“But who?”
“Looks like another job for Paul Drake.”
“It sure does.”
“Mr. Beckemeyer seems anxious to co-operate,” she said.
“Most anxious,” Mason agreed.
“And in a hurry for his money.”
“He sounds hungry. Tell you what you do, Della, send him a check. That will put him under obligations to our side.”
“Do I say anything about his offer to be of service?”
“Tell him we may call on him—later.”
“Do you want to sign the letter?”
“No, you do it. Pretend you’re sending the remittance on your own responsibility. You sign the check on the special account.”
She nodded.
“What else is in the mail? Anything?”
“Nothing too important.”
“Ring Paul Drake,” Mason said. “Ask him to come down right away if he can.”
Mason busied himself at reading the mail until Drake’s code knock sounded on the door.
Della Street admitted the detective.
Mason said, “Take a look at this, Paul.” and handed him the report of the Beckemeyer Detective Service.
Paul Drake gave the matter frowning and careful consideration.
“Well?” Mason asked.
Drake said. “You can search me. Perry.”
Mason said, “It becomes very important to find out whether Ed Davenport was actually the one who wired the money to the Pacific Palisades Motor Court. Suppose you can find out, Paul?”
“Under the circumstances it may be a little difficult. There may be a little red tape. In view of the fact that Fresno has decided it has a murder case against Myrna Davenport the authorities won’t take kindly to anyone who is digging up information having to do with Davenport. Are you absolutely certain that Frank L. Stanton and Ed Davenport are one and the same?”
“I’m not absolutely certain,” Mason said. “But I’m morally certain. The description checks and the license number of the automobile checks, but we’d better get the registration and have an expert on handwriting make a report.”
“You stopped in at that motel in Fresno?”
“That’s right. Stanton checked in early in the evening. He had two heavy suitcases with him. Presumably they contained ore from a mine and he was working on some sort of a mining deal. He was very anxious to see that the suitcases remained in his possession. He took them into the motel with him. He had also purchased a brand new traveling bag and he unwrapped that in the motel.”
“What about the suitcases?”
Mason said, “If they were in his car or in the motel at Crampton the authorities haven’t said anything about them.”
“Think someone got away with them?”
“I don’t know. There’s some evidence Davenport was rolled while he was staying in Fresno. If that happened who ever did the job must have taken the suitcases. They may have had valuable ore samples.”