CHAPTER THREE
The Big Barn in Rowena was a two-story frame building, the front of which had been made to resemble the entrance to a barn. Double barn doors were half open. A recessed partition in the back of the doors, which was not over two feet deep but to which the ends of bales of straw had been fastened, created the impression of a huge barn crammed with baled hay.
A motel was operated in connection with the other activities, and a sign at the road blazoned TROUT FISHING POOL. RODS, REELS RENTED. FISH BAIT SOLD. NO LICENSE NECESSARY.
Perry Mason parked his car, assisted Della Street and Ellen Robb to the curb, then walked across to open the door to the night club.
After the bright sunlight of the sidewalks, the interior seemed to be encased in thick gloom. Figures moved around in the shadows.
A man's voice said, "I'm Miles Overton, the chief of police of Rowena. What are you folks doing here?"
Ellen Robb gave a little gasp.
"Where's George Anclitas?" Mason asked.
"Here I am."
George Anclitas pushed his way belligerently forward, his deep-set eyes glittering with hostility at Perry Mason.
Mason's eyes rapidly adjusted themselves to the dim light.
"I'm Perry Mason. I'm an attorney," he said. "I'm representing Ellen Robb. You threw her out of here last night without giving her a chance to get her things. The first thing we want is to get to her locker and get her belongings."
"All right, all right," George said. "You want to go to the locker. The chief of police is here. He'll search the locker."
"Not without a warrant he won't."
"That's what you think," the chief said. "When she opens that door I take a look. George Anclitas owns this place. He's given me permission to search any part of it I want."
"The locker is the property of my client," Mason said.
"She got a deed to it?" George asked.
"It was designated as a place where she could store her things," Mason said.
"While she was working here. She isn't working here any more. I want to take a look in there. I want to see what's in there. I'll bet you I'll find some of the money that's been missing from the cash register."
"You mean," Mason said, "that she would have taken the money from the cash register last night, then gone to her locker, unlocked the locker, opened the door, put the money in there, then closed and locked the door again?"
"Where else would she have put it?" George asked.
Mason regarded his client with twinkling eyes. "There," he said, "you have a point."
"You're damned right I got a point," George said.
"And you don't have a key to the locker?" Mason asked.
"Why should I have a key?"
"I thought perhaps you might have a master key that would open all of the lockers."
"Well, think again."
"You can't get in this locker?"
"Of course not. I gave her the key. She's got it in her purse, that little purse she keeps down in the front of her sweater. I saw her put it there."
"And you have been unable to open her locker?" Mason asked.
"Of course. Sure, that's right. How could I get in? She's got the key."
"Then," Mason said, "how did you expect to get her things out and send them by bus to Phoenix, Arizona?"
George hesitated only a moment, then said, "I was going to get a locksmith."
The police chief said, "Don't talk with him, George. He's just trying to get admissions from you."
"First," Mason said, "I'm going to get my client's things. I'm warning you that any attempt to search her things without a warrant will be considered an illegal invasion of my client's rights. I'm also demanding an apology from Mr. Anclitas because of remarks he has made suggesting that my client is less than honest. Such an apology will not be accepted as compensation by my client, but we are suggesting that it be made in order to mitigate damages."
George started to say something, but the chief of police said, "Take it easy, George. Where's Jebley?"
"That's what I want to know," Anclitas said angrily. "I told my attorney to be here. This tramp is going to show up with an attorney, I'm going to have an attorney. I-"
The door opened. For a moment the light from the sidewalk poured in, silhouetting a thick neck, a pair of football player's shoulders and a shock of curly hair. Then the door closed and the silhouette resolved itself into a man of around thirty-seven with dark-rimmed spectacles, a toothy grin and hard, appraising eyes.
"This," George Anclitas announced, "is Jebley Alton, the city attorney here at Rowena. The city attorney job isn't full time. He takes private clients. I'm one."
George turned to the attorney. "Jeb," he said, "this man is Mason. He says he's a lawyer and-"
Anclitas was interrupted by Alton 's exclamation. "Perry Mason!" he exclaimed.
Mason nodded.
Alton 's hand shot forward. "Well, my gosh," he said, "am I glad to meet you! I've seen you around the Hall of Justice a couple of times and I've followed some of your cases."
Alton 's fingers closed around Mason's hand.
"All right, never mind the brotherly love stuff," George said. "This guy Mason is representing this woman who's trying to blackmail me and-"
"Easy, George, easy," Alton warned. "Take it easy, will you?"
"What do you mean, take it easy? I'm telling you."
Alton said, "This is Perry Mason, one of the most famous criminal lawyers in the country."
"So what?" Anclitas said. "He's representing a broad who's trying to blackmail me. She claims I accused her of being dishonest."
"Oh, George wouldn't have done that," Alton said, smiling at Mason. And then turning to Della Street, bowing, and swinging around to face Ellen Robb, "Well, well," he said, "it's the cigar and cigarette girl."
"That's the one," George said.
"What's the one?"
"The one who's making the trouble. Ellen Robb, here."
The chief of police said, "There's been a program of pilfering going on in the place. George has run up against a whole series of shortages. He's asked me to make an investigation."
Alton 's eyes swept over the chief of police with skeptical appraisal. "The law of searches and seizures is rather technical, Chief," Alton said easily. "Several decisions of the Supreme Court in California and the Supreine Court of the United States haven't simplified matters any. I'll take charge here."
Mason turned to Ellen Robb. "Do you have a key to your locker?"
She nodded.
"Get it," Mason said.
Her hand moved into the front of her sweater, came out with a small coin purse. She opened it, took out a key.
"Let's go," Mason said.
Ellen Robb led the way. Mason and Della Street came next, then the chief of police. George Anclitas, striding forward, was checked by Jebley Alton who, laying a restraining hand on his client's arm, drew him back to one side and engaged in rapid-fire, low-voiced conversation.
Ellen led the way into a room marked Employees, through a curtained doorway which had the word Female painted over the top, and paused before a locker.
"Open it," Mason said.
She fitted a key and opened the locker. In it there was a cheap suitcase, a pair of shoes, a suit and a raincoat.
"These all yours?" Mason asked.
She nodded.
"Do you want to put those things in that suitcase?"
"They came in that way. They can go out that way," she said.
"You have some other things?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"There's a motel unit assigned to us girls. We sleep there. It's a sort of dormitory. Sadie Bradford, another girl and I share the unit. He wouldn't let me get my things out of it last night. I was virtually thrown out."
"Better start packing," Mason said.
She pulled out the suitcase and flung back the lid. "I think Miss Robb would like some privacy while she changes her clothes," Mason said. "My secretary, Miss Street, will wait with her and-"