“No,” said Loring, “her mother came first. And then the lawyer came.”
“You didn’t see Norma?”
“No, just her mother.”
“All right,” Mason told him. “You come with us, and we’ll take you to the hotel we want you to stay at, and get you a room. You’d better go under the name of Harry LeGrande.”
“How about the baggage?” asked Loring.
“We’ll take care of the baggage. We’ll send the transfer man after it. The hotel porter will take care of everything for you. All you’ve got to do is to go over there. We’ve got a car waiting, and you’d better go over with us right now.”
Loring wet his lips. “Believe me, gentlemen, this is a relief. I was nervous, sitting there waiting for the man to come with the papers. I got to wondering afterwards if that lawyer knew everything he was doing.”
“He was all right,” Mason commented, “but he just forgot to tell you a couple of things. He probably was in a hurry, and excited.”
“Yes,” Loring admitted, “he seemed excited all right.”
They took him down to the car, and Mason said, “We’ll go to the Hotel Ripley, Drake. It’s conveniently located.”
Drake said, “Yeah, I understand.”
They drove in silence to the Hotel Ripley, where Mason was registered under the name of Johnson. He approached the clerk and said, “This is Mr. LeGrande from Detroit, my home town. He wants to get a room here for a few days. I wonder if you can give him one on the same floor that I have?”
The clerk consulted a card index. “Let’s see. You’re in 518, Mr. Johnson?”
“That’s right,” Mason said.
“I can give him 522.”
“That’ll be fine, and there’s some baggage to take care of. I’ll speak to the porter about it.”
They went up to the room with Loring.
“Okay,” Mason said to Loring. “Now you stay right here, and don’t go out. Be where you can answer the telephone if we should give you a ring. We’ve got to make a report to Headquarters. Then it may be that they’ll want to ask you a couple more questions. But it’s going to be all right now that we’ve got your written statement. You’re in the clear.”
“That’s fine,” Loring said. “I’ll do just what you say. The lawyer said to communicate with him as soon as I got located. Should I do that?”
“No,” said Mason, “that’s not necessary, because you’ve communicated with us. Don’t communicate with anybody. Just stay right here and wait until you hear from us. You can’t do anything until after we’ve reported to Headquarters.”
“All right,” agreed Loring, “whatever you say.”
They went out of the room and closed the door.
Drake turned to Mason and grinned.
“Boy, what a break!” he said. “What do we do now?”
Mason strode toward the elevator.
“Now we pull a grandstand,” he said.
“Let her go,” Drake told him.
Mason stopped in the lobby and called Police Headquarters. He asked for Sidney Drumm in the Detective Bureau. After a minute or two, he heard Drumm’s voice on the wire.
“Drumm,” he said, “this is Mason. I’ve got another development in that Belter case, but I’ve got to have some cooperation on it. I gave you a break on the arrest of the woman, and I want you to give me a break now.”
Drumm laughed. “I don’t know whether you gave it to me or not. I walked in on it, and you came through to save your own bacon.”
“Well, there’s no use arguing about it,” Mason said. “I gave you the dope, and you got the credit.”
“Okay,” said Drumm, “what do you want?”
“Round up Sergeant Hoffman and meet me at the foot of Elmwood Drive. I want to go up to Belter’s house with you. I think I can show you something up there.”
“I don’t know as I can get the Sergeant. He may have left already,” Drumm protested. “It’s late.”
“If he’s left, round him up,” Mason told him. “And I want you to have Eva Belter out there.”
“Gee,” said Drumm, “that’s a big order. If we take her out now, it’ll attract attention.”
“It won’t if you sneak her out,” said Mason. “Bring along as many men as you want, only don’t make any noise about it.”
“I don’t know how the Sergeant will look at this thing,” Drumm protested, “but I don’t think there’s a chance in a million.”
“Well,” Mason said, “do the best you can. If he won’t bring Eva Belter, get him to come himself. I’d like to have her there, but I’ve got to have you two.”
“Okay,” said Drumm. “I’ll meet you at the foot of the hill, unless something goes wrong. I can get him to go if he’s here.”
“No. That won’t do. You find out first whether or not you can make the arrangements, and then wait there. I’ll call you back in about five minutes. If you can go, I’ll meet you at the foot of the hill. If you can’t there’s no use going on a wildgoose chase.”
“Okay, five minutes, then,” Drumm said, and hung up.
Drake looked at Mason. “You’re biting off a pretty big mouthful there, guy.”
“That’s all right. I can chew it.”
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“I think I do.”
“If you’re trying to work up a defense for the jane, it would be a whole lot better to work it up without the police being there so that you could spring it on them as a surprise.”
“This isn’t that kind of a defense,” said Mason. “I want the police there.”
Drake shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s your funeral,” he said.
Mason nodded, walked over to the cigar counter, and bought some cigarettes. He waited five minutes, and then called Drumm.
Drumm said, “I’ve got Bill Hoffman sold on the idea, Mason, but he won’t take Eva Belter out there. He’s afraid you’re laying a trap for him. There are two dozen reporters hanging around the jail, and we couldn’t move her any place without having that bunch trailing along. Hoffman’s afraid you might get him out there, and pull a fast one that the newspapers could play up, and he’d be in a sweet spot. But he’s willing to go himself.”
“Okay,” Mason said, “that may work out just as well. Meet me out at the foot ofElmwood Drive. We’ll be waiting there in a Buick coupe.”
“Okay,” said Drumm. “We’re leaving in about five minutes.”
“See you later,” Mason told him, and slipped the receiver back on its hook.
Chapter 19
The four men pushed their way up the steps of theBelterMansion.
Sergeant Hoffman frowned at Mason. “Now listen, no funny business. I’m trusting you on this.”
“Just keep your eyes and ears open, and if you think I’m uncovering something, go ahead and follow up the lead. Any time you think I’m trying to give you the doublecross, you can walk out.”
Hoffman said, “That’s fair.”
“Let’s remember one or two things before we start,” cautioned Mason. “I met Mrs. Belter at the drug store down at the foot of the hill. We came up together. She didn’t have her keys with her, and she didn’t have her purse. She’d left the door unlocked when she came out so she could get back in. She told me that the door was unlocked. When I tried the door it was locked. The night latch was on.”
Drumm said, “She’s such a liar, that if she told me a door was open, I’d know it was locked.”
“That’s all right, too,” Mason said, doggedly insistent, “but remember that she didn’t have her keys with her, and she went out in the rain. She was bound to figure on getting back in some way.”