The Case of the Phantom Fortune

Chapter 5

Paul Drake was in Perry Mason'soffice at eleven-thirty the following morning.

"Hi, Paul," Mason said."Any sleep?"

"A surprising amount,"Drake said. "I had the fingerprints collected and classified by one-thirtyin the morning, a friendly police chief wired the FBI and we have a reply"

"Criminal?" Mason asked.

"Yes and no," Drake said.

"Shoot."

"Mrs Warren's maiden name wasMargaret Lorna Neely. She worked as a secretary for a man named Collister DamonGideon."

"Where was all this?"Mason asked.

"New York."

"Go ahead."

"Gideon was a promoter aquick-thinking, fast-talking spellbinder. He had been in trouble with thepostal authorities on two previous occasions but they couldn't make any chargestick. The third time they nailed him."

"What charge?" Masonasked.

"Using the mails to defraud.Now, here's the strange thing. They indicted both Gideon and his secretary,Margaret Lorna Neely, and they went to trial in Federal Court.

"I haven't had time to find outtoo much about that trial but I know the highlights. Gideon was convicted onseveral counts. The jury acquitted Margaret Neely."

"You know why?" Masonasked.

"Why they convicted Gideon orwhy they acquitted Margaret Neely?"

"Either."

"They convicted Gideon becausehe didn't make a good impression. He was too suave and fast-talking, and he'dmade the mistake of getting mixed up in a deal where his suckers were farmers.The prosecuting witnesses were the good old homy-handed sons of soil, and thejurors contrasted those honest people with Gideon's smooth line of gab.

"As far as the acquittal isconcerned, it's the old story A fresh face, an innocent manner, a young girland nylon. Margaret Neely was just twenty-six at the time."

"It seems strange the prosecutorwould try them both together," Mason said.

"He did it because he wanted toconvict Margaret Neely the worst way."

"Why? Did he think she wascriminally responsible?"

"I don't think the evidencethat they could introduce was too clear against her. The main thing that theywanted was forty-seven thousand bucks."

Mason raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"When the postal inspectorscame down like a thousand bricks and the authorities moved in, they foundGideon with virtually empty pockets, an empty safe and an empty bank account.He had, however, in some mysterious manner arranged to pay attorney's fees inadvance and there had been a checking account with a balance of someforty-seven thousand dollars which mysteriously vanished."

"Doesn't the bank haverecords?" Mason asked.

"Oh, sure. Gideon drew themoney out. He said he put it in the office safe because he knew somedisgruntled customers were going to call on him the next day and he hadintended to make restitution in hard cash because he didn't want to have anypaper records of the transaction."

"And the safe, I take it, wasconveniently burglarized during the night."

"The safe was convenientlyburglarized during the night."

"And I also take it theauthorities never found the forty-seven thousand dollars."

"That's right. And there wasjust a whisper of suspicion that Margaret Neely knew where the money was andmay have been saving it for Collister Gideon, as salvage from the wreckingoperation the government did on the business.

"Incidentally, the police wouldlike very, very much indeed -and the FBI would like very, very much indeed – toknow where Margaret Neely is now and where I picked up her fingerprints. Agreat deal of pressure is being brought to bear on me."

"All right," Mason said."You can't say anything."

"Well, it's quite a bit ofpressure," Drake protested. "They're even intimating that I might beaiding and abetting a criminal."

"Criminal nothing," Masonsaid. "Margaret Neely was acquitted of any crime in connection with thefraud."

"Well, she did a good job ofvanishing," Drake said. "Police thought they were going to be able tokeep in touch with her through social security numbers or something of thatsort, but Margaret Neely just simply vanished. From what we know, we can puttwo and two together. She must have met Horace Warren soon after that. She wasthen going under the name of Lorna Neely and evidently had gone to Mexico City.

"In those days Warren was a struggling young businessman withlots of ambition and a reasonable amount of property. He hadn't hit the jackpotas yet. That came two years later when he struck oil on some of his propertyand from then on he made shrewd investments."

Mason grinned. "You've beengossiping, Paul."

"I've been listening."

"No one has any idea where yougot these fingerprints?"

"I won't say that," Drakesaid. "No one knows anything from me, but it's possible I may have left aback trail."

"How come?"

"Getting that fingerprintcatering service last night."

Mason was thoughtful. "I see,Paul… Even so, I should think the authorities would be willing to live andlet live. They put Margaret Neely on trial and she was acquitted. What more dothey want?"

"They're after CollisterGideon."

"They got him."

"They got the emptyshell," Drake said. "They intimated that if Gideon wanted to cough upthe forty-seven thousand bucks he could get parole and a chance to bereleased."

"Gideon refused?"

"Gideon insisted he hasabsolutely no knowledge of the money. He insisted the safe was burglarizedduring the night."

"He claimed it was an insidejob?"

"No, he claimed very vehementlyit was an outside job. The combination to the safe was pasted on the bottomside of the drawer in his desk. The authorities found that the drawer had beenpulled out of the desk, the contents dumped on the floor, and burglars hadevidently secured the combination to the safe, opened it and taken out themoney"

"Any other evidence that theoffice had been burglarized?"

"Quite a bit, as I understandit. The lock on the door had been tampered with. About twenty dollars that MargaretNeely kept in her desk was missing, and the money from the petty cash drawer,amounting to about ninety-seven dollars, was gone and even the money from thestamp drawer, all of the dimes and pennies that had been put in by personstaking out stamps for personal correspondence."

"So Gideon wouldn't make a dealand take parole?"

"He said he couldn't. He saidhe didn't know anything about the money."

"How long's he in for?"Mason asked.

"He was released lastFriday" Drake said.

Mason was thoughtful. "And Isuppose the authorities have had shadows sticking to him like glue."

"That I wouldn't knowabout," Drake said, "but I can tell you this. It's one hell of a jobto keep a man under surveillance when he knows what the score is and doesn'twant to be shadowed. He can break away sooner or later.

"The best technique is to lethim make a first try and encourage him to believe that he's thrown off theshadows and then see what he does. For that reason authorities quite frequentlyhave a rough shadow who keeps the guy under surveillance in such a way that theshadow stands out like a sore thumb. Then the subject ditches the shadow bygoing into a crowded building which has several exits, or getting a car,driving through a traffic light or two just as it's changing, and all thefamiliar dodges. The rough shadow gets left behind and the smooth shadows takeover.

"Usually the subject will goand hole up somewhere in a little hotel under an assumed name and keepcompletely quiet for a couple of days. Then if he sees nothing suspicious, hethinks he has it made and goes out and walks right into the trap."

"Did this happen withGideon?"

"I don't know anything aboutGideon," Drake said. "The authorities aren't taking me into theirconfidence except to tell me that I'd better cooperate or else." Drakedrew an extended forefinger across his throat.

"You sit tight," Masonsaid. "If it comes to an absolute showdown where they threaten you withyour license, you can tell them that I gave you the fingerprints and that youreported to me. Let them talk with me and I'll tell them."

"Well," Drake said,"they'd still like the forty-seven thousand bucks."

"So they could make restitution?"Mason asked.

"Well, they would like to nailGideon again because of giving false information to officers."

"That's all been outlawed bythe statute of limitations a long time ago," Mason said.

"No, it hasn't," Drakesaid. "They played it smarter than that. They pulled out Gideon'sstatements about the office safe having been burglarized and so forth and toldhim they were investigating that crime. Gideon told them it had all beenoutlawed by the statute of limitations but they told him they wereinvestigating it anyway and asked him again to tell them about the burglary ofthe office and the loss of the forty-seven thousand dollars.

"They have some sort of statuteabout giving false information to officers who are investigating a crime and -"

Mason made an exclamation ofannoyance. "Gideon has served his time. He's paid his debt tosociety."

"But they don't like to have acrook get away with forty-seven thousand dollars and only serve a fewyears."

"I see," Mason saidthoughtfully. "Well, the police know that you know something aboutMargaret Neely You're going to have to handle the connection so all they haveis a blind alley."

"I'm terminating theconnection," Drake said. "I don't want any part of it. I'm washing myhands of the whole business."

Mason shook his head. "No youaren't."

"What do you mean by that,Perry? I have my licence at stake. I can't hold out information the police wantin the investigation of a crime."

Mason said, "The police aren'tgoing to prosecute anyone for anything. They'd like to impound forty-seventhousand dollars. That's all. I'd let you off the hook and get anotherdetective agency if I could, but I don't dare contact anyone else.

"Think what a mess would bestirred up if it became known Lorna Warren had been arrested! We can't let thathappen. We can't let that information get out."

"No one's letting it out,"Drake said. Mason was openly doubtful. "When the police get mad, Paul,their methods are sometimes pretty rough." Drake said nothing.

Mason said, "I want shadows,Paul. I want Mrs Warren kept under discreet surveillance. Don't let her get onto the fact she's being shadowed. Tell your men to let her get away rather thanarouse her suspicions.

"I also want Judson Olneytagged for a few days at least, and I want you to get a mug shot of CollisterGideon and see that all your operatives study the picture. If either of thepeople I've mentioned sees him, or if he gets in touch with them, I want toknow about it."

Drake groaned. "I was afraidyou'd have some idea like this. It's dangerous, Perry."

"Taking a bath is dangerous,Paul. Get started."

When Drake had left the office Della Street said, "Good heavens! You'd think she'dhave had more sense."

Mason said, "Look at it thisway. An impressionable young woman, she was completely hypnotized by an olderman's glib talk. She thought there was nothing wrong in what they were doing.She was fascinated by him, probably in love. It would have been relatively easyfor Gideon to have got her to take custody of the forty-seven thousandbucks."

"I know," Della Street said. "That part is all right, but shecertainly shouldn't let a misguided sense of loyalty to a clever crook trap herinto the present situation."

"Just what is the presentsituation?" Mason asked.

"Well," she said,"for one thing, her husband knows."

"Knows what?"

"About the forty-seven thousanddollars."

Mason said, "The chain ofcircumstantial evidence has some very significant missing links, Della. In thefirst place, the authorities don't know that Mrs Horace Warren is MargaretLorna Neely In the second place, the husband doesn't know anything about herpast, and in the third place, even if the authorities should question herhusband, he couldn't be interrogated as a witness because a husband can'ttestify against a wife, and she can't be forced to testify againstherself."

"All right," she said,"how about you? An attorney has to hold the communications of his clientprivileged, but that doesn't mean he can be inveigled into becoming anaccessory to a crime."

"A crime?" Mason asked.

"A crime," she said."Gideon was convicted. You can't conceal knowledge of a crime."

"And what do I reallyknow?" Mason asked. "What knowledge do I have?"

"You know about…about…"

Mason grinned. "Exactly, Della.I perhaps have some hearsay evidence but all I ever actually saw was a suitcasefilled with old newspapers. It's no crime to collect newspapers in asuitcase."

"And just where do we go fromhere?" she asked.

Mason said, "We have beenretained to protect Mrs Horace Warren against the person whose fingerprint wasgiven to us. That print was made by Margaret Lorna Neely We are, therefore,retained to protect Mrs Warren from herself."

"You're going to take theassignment literally?"

"There isn't any other way totake it," Mason said. "We're going to protect Mrs Horace Warren fromherself."

"Her past?"

"Her past, her present,everything."

"How can you do that?" sheasked. "Mrs Warren has already turned over the money."

"That doesn't mean that Gideonhas received the money," Mason said. "Let us assume that it is in transit.

"Horace Warren says the moneywas still in the suitcase up to a short time before he tried to show it to me.When we opened the suitcase newspapers had been substituted for the currency.

"Police would have beenfollowing Collister Gideon. He would have anticipated that. Therefore he wouldhardly have been so foolish as to go directly to the Warren residence and pick up the money. Thereforehe must have sent some intermediary."

"Some person who was present atthe party?" Della Street asked.

"We can't tell," Masonsaid. "It may have been one of the servants. Gideon is smart. He knew inadvance the date of his release. It is well within the limits of probabilitythat he could have planted an accomplice as a servant."

"Then Mrs Warren paid over themoney?"

"Or the servant stole it,"Mason said. "Or the husband stole it so his wife wouldn't be payingblackmail, and then retained me to protect her from the blackmailer."

"What a mess!" Della Street exclaimed.

"But," Mason pointed out,"we have one advantage. We have the fingerprints of everyone who was atthat party By the time the people in that fingerprint van get done classifyingthem, we can find if anyone there has a criminal record. We'll check on theservant's first."

"And suppose we find thethief?" Della Street asked. "Then what? Who makes the complaint?"

Mason grinned. "No one."

"You mean you let the thief getaway with forty-seven thousand dollars?"

"I didn't say that," Masonsaid. "We do a little cloak-and-dagger stuff of our own. Once we've foundthe thief, we steal the money back again."

"Couldn't you make a complaintand -"

Mason interrupted with a firm shakeof his head. "You can't make a complaint in a situation of that sort – notwith the income tax being what it is. Everyone would jump to the conclusionthat the forty-seven thousand dollars represented money the Warrens were trying to conceal from their bankaccount, and therefore were keeping it stored in a suitcase in Mrs Warren'scloset.

"The Bureau of Internal Revenuewould move in and want to examine everyone in connection with the case. They'dhave to know that the money was being saved to pay some sort of a blackmaildemand. They'd look Mrs Warren up, inquire into her past, and in no time at allwould find out about the skeleton in her closet.

"No, Della, the thing has to behandled very circumspectly, and completely under cover."

"And that's why Mrs Warren hassaid nothing about the loss of the money?"

"What could she say?"Mason asked.

Della Street was thoughtfully silent for a moment, thensaid, "Nothing, I guess, but it must be horribly frustrating to haveforty-seven thousand dollars which has been carefully saved in cash disappearand not be able to utter even a word of protest."

"I think," Mason said,"that describes it very accurately – a horribly frustratingexperience."