Case of the Beautiful Beggar

Chapter 2

It was just before Mason was leaving for lunch that Della Street said, “She’s back, Chief.”

“Who is?” Mason asked.

“Daphne Shelby.”

“I’ll see her,” Mason said.

Della nodded and brought Daphne into the office.

“What is it, Daphne? Bad news?” Mason asked.

Her eyes showed that she had been crying. She seemed numb with shock.

“They’ve done something terrible, Mr. Mason.”

“Who has?”

“Borden Finchley, Ralph Exeter and Elinor.”

“And what have they done?”

“They’ve put Uncle Horace away.”

With that, she burst out crying.

“Now, take it easy,” Mason said. “Keep yourself in hand. Let’s find out about this. What do you mean, they put him away?”

“They had him declared incompetent or insane, or something, and they’ve taken over the house and they’ve locked up my room and told me that I have until tomorrow night to take all my things out. And they won’t tell me what’s happened.”

“All right,” Mason said grimly, “sit down. Let’s get this thing straight.”

Mason picked up the telephone. “Tell Paul Drake to come in, if you will, Gertie. I have a case for him.”

Mason said, “Now, just try to relax for a minute, Daphne. Paul Drake is a private detective and a good one. He has his offices on this floor and he’ll be in here within a minute or two.

“In the meantime, I want you to fill me in with a little background.”

“What do you want me to tell you?”

“You’ve been in the Orient for three months?”

“Well, in the Orient, and on shipboard. I took a long cruise. I went to Honolulu, to Japan, to Hong Kong, then to Manila and then back.”

“You had letters from your uncle while you were gone?”

“Oh, yes.”

“What kind of letters?”

“Nice cheerful letters.”

“And then when you got to Honolulu, you received this letter?”

“Yes. If I hadn’t been in such a hurry to get ashore I would have had it when the boat docked, and then I could have telephoned or taken a plane or done something. But I had made some friends in Honolulu on the trip over. They were waiting for me and I hurried off the ship as soon as we were cleared to land. I didn’t get back until just before the ship sailed.

“So I stood on deck saying goodbye to friends before I went down to my stateroom. The letter was there, waiting for me.

“By the time I had read the letter, the ship was well out past Diamond Head.

“Somehow, the letter itself didn’t mean so much to me. I thought that Uncle Horace was a little despondent and he wanted me to have some money that — Well, frankly, Mr. Mason, I thought it was some kind of a tax deal. I thought perhaps he was leaving me money in his will, but wanted me to have some money that wouldn’t be subject to inheritance tax.”

Mason shook his head, said, “It would have been a transfer in contemplation of death. He didn’t send you that check for that purpose the question is, why did he send it?”

“I don’t know.”

“His letters were cheerful?”

“Well, yes, but come to think of it, there was a little something strained in his letters as though he — Well, now that you mention it, I begin to think of certain things. The letters were sort of stereotyped and — perhaps he wanted me to keep on having a good time and not bother me with anything until I got back.”

“Now, when you went out there this morning,” Mason said, “what did...”

The lawyer broke off as Paul Drake’s code knock sounded on the door.

Mason nodded to Della Street, who opened the door.

Paul Drake, tall, loose-jointed, deceptively mild of manner, gave a comprehensive grin by way of greeting.

Mason said, “Paul, this is Daphne Shelby. Sit down while I find out just what has happened. After I get this information from Daphne, we’ll make plans, but right now getting this information is too important to justify any interruption.”

Mason turned back to Daphne. “Tell me what happened when you went to the house,” he said.

“Well, of course,” she said, “I was worried and I was in a hurry to see Uncle Horace, so I didn’t wait for anything but just used my latchkey and ran right in and yelled, ‘Whoooo-hoooo! Here I am!”

“No one answered. I looked right away into the room Uncle Horace has and it was vacant, both his study and his bedroom. So then I ran up to my room and my room was locked.”

“You had a key to it?” Mason asked.

“Heavens, no. When I left there was a key on the inside of the bedroom door, but I never kept it locked.”

“But it was locked just now?” Mason asked.

“That’s right. So I went looking for Uncle Borden or Ralph Exeter or Aunt Elinor or somebody.”

“And who did you see?”

“Aunt Elinor.”

“And what happened?”

“Aunt Elinor smiled and said, ‘Oh, hello, Daphne. Did you have a good trip?’ And I said, ‘Yes. What happened? Where’s Uncle Horace?’ And she said, ‘Your Uncle Horace had to be taken away. He’s in a home where he’ll be given the best of care. And we suppose you, of course, will want to move out just as soon as you can get your things together.’

“So, then she smiled at me, a cold, frosty smile, and said, ‘We’ve locked up your bedroom so that your things will be safe. We’d like to have you out by tomorrow night because Borden is figuring on renting the house furnished. It will bring in a very tidy sum.’ ”

“Go on,” Mason said.

“Well, I just looked at her in consternation and said, “Why, this is my home. It’s been my home ever since I was a baby. I’m certainly not going to move out. I’m going to see Uncle Horace and find out what this is all about.”

“Then suddenly Aunt Elinor got hard. I’d never seen her get hard before. She was just like cold granite. She said, ‘Indeed, you’re not going to stay here, young lady! You’ve sponged off your uncle long enough.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean, I’ve sponged off him? I’ve been taking care of him and getting all rundown doing it. Why you, yourself, told me that I had been working too hard and I needed to take a three months vacation.’ ”

“What did she say to that?” Mason asked.

“She said that she had found out a lot of things about me since I had left and that her husband had been appointed conservator of Horace Shelby’s property and he certainly intended to conserve the property and keep it from being wasted and dissipated, or given to shrewd and designing persons. She said that she had evidence I was intending to play Uncle Horace for a good thing and get all of his money and that I had been too greedy even to wait for his death, but had been milking him right along and that his housekeeper, prior to her death, had been milking him and I had been standing in with her and helping her do it.”

“Then what?”

“By that time I was in tears. I guess I just made a horrible scene. I couldn’t stand up to her and I couldn’t listen to those awful things she was saying. I turned and ran out of the house and she called after me that I had until tomorrow night to move my things out of the house. Otherwise, she would move them herself.”

“And then?”

“I’m afraid I was hysterical. I— All I could think of was getting to you just as fast as I could, because.... because something horrible has happened.

“I know now that they are just schemers, that they moved in on Uncle Horace, took advantage of his generosity and good nature and got me out of the place on the pretext that I needed a rest and a vacation and then, just as soon as I was gone, they ganged up on Uncle Horace in such a way that they irritated him past all endurance. And Uncle Horace, of course, knowing that I needed a rest and a vacation, thought too much of me to tell me anything about it in his letters, but tried to act as though nothing was happening.”

Mason frowned thoughtfully and said, “The fact that your uncle sent you that check indicates that he thought he had a little more time than he did — or perhaps he felt you could take a plane back. In any event, they moved in more rapidly than he had anticipated and evidently had a court hearing.”

Mason turned to Della Street and said, “Della, get hold of the clerk of the court, find out what department the Shelby hearing was in day before yesterday, what judge granted the order, and the status of the case at the present time.”

He turned to face Paul Drake. “Paul, I want you to find out where Horace Shelby is now. They probably moved him by ambulance. They have some doctor who may or may not be in on the conspiracy, and they’ve probably been using dope of some kind.”

Mason said to Daphne, “Have either of your uncles or your aunt had any experience with medicine, or any medical education?”

“Why, yes,” she said, “Aunt Elinor was a trained nurse.”

“I see,” Mason said grimly. “There are some drugs that can calm an elderly person when he gets excited arid there are some that throw him entirely off his mental balance. I’m afraid you have been the victim of a rather deep-seated conspiracy... How much is your Uncle worth? Do you have any idea?”

She frowned thoughtfully and said, “Well, at least a million dollars. Probably more, what with his real estate, his stocks and bonds.”

Mason was thoughtful for a moment, then said, “Paul, I want you to find out something else. You have a pipeline into banking circles. They won’t give you confidential information, but they will give you all the information that isn’t confidential, everything that’s a matter of record.

“Now, I want you to get to this bank and find out just what happened to the account of Horace Shelby.”

Della, who had been on the phone, said to Mason, “The order appointing Borden Finchley as conservator for the estate of Horace Shelby was made by Judge Ballinger day before yesterday. Borden Finchley qualified with a bond and immediately proceeded to take charge.”

“All right,” Mason said, looking at his watch, “I happen to know that Judge Ballinger’s secretary stays in his chambers until twelve-thirty. Ring the secretary and see if I can make an appointment with Judge Ballinger for one-thirty, if possible. In any event, I want to see him before he goes on the bench this afternoon. Tell him it’s very important.”

Della Street nodded, got busy on the telephone, and after a few moments said to Perry Mason, “He isn’t expected in until just before court, but if you’ll be there at one-forty-five, you can at least see him for a few minutes before he goes on the bench. The judge had a luncheon engagement today and may not be back until just before court.”

“All right,” Mason said, “I’ll go to see him.”

He turned to look at Daphne Shelby’s forlorn face.

“Where’s your baggage?” he asked.

“Right in the taxicab,” she said. “I never did get it unloaded from the cab because I have no place to put it... I know all this is horribly expensive. I’m living on borrowed money and I guess I don’t have a cent to my name.”

“That’s all right,” Mason said. “We’ll see that you’re taken care of temporarily.”

She said, “I... I suppose I can get a job somewhere, but this is such a shock to me.”

Mason turned to Della Street. “Della, go down and help Miss Shelby get a room in one of the downtown hotels. Go to the cash drawer and get a couple of hundred dollars so that you’ll have plenty of money and leave her with enough to cover expenses.”

“Oh, Mr. Mason,” Daphne said, “I can’t do that. I don’t want to be a... a beggar.”

Mason smiled at her and said, “Quit crying, Daphne. If all beggars were as beautiful as you are, it would be a wonderful world... But you’re not a beggar, you’re a client and I’m a lawyer.”

“But I can’t pay you anything, and the way things look now, I don’t know if I ever can. Tell me, if Uncle Horace left a will in my favor and they have found it and just burned it up, what could be done?”

Mason’s face was stern. “Probably nothing,” he said, “unless we can prove that such a will was in existence and they had burned it. Do you know if he made such a will?”

“He told me that he was going to.”

“His letter,” Mason said, “indicates that he hadn’t done it. I may as well prepare you for the worst, Daphne. You’ve been the victim of a very clever conspiracy. Also it’s a conspiracy that is as old as the hills. A wealthy man has relatives. Some of the relatives are close to him some of them are not. The relatives who aren’t close to him come to visit, get themselves established in the house, get rid of the relative who is close to the old man, then take advantage of the absence to claim the old man is mentally weak and subject to being exploited by shrewd and designing persons. They have themselves appointed conservators, tear up any will they may find and so put themselves in a position of sharing in the estate.”

“But can’t... can’t he make a new will?”

“Not after he’s been declared incompetent,” Mason said. “That’s the beauty of the scheme.”

“But how can they get a person declared incompetent when he’s really in full possession of his faculties?”

“That,” Mason said, “is the diabolically clever part of it. You take any man who is past a certain age, who is accustomed to love, devotion and loyalty, then surround him with people who are willing to commit perjury who constantly irritate him and perhaps are willing to use drugs, and the first thing you know you have a man who seems to be incompetent.

“But what I’m afraid of is that he may have walked into a trap.”

“What do you mean, a trap?” she asked.

“That letter to you,” Mason said.

“Why, what about it? He just wanted me to be taken care of no matter what happened.”

“Of course he did,” Mason said, “but if they walk into court and say, ‘Here is a man who gives his niece a check for a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars and tells her to put the money where it can’t be found — well, such a person needs a conservator of his estate.’ ”

Daphne’s eyes grew large and round. “Do you mean that they used this letter—”

“I think perhaps they did,” Mason said. “I don’t know, but I think perhaps they did.

“However, you go with Della Street. I’ll fill Paul Drake in on some of the details. He’ll start work, and before two o’clock I’ll have seen Judge Ballinger. By that time, we’ll know a lot more about this.”

“And what about my things out at the house?”

“You leave your things right there for the moment,” Mason said, “unless there is something that you need.”

“But they told me I had only until tomorrow night.”

“By tomorrow night,” Mason said, “You may be in the house and they may be out.”

“But Mr. Mason, I... I don’t know how I’m ever going to pay you.”

“We’ll work that out,” Mason said. “Right at the moment, remember that I’m an officer of the court, a high priest at the temple of justice. You’re a naive individual who has been the victim of a very great injustice. As a matter of principle, I’m going to try to rectify it.

“Now, you go with Della.”

Mason nodded to Della Street and said, “Be sure she has some lunch, Della, and you get some, too.”