The Case of the Careless Kitten

Chapter 14

Mason’s unlisted telephone was ringing as he opened the door of his apartment. He switched on the lights, crossed over, picked up the receiver and said, “Let’s have it.”

It was Della Street. As soon as she started talking Perry realized that she was in a nervous funk and trying to cover up.

“Gosh, Chief, is that you?” She was off at the tempo of a pneumatic riveter exploding into action. “I think I may be violating the form, force and effect of the statutes in such cases made and provided, and my actions are probably against the peace and dignity of the People of the State of California. I guess I’ve graduated into a full-fledged criminal.”

“They tell me prison is a great experience,” Mason assured her. “You’ll learn a lot.”

Her laugh was high-pitched, and there was a catch in the middle of it.

“Paul Drake warned me that I’d wind up in jail if I went on working for you, but I was too stubborn to listen to him.”

“Well, you haven’t been sentenced yet. What have you done?”

“I’ve k-k-k-kidnaped a witness,” she wailed.

“Done what?”

“Snaked him right from under Lieutenant Tragg’s nose, and am holding him incommunicado.”

“Where?”

“In my automobile — or rather, your automobile.”

“Where are you?”

“At a service station about four blocks from your apartment.”

“Who’s the witness?”

“He’s sitting out in the car now. His name’s Lunk, and he...”

“Wait a minute,” Mason interrupted, “what was the name?”

“Lunk. He’s the gardener out at the Shore place. And he’s the temporary custodian of the poisoned kitten.”

“How does he spell his name?”

“L-u-n-k. Thomas B. Lunk. That part’s on the up. I’ve already managed to get a look at his driver’s license.”

“What does he know?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I think it’s awfully important.”

“Why?”

“He got off a street car about two blocks from the house. It was just after that guard collared you and took you inside. I saw the street car come to a stop and this man get off. He’s an old, weather-beaten, outdoor type of man. He came hurrying toward the house. Occasionally he’d break into a run for a few steps. You could see he was in a great rush.”

“What did you do?”

“Followed a hunch,” she said, “started the car, and drove down a block to meet him, got out of the car and asked him if he was looking for the Shore residence.”

“Then what?” Mason asked, as she hesitated.

“I’d rather not tell you all this over the phone.”

“You’ve got to. At least the part that you don’t want him to hear.”

“Well, he was so excited he was stammering. He just kept nodding his head and couldn’t talk at first. Then he said he had to see Mrs. Shore right away. I turned on my best manner and asked him if he knew Mrs. Shore when he saw her — just sort of sparring for time and trying to find out what it was all about. He said then that he’d worked for her. That he’s the gardener who’s been with the place for twelve or thirteen years.”

“But doesn’t live there?” Mason asked.

“No. The address on his driving license is 642½ South Bilvedere. He says he lives in a little bachelor shack in back of a house. He used to live in a room over the garage up at the Shore place. Then he went down to live in this little shack.”

“What’s he know?”

“I don’t know. He was so excited he could hardly talk. He said he had to see her at once, that something had happened, and I told him that Mrs. Shore wasn’t at home, that I happened to know where she was and I could take him to see her. I got him in the car, drove away from the place, and then started stalling, pretending that I needed oil and gas, and then let the attendant at the service station here talk me into changing spark plugs. I told him that Mrs. Shore was where she couldn’t be disturbed right away, but that we could see her in fifteen or twenty minutes and I’d take him to her. All the time, of course, I kept calling up, hoping that you’d get a taxi and come in. When I didn’t hear anything from you, I bribed the service station attendant to let the air out of one of my tires and tell me that I had a puncture that had better be fixed right away. He got the tire off and kept fooling around with it. Now my boyfriend’s getting nervous and a little suspicious. I’ve got to let the attendant here put that tire back on, and you’ll have to get here in a rush.”

“What’s the address of the service station?”

“On the corner, four blocks down the boulevard from your apartment.”

“I’m coming right down. Wait there,” Mason said.

“What’ll I do when you get here?”

“Just follow my lead,” Mason said. “I’ll size him up. Tell me about him.”

“He has steady, blue eyes, with a far-away squint, a weather-beaten face with high cheekbones, a drooping mustache, about fifty-five or maybe sixty, gnarled hands, stoop shoulders, long arms, slow-moving, and has a single track mind. Sort of simple, but obstinate and sullen when he gets suspicious. I think he’ll believe anything you tell him, if you can make it sound plausible. But I was so excited and — well, he’s getting terribly suspicious. You’ll have to get down here right away or he’ll walk out on me.”

“On my way,” Mason promised, and hung up.

He switched out the lights, went down in the elevator, crossed the street and waited in the shadows to make certain he wasn’t being followed. Having convinced himself on that point, he walked rapidly for three blocks, and paused long enough to once more be certain no one was on his trail. Then he walked to the all-night service station where an attendant in white uniform was just finishing tightening the bolts on the left hind wheel of Mason’s car.

Mason walking up to Della Street, apparently without noticing the man in his late fifties who sat at her side, raised his hat, said, “Good evening, Miss Street. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting.”

Della searched his eyes for a signal, hesitated a moment, then said, with some show of feeling, “Well, you certainly were late! If it hadn’t been for finding a nail in this tire I couldn’t have waited.”

“Too bad,” Mason said. “I was unavoidably detained. You know, I told you I could get you an audience with Mrs. Shore. But, you see, she’s...”

He broke off, apparently seeing, for the first time, the man beside Della.

Della said, “It’s all right, this is Mr. Lunk. He’s working out at the Shore place as a gardener. He wants to see Mrs. Shore, too.”

Mason said, “Mrs. Shore is at a hospital. She was poisoned. She says she took poison by mistake, but that isn’t what the police think, and they’re making it a matter for police investigation.”

“Poison!” Lunk ejaculated.

Della Street registered dismay. “Can’t we see her? Mr. Lunk says his business is terribly important.”

Mason said, “We can try at least. I thought everything was arranged, but the way things have turned out...” He shifted his position so he could watch Lunk from the corner of his eye. “You see,” he went on, “with a police guard on the premises, the minute we tried to see her, they’d begin asking us questions.”

“I don’t want no police,” Lunk burst out. “I’ve got to see Mrs. Shore personally and private.”

Mason raised his eyebrows. “You say you work there?”

“I’m the gardener.”

“Live there?”

“Nope. I come to work on the street car and go home on the street car. I lived there for a while. That was years ago. She wanted me to stay on, but I can’t stand having a darned Oriental snooping around. I want to be by myself and be private-like.”

“Oriental?” Mason asked.

“Yeah. That houseboy she’s got. I don’t know why she hasn’t fired him long ago. To tell you the truth, I’ve been looking for the FBI to come around and... Well, I guess I ain’t goin’ to say nothin’ more.”

Mason didn’t press him, but nodded sympathetically. “Well, as I understand it, if we can fix things so we can see Mrs. Shore without the police grabbing us, you want to see her. Otherwise, it can wait. Is that it?”

Lunk said, “It can’t wait.”

“That important?”

“Yes.”

Mason gave the matter thoughtful consideration. “Well, let’s go down and see if the coast is clear.”

“Where is she?”

Mason said, “She’s in a hospital.”

“Yeah, I know. But what hospital?”

“I’ll drive you there.”

Mason eased the car past the street intersections. “At this hour of the night, you don’t ordinarily meet anyone on these intersections, but if you do meet someone, he’s driving like the devil. You can get smacked at an intersection as easy as not.”

“Uh huh.”

“So you’ve been working for Mrs. Shore for some twelve years?”

“Yes, goin’ onto thirteen.”

“You knew her husband then?”

Lunk glanced at Mason sharply, saw nothing except an expressionless profile as Mason’s eyes held steady on the road ahead.

“Yes. One of the finest men that ever set foot in a garden.”

“So I’ve heard. Peculiar about his disappearance, wasn’t it?”

“Uh huh.”

“What do you think about it?”

“Who? Me?”

“Yes.”

“Why should I think anything about it?”

Mason laughed. “You do think, don’t you?”

“I’m paid for gardening.”

Mason said, “It’s an interesting family.”

“You know ’em?” Lunk asked. “All of ’em?”

“I’ve met some of them. I’m doing some work for Gerald Shore. How do you like him?”

“He’s all right, I reckon. He ain’t like his brother Franklin, though, about the lawn and flowers. He don’t seem to care much about ’em, so I don’t see much of him. Mrs. Shore gives the orders — except when that damned Jap tries to horn in. Know what that heathen devil was trying to do just a little while ago?”

“No.”

“Get her to go take a trip for her health. Wanted the whole family to get out and let him give the house a thorough cleaning inside and out. Guess he wanted to take three or four months doing it. Wanted her to go to Florida and take the niece with her. And I happen to know he’d been talking with George Alber about it. May have been Alber’s idea. You know him?”

“No.”

“He’s the fair-haired boy child right now. Seems like the old lady liked his daddy — or he liked her — ain’t sure which. I do my work and want to be left alone. That’s all I ask.”

“How is Komo? A pretty good worker?”

“Oh, he works all right, but you always have the feeling that his eyes are staring through your back.”

“You said you lived at the Shore place for a while. Have any trouble with Komo while you were living there?”

“No fights — nothing open. My brother was the one that had the trouble with him.”

“Your brother?” Mason asked, taking his eyes from the road long enough to flash a quick glance at Della Street. “You had a brother living there with you?”

“Uh huh. For about six, seven months.”

“What happened to him?”

“Died.”

“While you were living there?”

“Nope.”

“After you moved, eh? How long after?”

“Week or two.”

“Sick long?”

“No.”

“Heart trouble, I suppose?”

“No. He was younger than me.”

Della Street said soothingly, “I know just how he feels about it. He doesn’t want to talk about it, do you, Mr. Lunk?”

“No.”

Della Street went on rapidly, “It’s that way when someone near to you passes away. It’s a shock. Your brother must have been smart, Mr. Lunk.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Oh, just little things in the way you describe him. He seems to have been a man who wasn’t taken in by anybody. That is, the Japanese houseboy didn’t fool him any.”

“I’ll say he didn’t!”

“It must have been rather hard to start doing the work by yourself after having had your brother help you in the garden.”

“He didn’t help me. He was there visiting. He hadn’t been well for quite a while — not able to do any work.”

“People of that sort sometimes live a lot longer than the husky, strong people who don’t know what an ache or a pain is.”

“That’s right.”

Della said, “Mr. Shore must have been a very fine man.”

“Yes, ma’am. He sure was. He was certainly nice to me.”

“Letting your brother stay in the house that way. I don’t suppose they charged him board.”

“Nope. They didn’t,” Lunk said. “And I’ll never forget how Shore acted when my brother passed away. I’d been spending my money on doctors and things, and — well, Shore just called me in and told me how he understood the way I felt, and — know what he did?”

“No. What did he do?”

“Gave me three hundred and fifty dollars so I could ship him back East, and gave me time off from work so I could go along with him on the train. My mother was alive then, and it meant a lot to her having me bring Phil home that way and having the funeral right there.”

“She’s passed away since?” Della asked.

“Uh huh. Five years ago. Never had anything hit me quite as hard as the way Mr. Shore acted about that. I thanked him at the time. I wanted to thank him some more, but he was gone when I got back from burying Phil.”

Mason nudged Della Street with his knee so that she wouldn’t pounce on that opening and alarm the gardener. Then, after a moment or two, Mason asked casually, “That was right about the time he disappeared?”

“Just that time.”

Mason said, “Those Japs certainly are clever. The Orientals know a lot about drugs that we don’t know.”

Lunk leaned forward so he could look searchingly into the lawyer’s face.

“What made you say that?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Mason said. “I was just thinking out loud. I sometimes get funny ideas.”

“Well, what was funny about that idea?”

“It wasn’t even an idea,” Mason said. “I was just thinking.”

Lunk said, significantly, “Well, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking too.”

Mason waited a few seconds, then observed, casually, “If I had a Jap around and I didn’t like him — I’d sure hate to be living in the house with him... Have him fixing or serving food for me. I don’t trust ’em.”

“That’s the same way I feel,” Lunk said. “I’m going to tell you something, Mr. — what’d you say your name was?”

“Mason.”

“Well, I’ll tell you something, Mr. Mason. There was a while after I heard about Mr. Shore disappearing that I’d have bet dollars to doughnuts the Jap had something to do with it. And then, later on, I began to wonder if maybe the Jap hadn’t had something to do with the way Phil died. It could have been something, you know.”

“Poison?” Mason asked.

“Well, I ain’t saying anything. Personally, I ain’t got any use for the sneaking, treacherous race, but I want to be fair. I’ve done him one injustice already.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Lunk said, “Well, to tell you the truth, I sort of suspected him of having a hand in — well, I’ll tell you. I thought for a while that maybe he wanted to get Mr. Shore out of the way, and he sort of practiced first on my brother to see if he had the right dose and — you know, the way Mr. Shore disappeared and all that, and coming right on top of Phil’s death... I didn’t think so much of it at the time, but I got to thinking more about it later on.”

Mason again nudged Della Street with his elbow as he piloted the car around a corner toward the hospital. “Well, I don’t see that that’s doing the Jap any injustice.”

“Nope,” Lunk said positively. “He didn’t do it. But up to a few hours ago, you couldn’t have convinced me of that if you’d argued all night. Just goes to show how we get an idea through our heads and it sticks. To tell you the truth, the reason I didn’t want to live on the place any more was on account of the way that Jap was hanging around. Phil was gettin’ worse all the time. I got to feeling kind of sick myself and went to a doctor, and the doctor couldn’t find nothing wrong with me, so I up and left.”

“Did that cure you?” Mason asked.

“Perked right up,” Lunk said, warming to his subject. “I got a place of my own, did all my own cooking, and carried my lunches with me. And I’ll tell you something else. Mister, I didn’t leave my lunches hanging around where anybody could open up a box and sprinkle something on my sandwich, either. No siree!”

“And you were cured immediately?”

“Within a week or two. But Phil was sick anyway. He didn’t make it. He was all shot.”

“What did Komo say when you moved out?”

“The damn Jap didn’t say nothin’. He just looked at me, but I knew he knew what I was thinkin’, and I didn’t care.”

“What made you change your mind? Why don’t you think he poisoned Mr. Shore?”

“Nope,” Lunk said, shaking his head positively. “He didn’t poison the boss. I do think he poisoned Phil though, and I think he tried poisoning me; what’s more, he poisoned that kitten, and if Matilda Shore got a dose of poison, you’ll never convince me that Komo didn’t do it. He ain’t foolin’ me none. You mark my words, he wanted to poison someone, but he wanted to see how the poison worked first. Ten years ago he used Phil to try things out on. Last night he used this here kitten. Thought for a while ten years ago he was practicin’ up on Phil to have a go at the boss. Now I know it was me he was after.”

“But if you thought your brother was poisoned, why didn’t you go to the police, and...”

“Didn’t have a thing to go on. When Phil died, I asked the doc about poison. He laughed at me. Said Phil had been living on borrowed time for five years.”

Mason said, “Well, here’s the hospital. You want to go in with me and see if the officers are still on duty?”

“I don’t want to see no officers.”

“Of course,” Mason said. “But there’s just a chance we can get through to see Mrs. Shore.”

Della Street looked at Mason apprehensively. “I can run up, Chief,” she said, “and see if they’re on duty, and...”

“No,” Mason said significantly. “I want to take Mr. Lunk up with me. You see,” he explained to Lunk, “I was in to see her once this evening.”

“Oh,” Lunk said. “Didn’t you say you were working for Gerald Shore?”

“Yes. He’s a client of mine. I’m a lawyer.”

Mason opened the car door. “Come on, Lunk. We’ll run up. Della, you won’t mind staying here?”

She shook her head, but there were little creases of worry down the center of her forehead.

Mason took Lunk’s arm, and the two climbed up the stone steps to the hospital.

As they walked down the long corridor past the receiving and admittance desk, Mason said to Lunk, “Probably just as well to let me do the talking. But you listen carefully, and if I’m not doing all right, give me a nudge.”

“All right,” Lunk said.

Mason rang for the elevator, went up to the floor on which Matilda Shore’s room was located. A nurse, working on some records at a desk, looked up from her work. Two men got up out of chairs at the far end of the corridor and came marching toward the visitors.

Mason had his hand on the door of Mrs. Shore’s room when one of the men said, truculently, “Hold it, buddy.”

The other man said, “That’s Mason, the lawyer. He was here before. Lieutenant Tragg had a talk with him”

“What you want?” the man who seemed to be in charge asked.

“I want to talk with Mrs. Shore.”

The man shook his head and grinned. “Nix on it. Nix on it,” he said.

Mason said, “This man with me wants to talk with her.”

“Well now, does he?” The officer grinned, surveying Lunk as though enjoying a huge joke. “So you both want to talk with her, eh?”

“That’s right.”

The man jerked his thumb down the corridor, and said, “Back down the elevator, boys. I’m sorry, but it’s no go.”

Mason, raising his voice, said, “Perhaps this man could do you some good if he could talk with Mrs. Shore. He’s her gardener. I think Lieutenant Tragg would like to see him, too.”

The officer nodded to his companion as his hand clapped down on Mason’s shoulder. The other officer hooked his fingers in the back of Lunk’s collar. “Come on now, boys. On your way, and don’t act rough about it.”

Mason said, “I think we’re really entitled to see her.”

“Got a pass?” the officer asked.

The nurse came efficiently forward on rubber heels. “There are other patients on this floor, and I’m responsible for them. I want no noise, no argument, and no disturbance.”

One of the officers rang for the elevator. “There won’t be any disturbance, Miss,” he said. “These men are going out. That’s all.”

The elevator came to a stop. The door slid open. Propelled by insistent pressure from behind, Mason and Lunk entered the elevator.

“And don’t try comin’ back without a pass,” the officer called as the elevator doors clanged shut.

Lunk started to say something as they walked down the corridor, after the elevator had left them at the street level, but Mason motioned him to silence. Nor did the lawyer speak until they were out on the sidewalk.

Della Street, sitting in the parked car, opened the door.

“Things as you expected to find them?” she asked Mason anxiously.

Mason was smiling. “Just exactly. Now then, we’ll go some place where we can talk.”

Lunk said doggedly, “I’ve got to reach Mrs. Shore. I don’t want to talk to nobody else.”

“I know,” Mason said. “We’ll see if we can’t work out some plan of action.”

Lunk said, “Listen, I ain’t got all night to work on this thing. It’s hot. It’s got to be handled right now. I’ve simply got to see her.”

Mason turned the car into a broad street which, at this hour of the night, showed no traffic. Abruptly, he swung into the curb, parked the car, switched off the headlights, and the ignition, turned to Lunk, and said sharply, “How do you know Franklin Shore is alive?”

Lunk started as though Mason had jabbed him with a pin.

“Come on,” Mason said. “Speak up.”

“What makes you think I know any such thing?”

“Because you gave yourself away. Remember you said that up until a short time ago, all the talking in the world wouldn’t have convinced you that Komo hadn’t been mixed up in Franklin Shore’s disappearance. You’ve held that belief for several years. You’ve held it so deeply and sincerely that it’s become a fixed obsession with you. Now then, there’s only one thing that could have changed your mind so suddenly. You’ve seen or heard from Franklin Shore.”

Lunk stiffened for a moment as though preparing to deny the statement; then settled back in the seat as the resistance oozed out of him.

“All right,” he admitted, “I’ve seen him.”

“Where is he?” Mason asked.

“He’s at my place.”

“He came there shortly before you took the street car to go to see Mrs. Shore?”

“That’s right.”

“And what did he want?”

“He wanted me to do something for him. I can’t tell you what it was.”

Mason said, “Wanted you to go to Mrs. Shore and find out if she’d take him back, or something of that sort.”

Lunk hesitated a moment, then said, “I ain’t goin’ to tell you what he told me. I promised him I wouldn’t ever tell that to any living man.”

Mason asked, “How long was it after Franklin Shore came to your house that you went out to take the street car?”

“Quite a little while.”

“Why the delay?”

Lunk hesitated, then said, “There wasn’t any delay.”

Mason glanced at Della Street, then asked Lunk, “Had you gone to bed when Franklin Shore called on you?”

“Nope. I was listening to a news broadcast when he knocked at the door. I like to fell over dead when I seen who it was.”

“You recognized him without any difficulty?”

“Yeah. Sure. He hadn’t changed so much — not near as much as she has. Looks about like he did the day he left.”

Mason glanced significantly at Della Street and said, “There’s no reason why you should stay up any longer, Della. I’ll take you down the street a few blocks to a taxi stand. You can take a taxi home.”

She said, “You’re not keeping me up. I wouldn’t miss this for worlds. I...”

“You need some sleep, my dear,” Mason interrupted solicitously. “Remember, you have to be at the office promptly at nine, and it will take you a long time to get home.”

“Oh! I see — I guess so.”

Mason switched on the ignition, drove rapidly to a nearby hotel where a taxi was parked at the curb. Della Street jumped out with a quick “Good night. See you in the morning, Chief,” and walked across to the taxicab.

Mason drove down the street for a couple of blocks, then parked the car again.

“We’d better get this thing straight, Lunk,” he said. “You say Franklin Shore knocked at your door?”

The gardener was sullen and suspicious. “I’ve got it all straight. Sure he knocked. The doorbell wasn’t working.”

Mason shook his head. “I’m not certain that you did right. It might make trouble for you with Mrs. Shore — trying to intercede on behalf of her husband.”

Lunk said, “I know what I’m doin’.”

“You owe Franklin Shore a debt of gratitude,” Mason went on. “You want to do everything you can to help him, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And you know Mrs. Shore hates him, don’t you?”

“No.”

Mason said, “You must have talked with Franklin Shore for a couple of hours before you started out to see Mrs. Shore.”

“Not that long.”

“An hour, perhaps?”

“Perhaps.”

“How did he seem mentally?” Mason asked abruptly.

“How do you mean?”

“Was his mind keen?”

“Oh, sure. He’s smart as a steel trap — remembers things I’ve even forgotten. Asked about some poinsettia plants I’d put out just before he left. Damned if I hadn’t clean forgotten about ’em until he asked. They didn’t do so good and the old lady had ’em pulled up. We got some rose bushes in there now.”

“Then he doesn’t seem to have aged much?”

“No. He’s older; but he’s pretty much the same.”

Mason said, “Why don’t you tell me the truth, Lunk?”

“What are you getting at?”

Mason said, “Franklin B. Shore was a banker, a keen-minded businessman. From all I can learn, he was clearheaded and quick thinking. A man of that type wouldn’t have come to you to ask you to intercede with Mrs. Shore on his behalf.”

Lunk remained sullenly silent.

Mason said, “It’s a lot more likely that he’d have gone to your place knowing that you were under a debt of gratitude to him, looking for a place to spend the night where no one would be apt to look for him. You pretended you were going to give him a place to hide out, and then, after he’d gone to bed and to sleep, sneaked quietly out in an attempt to go and tell Mrs. Shore where he was.”

Lunk clamped his lips together in stolid, defiant silence.

“You may as well tell the truth,” Mason said.

Lunk shook his head doggedly.

“The Homicide Squad wants to question Franklin Shore. They want to examine him about what happened after he communicated with a man named Henry Leech.”

“What’s that got to do with it?”

“Leech was murdered.”

“When?”

“Some time early last night.”

“Well?”

“Don’t you see,” Mason said, “if you conceal a witness, knowing he’s a witness and wanted as such, you’re guilty of a crime.”

“How do I know he’s a witness?”

“I’m telling you so. Now then, you’d better tell me everything that happened.”

Lunk thought things over for a few minutes, then said, “Well, I guess I might’s well. Franklin Shore came to my place. He was excited and scared. He said somebody was trying to kill him. That he had to have a place to hide. He told me about what he’d done for me in giving me a home for my brother and all that and said it was up to me to help him out.”

“And you asked him why he didn’t go home?”

Lunk said, “I asked him some questions, but he wouldn’t talk much. He acted like he was still the boss and I was just a hired man. He said he didn’t want Mrs. Shore to know anything about his bein’ here until after he’d found out what had been done with certain property. He said his wife was going to try to strip him of every penny and he didn’t propose to stand for it.”

“Then what?”

“So then I told him he could stay with me. It was just the way you doped it out. I got a spare bedroom in the back, and I put him to bed. After he got to sleep I sneaked out and went to tell Mrs. Shore.”

“You hadn’t gone to bed at all?”

“No.”

“And you didn’t go to bed?”

“Nope. Told him I had some letters to write.”

“And Franklin Shore didn’t know you had sneaked out?”

“Nope. He was lyin’ on his back with his mouth open, snoring, when I left.”

“To betray the man who had once been so kind to you,” Perry added.

Lunk’s eyes shifted uneasily. “I wasn’t going to tell her where Mr. Shore was — just that I’d heard from him.”

“Did you know Henry Leech?” Mason asked suddenly.

“Yes, I knew him — a long time ago.”

“Who was he? What did he do?”

“He was a plumber — used to come to the house and do some work once in a while. Franklin Shore liked him. Mrs. Shore never did go much for him. He and my brother Phil used to get along pretty well, but I never cared too much for him. Thought he was full of hot air — always tellin’ about how he was goin’ to get rich in some mining deal. Told Phil a while before Phil died that Franklin Shore was goin’ to finance him on a mining proposition — said he was goin’ to be living on Easy Street in a couple of months. I’ve been wondering if maybe Franklin hadn’t gone in partners with him, and when Franklin left he went out to work on that mine.”

“Where was it?”

“In Nevada somewhere.”

“Did Leech continue working after Franklin Shore disappeared?”

“No, he didn’t. Mrs. Shore never liked him. Soon as she got in the saddle she canned him. He was puttin’ in a lot of new plumbing up in the north end of the house, and every time he’d get a chance, he’d talk over this mining deal with Mr. Shore and with my brother. For some reason or other, Shore liked him, and would take time out to kid with him about his mine, an’ when he was goin’ to strike it rich.”

Mason said, “When Franklin Shore showed up at your house, you asked him some questions about where he’d been, and whether he’d put any money in this mining deal. Now go ahead and tell me the truth.”

Lunk blurted out, “The boss ran away with this woman. He went to Florida, but he had an interest in some mine out in Nevada. I don’t know whether it was Leech’s mine or not. They struck it kinda rich, and Shore’s partner froze him out for a few thousand, when he could have made a lot more money if he’d held on.”

“And that partner was Leech?” Mason asked.

Lunk faced Mason then with steady-eyed candor. “I’m goin’ to tell you the truth, Mr. Mason. I don’t know who that partner was. Shore wouldn’t say. He dried up when I tried to pump him. It might have been Leech, and it might not.”

“Didn’t you ask him?”

“Well, I didn’t come right out and ask him in so many words. When I was talkin’ with him, I’d forgotten what Leech’s name was. I did ask the boss what’d ever become of that plumber that was trying to interest him in a mining proposition, and the boss dried up like a clam.”

“And you didn’t press the inquiry?”

Lunk said, “I guess you don’t know Franklin Shore very well, do you?”

“I don’t know him at all.”

“Well,” Lunk said, “when Franklin Shore don’t want to tell you a thing, he don’t tell you. And that’s all there is to it. I don’t s’pose he’s got any dough at all now, but you’d think he was still a high-and-mighty millionaire, the way he acts when you try to get any information out of him.

“Now, I can’t stay away no longer. I’ve got him out there at the house and I’ve got to get back before he wakes up. If he wakes up and finds me gone, there’s goin’ to be hell to pay. Now you drive me back home and I’ll find some way of gettin’ in touch with Mrs. Shore. Ain’t she got a telephone in that hospital?”

Mason said, “I was in the room for a few minutes. I saw that she had a telephone by the bed, but I don’t think I’d try to telephone her except as a last resort. Even then, I wouldn’t dare to tell her anything important over the telephone.”

“Why?”

“Because Lieutenant Tragg will either have taken the telephone out, or have left instructions at the switchboard not to put through incoming calls.”

“But she could call out all right?” Lunk asked.

“She might be able to.”

Lunk creased his forehead in thought. “I got a phone,” he said, “and if we could think up some way of gettin’ her to call my number, I could give her the message.”

Mason said, “I’ll drive you home and after we get there, we may be able to think up some way of getting her to put through a call. You might send her some flowers with your card on them and your telephone number on the card. The flowers would be delivered. The officers wouldn’t stop them. When she saw your name and telephone number on the card, she’d know that you wanted her to call you on the phone. That might be a good way to work things.”

Lunk said, “Now you’re really talkin’ sense. That’d work all right. The first thing she’d think of when she saw my card on the flowers would be what the hell I was sending her flowers for. But you understand they’d have to be bought flowers. If I sent her flowers out of the garden, it would be a natural thing to do. But bought flowers would tip her off right away that there was some reason for sending ’em.”

Mason said, “I know a flower shop that’s open all night. We can get an immediate delivery to the hospital. Have you got any money?”

“Only about a dollar and a half.”

Mason said, “It should be a good big bouquet of expensive flowers. I’ll drive up to the florist’s with you, and then take you back home. I’ll pay for the flowers.”

“That’s mighty white of you.”

“Not at all. I’m glad to do it. Now there’s one question I want to ask you, and I want you to think carefully before you answer it.”

“What is it?”

“Henry Leech was interested in mines. Now, do you know whether he ever hired Gerald Shore as a lawyer to do anything in connection with his mining company?”

Lunk thought that question over for almost a minute, then said, “I can’t tell you for sure, but I think he did. I’ll let you in on something, Mr. Mason. I think Franklin Shore was double-crossed somehow — after he’d left.”

“How do you mean?”

Lunk fidgeted uneasily, said, “Last time the boss was down in Florida he ran on a guy who looked just like him. They had their pictures taken together, an’ this guy certainly was a ringer for the boss.

“Well, the boss kept kidding about it after he got back, said he was going to use this guy as a double when his wife had some of her social doings that he wanted to get out of. Mrs. Shore would get hopping mad every time he’d mention it.

“Now, I got an idea that the boss went down to Florida with this woman of his, and intended to educate this here double to go back and pretend he was Franklin Shore. This guy could live a swell life and send Franklin Shore money, and the boss could be happy with this woman he’d gone away with. Well, I think that after he’d sort of educated the guy, the bird got cold feet, or he may have died or somethin’.

“Get me? I think the boss was plannin’ to have this other bird show up, claimin’ it had been a loss of memory that was responsible for everything. People would have believed that, because the boss didn’t take any money with him when he left. Well, somehow or other, it didn’t pan out. Maybe he couldn’t get this other guy educated right, or something. That left the boss with his bridges burnt.”

Mason held his eyes steadily on those of the gardener. “Might it not have been the other way around?”

“What do you mean? What you gettin’ at?”

“This double might have got the idea and then made way with Franklin Shore, and returned to take his place.”

“Nope. This man who came to my place is Franklin B. Shore. An’ I knew from what he told me... say, wait a minute. I’m talkin’ too damn much. You an’ me will start gettin’ along a hell of a lot better, Mr. Mason, if you quit askin’ questions — beginnin’ right now. Come on, let’s go where we’re goin’... or you can let me out right here an’ I’ll handle things myself.”

Mason’s laugh was good natured. “Oh, come on, Lunk. I didn’t mean to be nosey.”