The Case of the Cautious Coquette

Chapter 17

“Do you want me to run down and deposit those checks?” Della Street asked.

“No,” Mason said. “I’m going to do that job myself. It’ll give me a legitimate excuse to be out of the office for a while.”

“And after that?” she asked.

“And after that,” he said, “I’m going to have to think up another one. If I can’t think of a legitimate excuse, I’ll think of an illegitimate one and have to make it sound legitimate.”

“Bad as that?”

“It may be.”

The unlisted telephone rang. Della Street picked up the receiver, listened, said, “It’s Paul Drake, chief. He wants to talk with you.”

Mason walked over, picked up the receiver, and said, “Okay, Paul, let’s have it.”

Drake said, “You remember I was telling you about this man Hansom who’s the proprietor of the Rushing Creek...”

“I remember,” Mason interrupted.

“Well, the police decided they’d talk with him. Apparently they had a hunch somewhere, so they brought him down here and went over his gun register with him, and they don’t like the looks of what they find.”

“What do they find, Paul?”

“Well, in the first place, while the signature purports to be that of Ross P. Hollister, and the address and everything matches, the name on the gun register apparently was written by someone else. The specimens don’t agree with Hollister’s handwriting.”

“What else?”

“And among other things, the police found that Lucille Barton was playing around a bit with a man by the name of Arthur Colson. Exactly what his relationship is isn’t clear, but in any event, when Hansom was confronted with Arthur Colson, he made an immediate and positive identification. He says that’s the man who bought the gun.”

Drake quit talking, and Mason was silent for a while.

“You there?” Drake asked abruptly.

“I’m here,” Mason said. “I’m doing a little thinking. Anything else, Paul?”

“That’s all at present.”

“What does Arthur Colson say?” Mason asked after a moment.

“Arthur Colson says it’s a case of mistaken identification. He’s squawking his head off. He said that if the police wanted to make any sort of an identification they should have put him in a line-up, and let this man Hansom identify him. Of course, the police realize that he has a point there. The police were simply exploring around when they stumbled on to this. However, they don’t like what they’re finding, and they’re going to keep digging.”

“Any chance it is a false identification, Paul?”

“Not a chance in the world. As I get the story, this fellow Hansom is a pretty shrewd old duck. He knows most of the customers who come in the store, that is, the regular customers. Along during the fishing season, there’s quite an influx of people buying fishing licenses and all that, but this was off season. He remembers the transaction and he’s absolutely positive of his identification. He certainly impressed the police.”

“Why would Colson have signed Hollister’s name?” Drake went on. “Have you any idea?”

“He had to sign some name,” Mason said, “and since she’s going to marry Hollister, or thinks she is, she’d hardly want to have a gun register showing the name of some other chap... From Colson’s standpoint Hollister was the best and safest alias he could use.”

“When you look at it that way, it all fits,” Drake admitted.

“Anything else, Paul?”

“They made a paraffin test on Pitkin’s hands. That, of course, isn’t as conclusive as it might be, but nevertheless it means a lot where they get an absolutely negative reaction within such a short time after a gun has been fired.”

“There was no reaction?”

“Not at all. Police did a good job on that one. They made the test even before the body was moved. Something about the case made them a little suspicious.”

“Do you know what it was, Paul?”

“I think I do, Perry.”

“What?”

“You’re not going to like this.”

“Hell, I don’t like any of it,” Mason said.

“Well, there was quite a little spot of blood on the garage floor directly underneath the gun. Now of course it could have happened that way, but police are inclined to think it didn’t. The man could have shot himself, then remained on his feet for a second or two, and blood could have spilled, and then he could have fallen over and dropped the gun. But you know how Lieutenant Tragg is, he’s a thorough worker and a smooth worker.”

“Yes,” Mason said, “I know how he is. You aren’t holding anything else back on the theory that you want to give me this stuff in small doses, are you, Paul?”

“That’s all of it to date.”

“Well, it sounds like enough,” Mason said, and hung up the phone.

“What is it?” Della Street asked.

Mason said, “Whoever pulled off that job last night wasn’t half as clever as I’d thought. But it’s too late to worry now, Della. If Carlotta Boone, who gave us the tip on Caffee’s license number, comes in, give her a check for one hundred dollars. Be sure it’s a check and not cash. Tell her we need the canceled check for our accounting.”

“So we can see where she cashes it and perhaps trace her if we have to?”

“That’s right. Hold the fort, Della. I’m on my way.”