The Case of the Daring Divorcee

Chapter Seven

Mason’s office phone rang and the lawyer, picking up the receiver, heard Della Street’s voice saying, “Mr. Simley Beason in the office. He says you’re expecting him.”

“Show him in,” Mason said.

A moment later Della Street opened the door and a tall man of about thirty-five with wavy, dark hair, dark intense eyes and wearing a dark suit, came forward with his hand outstretched.

“Mr. Mason,” he said, “I’m very glad to meet you.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Mason said, gripping the hand cordially. “Won’t you be seated?”

Beason settled himself in the overstuffed leather chair.

Mason said, “I want some information. I need it fast and I think you’re the person to give it to me.”

“I’ll do anything I can.”

“Of course I understand that as an employee of Hastings’ far-flung business enterprises you have a lot of responsibilities and this is probably a very bad day for me to take up any of your time. Nevertheless, I consider the matter of some importance.

“I also realize that you have a loyalty to the dead man and to the business, but I think you’re essentially fair and feel certain you won’t mind my asking a few questions.”

“Go right ahead,” Beason said. “I’ll be glad to do what I can.” And then added meaningly, “In the brief time that I can spare from the business today. You’ll understand I’ve had to answer a lot of questions.”

“I understand,” Mason said. “I’ll try to be as brief as possible. You’ve been working for the Hastings Enterprises for how long?”

“About twelve years.”

“You knew the first Mrs. Hastings?”

“Yes.”

“She died?”

“Yes.”

“And the second Mrs. Hastings?”

“That’s Minerva Hastings,” Beason said. “Yes, I know her.”

“Would you care to express an opinion?” Mason asked.

Beason looked at the carpet for a moment, then raised his eyes to Mason’s. “No,” he said.

“And, of course you know Adelle Hastings.”

“Yes.”

“Would you care to express an opinion?”

“I have known Adelle since she came to work for the organization,” Beason said. “She is a very fine woman. She was Mr. Hastings’ secretary before he married her.”

“There was some sort of a scandal, I believe?” Mason asked. “Wasn’t she named as corespondent?”

Beason started to say something, stopped, stroked the angle of his jaw with the tips of his thumb and forefinger, said, “I wouldn’t care to be quoted, Mr. Mason, but I can give you the situation in a nutshell. The first Mrs. Hastings was a very fine woman. When she died Hastings was lonely and he thought of women and of marriage in terms of his first wife. He met Minerva. It never occurred to him that marriage with her would be radically different from what it had been with his first wife. He was a pushover.”

“You mean Minerva was the aggressor?”

“I didn’t say that,” Beason said.

“Not in so many words,” Mason said.

“Let’s leave it the way I said it.”

“Go ahead. Tell me about Adelle.”

“Mr. Hastings’ thoughts of marriage were in terms of the happiness he had enjoyed with his first wife. Reality gradually dawned on him after he married for the second time.

“Adelle was his secretary and— Well, we could all of us see that Mr. Hastings was suffering, suffering tremendously. I think he confided in Adelle and they were together a great deal. A close friendship ripened into love.”

“And of course Minerva was furious,” Mason said.

Simley Beason looked up quickly. “Not necessarily,” he said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“There is, of course, a possibility that Minerva did not regard her marriage to Hastings as a permanent alliance, looking upon it as a means of financial advancement.

“Mind you, Mr. Mason, I am not saying that is the case but if it had been the case, then of course she would have looked upon the situation which developed with a great deal of satisfaction because it would give her an opportunity to get a divorce, to pose as the aggrieved woman, to put Garvin Hastings in the wrong and to collect a large sum by way of alimony.”

“Were there indications that this might have been the case?” Mason asked.

“About the time Mr. Hastings began to develop a warm friendship for Adelle, Minerva Hastings went back east to visit relatives and— It seemed to persons around the office that Minerva deliberately closed her eyes and created all sorts of opportunities for Garvin Hastings and Adelle Sterling to be together.”

“And then?” Mason asked.

“Oh, then there was the usual blow-up, the recriminations, the negotiations for a property settlement, and it wound up by Minerva going to Carson City, Nevada, establishing a six weeks’ residence and getting a divorce. Adelle Sterling and Garvin Hastings were married within a week of Minerva’s divorce.”

“And what happened to Minerva?”

“She’s around.”

“Do you ever see her now?”

“No, but I talk with her on the phone from time to time. You see, she secured a rather large sum of cash by way of settlement and also some properties that Mr. Hastings had acquired, and of course I was familiar with those properties. Minerva Hastings rings me from time to time to ask questions about them.”

“What is her manner?”

“I don’t think she likes me at all. Her favorite is Connely Maynard who is the general manager of the Enterprises. They have known each other for some time.”

“How long have they known each other?”

“For some time.”

“Before her marriage to Hastings?”

“I think they had some friends in common.”

“And how well do they know each other now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Would you care to speculate as to whether there is anything more than friendship involved?”

Beason hesitated a moment, then said, “No. Speculation in such a matter would be profitless.”

“Where does Minerva Hastings live now?”

“She alternates her time between here and friends she formed in Nevada while she was establishing her residence there. Minerva is restless. She comes and goes.”

“All right,” Mason said, “I want your opinion. Do you think she’s in love with Gonnely Maynard?”

Beason thought for a moment, then said, “She’s in love with power, she’s in love with money, she’s in love with herself. All other emotions are secondary.”

Mason said, “You know generally what happened here yesterday. Some woman stating she was Mrs. Hastings left her handbag in the office and there was a gun in the handbag.”

“So I understand,” Beason said.

“This woman was wearing dark glasses which made it a little difficult to identify her.”

“Yes. I understand that.”

“Do you think there is any chance this woman could have been Minerva Hastings?”

Beason was thoughtful. “Minerva Hastings,” he said, “is very resourceful, very daring, very shrewd. If she engaged in any activity of that sort it would have been well planned — down to the smallest detail.”

“Apparently,” Mason said, “this was well planned, down to the smallest detail.”

Beason said nothing.

The phone rang sharply.

Mason picked it up and Della Street said, “Mrs. Grump is in the office.”

“I see,” Mason said. “I think we had better proceed.”

“That means I’m to send her in?”

“Yes,” Mason said.

Mason opened the drawer of his desk, handed a pair of dark glasses to Simley Beason.

“Would you,” he asked, “mind putting these on?”

“Why?” Beason asked.

“I just want to see if it would make a difference in your appearance.”

Beason hesitated a moment, then put on the dark glasses.

Mason regarded him critically.

The door from the outer office opened and Della Street said, “Mrs. Crump.”

“Oh, hello, Mrs. Grump,” Mason said, “would you mind coming in and being seated for a moment?”

Mrs. Grump, a chunky woman in her fifties, came marching forward.

Simley Beason hastily snatched at the dark glasses.

Mrs. Grump turned to look at him, said, “Why, what happened, Mr. Mason? Didn’t you go to Arizona after all?”

Beason smiled weakly, nodded his head toward Mason and said, “That’s Mr. Mason. I’m Simley Beason.”

“Why, you— Aren’t you...? Why, you’re the one who—”

“I think he is the one, Mrs. Crump,” Mason said. And turning to Beason, said, “I’d like very much to get a complete story of what you were doing in my office this morning shortly after six o’clock, and what happened to the revolver you took out of the upper right-hand drawer of my desk.”

Mason smiled at Mrs. Crump and said, “That’s all, Mrs. Crump. That’s all we need you for at the moment. If you’ll return to the outer office, Miss Street, my secretary, will see that you’re given a check for your services. I hesitated to bother you but—”

“That’s all right, that’s all right,” she said. “I’m only too glad to do anything I can.”

She gave Beason a look of obvious distaste, then turned and lumbered from the office.

Mason tilted back in the swivel chair, lit a cigarette, extended his hand for the dark glasses and sat silent.

The pressure of continued silence was too much for Beason.

“All right,” he said, “I suppose it was a clumsy attempt. I did what I could to aid Adelle.”

“Just how friendly are you and Adelle?” Mason asked. “What is the relationship?”

“There’s nothing improper, if that’s what you mean,” Beason said, “but I— Damn it, Mason, I... I suppose I’ve trapped myself. I suppose I’m in one hell of a predicament right now.”

The lawyer sat at his desk saying nothing, waiting for Beason to assume the conversational initiative.

“All right,” Beason said, “I can tell you because you know it anyway. I think the world of Adelle Hastings. I... I love her.”

“How long have you felt that way?” Mason asked.

“I was drawn to her from the first minute she entered the office. I won’t say it was a case of love at first sight, but I was very much interested in her, very much fascinated by her.”

“Ever take her out on a date?” Mason asked.

Beason shrugged his shoulders. “What chance does an employee stand when the boss is falling in love?”

“It depends,” Mason said. “It might depend a great deal on the woman.”

“I don’t think Adelle realized how I felt toward her.”

“Does she realize now?” Mason asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never said anything that would give her that impression, but— Well, she’s been very friendly, very considerate, and very nice to me.”

“And she told you what had happened about the handbag and the gun?”

“Yes. After you left Las Vegas I became very much concerned about the telephone call Adelle had made while you were there, so I called her back and asked her to tell me what the trouble was.”

“And she did?”

“Not over the telephone. She said she was going to drive in.”

“So you met her sometime in the small hours of the morning?”

“At five o’clock,” Beason said. “We had breakfast together. Good Lord, what am I saying? I’m putting my neck in a noose and hers right along with mine. I never thought any of this would come out.”

“Lots of things come out in a murder case,” Mason said.

Beason said, “I was only trying to help. Apparently I didn’t do such a good job.”

“You certainly didn’t,” Mason said. “Not only for Adelle Hastings, but you’ve put me on the spot. How did you know where to find that gun?”

“Adelle told me what you had done with it.”

“Then, she knew you were going to come up here and get it?”

“Heavens, no! She didn’t have the slightest idea. She told me her story. She asked me what to do. She had no idea what I intended to do.”

“Did she tell you that she had been the one who left the bag in my office?” Mason asked.

“No, no! Don’t you understand? That’s the reason I became interested and... in doing what I did. She said very definitely that her handbag had been stolen, that there was no gun in it when it was stolen, and that then the gun was found in the handbag which had been left in your office by a woman who claimed she was Adelle Hastings. So right away I knew she was being deliberately framed.”

“You hadn’t discovered the body of Hastings at that time?”

“I hadn’t discovered the body, no. However, I had done everything but that. I put two and two together and came to the conclusion that something had happened... that some crime had been committed with that gun and that there was a deliberate, determined attempt to blame it on Adelle.”

“So you were going to do everything you could to see that Adelle was kept in the clear.”

“Let’s put it this way, Mr. Mason. I felt that someone was desperately trying to get Adelle in a lot of trouble and I felt that I’d... well, that I’d throw a few monkey wrenches in the machinery.”

“All right,” Mason said, “where’s the gun now?”

“I’ve got it where no one is going to find it”

“I’m going to find it,” Mason said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m going to get that gun and turn it over to the police,” Mason said. “Can’t you understand? You’ve left me in the middle. I’ve told the police my story about the gun. I had to. The gun is evidence. I’m an attorney. I can’t conceal evidence. You’re a citizen. You can’t conceal evidence. You would put yourself in the position of being an accessory after the fact. If you beat that, you might be convicted on a charge of concealing evidence. I want you to get that gun and I want you to get it right away.”

“And then you’re going to turn it over to the police?”

“Certainly I’m going to turn it over to the police.”

Beason sighed wearily. “All right,” he said. “I guess I know when I’m licked. May I use the phone?”

“Right here,” Mason said, indicating the telephone. “Just press that button and it will give you an outside line.”

Beason took the phone, pressed the button and waited until the light came on and dialed a number.

“Hello,” he said, “I want to talk to Rosalie.”

Beason waited for a few moments, then said, “Hello, Rosalie? This is Simley Beason. I want you to do something very important for me right away. I’m at the office of Perry Mason, the attorney. I want you to go to my locker and in there you’ll find my golfing clothes and a golf bag full of clubs.

“Take the golf bag out, lift the clubs out of the golf bag, turn it upside down and a package will fall out — a package that is done up in brown paper and that has a label on it stating that the contents of this package were taken from the desk drawer in Perry Mason’s office at six o’clock this morning. You’ll find the address of Mason’s office on that label, and you’ll find my signature on it. That tag is fastened to the brown paper with tape and the package is sealed.

“I want you to bring that package to me at Mr. Mason’s office just as fast as you can get here. Take a taxicab. You can join me in Mason’s office and I’ll drive you back. Have you got that?”

Beason listened for a few moments, then said, “Good girl. I’ll be waiting here.”

Beason hung up the telephone and said to Mason, “I don’t suppose I need to tell you how satisfactory it is to have a good, loyal secretary, but it’s a wonderful feeling. I’ve been putting up with some pretty mediocre secretaries for a while and then Rosalie Blackburn came along and it’s made all the difference in the world. You only need to tell her something once and she gets it and gets it right.”

“Why did you go to all the precaution of sealing that package and putting a label on it?” Mason asked.

“I did it to protect Adelle Hastings. If anything should happen to me I didn’t want anyone to find that package and think that Adelle had been responsible for putting it there.”

“What do you mean, in case anything should happen to you?”

“Oh, I’m not morbid, Mr. Mason. I just recognize the fact that these days a person can get killed in an automobile accident just as easy as not, and— Well, life is full of risks, that’s all.”

Mason regarded him narrowly. “That’s the only reason you took all those precautions?”

“Well, I wanted to... I wanted to have the thing done right.”

“Did you,” Mason asked, “write down the number on that gun when you had it in your possession and before you wrapped it?”

“No. Why should I have done that?”

“To see no one changed guns on you and perhaps substituted the fatal gun for Adelle’s gun.”

“No, I didn’t take the number, but I wrapped it in tissue paper, then in heavy brown paper, sealed the paper with tape, wrote my name across the seal and labeled the package.”

Mason said, “You may have undone the very thing you were trying to do.”

“What do you mean?”

Mason said, “Hastings was murdered. It was a coldblooded deliberate murder. You don’t shoot a man in his sleep in the heat of passion. When a man is lying in bed and you sneak up alongside of him while he is asleep and pull the trigger, you are committing a premeditated, planned murder.”

Beason nodded.

“And then when you take the precaution of shooting him twice in the head, you want to be very, very certain that he is dead.”

Beason shifted his position, then rather reluctantly nodded his head.

“So we are dealing with a cold-blooded murderer,” Mason said, “a person who is shrewd, resourceful, selfish and probably ingenious as the devil.

“Now then, Hastings had his house locked. There is no indication that anyone forced any of the windows. Therefore the police reasoning will be that whoever entered the house had a key. Now, as I understand it, there were two outside keys to the house. One of them was in the office, so that if Hastings wanted anyone to bring papers to the house, or get anything from the house in his absence, he could telephone and have it done. The other key was in the possession of Adelle Hastings. Now, how about a possible third key? What about Minerva, did she keep a key?”

“No, she sent her key in with a very bitter letter.”

“How do you know?”

“Mrs. Hastings showed me the letter.”

“What was in it?”

“Oh, it was an act. She was laying the foundation for a good property settlement. She said that she felt like an old shoe, that he had been proud of her when she was new and then he had discarded her and thrown her out on the trash heap.”

“She got a good property settlement?” Mason asked.

“I considered it a very good property settlement. She didn’t.”

“What attorney negotiated it, the Nevada attorney?”

“No, she and Hastings worked it out by themselves.”

“That’s rather unusual,” Mason said.

“Hastings is rather unusual in matters of that sort. He has a banker’s way of looking at things. He feels your first mistake is your best mistake and that, in the long run, if you have to pay you had better pay and pay cheerfully.”

“All right,” Mason said, “we’ll look at it this way. Someone who is very ingenious, very vindictive, very ruthless, has a key to the Hastings house — or was able to get a key to the Hastings house.

“Since Adelle is my client and your friend, we’ll leave her out of it for the moment. Therefore the key was probably the key that is kept in the office. Now then, if Adelle’s gun was not the murder weapon, but you took that gun up to the office and somebody knew where you had put it, switched guns and put the fatal gun where you left Adelle’s gun, you can see what the situation would be.”

Beason frowned; there was a trace of panic in his eyes, but he said, “I’m afraid, Mr. Mason, that you’re doing a lot of negative thinking, if you don’t mind my saying so. After all, I put that gun in a sealed package. Nobody can tamper with it without having it appear that the package was tampered with, and I took particular pains to conceal it where no one would ever look for it.”

“All right,” Mason said, “we’ll—”

The telephone rang a quick, short ring.

Mason picked up the receiver, said, “You still out there at the board, Della?”

“I am,” she said. “Gertie should be back any minute. You now have a call from Mr. Huntley Banner, who says it’s very important. Do you want to take it?”

“I’ll take it,” Mason said. “Put him on.”

Della Street switched the call onto Mason’s line.

“Hello, Banner,” Mason said. “What’s on your mind?”

Banner said, “I wanted you to know that I rather resented the way you took advantage of me on that phone call.”

“How did I take advantage of you?”

“You knew that I would react by telling you I’d been in touch with my client.”

Mason said, “I had no idea you would make a false statement.”

“I’m not particularly keen about the way you handled it,” Banner said, “but I certainly did walk into a trap.”

“You called me up simply to tell me you didn’t like it?” Mason asked.

“No, I called you up on another matter, but I think you’d better understand I don’t like to have people play games with me.”

“What’s the other matter?” Mason asked.

“I am assuming,” Banner said, “that Adelle Hastings will be your client and that you will be representing her.”

“And so?” Mason asked.

“She hates the ground I walk on,” Banner said. “Now, there’s very definitely a big estate to be probated. I’m fully familiar with all of Hastings’ affairs, and I’d logically be the attorney to take charge of the estate. But of course under the circumstances I know that I don’t stand a ghost of a chance if Adelle Hastings is in the saddle.

“I’ve just received a call from Minerva Hastings. In case you don’t know it, that’s Garvin Hastings’ divorced wife. She wants me to represent her, and I’m going to do it. I just wanted you to know.”

“Represent her in what?” Mason asked.

“In all matters in connection with the estate.”

“Wasn’t there a property settlement and a divorce?” Mason asked.

“I’m not tipping my hand right at the moment,” Banner said, “but as an attorney you are doubtless familiar with the provisions of our law that when a man has been murdered, the murderer cannot inherit from the victim regardless of what legal claim that person might have on the estate.”

“I see,” Mason said. “So now you’re going to prove that Adelle Hastings is guilty of murder, is that it?”

“I’m going to sit back and let the police do the proving,” Banner said. “I’m representing Minerva Hastings. There’s no law against it, it’s not unethical, and I’m going to take all steps which may be necessary to protect her interests. I’m just doing you the courtesy of letting you know.”

“All right,” Mason said, “you’ve let me know.”

“And for your information,” Banner said, “the more I think of it the less I like that trick you played on me.”

Mason said, “I wanted to find out just how honest you were.”

“All right,” Banner snapped. “I hope you’re satisfied.”

“I am. I found out.”

“I didn’t mean it quite that way,” Banner said.

“I did,” Mason told him, and hung up.

He turned to Beason and said, “That was Mr. Huntley L. Banner, telling me that he was going to represent Minerva Hastings. Apparently Minerva got on the job rather rapidly, all things considered.”

“And he’s going to represent her?” Beason asked.

“That’s what he says.”

“I wouldn’t doubt that he’s been representing her all along.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well... I guess— Well, I guess I haven’t any solid, substantial proof that I could rely on so I’d better not say anything.”

“You did, however, have some reason for making that statement,” Mason said.

“I’ve never trusted Banner,” Beason said.

“He doesn’t seem to inspire confidence,” Mason observed dryly, “yet Hastings seemed to turn over everything to him.”

“I don’t think it was Hastings’ fault entirely. It was Gonnely Maynard who is responsible for that. He’s the one who consulted Banner when Hastings was out of town and a legal matter came up and then gradually Banner moved in on the whole deal.”

“Perhaps you’d better tell me a little more about Connely Maynard,” Mason said, “and just what makes you so suspicious of Huntley Banner.”

“I shouldn’t be talking to you like this,” Beason said. “You’re managing to turn me inside out.”

“You want to help Adelle, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll tell you this much,” Mason said, “she’s in a spot. I can’t help her unless I have the information I need, and right at the moment I don’t know anybody who’s better qualified to give me information than you. Now, what about Maynard?”

“Maynard,” Beason said, “is the second in the chain of command. He’s above me. He’ll probably be the one who takes charge of things now that Hastings is dead— That is, until you can get the necessary papers so that Adelle can move in.”

“The business is a corporation?” Mason asked.

“No, it’s a one-man concern.”

“Then nobody can step in and take charge until there’s a court order,” Mason said.

“I suppose so,” Beason said dubiously, “but Maynard is the thrusting, pushing type, the aggressive sort, and he has a lot of very detailed information.”

“You have a lot of detailed information yourself, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know as much as he does, as many of the detail?”

“I don’t think so, no. I have a pretty good grasp of the details of the business, however.”

“All right,” Mason said, “let’s get back to Banner. What’s your feeling about him?”

Beason hesitated for a moment, then asked, “Have you ever met Elvina Mitchell, Banner’s secretary?”

Mason’s eyes snapped into hard focus. “Yes,” he said. “What about her?”

“She is a close friend of Connely Maynard. She’s been friendly with him for some time.”

“I thought perhaps she was palsy-walsy with her boss,” Mason ventured.

“She may be, but I don’t think so. I think she’s all wrapped up in Gonnely Maynard.”

“Go ahead,” Mason said. “Do some more talking.”

“Well, she naturally wanted to have Banner handle Hastings’ business. Hastings shopped around with two or three different lawyers when certain matters came up, but usually Hastings liked to handle things himself and he didn’t have very much legal business.

“Then a deal came up when Hastings was out of town and Maynard got Hastings on the phone and told him he thought he’d better see an attorney, and Hastings told him all right, to go ahead. So Maynard went right to Banner and from that time on Banner has been moving into the legal end of the business, pushing himself in in every way possible, telling Hastings that he mustn’t do this, that, or the other without consulting an attorney, that he could get in serious difficulties if he acted without legal advice. Finally he changed Hastings’ method of doing business. In place of doing what he thought was right, and then making settlements when he had to, Hastings got so he was going to Banner more and more.”

Mason said thoughtfully, “That makes a very interesting situation. And now Banner is going to be representing Minerva. I wish you had left that gun in my desk drawer.”

“It’s just the same as in your desk drawer. It’s all wrapped up and sealed and my name is written across the seal and I can go into court and swear that it’s the same gun and that it hasn’t been tampered with.”

Mason said, “Let’s hope it hasn’t been tampered with,”

Della Street came in from the outer office and said, “Gertie’s back.”

Mason said, “Della, get papers together for a petition for letters of administration on the estate of Garvin S. Hastings. We’ll have Adelle Hastings file the petition.”

“Wasn’t there a will?” Della asked.

“I don’t know,” Mason said. “If there was one Huntley Banner has it, and Huntley Banner is now representing Minerva Hastings. So the situation is getting complicated. Let’s get the papers all ready for Adelle Hastings’ signature right now, Della, because events may start moving rather swiftly. We’d also better get a petition for Adelle as a special administratrix in order to conserve the estate.”

“Isn’t that action rather abrupt?” Beason asked. “Don’t they usually wait until after the funeral?”

“This isn’t a usual case,” Mason said. “I have an idea we’re going to have to work fast... Della, just as soon as Adelle lets us know where she’s staying, get her signature on those petitions.”

“I know where she’ll be staying,” Beason said. “At the Freestone Hotel Apartments.”

“That’s her usual place to stay when she’s in town?”

“Yes.”

“Night before last she stayed at the Hastings residence,” Mason said.

“That’s right. Garvin insisted that she do it. To tell you the truth, Mr. Mason, I think Garvin Hastings was lonely and had begun to realize what a tragic mistake he had made in asking Adelle to terminate the marriage. I think he wanted to make up.”

“And were you simply going to sit back on the sidelines?” Mason asked.

Beason said, “I’ve been sitting on the sidelines for many months, Mr. Mason. I guess that’s my trouble. But I wanted Adelle to do what was best for her... I would have felt diffident about competing with five million dollars.”

Mason regarded him thoughtfully. “You feel diffident, period,” he said. “Perhaps you’d better get over that and start fighting for what you want. Diffidence is a virtue women fail to appreciate.”

Beason lowered his eyes. “I love her so much I wanted her to do what was to her best interests. Hastings could give her things I couldn’t.”