The Case of the Deadly Toy

Chapter Four

Mason eased his car to a stop in front of the house Norda indicated.

“Well,” Mason said, “they’re undoubtedly up by now. I saw someone moving by the window.”

He opened the car door, went around and assisted Norda Allison and Della Street from the car. The trio walked up the wide cement walk to the porch and Mason rang the bell.

Lorraine Jennings opened the door.

“Well, for heaven’s sake!” she exclaimed. “What in the world happened to you, Norda? We thought you were sleeping and didn’t want to disturb you, and then finally I went up to your room and tapped gently on the door. When there was no answer, I eased the door open and you were gone. What’s more, your suitcase, your personal things... what in the world happened? And... who are these people?”

“Permit me,” Mason said. “My name is Perry Mason. I’m an attorney at law. This is Miss Della Street, my confidential secretary.”

Lorraine Jennings’ jaw fell open. For a moment she was speechless. Then she called over her shoulder, “Barton!”

A man’s voice answered, “What is it, dear?”

“Come here,” she said, “quick... no, no, not quick! I forgot about your arthritis.”

She turned quickly to Norda. “Barton’s arthritis bothered him again last night. It’s his knee and when the weather’s going to change it stiffens up. He’s walking with a cane this morning, and...”

They heard the sound of the cane, of steps, and Barton Jennings stood in the doorway.

“Barton,” she said, “Norda has shown up with Perry Mason, the attorney, and this is Miss Della Street, his secretary.”

Barton’s face showed a flash of surprise, then he bowed gravely to Della Street, shook hands with Perry Mason, said, “Well, Lorraine, what’s holding us up? Invite them in. Have you folks had breakfast?”

Lorraine hesitated, then stood to one side. “Yes,” she said, “do come in. What about breakfast, Norda?”

“I’ve had breakfast,” Norda said shortly.

“And so have we,” Mason said. “I want to talk to you about a rather serious matter. I am at the moment representing Miss Allison, and something happened early this morning which disturbed her greatly. I would like to discuss it, but I want you to understand that I am an attorney and that I’m representing Miss Allison. If you care to have any attorney of your own here, I would suggest you get in touch with him, or you can refer me to your attorney. But there are certain things which should be explained.”

“Well, for heaven’s sake!” Lorraine Jennings said. “I never heard of any such thing in my life! What in the world are you talking about? Norda, what is this?”

Norda said, “It’s something I found, Lorraine. It proves exactly what you were trying to do... what—”

“Just a minute,” Mason said. “Let me handle this, if you will, please, Miss Allison. And I suggest we all go inside.”

“Well, I’d certainly like to know what happened,” Lorraine said, leading the way into a living room. “I knew Norda was a little worried about seeing my lawyer, but there was no reason for her getting a lawyer of her own. If she didn’t want to co-operate with me, all she had to do was to say so. But since she has you here, Mr. Mason, I can explain exactly what I plan to do.

“Please do sit down and let’s try and get this situation unscrambled. I’ve never been so absolutely bewildered in my life. I went up to Norda’s room and found she’d left... As I told you, Barton’s bad knee started bothering him in the night and he took codeine. And I took some too because by that time he had me wide awake, what with his twisting and turning, putting on hot compresses. I didn’t even hear him when he got up to take Robert and the dog out to the place where the boys were to meet at five o’clock this morning, and... well, I guess we owe you an apology, Norda. After Barton returned we slept pretty late. We’re usually up and have breakfast a lot earlier. What in the world possessed you to leave, and when did you leave? If you were hungry, why didn’t you just go out in the kitchen and look in the icebox? We had fruit juice, eggs—”

“Never mind that,” Norda said. “Something happened which upset me.”

“I think,” Barton Jennings said to Mason, “you’d better start talking, Mr. Mason.”

“Would you care to be represented by counsel?” Mason asked.

“Heavens no!” Jennings said impatiently. “We’ve tried to accommodate Norda Allison. My wife wanted to do her a favor. We know something of what she’s been going through — that is, at least Lorraine does. Now, if you have anything to say, please go ahead and say it.”

Mason said, “Did you know Miss Allison had been getting offensive matter in stamped envelopes which had been addressed by a small, hand printing press? The letters containing clippings of—”

“Of course, we did,” Lorraine interrupted. “That’s one of the reasons I had Norda come down here. Mervin Selkirk was bombarding her with those clippings, trying to frighten her — the poor child, I know exactly what she went through. Mervin can be the most—”

Barton Jennings interrupted his wife to say, “Just a moment, Lorraine. Let’s let Mr. Mason tell us what he has in his mind.”

Mason said, “I believe you know Miss Allison’s address on those envelopes had been printed on a small hand press, Mrs. Jennings?”

“Of course I did. I’m the one who suggested to Norda that she check on a small printing press I had given my son, Robert. As I understand it, the postal authorities got hold of that press and checked it, but the envelopes couldn’t have been printed on that press — the type wasn’t the same.”

Mason nodded gravely and said, “Miss Allison was restless this morning. She got up early, walked out in the patio and then went into a rumpus room. There’s a storage room down below. She took the stairs down to the storage room.”

“The old basement,” Lorraine interposed.

“I suppose I had no right to,” Norda apologized. “However, something happened which led me to think... I mean...”

“Norda, please,” Lorraine interrupted. “You’re our house guest. I don’t suppose it’s particularly usual for a house guest to get up early in the morning and go exploring, but you were our guest and I told you to make yourself at home. If you wanted to look around, it was quite all right. What in the world are you leading up to?”

“Simply,” Mason said, “that in the basement Miss Allison found the printing press on which she believes those envelopes had been printed. She found some of the envelopes with the address on them, and her name and address were all set up in type in the printing press. Moreover, the press showed evidence of having been recently used. There was, I believe, printer’s ink glistening on the steel table over which the rollers operate.”

Barton Jennings motioned his wife to silence. “Just a minute, Mr. Mason. You say that Norda claims she found that in this house?”

Mason nodded.

“Well,” Barton said, “that’s very easily solved. First, we’ll go take a look at that printing press and then we’ll try and determine where it came from.”

“I want to warn you,” Mason said, “that that printing press is evidence. I suggest that no one touch it. Miss Allison will show you where it is, but as soon as we have done that, I intend to call the authorities.”

“You intend to?” Barton Jennings said. “What about us? We want to get at the bottom of this thing just as much as you do.”

Lorraine Jennings arose, looked at Norda, and for the first time there was angry exasperation on her face. “Norda,” she said, “if you found anything, why didn’t you come to us? Are you absolutely certain you found what you said you did?”

“Of course I am!” Norda snapped. “I found a whole package of envelopes waiting to be used. I know now where those clippings came from. You pretended to—”

“Just a moment, just a moment,” Mason interrupted. “I think Mr. Jennings and I understand the situation. It’s going to be advisable for all of us to withhold comments until after we’ve appraised the evidence and called the officers. Now let’s go take a look at that press. Will you lead the way, Miss Allison?”

“I suppose there’s a shorter way,” Norda said. “I went around the back, and...”

“Just go right through the kitchen,” Lorraine said.

“Follow me,” Barton Jennings said, stepping quickly forward, then grimacing with pain. “I guess you’d better do the honors, Lorraine. I forgot about the knee for the moment.”

“This way,” Lorraine said, and stalked across the living room, through the dining room. She flung open the door of the kitchen, crossed it and stood on the stairs leading to the rumpus room.

“Now where, Norda?” she asked.

“Down the stairs,” Norda said, “then into the basement storeroom. It’s just under the big shelf to the left of the stairs.”

“It’s going to be a little crowded for all of us to get down there,” Jennings pointed out. “Why don’t you and Mr. Mason go down, Lorraine? Norda can stand at the head of the stairs and direct you.”

“Very well,” Lorraine said, gathering up her skirt and wrapping it around her legs so it wouldn’t drag on the stairs. She descended to the basement storage room. “Now where, Norda?” she called over her shoulder.

“Right to the left of a big box. You can see the handle of the printing press,” Norda said.

“I don’t see any handle of any printing press,” Lorraine Jennings retorted.

Mason said, “Just a moment, please.”

He moved over around Lorraine Jennings and peered under the shelf. “Is it behind these boxes, Miss Allison?” he asked.

“It’s just back under a shelf and behind... Here, I’ll come down and show you.”

Norda ran quickly down the stairs, pushed Lorraine to one side, held her skirt, stooped, then paused open-mouthed. “But it’s no longer here!” she exclaimed.

“Let’s move these boxes,” Mason said. “You said that there was a box containing a package of envelopes?”

“Stamped envelopes that had been addressed and were all ready for mailing to me,” Norda said.

Lorraine whipped her skirt into her lap, bent down and started pulling out boxes. “Well,” she said, “here’s some old recipes. I’ve been intending to put them into a scrapbook. Here’s some letters from Mother. I suppose they might as well be thrown away. Here’s... for heaven’s sake, Barton, here’s a whole box of those reprint books. I thought you were going to give them to the hospital.”

“I was,” Barton said from the head of the stairs, “but I hadn’t finished reading them. Let’s not bother with that now, Lorraine. Get the boxes cleaned out and let’s see what’s under the shelf.”

“But,” Norda protested, “there’s no need to start moving everything out. It was there and now it’s gone.”

“Well!” Lorraine exclaimed, getting to her feet and shaking out her skirt. Her tone showed extreme skepticism.

“I suggest you look around, Lorraine,” Barton Jennings said, “and I’d like to have Mr. Mason look around. Let’s be absolutely certain that there’s no foundation for this charge before we have any further discussion.”

Mason prowled around through the basement storage room, moving boxes.

“Well,” he said, “it would certainly appear the press is no longer in the exact place where Miss Allison saw it, at any rate.”

“No longer,” Lorraine repeated after him furiously. “I never heard such a story in my life! I—”

“Just a moment, dear,” Barton Jennings cautioned from the top of the stairs. “Let’s all go back to the library and sit down.”

Lorraine said coldly, “I’m afraid, Norda, that you’ve probably been influenced by some bad dream, to put the most courteous interpretation on it Perhaps you took too many drugs. You said you’d been having to take pills to get to sleep.”

“Well, I like that!” Norda exclaimed. “You found out that I’d been down in that basement storeroom this morning and found that printing press. So you’ve been very clever in getting rid of it. I suppose you’ve been smart enough so it can never be traced.”

“I think,” Barton Jennings said, “that it’s going to be a lot better for all concerned if neither party makes any accusations. What do you think, Mr. Mason?”

“I think you’re right,” Mason said, noticing Della Street seated at a table in the rumpus room, her pen flying over the page of her shorthand notebook as she took down the conversation. “Let’s go into the living room and see if we can discuss this matter quietly and intelligently.”

“As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing to discuss,” Lorraine Jennings said. “We invited Norda Allison to be our house guest. We tried to help her. As nearly as I can see, she has abused our hospitality. She told me she was going to take sleeping pills last night. I presume she had some drug-induced nightmare, and now she’s trying to hold us responsible—”

“I didn’t dream up those two envelopes I took out of the box,” Norda Allison flared, “and which are now in Perry Mason’s office.” She started to mention the note she had received from Robert but then decided to leave Robert out of it. Regardless of what it might cost her, she had a feeling it might be better in the long run if neither Robert’s mother nor Barton Jennings knew that it had been Robert who had first made the discovery.

“Now just a minute,” Mason said. “Let’s keep our heads, please. We are faced with a peculiar situation. Let me ask you, Mr. and Mrs. Jennings, do you have any objection to calling in the authorities for an investigation?”

“I certainly do!” Lorraine said. “Not until we have some tangible evidence to go on, I’m not calling in anyone. If your client wants to proceed with this absurd charge against us, Mr. Mason — well, you’re a lawyer and you can tell her what the consequences will be.”

Mason smiled. “I can appreciate your position, Mrs. Jennings, but under the circumstances my client is not going to be frightened. She isn’t making any accusations against you. She is simply stating that she found an important piece of evidence in your house this morning, and, as it happens, she had the foresight to take two of the envelopes with her. I am going to have an expert examine those envelopes to see if they are the same as the envelopes she has been getting through the mail. If they are, we are going to report the entire matter to the postal authorities.”

Barton Jennings said, “I think that’s the wise thing to do, Mr. Mason. I can assure you that this is all news to us.”

“It isn’t news at all!” Lorraine flared. “She’s been sending herself those notices, Barton, and now, for some reason that happens to be her personal and selfish interests, she’s taken advantage of our hospitality. She brought two of those envelopes down here with her in her purse, got up this morning before anyone was up, sneaked out, went to a lawyer with those envelopes, and—”

“I repeat,” Barton Jennings interrupted, “that neither party should make any accusations at this time. If it’s all right with you, Mr. Mason, we’ll disregard any statements and accusations which have been made by your client on the ground that she is naturally somewhat nervous and upset. And it will be agreed that your client will disregard any statements made by my wife, who is also quite naturally nervous and upset.”

“I think that is probably the best way of disposing of the entire matter at this time,” Mason said. “We now offer to make such an agreement with you.”

“We accept that offer,” Barton Jennings said.

“And now,” Lorraine Jennings said to Norda, “if you’ll kindly leave my house, Miss Allison, we will chalk off our attempt to befriend you as another unfortunate experience in misjudging human nature.”

Mason turned to Norda Allison. “Come on, Miss Allison,” he said, “let’s go.”