The Case of the Fabulous Fake

18

Mason, Della Street, Paul Drake, Franklin Gage, and a starry-eyed Diana Douglas were gathered in the private dining room at Giovani’s.

“How in the world did you ever get all that figured out?” Diana asked.

Mason said, “I had to put two and two together and then find another two that seemed to fit into the picture. A net shortage of ten thousand dollars in the revolving cash fund indicated that there could well have been two withdrawals of five thousand dollars each. With Edgar dead there was no need to explain the first five-thousand-dollar shortage. The explanation would be that Edgar was an embezzler and he might as well have been pegged for a ten-grand theft as for five thousand... Actually, I don’t think your nephew would ever have given himself away, Mr. Gage, if it hadn’t been for your presence.”

“It is a tremendous shock to me,” Franklin Gage said. “I had no idea... no idea at all of what was going on.”

“Of course,” Mason said, “handling it as we did, Ralph Gurlock Floyd wanted to button the whole thing up quick. He didn’t want to be characterized in the press as one who had prosecuted an innocent person. Therefore, he was willing to make a deal with your nephew for a plea of guilty to second-degree murder and call everything square.”

Diana said, “I know that my brother wouldn’t have had anything to do with getting this young women — I mean, because of... well, the way you said.”

Mason said, “But I couldn’t count on that. I was working fast and I didn’t dare to share your faith without the evidence of that overcoat.

“Apparently, Homer Gage was in a situation which could have cost him his position, his social prestige, and a lot of alimony. Moray Cassel found out about it and put the bite on him, but Moray Cassel wasn’t entirely certain of his man. He knew that he was an executive in the Escobar Import and Export Company, that the woman in the case prided herself on her perfect measurements and that the man used to address her as ‘Dear Thirty-six-twenty-four-thirty-six.’ So Cassel used those code words in putting the bite on his victim.

“And,” Mason went on with a smile, “Diana tried to live up to the description.”

Diana blushed. “I did the best I could without seeming to overdo it.”

“So,” Mason went on, “Homer Gage made a deal with Edgar by which Edgar was to take the rap, so to speak. He was to go down and identify himself as the culprit, state that he had no funds anywhere near the amount in question but that he had embezzled some funds from the company and was going to try to make restitution before the shortage was noticed.

“In that way, Moray Cassel would have very probably been content with the one payment... Of course, if Cassel suspected that his real target was a prosperous executive of the company, he would have kept on making demands. And that is why Moray Cassel is dead.

“When Edgar had his accident and nothing was said about the five thousand dollars Homer Gage had given him, there was nothing for Homer Gage to do except take another five thousand out of the rotating cash fund and make a trip to Los Angeles to size up the man with whom he was dealing. He very definitely intended to make a payment if he felt he could make one payment and get out. And he very definitely intended to commit murder if he couldn’t make a deal.

“He had that overcoat with him and he became afraid he’d be noticed if he wore or carried an overcoat on a very warm, sunny day so he cut the labels out of the overcoat, and when he had finished with the killing, he simply hung the overcoat in with Moray Cassel’s clothes and tossed Edgar’s gun down on the floor.”

“But what,” Franklin Gage asked, “became of the five thousand dollars which was given to Edgar by my nephew?”

Mason said, “Diana recovered that, thought that the blackmail involved her brother’s reputation, came to Los Angeles to pay off, and then, following my advice, deposited the money in cash in San Francisco, getting a cashier’s check payable to Diana Douglas as trustee.”

Franklin Gage thought for a minute, then said, “I think, under the circumstances, the best thing you can do with that check, Diana, is to endorse it over to Mr. Mason for his fees in the case.”

There was a moment’s silence, then Paul Drake pressed the button. “Hold still, everybody, we’re going to have a drink to that,” he said.

Diana Douglas smiled at Perry Mason. “You have the check,” she said.

And Franklin Gage, producing a fountain pen from his pocket, said, “And I have the pen.”