The Case of the Fan-Dancer's Horse

Chapter number 17

Mason, Della Street, and Paul Drake sat in a grim conference long after office hours.

“They’ve got a dead open and shut airtight case against her,” Drake said, “and the D.A. is going to move in on you if you don’t reach an agreement with him.”

“What sort of an agreement?”

“They’ll let her cop a plea.”

“Manslaughter?”

“I think they’re going to hold out for second degree.”

“What else?”

Drake said, “They’ve got evidence to burn. It’s the only thing to do, Perry.”

“Just how much evidence have they got, Paul?”

“Scads of it, Perry. The witnesses identify her as the woman who went into the hotel room around twenty minutes past two. The house detective can swear that Callender was alive at that time because he himself put through the telephone call to Callender’s room, heard Callender say hello, and then turned the phone over to the fan-dancer.

“She had motive to burn. She was trying to protect her brother. The police have located her brother. He’s a sap. He gave them a signed statement. He’s just one of those things and he sobbed out his whole story to the police. He worked at one time for John Callender. He embezzled some money and he forged two checks. Just a weak kid playing the races.”

“I know that already,” Mason said.

“Here’s what you don’t know. When Callender started to put the bite on Lois the second time, Fenton got all hopped up on a couple of marijuana cigarettes and decided he’d get into Callender’s house and burglarize the safe and recover the evidence. He had the combination to the safe, because he’d worked there. Young Fenton knew that he couldn’t get past the dogs and the watchman unless he resorted to some subterfuge, so he hit on the expedient of borrowing his sister’s horse and riding up to the ranch at night. Callender’s quite a horseman and he has a few guests there who do a bit of riding, so it wouldn’t attract any great amount of attention if a man came riding up on horseback. Anyway, that’s what young Fenton thought.”

“All right,” Mason said, “so he tried to steal the papers. I take it he didn’t do it?”

“He didn’t do it. The watchman spotted him, yelled at him to stop, and took a shot at him. It was a close call. The shot grazed the horse’s back and lodged in the saddle.”

“Fenton has confessed to all that?”

“Wait a minute, you haven’t heard anything yet.”

“Go ahead.”

“Then Fenton got in a panic. He was afraid to take the horse back to his sister’s place because he realized that bullet in the saddle constituted evidence, so he rode the horse in the other direction for a while, then turned him loose and hitchhiked back to Brawley.”

“Nice smart boy, wasn’t he?” Mason said.

“Oh, smart as hell.”

“What’s the rest of it?”

“Callender sent for Jasper Fenton to come to see him at the Richmell.”

“What time?”

“The kid was to be there promptly at two. He didn’t make it because he needed a few drinks first. He showed up forty-five minutes late. He opened the door, saw Callender’s body on the floor and beat it. He was too scared to notify the officers until the next day. He’s a weak sister, a drip. Faulkner identifies him as the man who popped in to Callender’s room and then popped right out again.”

“Could the kid have killed Callender, Paul?”

“Hell, Perry, he wasn’t in there long enough. If we hadn’t had that operative watching the corridor, it would have been a cinch. The police would have pinned it on him and the kid never would have been able to talk his way out of it. But he wasn’t in there over ten seconds altogether.”

Mason said, “It doesn’t take long to stick a sword in a man.”

“No, but it takes a while to find the weapon, if you haven’t got one. One thing is certain, he wasn’t carrying a Japanese sword with him and he couldn’t have gone into Callender’s room, walked past Callender, found a weapon which was lying opportunely near by, and pushed it into Callender’s chest. It was Callender’s sword. Callender brought it with him when he came to the hotel.”

“So what do the police say?”

“The obvious thing, Perry, it’s mathematical. Lois Fenton was trying to protect her brother. She had tried marrying Callender and living with him. She knew that wasn’t going to work. She’d rather do anything than go through with that again. All right, she goes to see Callender. Callender has probably pulled all the old threats. He’s going to prosecute first thing in the morning, and all that sort of stuff. But in the back of Lois Fenton’s mind an idea is germinating. When she was in the room she saw this Japanese sword of Callender’s lying on the table. She...”

“Wait a minute,” Mason interrupted. “You’re sure it’s Callender’s sword?”

“It’s Callender’s sword. He brought it in with him from his ranch. A Japanese sword that he evidently intended to trade off, or have fixed, or something. Anyway, he brought it in from his ranch. The doorman remembers it. The bellboy who checked him in at the hotel remembers that he had it when he came in. It was his sword. It was in his room lying on the table.”

“How about your shadowing jobs, did they lead anywhere?”

Drake said, “Nothing that’ll help. Sheldon left that rooming house, took a bus to San Diego and then chartered a plane for Nogales. My man didn’t want to go to the expense of a plane so he phoned me and I got a man from Tucson to go on down and be there when the plane arrived. But Sheldon had taken a powder. When his chartered plane stopped for gas he got out to wander around the airport. No one saw him after that. He left his coat and suitcase in the plane. It was, of course, reported to the police and they’re hunting him.”

“What about the girl, this Cherie Chi-Chi?”

“She was a cinch. I got a man who picked up her trail just as she was leaving the building. She went to her apartment, stayed for a while, then to the office of Barlow, the booking agent. Sergeant Dorset picked her up there and they went away fast, using the siren. My man couldn’t keep up so he quit. Apparently Dorset took her to the D.A., or to headquarters. She made her story stand up so they turned her loose — but she isn’t back at her apartment yet. I’m keeping it covered to pick her up when she comes back.”

“All right,” Mason said, “it still isn’t open and shut against anybody.”

“Oh yes, it is, Perry. Remember that when Lois Fenton came into the hotel at 2:23 the house dick stopped her. She told him she was going up to see Callender. He made her telephone Callender and get an okay. There you have it in a nutshell. Callender was alive at 2:23. He was dead at 2:44. There was only one person who was in the room between 2:23 and 2:44, and that was your client, Lois Fenton, and she was in there long enough to have had an argument with him, to have picked up the sword and pushed it through his chest, and there you are.”

“They’ve identified her?” Mason asked.

Drake nodded.

“They didn’t identify the other fan-dancer?”

“Don’t be silly, Perry. Lieutenant Tragg is a damn smart cookie. I don’t know what happened when Sergeant Dorset picked up this Cherie Chi-Chi. I don’t know what she told him, but I do know that the person that was identified by the witnesses was Lois Fenton. I do know that it’s Lois Fenton who is being charged with first-degree murder.”

“Any fingerprints on the sword?” Mason asked.

“No fingerprints on the sword. She had enough presence of mind to wipe the hilt. I tell you, Perry, you’ve got to take a plea. You can’t beat it.”

“How about Sheldon?”

“Callender was alive after Sheldon left Callender’s room.”

“How did Sheldon know he was dead when he put that DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door?”

“The murder must have been premeditated, Perry. Sheldon couldn’t have known it otherwise. He must have known Lois was planning to do it. There was no phone calls to or from his room after 1:30. The night switchboard operators swear to that. You going to plead her to second degree, Perry?”

“Not unless she wants to plead,” Mason said grimly. “She’s my client now. Catching her escaping in my car ties me right in with her. I’m stuck with her, but as long as she’s my client I’ll play it her way.”

“Couldn’t you tell Tragg she stole the car, Perry?”

Mason laughed without humor. After a moment Paul Drake said, “Yes, I see your point. Perry.”

Mason got to his feet. “All right, I’m stuck with her. Let’s go, Paul.”