The Case of the Glamorous Ghost

Chapter number 2

The head nurse in the front office said, “Oh yes, Mrs. Jordan. The police have been trying to reach you for the last hour. They’re anxious to see if you can make an identification.”

“There’s a very great resemblance to my sister,” Mrs. Jordan said. “I feel certain it is she.”

“Yes. We’ve had several telephone calls since the picture was published in the paper from people who have told us they were sure it was Eleanor Corbin.”

“Eleanor Hepner,” Mrs. Jordan corrected firmly. “She was married about two weeks ago.”

“Oh, I see. Well, would you mind going up, Mrs. Jordan? The doctor left word that you were to be admitted as soon as we could get in touch with you. He feels that the emotional shock of seeing you may do a good deal to restore the patient’s memory. Of course, you understand in these cases we never know just what’s going to happen. The nurse in charge will be with you. She has instructions from the doctor. You will have to follow her guidance.

“In case it should appear that your presence disturbs the patient then you’ll have to withdraw. You will, of course, have to be very careful not to do anything that would tend to annoy or excite the patient unduly. But in case the emotional shock of seeing you does bring about recognition and breaks through the amnesia — well, then, of course, we’ll have to be governed by circumstances.”

“I understand,” Mrs. Jordan said.

“And you’ll co-operate with the nurse?”

“Certainly, but Mr. Mason is to be with me,” Olga Jordan said.

The nurse hesitated. “There were no instructions about Mr. Mason, but...”

“Very definitely he must be with me,” Olga Jordan said firmly, “in case she should recognize me and break through this amnesia. I noticed several reporters waiting around outside, and... well, Mr. Mason has certain things to do in order to see that the publicity doesn’t get out of hand and... there are certain things that he understands.”

“Very well, we have been having a bad time with the reporters,” the nurse said. “You will, of course, understand that you’re to do the talking, Mrs. Jordan — that is, until we get a reaction. The nurse will advise you. Here she is now — Myrna, this is Mrs. Jordan, the sister of the patient in 981, that is, we think she’s the sister. And this is Mr. Mason, the lawyer. Will you take them up, please, and see if Mrs. Jordan’s presence brings about a recognition?”

The nurse nodded, turned with rubber-heeled efficiency and said, “This way, please.”

She led the way, moving on silent feet, the starched skirt giving a faint rustle as she guided them to the elevator, up to the ninth floor, then down to room 981.

The nurse opened the door. “Go right in,” she whispered. “Walk up to the bed. Stand beside her. Watch the expression on her face. If she shows any sign of recognition call out her name.”

“I understand,” Olga Jordan said, and she and Perry Mason moved on into the room.

The young woman who lay on the bed, attired in a hospital nightgown, was staring at the ceiling with vacant eyes. There was a helpless expression on her face that was pathetically appealing.

Olga Jordan moved over toward the bed.

The blue eyes detected motion within the room. They turned casually, making an appraisal of the newcomer, then as casually turned away.

Abruptly the eyes turned back again, studied Olga for a moment, started to turn away again, then with a start the eyes widened, the neck stiffened. The woman on the bed raised her head slightly.

“Eleanor,” Olga Jordan said softly.

For a moment the eyes lighted with utter incredulity, then the girl blinked her lids a couple of times as though just waking up and snapped upright in bed.

“Olga!” she cried.

“Olga! My darling! Oh dear, dear Olga! I’m so glad to see you!”

She held out her arms.

Olga enclosed Eleanor in an embrace. “You poor darling,” she said. “You poor, poor dear.” Her voice was vibrant with sympathy.

Mason stood by the head of the bed. His eyes sought those of the nurse. The nurse smiled reassuringly, nodded at Mason, and moved quietly into the corner of the room where she could listen but wouldn’t be readily visible to the patient.

“Oh Olga, it seems like it’s ages since I’ve seen you and yet it couldn’t have been... couldn’t have been over an hour or two. Where am I, Olga? This room...?”

The blond head turned from side to side. Abruptly she noticed Perry Mason.

“Who’s he?” she asked.

“That’s Perry Mason, an attorney who’s come to help you.”

“An attorney? What do I want with an attorney to help me?”

“We thought you’d better have one.”

“What for, I don’t need a lawyer,” Eleanor said, but she flashed a quick smile at Perry Mason. “But if I did need one,” she said, “I’d want one just like you.”

“Thank you,” Mason said.

“Well, wherever I am and whatever it’s all about,” Eleanor said, “I’m going to get some clothes on right now and get out of here.”

She flung back the covers on the bed, exposing shapely legs with creamy skin, then, realizing the position of the nightgown, hastily grabbed at the hem and pulled it down.

Olga pushed gently on the girl’s shoulders.

“You’ll have to stay here for a little while, Eleanor.”

“Where’s here and why do I have to stay?”

“It’s a hospital, darling.”

“A hospital!” Eleanor exclaimed.

Olga nodded.

“But what am I doing in a hospital? Why, Olga, it’s absurd! I just left home. I... now wait a minute. Oh yes, there was that auto accident. What day is it?”

“Tuesday.”

“Well, that’s right,” Eleanor said. “Yesterday was Monday. We left Monday night, the second.”

“Where’s Douglas?” Olga asked.

“Douglas? Good heavens, where is Doug? He was driving the car. What’s happened? Is he hurt? Tell me, Olga. Don’t try to break it to me gently! Where is he? Tell me.”

“We don’t know, darling,” Olga said. “This is Tuesday, dear, but it’s Tuesday the seventeenth, not Tuesday the third. We received a wire from Yuma, Arizona, and several post cards saying you had been married.”

“Then they must have been sent after the accident, so Doug must have been all right.”

“What accident, darling?”

“The one Monday night. The big white headlights came boring out of the darkness like two great big eyes trying to tear me apart, and then this awful...”

She broke off and hid face with her hands.

Olga patted her shoulder. “There, there, dear, you mustn’t worry. Don’t try to remember anything.”

“I’m all right,” Eleanor said, “only I’ve got to find out what happened. If I’ve got a perfectly good husband running around loose somewhere, this doesn’t fit in with my idea of a honeymoon. I guess I must have had a bump on the head in the auto accident.”

She raised her hands to her head, moving the tips of her fingers through her blond hair. She turned to Mason, regarded him with frank appraisal, said, “You’re either going to have to get out of here or turn your back because I’m going to dress.”

“Now wait just a moment,” Mason said. “You must stay quiet. You’ve had a little trouble with your memory.”

“I guess I got knocked out,” Eleanor admitted, and then laughed. “But that’s nothing. Lots of people get knocked out. Prize fighters get knocked out so often that they just bounce up and down like a rubber ball every time they hit the canvas. I guess I took a delayed bounce. What was the report on the accident? Who hit us?”

“We didn’t know about any accident, darling,” Olga said.

“Well, of all things. It certainly should have been reported. How did you happen to come here if you didn’t know about the accident, Olga?”

“I saw your picture in the paper.”

“My picture...”

“We were hoping perhaps you could tell us what had happened,” Mason interposed.

“Well, all I know is that Doug and I were on our way to Yuma to get married... Then I saw those headlights right in front of me and felt that terrible impact and... well, here I am in the hospital — at least you tell me it’s a hospital.”

Olga said, “Listen, Eleanor darling, no one knows what’s happened. You’ve been out doing things on your own. No one knows what. You were picked up by the police last night, wandering around in a park with nothing on but a raincoat and a diaphanous slip...”

“I, in a park, without clothes! Well, I’ll be damned!” Eleanor exclaimed, and then suddenly began to laugh.

Olga raised inquiring eyebrows.

“Well,” Eleanor said, “I’ve heard the expression ‘being knocked into the middle of next week,’ but I guess that automobile accident knocked me into the middle of the week after next. So you’re to be my mentor and guardian, Mr. Mason.”

“I wouldn’t go as far as that, but maybe I can help. Can you remember anything about the last two weeks?” Mason asked.

“I can’t remember one single thing after we had the accident.”

“The accident,” Mason said, “was probably two weeks ago.”

“Well, all I can remember is that I was lying here with my mind a blank and people gliding in and out and then I looked up and saw Olga and I felt a dizzy spinning sensation in my head and, all of a sudden, I woke up — and here I was — I mean here I am.

“I’m perfectly normal. I can remember everything that happened up until the moment that car came rushing toward us.”

“Where was that?” Mason asked.

“Some place on the road to Yuma.”

“You can’t remember just where?”

“No. Now that you speak of it, things get fuzzy when I try to focus my mind on things that happened that night... I get all dizzy... I feel I’m slipping...”

“Don’t try to recall anything, then,” Mason said. “Just lie there and relax.”

“Thank you, I feel a little tired all at once.”

The door to the room swung open silently. A crisp-mannered, professional man entered the room.

Mason stepped quickly between the bed and the new arrival.

“Who are you?” Mason demanded.

The man stared at Mason with surprise and some indignation. “Who are you? I am the doctor in charge of this case.”

Mason turned to the nurse for confirmation. She nodded.

Mason grinned. “I’m the attorney in charge of this case. My name is Mason. I thought you might be a reporter.”

“They’ve had a field day already with the police.” The doctor turned to Eleanor. “You look as though you were feeling better.”

“Better? I’m well! And I’m on my way.”

“Doctor, Mrs. Hepner has regained her memory. She seems to be all right physically. We appreciate all you have done for her, but we want to get her out of here quickly and quietly.”

“Now wait just a minute, Mr. Mason! This patient—”

“You undoubtedly know Dr. Ariel.”

The doctor nodded.

“I’m going to call him immediately. We want Mrs. Hepner under his care — elsewhere.”

“The police—”

“No charges have been filed against Mrs. Hepner, so the police have nothing to say about it. Mrs. Hepner will expect a bill for your services, Doctor, an adequate bill.”

“And the reporters?” the doctor asked grimly.

Mason thought for a moment. “Tell them your patient has been identified and that she has been discharged from the hospital. That and nothing more. I can assure you that your co-operation will be appreciated.”

The doctor studied Eleanor Hepner frowningly. Then he shrugged. “All right, if that’s the way you want it.”

He turned and opened the door into the corridor. “Nurse, I’d like to speak to you a moment.”

The nurse followed him into the corridor and closed the door behind her.

“Olga, I like Mr. Mason,” Eleanor sighed. “I’ll take him any time.”

Olga Jordan ignored her sister. “Mr. Mason, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“I’ve got a pretty good idea,” Mason said coolly. “Now if you will hand me that telephone, please... Thank you.”

He called Dr. Claude Ariel, a client of his, and explained the circumstances. He emphasized that in his opinion Eleanor should be kept quiet and that above all she should have no visitors.

“That’s fine,” Dr. Ariel said. “I’ll call the hospital. I’m on the staff there. I’ll also make arrangements to have the patient moved to a private sanitarium. I’ll have that done by ambulance. Now the sanitarium I would suggest is the Pine Haven Sanitarium up above Glendale. Do you have any preference?”

“No, the Pine Haven’s fine with me,” Mason said.

“All right, I’ll get on the job. I’ll put on a special nurse I can trust right away, and I’ll be there myself within half an hour. At that time I’ll arrange for an ambulance to move the patient. I’ll make all necessary arrangements at the sanitarium. There aren’t any police charges against this patient, are there?”

“Not as yet,” Mason said, “and I don’t think there will be, but if there are, I’ll put up bail and get her out, so you can go right ahead with your plans. Now it’s very important that for the moment she receive no visitors.”

“I understand,” Dr. Ariel said. “You can trust me on that.”

Mason thanked him and hung up.

Some ten minutes later there was a gentle tap on the door.

“Who is it?” Mason asked.

“I’m a special nurse. Dr. Ariel wanted me to take charge of the case and to see that the patient wasn’t disturbed.”

Mason opened the door. The nurse entered the room, promptly proceeded to close the door firmly. She smiled at Mason and said, “You believe in direct action, don’t you?”

“It gets results,” Mason said.

The nurse smiled at the blonde on the bed. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Better,” Eleanor said cautiously. “I feel fine except when I try to recall certain events that took place.”

“Then don’t try to recall them,” the nurse said.

Eleanor looked helplessly at Perry Mason and said, “I’d like to help you, Mr. Mason, I really would.”

“That’s all right,” Mason said. “It may come back to you later.”

“I remember,” she said, “we were going to get married. We were driving to Yuma and... and there was Douglas’ mother. He telephoned her and told her and... and I talked with her. She had a sweet voice and...”

“Where did you place the call from, do you know?” Mason asked.

“It was a service station somewhere where we stopped for gas.”

“Where does his mother live?” Mason asked.

“Salt Lake City, but heavens, I don’t know the address. And then we drove on and there were these headlights coming right toward me...” She put her hands over her face again and said through her fingers. “Mr. Mason, I have to hold on to myself. I get all dizzy when I start thinking of that. You don’t mind, do you?”

The nurse looked at Mason and placed a finger across her lips.

Mason said, “No. Don’t try to think about it at all.”

“I can’t help it. I just keep thinking up to that point and then my mind starts going round and round.”

“The doctor will be here in a few minutes,” Mason said. “He’ll give you something to quiet you and then you’ll go to a sanitarium where you can rest for a while.”

Mason turned to Olga. “I think it’ll be a good plan for us to leave now, Mrs. Jordan.”

“I think so too,” the nurse said. “The doctor has given orders that the patient is to have a sedative if she becomes at all restless.”

“I don’t want a sedative,” Eleanor said. “I want to get out of here. I want to get my clothes on and find out what happened to Douglas.”

Mason smiled understandingly. “You’d better rest and wait until after Dr. Ariel has had a good talk with you. Then he’ll fix things so you can be discharged and...”

“But you said I’d have to go to a sanitarium. I don’t want to go to a sanitarium. What do I want to go to a rest home for? A rest home is for people who are beginning to break up. I’m...”

Once more she threw the covers off the bed, kicked out a pair of smooth, well-shaped legs.

The nurse hurriedly interposed herself between the bed and Mason, pulled the covers up, and said, “You mustn’t do that. You must keep quiet. Just a few minutes longer and Dr. Ariel will be here.”

“I don’t want Dr. Ariel. I want Doug.” Eleanor looked as though she would cry.

The nurse picked up a package she had carried with her into the room. There was the brief smell of alcohol, then Eleanor said, “Ouch, that hurts.”

“Just hold still for a minute,” the nurse said. “This is what the doctor ordered.”

The nurse withdrew the hypodermic, turned to Mason and Olga, and nodded toward the door.

“She’ll be all right now,” the nurse said. “Dr. Ariel wants me to go along to the sanitarium as a special. I understand there are to be no visitors. You don’t need to worry.”

Mason took Olga Jordan’s arm. “Let’s go,” he said.

Out in the corridor, Olga turned to Perry Mason. “Pretty good act, wasn’t it?”

“Act or no act,” Mason said, “let’s get down to brass tacks and see what we have to do.”

“Well,” Olga said, “she’s given you the information that she wants us to have. There’s been an accident. She doesn’t know where Douglas is. It’s up to us to try and find him. We’re also going to have to try and find out where the marriage took place. We’re going to have to find out about Douglas Hepner’s mother in Salt Lake City. And something seems to tell me we’re going to have to move pretty fast because whatever it is that Eleanor has pulled this time it’s really a lulu and when it catches up with her there’s going to be quite a commotion. You’re going to have to work fast, Mr. Mason.”

“Fast work is going to mean a lot of expense,” Mason said. “Are you prepared to pay for the necessary detective work...?”

“We’re prepared to pay for anything within reason, Mr. Mason, but for heaven sakes get started and get to work on it fast.”

“All right,” Mason said. “What can you tell me about this man Hepner?”

“Not very much.”

“When did you first meet him?”

“On that last trip to Europe, that is, on our way home from Europe. He was on the boat.”

“Do you have any pictures?”

“Yes, I think I can find you some pictures. They’re just snaps but...”

“That’s all right,” Mason said. “Get the snaps. Get them up to my office just as fast as you can. Now can you describe him?”

“Yes. He’s tall — around six feet, I guess. He has dark hair and a snub nose, a ready smile and a magnetic personality.”

“How old?”

“Twenty-seven or twenty-eight.”

“He must have cut quite a swathe on the ship coming over from Europe,” Mason said.

“You can say that again. You know how travel is these days. Men have to stay home and work. The women travel. Good-looking men are scarce as hen’s teeth. Most of the men are the ones who have retired twenty years too late.”

“You sound rather bitter,” Mason said.

“I’ve done lots of traveling. Dad is in the wholesale jewelry business. We go to Europe quite often and...”

“Wait a minute,” Mason said. “You’re married. Does your father take you and your husband and...?”

“Oh, whenever Bill wants to go Dad takes him. But for the most part Bill likes to stay home and hang around the country club. He’s quite a tennis and golf enthusiast and he likes horses. He doesn’t care too much for Europe.”

“You leave him and go with your father?”

“Yes. Dad needs us to act as traveling secretaries, to make appointments and keep track of his purchases and things of that sort.”

“So Eleanor goes along?”

“I’ll tell the world Eleanor goes along. She hasn’t missed a trip to Europe in the last ten years. Don’t be silly. Whenever there’s any traveling little Eleanor is right along.”

“Where did she meet Douglas Hepner?”

“On the ship.”

“What does Hepner do?”

“Apparently nothing. He seems to be a gentleman of leisure. He’s one of the most enigmatic individuals I ever knew. He simply won’t talk about himself or his background. I think that’s why Dad dislikes him. The man is as elusive as a Halloween apple in a barrel of water.”

Mason said, “But he seems to be able to attract people and...”

“There’s something strange about him. His personality seems to... well, it sort of holds its breath on you. Now that isn’t what I’m trying to say. But... well, you get the idea he’s playing poker with you. He’s affable and polite and friendly, and all of a sudden you catch him looking at you as though he were sizing you up. Eleanor was crazy about him. We thought it was just a shipboard romance, and Lord knows she’s had plenty of those.”

“But it turned out to be serious?”

“Well, there again it’s hard to tell just what did happen. No one could be certain whether they were serious or not right up until the minute they left for Yuma.”

“How long ago was this cruise?”

“About three months ago.”

“Eleanor and Douglas had a crush on shipboard?”

“Yes, but Douglas was in circulation. He was talking with everybody. That’s one thing about the man. He’s a great mixer when he wants to be, and he certainly got all over that ship.”

“Then after you landed he kept up with Eleanor?”

“Well, for a while he didn’t — I guess a month or so. And then all of a sudden he began to cultivate Eleanor and she was going out with him — nobody paid too much attention to it until it began to look as though she were serious about it.”

“And what did your father say?”

“Dad never did like the man. He took an instinctive, intuitive dislike to him. And Dad’s pretty hard to fool.”

“But Hepner got Eleanor to go to Yuma and get married?”

“Apparently. Now there again, Mr. Mason, when it comes to telling you anything that Eleanor did or didn’t do, all we know is that she left two weeks ago Monday night, that was the second. We got a wire from Yuma, Arizona, that was delivered early on the morning of the third, stating that she and Doug had been married, to please forgive her, that she was crazy about him and they were very happy. We got a couple of post cards, one sent from Yuma and one from Las Vegas, Nevada, and after that there was an interval of complete silence.”

“So apparently from Yuma they went to Las Vegas.”

“That’s what her post card would indicate.”

“And the postmarks on the cards?”

“They were from Yuma and from Las Vegas.”

“Did you save those?”

“I’m sorry, we didn’t. We saved the wire.”

“All right,” Mason said, “send up whatever snapshots you can find of Douglas Hepner, send up that wire and anything else you may have that you think will help. I’m going to get detectives on the job. We can trace that wire.”

“You have confidence in this doctor you retained?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” Mason said.

“He’ll keep her out of circulation?”

Mason nodded. “Of course,” he said, “newspapers will get part of the story. We don’t know how much the first nurse overheard, and they may get at her.”

“Oh, of course,” Olga said, “that’s the way Eleanor planned it. She was talking for publication. But the minute you started to pin her down she became afraid of you. She was afraid you’d cross-examine her and bring out the truth, so things began to get all fuzzy and she started getting dizzy, and she threw back the covers so you could see her nice legs.”

“And you think all that was put on?” Mason asked.

She looked at him appraisingly. “My God, Mr. Mason, don’t be naïve!”