The Case of the Grinning Gorilla

Chapter number 8

Police cars continued to converge on the place. Officers made reports through two-way radio telephones, and a couple of squad cars came screaming to the scene.

Della Street parked Mason’s car on a side street, and came running frantically down the alley.

Mason started to get out of the police car.

“Sit right still, buddy,” the man who had been left in charge warned him.

“That’s my secretary,” Mason said. “I instructed her to call the police. Get her attention.”

The officer seemed dubious for a moment, then manipulated a switch which flashed the red spotlight on and off.

Mason, thrusting his head out of the car window, shouted, “Della, here we are, over here! Della! It’s all right!”

Della Street turned her head for a moment trying to get the direction of the voice, then seeing and correctly interpreting the flashing spotlight once more broke into a run and came up calling, “Chief, Chief, where are you?”

“Here, Della. It’s all right.”

“You this man’s secretary?” the officer asked.

“Yes.”

“She called the police,” Mason said. “She’s the one who put in the call.”

“That right?” the officer asked.

“That’s right,” Della said. “Who’s that in there with you? Oh, Mrs. Kempton. Good heavens, Chief, whatever happened? I was never so frightened in my life. I waited there for the five minutes, just as you told me to, but, believe me, I was watching the second hand on my watch, and I had the motor running, and the very second the five minutes were up I was on my way. It seemed as though I’d never get to a telephone.”

Mason said, “Don’t worry, Della. There seems to have been quite a bit of trouble inside the house. I don’t really know all that did happen. The doors of some of the cages were opened. Apparently some gorillas made their escape and were prowling through the house. I tried to get back to tell you what was going on, but one of the gorillas didn’t seem to want to be too friendly — or perhaps I should say he wanted to be more friendly.”

“But what caused all of the commotion? What caused all this...?”

“Apparently,” Mason said, “there are burglar alarms and...”

“You’d better get in and sit down, ma’am,” the officer interposed. “If you’re the one who called the police, we’ll want to get a statement from you. You’d better wait right here.”

“My car’s parked down on the side street,” Della said. “I jumped out in such a hurry I didn’t take the key out of the lock. I’m afraid I left the motor running.”

“Let it run,” the officer told her.

“I could go down and shut it off and...”

“And again you could stay right here,” the officer said.

Mason said, “Apparently, Della, Mr. Benjamin Addicks has been murdered. The police naturally want to find out all they can about the circumstances surrounding his death.”

“Oh-oh!” Della Street said.

Mason opened the car door. “Get in and sit down.”

“Good evening, Miss Street,” Mrs. Kempton said.

“Good evening. What are you...?”

She broke off as Mason’s knee nudged her leg.

“Go on,” the officer said. “What were you going to say?”

Della Street said demurely, “I was just going to ask her what she was doing about transportation back to town. I was going to tell her that I was driving Mr. Mason’s car, and that we’d take her back to town.”

“You don’t need to worry a bit about that,” the officer said. “Her transportation back to town is all taken care of. So’s Mr. Mason’s transportation, and so’s yours.”

The loud-speaker said, “Calling car seven, car seven.”

The officer leaned forward, pushed a switch and said, “Car seven reporting. Go ahead.”

“You reported a homicide at the Addicks place?”

“That’s right. I got it from two people we picked up who were just leaving the house. One of them’s Perry Mason, the lawyer. He says Benjamin Addicks has been murdered.

“Now then, there’s a woman with him, Josephine Kempton, and just now Mr. Mason’s secretary showed up. Mr. Mason claims that she telephoned the police. What do I do?”

The officer leaned over and pressed a button.

“Car seven, in response to your inquiry, as soon as you have been rejoined by your fellow officer drive the car with Mr. Mason, Mrs. Kempton and Mr. Mason’s secretary to headquarters. Under no circumstances let them leave the car. Don’t let them communicate with anyone else. Don’t let them hide anything. We are giving instructions to your fellow officer to join you at once. That is all.”

The officer flipped a switch, turned his head back to Mason and said, “Okay, you heard those instructions.”

“I certainly feel,” Mason said, “that I should be given an opportunity to drive my own car to headquarters so that it will be there. I’ll follow you or go directly ahead of you along any streets you...”

“You’ll sit right there,” the officer said. “There’s something funny about this business. You know damn well what caused those instructions from headquarters.”

“What?” Mason asked innocently.

“Somebody made a telephone call from inside that house and reported something. Whatever it was, it was something that made... here comes my partner.”

The door leading to the zoo opened and a uniformed officer came running toward the car.

The officer who was guarding the three people in the back seat pressed the starter button and brought the motor to life, moved over to the side.

The other officer jerked open the car door and jumped in behind the steering wheel.

“Headquarters came on with instructions for us, and...”

“I know,” the driver said, slamming the car into gear. “They want these people up at headquarters just as quick as we can get them there. Start the siren, Mike, and keep her going.”

“I left Mr. Mason’s car parked with the motor running,” Della Street said.

No one paid the slightest attention to her.

The police car swept down Rose Street, turned to the right, and Della Street, looking back through the rear window of the car, said, “Oh dear, I’ve left the headlights on too.”

The man at the wheel concentrated on driving. The other officer started watching the side streets. The needle on the speedometer passed forty, went past fifty, up to sixty, then settled down at around seventy miles an hour as they hit a through boulevard.

Mason settled back and said, “Relax. Relax and enjoy it.”

“Relax!” Josephine Kempton said through clenched teeth. “In the name of heaven, why?”

“You,” Mason told her, “should be more familiar with Chinese proverbs.”