The Case of the Lonely Heiress

Chapter 3

Paul Drake tapped on the door of Mason’s private office, a loud knock followed by four quick, gentle knocks, then two more loud knocks.

“That’s Drake’s code knock,” Mason said to Della Street. “Let him in, Della.”

Della Street unlocked the corridor door and the tall detective grinned fraternally at her. “Hi, Della, what’s new?”

“Whatever you have in your hand,” Della Street said, smiling at the letter Drake was holding.

Drake moved on in, nodded to the lawyer. “Well, Perry, we got an answer.”

“An answer to what?” Mason asked, looking up from the brief he was studying.

“Remember the letters you had me mail day before yesterday?”

“Oh, those. Who got the answer?”

“Mr. Green got the answer,” Drake said. “Mr. Black seems to have drawn a blank.”

Mason narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “Now, that’s something!” he said. “She’s looking for someone who’s green as grass, an impressionable, gullible young chap. Let’s see what she says.”

Mason took the letter Paul Drake handed him, slit open the envelope, shook out a sheet of paper that had the crested initials MM. He raised the paper to his nostrils, caught the scent of perfume, grinned, and said, “The heiress speaks.”

“What does she say?” Della Street asked. “I’m burning with curiosity.”

Mason read the letter aloud:

“What the heck is this all about?” Paul Drake asked.

Mason grinned. “It’s a job for you, Paul. I want a detective about twenty-four or twenty-five, a great big raw-boned hunk of manhood who can appear awkward and self-conscious and all that goes with it. I want him to dress up in one of his older suits, one that’s perhaps a little tight or a little short in the arms and legs. He won’t have any model to go by because we want him to make up as something that no longer exists, a terribly green country kid.”

“What makes you think they don’t exist any more, Perry?”

“Three things,” Mason said, grinning. “The radio, the automobile and the. movies.”

Drake thought that over and then said, “Yes, I guess so.”

“It always comes as a surprise to the city dweller,” Mason said, “to tell him that people who live in the country may not be quite as blase and cynical as he is, but that they know the answers about as well. I think our mysterious MM is a confirmed city dweller who doesn’t know too much about life in the country.”

“And she wants a hick?” Drake asked.

“Quite definitely she wants a hick. Can you get a man to take the part, Paul?”

Drake made a mental canvass of the operatives who were available for work of that type and finally said, “Yes, I guess I can. I have a chap who answers the description. He came from the country. He’s done quite a bit of farm work.”

“That’s fine,” Mason said. “She may try to trap him by asking questions about the farm, but I don’t think the answers will mean much to her. Now I’ll want three or four more operatives, Paul.”

“What for?”

Mason said, “She may never go near this man at the information desk, but she’ll be sizing him up. She’ll think that he’s too green to know what her game is or to spot her, but I want men sprinkled around who can spot her and who will follow her in case she doesn’t make contact with our plant.”

“Just what do you want?”

Mason said, “For the present, I want to find out who MM is. I want her name, her address, and I want to find out something about her background.”

“Okay,” Drake said, “it should be easy. If she doesn’t go up and speak to my man, it’s a cinch she’ll be wandering around where she can size him up and my boys can pick her up.”

“Okay,” Mason said. He turned to Della Street and said, “Ring up Robert Caddo and tell him I think we’ll have an answer to his question some time tomorrow. Make an appointment with him for tomorrow at ten o’clock, Della.”

She nodded, jotting down the time in her appointment book.

Paul Drake weighed the letter thoughtfully. “Perry, do you suppose there’s any chance this is on the up-and-up?”

“Of course there’s a chance,” Mason said indulgently.

“How much of a chance?”

Mason grinned. “Offhand, I’d say just exactly one in a million, Paul.”