The Case of the Mischievous Doll

Chapter Six

Mason turned to Drake as soon as Tragg was out of earshot and said, “Get your office, Paul. I want Minerva Minden. I want to talk with her before the police do.”

“Okay,” Drake said, “we’d better go down the street a ways before we do any telephoning.”

Mason said, “She may still be at the courthouse.”

“Could be,” Drake said, “but I have an idea her lawyer whisked her out of circulation just as rapidly as possible.

“You know and I know that a thousand-dollar fine means no more to Minerva Minden that the nickel she dropped into the parking meter. The tongue-lashing given her by the judge was just so much sound as far as Minny Minden was concerned. That girl has been in enough scrapes to learn how to roll with the punch. She listened demurely to the judge’s lecture, paid the thousand dollars with due humility and then looked for some place where she could open a bottle of champagne and celebrate her victory.

“Judges don’t like to have persons who have been sentenced by them start celebrating. Attorneys know that, and the attorney is thinking not only about this case but about Minny’s next one and about his next one before that same judge, so my best guess is he’s told her to get out of circulation, stay away from the public, see no one and refuse to come to the telephone.”

“That,” Mason said, “makes sense. That’s what I’d do under the circumstances if she were my client, Paul. However, let’s go phone your office and see what the reports are.”

They drove half a dozen blocks before Mason found a gasoline station with a telephone booth which seemed sufficiently removed from the scene of operations.

Drake put through the call, came back and said, “Everything checks, Perry. She was whisked away from the courthouse by her attorney. She went into the telephone booth to make some jubilee calls, but he caught up with her after the first two and dragged her out of there. He put her in his car and personally drove her to Montrose. Presumably they’re both there now.”

“Who’s her attorney?” Mason asked.

“Herbert Knox,” Drake said, “of Gambit, Knox & Belam.”

“Old Herb Knox, huh?” Mason said. “He’s a smooth article. Tell me, did he act as her attorney when she received her inheritance?”

“I don’t know,” Drake said, “but I don’t think so. As I remember it she’s done a little shopping around with attorneys.”

“Well, she couldn’t have had a better one than Herbert Knox for this particular job,” Mason said. “He’s smooth and suave and a wily veteran of the courtroom.”

“All right, what do we do now?” Drake said.

Mason thought for a moment, then said, “We get busy on the telephone. Let’s call Minerva at her place in Montrose and see what we can get.”

“It’ll be an unlisted number,” Drake said.

Mason shook his head. “They’ll have two or three telephones, Paul. Two of them will be unlisted but there’ll be one telephone that’s listed. That will be answered by a secretary or a business manager but we can at least use it to get a message through to her.”

“Will getting a message through do any good?” Drake asked.

“I think it will,” Mason said. “I think I can convey a message which will make her sit up and take notice.”

Drake, who had been looking through the telephone book, said, “Okay, here’s the number. You were right. There’s a listed telephone.”

Mason put through the call and heard a well-modulated feminine voice saying, “May I help you? This is the Minden residence.”

“This is Perry Mason, the attorney,” Mason said. “I want to talk with Miss Minden.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible, Mr. Mason, but I might be able to take a message.”

“Tell her,” Mason said, “that I know who fired the shots at the airport and that I want to talk with her about it.”

“I’ll convey that message to her. And where can I communicate with you, Mr. Mason?”

“I’ll hang on the line.”

“I’m sorry, that’s not possible. I can’t reach her that soon.”

“Why not? Isn’t she there?” Mason asked.

“I’ll call you later at your office. Thank you,” the feminine voice said, and the connection clicked.

Mason said, “Paul, there’s just a chance we can get out to her place at Montrose before Herbert Knox leaves. If I can talk with her, I may be able to clear up certain things and we may be able to get some information that will save Dorrie Ambler’s life. I don’t want to tell the police all that I know but I have a feeling that— Come on, Paul, let’s go.”

“On our way,” Drake said, “but I’ll bet you old Herb Knox won’t let you get within a mile of his client.”

“Don’t bet too much,” Mason said. “You may lose.”

They made good time over the freeways which at this time of the day were free of congestion and handling a stream of swiftly moving traffic which was a trickle compared to the masses of cars that would crowd through during the afternoon rush hour.

The Montrose estate of Minerva Minden was an imposing edifice on a hill, and Mason, driving up the sweeping graveled driveway through the beautifully landscaped grounds, swung his car into a parking place which contained an even dozen automobiles.

“Looks like there might be a lot of other people with the same idea,” Drake said.

“Probably some of them are reporters, some are employees,” Mason said. “You don’t know what kind of a car Herbert Knox drives, do you, Paul?”

“No.”

“I have an idea one of these cars may be his. I hope so.”

The men parked their car, went up the stairs to the broad porch. Mason rang the bell.

A burly individual who looked more like a bodyguard than a butler opened the door and stood silent.

“I would like to see Minerva Minden’s confidential secretary or business manager,” Mason said. “I am Perry Mason and I’m calling in connection with an emergency.”

The man said, “Wait there,” turned to a telephone in the wall and relayed a message into a mouthpiece so constructed that it was impossible for bystanders to hear what was being said.

After a moment, he said, “Who’s the gentleman with you?”

“Paul Drake, a private detective.”

Again the man turned to the phone, then after a moment hung up and said, “This way, please.”

Mason and Drake entered a reception hallway, and followed the butler into a room which had at one time evidently been a library. Now it was fixed up as a sort of intermediate waiting room with a table, rugs, indirect lighting, deep leather-cushioned chairs and an atmosphere which combined that of a luxurious room in an expensive residence with that of an office where people waited.

“Be seated, please,” the butler said, and left the room.

A moment later a tall, keen-eyed woman in her late forties or early fifties entered the room and strode directly across to Mason. “How do you do, Mr. Mason,” she said. “I am Henrietta Hull, Miss Minden’s confidential secretary and manager; and this, I presume, is Mr. Paul Drake, the detective.”

She moved easily to a chair, regarded the men with keen, appraising eyes for a moment, then said, “You wished to see me, Mr. Mason?”

“Actually,” Mason said, “I want to see Minerva Minden.”

“Many people do,” Henrietta Hull said.

Mason smiled. “Is it Miss Hull or Mrs. Hull?”

“It’s Henrietta Hull,” the woman said, smiling, “but if you need any other handle, it’s Mrs.”

“Would it be possible for us to see Miss Minden?”

“It would be utterly impossible, Mr. Mason. Nothing, absolutely nothing, that you could say would gain you an audience. In fact I may go a little further and state that when Miss Minden’s attorney learned that you were seeking an interview, he gave Miss Minden particular instructions that under no circumstances was she to talk with you.”

“I’ll talk with him if I have to,” Mason said.

Henrietta Hull shook her head. “That would do no good, Mr. Mason. Mr. Knox is not Miss Minden’s regular attorney.”

“Who is?” Mason asked.

“There isn’t any,” Henrietta Hull said. “Miss Minden retains counsel as she needs them. She tries to get the very best in the field. For a matter of this sort Herbert Knox was considered the best available attorney.”

“May I ask why?” Mason asked.

Her eyes softened somewhat. “You’re asking because you feel professionally slighted?” she asked.

“No,” Mason said, “I was just wondering. You seemed so positive. I gathered that you keep some sort of list of attorneys.”

“We do, Mr. Mason,” she said, “and you might be interested to know that you head the list of attorneys available in murder cases or serious felonies. There are other attorneys who are selected for their ability in connection with automobile cases and traffic violations. Mr. Knox was selected in this case because of various qualifications, not the least of which is that he is frequently a golfing partner of the judge before whom the case was tried.”

“And how,” Mason asked, “did you know the particular judge who would be assigned to the case?”

She smiled and said, “After all, Mr. Mason, you had a matter you wanted to take up with Miss Minden.”

“All right,” Mason said, “I’ll put my cards on the table. Miss Minden has hired a double.”

“Indeed?” Henrietta Hull said, her eyebrows raising. “You’re making a positive statement, Mr. Mason?”

“I’m making a positive statement.”

“All right,” Henrietta Hull said. “Your statement is that she hired a double. Now what?”

Mason said, “The disturbance at the airport was shrewdly engineered to bring out the fact that Miss Minden had a double, but Miss Minden did some very fast and some very shrewd thinking and decided it would be better for her to take the responsibility of firing the shots than to expose the fact that she had hired a double.”

“This is rather a startling statement, Mr. Mason. I trust you have evidence to back up your statement.”

“I am making a statement,” Mason said. “I would like to have you convey it to Minerva Minden. I would also like to have you tell her that I can be rather a ruthless antagonist, that I don’t know all the ramifications of the game she is playing but that I rather suspect the ad by which this double was chosen — or rather the ad which served as bait to bring this double into the position that had been selected for her — was shrewdly designed as the elaborate bait in a deadly trap.

“I don’t know whether Minerva Minden knew that this double of hers was going to be placed in a position of danger or not, but a situation has now developed where that young woman is in very great danger. I have been invited to tell the police what I know. I don’t want to release a story which may result in a lot of newspaper notoriety for Miss Minden.”

Henrietta Hull smiled and said, “Miss Minden is not a stranger to newspaper notoriety.”

“You mean she enjoys it?” Mason asked sharply.

“I mean that she is not a stranger to it.”

“All right,” Mason said. “I think I’ve told you enough so that you can appreciate my position and the fact it is imperative I have an immediate interview with Miss Minden.”

“An immediate interview is out of the question,” Henrietta Hull said. “But, as I told you over the telephone, Mr. Mason, I will be glad to convey a message and to call you at your office.”

“When?” Mason asked.

“As soon as necessary arrangements have been made, or perhaps I should say as soon as necessary precautions have been taken.”

“All right,” Mason said. “I just want to point out to you that traffic violations are one thing, firing blank cartridges is another thing. But kidnapping is a felony that carries very serious penalties, and murder is punishable by death.”

“Thank you, Mr. Mason,” Henrietta Hull said. “Of course you’re an attorney, but as a business woman I am familiar with certain phases of the law.”

She arose abruptly, signifying that the interview was terminated. She gave Mason her hand and the benefit of a long, steady appraisal. Then she turned to Paul Drake. “I’m very pleased to have met you, Mr. Drake. I may also advise you that your agency is at the top of the list which we maintain in cases where a highly ethical agency is required.”

Drake smiled. “Meaning that you have a list of unethical agencies?”

“We have very complete lists,” she said enigmatically. Then again turned to Mason. “And don’t forget, Mr. Mason, that your name is absolute tops in cases carrying a serious penalty.”

“Such as murder?” Mason asked.

“Such as murder,” Henrietta Hull said, and then after a moment added, “and such as kidnapping or abduction.”