The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink

Chapter 18

Mason faced Dixie Dayton and Morris Alburg in a witness room opening off the courtroom.

“All right,” he said, “I want some facts. Where can I find Thomas E. Sedgwick?”

Alburg glanced at Dixie Dayton.

She shook her head. “I wouldn’t tell anybody—”

“You’re going to tell me,” Mason said. “We’re going to be able to produce him as soon as Lieutenant Tragg finishes with Frank Hoxie.”

“Mr. Mason, do you know what you’re saying?” Dixie Dayton demanded angrily. “This is a cop murder. The police wouldn’t give him a leg to stand on. He wouldn’t have a ghost of a chance. They’d railroad him to the death house so fast that he wouldn’t know what had happened.”

“Why?” Mason asked.

“Why?” Morris Alburg demanded. “What are you talking about? Are you dumb?”

“I’m not dumb and I’m not deaf,” Mason said. “Why would they railroad him to the death house?”

“Because that’s the way the police are. When you kill a cop the police are all on your neck.”

“Why?”

“Because they want revenge, of course, and because I suppose they want to let people know that you can’t kill cops and get away with it. That’s for their own protection.”

“Against whom do they want this revenge?”

“Against anybody that they think is guilty.”

“Exactly,” Mason said. “They used to think Tom Sedgwick was guilty. I don’t think they’ll feel that he’s guilty now.”

Dixie Dayton said, “He has tuberculosis. He can’t do ordinary work. He needs rest. He is having a long, slow fight trying to get better. That’s why he did the things he did. That’s why he got mixed up in bookmaking. He felt that if he could get funds enough, he could take it easy for a while. He’s not bad, Mr. Mason, he — he’s human. He did the things that lots of other people were doing, and then — then they framed this cop killing on him just because that rookie cop was concentrating on him, giving him the works.”

“You’ve been protecting him?” Mason said to Dixie Dayton.

She nodded.

“You’ve been living with him, washing for him, cooking for him, sewing for him, trying to give him a chance?”

She nodded, then said, “I’d give him my life.”

“All right,” Mason told her. “Give me his address, the place where he can be found right now, and you may save his life and yours, too.”

Morris Alburg suddenly turned to face Dixie. “Give it to him, Dixie.”