The Case of the Phantom Fortune

Chapter 20

The man from the power company said,"Okay, the power's on."

Tragg threw a switch which turned ona battery of lights in the storeroom and office part of the building.

Mason looked around, then moved overto the far side of the room and started a minute search.

Tragg, Hamilton Burger and twoplain-clothes men, obviously bored by the entire procedure, looked at theirwatches, casually looked around and waited for Mason to finish.

"All right, Tragg," Masonsaid, "here's the first thing I want to look at."

"What's that?"

Mason pointed to a traverse beamover the doorway. "There's something in there. A hole, there's a freshsplinter by the side of the hole."

Tragg started to say something, thenchanged his mind and said to one of the men, "See if there's a stepladderaround here."

Hamilton Burger said, "This isanother good old-fashioned razzle-dazzle. This building hasn't been sealed up.Anyone could have gone in here and planted all sorts of evidence."

Tragg said nothing.

Mason started up on the stepladder.Tragg gently pulled him back and said, "I'll do this, if you don't mind,Perry."

Tragg got up, looked at the hole inthe beam, pursed his lips, looked down at Hamilton Burger and said, "Ithink it's a bullet."

Burger's face flushed. "Allright," he said, "we're having Mason up for contempt of court attwo-thirty this afternoon on one charge. We may as well have him on twocharges. Let's get the bullet out. The same old gag of planting evidence."

"If you folks had made thecareful search you should have, it would have been impossible for anyone tohave planted evidence," Mason said. "Now we can't tell when thatbullet was fired in there."

"Well, I can tell,"Hamilton Burger said, "and I can tell who held the gun."

"Want to make a statement inthe presence of witnesses so I can hold you liable?" Mason asked.

Hamilton Burger turned his back andwalked off.

"In getting that bulletout," Mason said, "please be very careful not to disturb thestriations or mark the lead -"

"You don't need to tell me howto take out a bullet," Tragg said.

Tragg enlarged the hole slightlywith a pocket knife and said to one of the plain-clothes men, "That's asdeep as I can go with a knife. Go out to the car and get that kit that has thedrill in it for taking out a section of wood."

The plain-clothes officer returnedfrom the car with an auger designed to cut a circular core from a section ofwood.

Tragg said, "Get up there andbe very, very careful to be sure you're on the course of that bullet. Cut out asection of the wood that has the bullet in it."

The man climbed the stepladder and,after a few minutes, brought down a section of the wooden beam.

Tragg carefully split the sectionand shook out the .38 calibre bullet into his hand.

"All right," he said,"we've found the bullet, what do we do next?"

"We have it appraised byRedfield," Mason said.

"All right," Tragg said,"let's get going. I presume you want to have the report beforetwo-thirty?"

"Send a man with thebullet," Mason said. "Let's not make the same mistake twice. Let'snot quit searching just because we find something. Let's look this thing overcarefully."

"All right," Tragg said,"we'll go into the warehouse now."

They went back in the warehouse.Tragg threw a switch, and the gloomy, dank interior of the place instantlybecame flooded with light.

"Now, let's take a look aroundhere," Mason said. "Have your men turn over every one of those bigcartons and let's see what we can find."

"There are fifty of themhere," Tragg said.

"All right," Mason said,"if you can't turn over fifty cartons by two-thirty, we'll telephone thejudge and get an order."

"Oh, go ahead," Traggsaid.

Tragg and one of the officers shookthe corrugated board packing cases one at a time, moved them, looked inside.

Suddenly one of the men started tosay something to Tragg, caught himself, looked significantly at the policelieutenant and turned his back.

"What is it?" Mason askedsharply. "We're making this search under an order of court. We're entitledto know."

"Somebody stood in here,"the officer said. "You can see the imprint of his rubber heels. They'dbeen in oil somewhere and they left a print here."

"That doesn't mean athing," Hamilton Burger said. "You can't tell when the heel printswere made. They could have been made a month ago, or," he addedsignificantly, "they could have been made last night."

"Nevertheless," Mason,said, "they were made. It's evidence. Let's take the packing case intocustody"

"All right," Tragg saidwearily, "take it along."

"And I want it dusted forfingerprints."

"You can't get fingerprintsfrom paper – Oh, well, let him have his way. Leave it here long enough for atechnical man to come down and dust for fingerprints. What else do you want,Mason?"

"I don't know," Masonsaid, moving slowly around, prowling into the various nooks and comers of theplace. Suddenly Mason said, "Hey, wait a minute, this window has beenforced."

"I should have guessed that along while ago," Hamilton Burger said. "That's how the man got in tofire the bullet into that beam."

"This window has been openedfrom the inside," Mason said. "You see, the cobwebs have been brushedaway and the window was opened, then lowered. It's unlocked."

"An inside-outside job,"Hamilton Burger said. "Same old razzle-dazzle."

Tragg studied the pane thoughtfully

"Now, wait a minute,"Mason said. "What's this?"

"What?" Tragg asked.

Mason pointed over to a comer."I got a glint of reflected light from blued steel."

Tragg moved over, said, "Oh,oh, it's a gun!"

Hamilton Burger started to saysomething, then checked himself and said, "All right, it's a gun. Take itinto custody, Lieutenant, and we'll have it examined carefully in court. We'llsee whose fingerprints we find on it – although the person who planted it therewas probably shrewd enough to wear gloves."

Mason said. "Be careful withit, Lieutenant, and I want some test bullets fired from it. You will note thatthat also is a thirty-eight-calibre Smith and Wesson."

"It would be," HamiltonBurger said.

"Meaning," Mason saidcasually, "that in your opinion it was planted."

"It was planted," HamiltonBurger said angrily. "And at two-thirty this afternoon I hope to be ableto show who did the planting."

"You wouldn't want to make anyaccusations before then, would you?" Mason asked.

"I have my opinion,"Burger said, turning away.

"You have everything youwant?" Tragg asked.

"I don't know," Masonsaid. "I want this place sealed up put an officer in charge and leave himhere until we can evaluate this evidence we have at the present time."

"Okay, okay," Tragg said."I want to see if there are any fingerprints on that gun but ordinarily wedon't get fingerprints on guns. Sometimes you get a thumbprint at the base of acartridge clip, but it's not once in a hundred that you get a fingerprint off agun."

"All right, we've got thegun," Mason said. "I want Redfield to fire test bullets through it.I'd like to have him bring his comparison microscope into court so we can maketests right there in court."

"The good old drama,"Hamilton Burger said. "Never forget the dramatic approach. That'sshowmanship. I'm getting damned sick and tired of all this. Every case we have,it's the same old razzle-dazzle, the same old seven and six."

Mason looked at his watch and said,"If you'd hurry, Hamilton, you might be able to get some lunch at least acup of coffee, and I think it's possible that would change your outlook."