The Case of the Phantom Fortune

Chapter 6

Later that afternoon the telephoneon Della Street's desk rang a routine summons. Della picked up the receiver, said,"Yes, Gertie," then suddenly her jaw sagged, her eyes grew large, andshe said, "Why – Wait – Hold the phone a minute, Gertie."

Della Street turned to Perry Mason. "A man in theoffice says he is Collister D Gideon."

"Well, what do you know,"Mason said. "I guess we're going to have to give Mr Gideon credit forbeing a pretty clever individual. By all means, Della, tell him to comein."

"But Chief, he – Good heavens,that means he must know…"

"Know what?"

"Everything."

Mason said. "If he gave LornaWarren forty-seven thousand dollars to keep for him, he certainly knows abouther present whereabouts. If he didn't give her the money to keep for him, butregarded her as a loyal employee, he has probably kept up with what has beenhappening in her life and that complicates the problem."

"But what can you do?"Della asked. "If he shows up here …"

"He has shown up here,"Mason said, "and that means he thinks he holds the high hand and is goingto call for a showdown. I'm becoming very much interested in Collister DamonGideon. Show the gentleman in, Della. Then tip Gertie to call Paul Drake andhave a shadow put on Gideon as soon as he leaves the office."

Della Street said, "I'll be right out,Gertie," hung up the phone, vanished to the outer office and a few momentslater returned leading a slim-waisted, well-dressed smiling individual in hislate forties into the office.

"This is Mr Mason," shesaid.

Gideon didn't offer to shake hands.

"How do you do, Mr Mason,"he said. "I don't know how much you know about me, but I am assuming youknow a great deal. May I be seated?"

"By all means," Masonsaid. "What makes you think I know anything about you?"

"Putting two and twotogether."

"Would you mind telling mewhich two and two you put together?"

"Not at all," Gideon said,settling back in the chair, looking around the office with the swift survey ofa man who has been forced by environment to make instantaneous and accurateappraisal of his surroundings.

"You see, Mr Mason," hesaid calmly, "I'm a crook."

"Indeed," Mason said.

"That is," Gideon amended,"the government says I'm a crook, and a jury of my peers agreed with thegovernment."

"And the aftermath?" Masonasked.

"A term in a federal prisonwith very little time off."

Mason shook his head with what mighthave been a gesture of sympathy.

"Now then," Gideon said,"at the time I was in business and ran head on into the governmentalforces of so-called righteousness, I had working for me a very beautiful youngwoman, a Margaret Lorna Neely."

"I take it she wasn'tinvolved," Mason said.

Gideon smiled. "The governmenttried to involve her but the charges didn't stick. The jury acquitted her andconvicted me. The government tried us together, possibly with maliceaforethought, feeling that a jury acting on rather weak evidence would salveits conscience by acquitting one defendant and convicting the other."

"You don't seem to be bitterabout it," Mason said.

"I don't seem to be bitterabout it," Gideon said. "It would do very little good to be bitterabout it, and the last few years of my life have taught me a great deal, MrMason. One of the things I have learned is not to do things which can't resultin any ultimate benefit to me."

"Indeed," Mason said.

"Among other things, thoseyears have taught me that the world, beneath its veneer of civilization, is gearedto the ancient principle of survival of the fittest, and in the battle forsurvival the person who is utterly ruthless has a very decided advantage overthe person who practices the so-called Golden Rule."

"I see," Mason said."You still haven't told me why you came here."

"It pays to read thenewspapers," Gideon said, "particularly the society column, and Inotice in the afternoon paper that at an informal gathering given by HoraceWarren, the noted financier and progressive businessman, the guests werethrilled by the presence of Mr Perry Mason and his beautiful secretary, Miss Della Street."

Gideon made a slight bow in thedirection of Della Street. "The newspaper account," Gideon went on, "which you mayhave missed, Mr Mason, mentioned that the noted attorney was so busy with hislaw practice that he seldom had time for any social life and the guestslionized him."

"Indeed," Mason said."I hadn't read the account."

"It was a very interestingaccount," Gideon said. "Now, in view of the fact that Margaret LornaNeely is the present Mrs Horace Warren, and in view of the fact that you seldomattend social gatherings, and in further view of the fact that both you andyour secretary were there, I gathered that there was some official reason for yourattendance.

"Furthermore, being somethingof an egotist, I assumed that it was barely possible my release from prison hadsomething to do with the reason you were there.

"Now, if Mrs Warren had wantedto consult you, she would have gone to your office. If Mr Warren had wanted toconsult you, he might not have cared to call on you at the office. The factthat you were there at his house as a guest would indicate that you had beenretained to size up the situation more or less surreptitiously, so tospeak."

"In my profession," Masonsaid, "I have always found that reasoning from a premise may be fallaciousand is almost certain to lead to erroneous conclusions."

"Isn't that the truth!"Gideon exclaimed. "You know, I've been betrayed by mistakes of that sortso that I've learned not to make them. However, let's get back to the matter inhand, Mr Mason."

"In what way?" Masonasked.

"The authorities have been veryanxious to locate Margaret Lorna Neely. They seemed to think that I knew whereshe was.

"Of course, all mycorrespondence for the last few years has been rigorously censored and I havehad to keep in the background. I didn't dare write anyone, nor did I care tohave anyone write me. However, I have managed to keep certain bits ofinformation locked up in my head where they couldn't be pried out byinquisitive government officials.

"Would you believe it, MrMason, the government has actually intimated that shortly before my arrest Imanaged to get some forty-seven thousand dollars in cash and conceal itsomewhere so it would be available on my release. They felt perhaps that myco-defendant, Margaret Lorna Neely, might have been selected as the person tokeep this money for me, or perhaps half this sum of money. I don't suppose youwould realize it, living in a position of social and financial security, MrMason, but at times government investigators can become very arbitrary, veryinsulting, and very arrogant."

"I hadn't noticed it,"Mason said.

"I didn't think you would have,because, after all, Mr Mason, the tactics which a government investigator woulduse with you are somewhat different from the tactics which a governmentinvestigator would use with a person convicted of conspiracy to use the mailsto defraud."

"The charge wasconspiracy?" Mason asked.

"That was one of the charges.They had five counts. The jury acquitted me on three, just in order to make itappear they were impartial and fair, and convicted me on two.

"The principal charge wasconspiracy because in that way they were able to drag my secretary into courtand smear her reputation with all that publicity Thank heavens she was able todisappear in such a manner that they lost track of her entirely"

"She must have been very cleverto have engineered such a disappearance," Mason said.

"She is very clever."

"And perhaps she had cleverfriends," Mason ventured.

"That is always apossibility," Gideon admitted. "Do you mind if I smoke?"

"Not at all."

Gideon waved back the cigaretteswhich Mason extended toward him, took a long slender cigar from his pocket, litit, got it burning to suit him, then settled back in the chair and smiledaffably at Mason. The aroma suggested the cigar was expensive.

"With your legal mind,"Gideon said, "you doubtless know why I am here."

"I would prefer to have youtell me," Mason said.

"That's going to be rathercrude."

"Miss Street and I have encountered crude approachesbefore," Mason said.

"I know, but a crude approachis so dreadfully inartistic."

"The approach so far seems tohave been rather artistic," Mason said. "So it all may averageup."

Gideon sighed. "Well, if I haveto get down to brass tacks, I will. You see, the government finally released meafter they had held me in prison for every minute of every day that they couldlegally hold me."

Mason, watching the man, saidnothing.

"Immediately after my conviction,"Gideon said, "I was told that if I produced the forty-seven thousanddollars the sentence would be much lighter. Then after I was sentenced I wastold that if i produced the forty-seven thousand dollars I would stand a verygood chance of getting parole."

"You accepted none of theseoffers?" Mason asked.

"None of them."

"Why?"

"Because," Gideon said,"I had no idea where the forty-seven thousand dollars was. I couldn't haveproduced it if I had wanted to."

"Now that you have beenreleased," Mason said, "I take it that the interest of the governmenthas ceased."

"Are you kidding?" Gideonasked. "Now that I have been released, the government bloodhounds arebaying on my trail hoping that I'll lead them to the money, whereupon they'llpounce upon it and have the last laugh. They'll say, in effect, 'You can't beatthe law, Gideon. You served a lot of extra time in prison so you could enjoythat forty-seven thousand dollars when you got out. Now then, we've got themoney and you've served the time. Ha-ha-ha!"

"And of course they'll see thatevery prison inmate knows all about it and gloat over the fact that you can'tbeat the law and that they made a sucker out of me."

"So they are followingyou," Mason asked.

"Oh, yes."

"They followed you here?"Mason asked.

"Of course."

"I see," Mason said,frowning.

"I can see that you do,"Gideon said, smiling. "I'm trying to make an artistic approach on this, MrMason, even if the main gambit will have to be rather crude.

"You see, the government feelsthat in dealing with a crook it is dealing with a person of very inferiorintelligence. When the government does a shadow job on a crook, it is at timesvery naive.

"In my case, for instance, theyhave a rough shadow on my trail."

"A rough shadow?" Masonasked.

"Surely, with your experiencein criminal law, you understand the function of a rough shadow," Gideonsaid. "A rough shadow is just what the name implies. It's a shadow who isso obvious a person simply can't miss him.

"If you'd have your secretarystep to the corridor door and open it, I dare say you'd find the rough shadowstanding at the comer of the corridor. When the door opened he would veryostentatiously show his embarrassment. Then he would turn and walk along thecorridor, peering at the names and numbers on the doors as though looking forsome office he was having difficulty finding."

"That's the rough shadow?"Mason asked.

"That's the rough shadow."

"I would assume that thegovernment expected to accomplish very little by such crude tactics."

"The government expects toaccomplish a lot," Gideon said. "The rough shadow is always veryostentatious but rather inept. It is no job at all for a clever man to eludehis surveillance. Even a simple thing like driving through a traffic signaljust as it is changing would shake the rough shadow."

Gideon stopped talking, watchedMason's face through a blue haze of cigar smoke. His half-closed eyes studiedthe lawyer thoughtfully.

After a moment he went on."That, of course, is when the smooth shadow takes over. The smooth shadowsare in the background. I don't see them. At least, I'm not supposed to. Havingditched the rough shadow, I will be flushed with confidence and go to a littlemotel somewhere, register under an assumed name then get up in the dead ofnight, move to some other motel then perhaps into a rooming house, and then,convinced that the government is no longer in touch with me, I'll go and dig upthe forty-seven thousand dollars. At least, that's what the governmentthinks."

"And then they'll pounce onyou?"

"Then they'll pounce on me. Thesmooth shadows will have been keeping up with me all the time."

"Can't you ditch them?"Mason asked.

"Oh, it can be done,"Gideon said. "It's not a simple matter but there are ways. It takes time,however, and a certain amount of capital.

"Now, very frankly, Mr Mason, Ihave time but I don't have much capital."

"I see," Mason said."I thought you could remedy that."

"In what way?"

"I felt that Mr Horace Warrenwould be glad to make some contribution toward my rehabilitation."

"You assume Mr Warren is myclient?"

"I assume he is a friend,otherwise you would not have been at his house last night. I also assume yourpresence at that little gathering was not without some significance. I feelthat you have some official contact with someone who is interested. But I seeno reason to cudgel my brains over a point which, as far as I'm concerned, isimmaterial. The point is that Mr Warren would follow any suggestion you mightmake which had for its purpose seeing that his wife's past was not brought intothe pitiless glare of publicity."

"And you are threatening to -"

Gideon held up his hand. "No,no, please, Mr Mason. Please!"

"I must have misunderstood youthen," Mason said.

"You certainly did. The pointis this, Mr Mason. Every move that I make is being reported to the governmentalagencies. The fact that I am here this afternoon is causing a lot ofspeculation. Why did I come here? What possible connection can I have with youor you with me? My correspondence has been censored for years. I've had nocontact with you. You haven't written me and I haven't written you.

"Therefore the authorities willassume that you must be representing the person who has the forty-seventhousand dollars and that I am calling on you to try and make a deal."

"I see," Mason said.

"So the government will startchecking on your clients, particularly those who have been in touch with you orwith whom you have been in touch during the past few days, or with whom youwill be in touch alter I leave this office.

"You'll be surprised howefficient some of these government operatives are. They can put two and twotogether just as I have. They doubtless have read or will read the societycolumn in the evening paper."

"And so?" Mason asked.

"And so they'll wonder why ithappens you broke your usual rule to attend what was seemingly a purely socialgathering. They'll start probing into the background of the guests, andeventually, of the host and hostess.

"That would be unfortunate, MrMason."

The lawyer remained silent.

"Now then," Gideon said,"if Mr Warren would make a contribution toward my financial welfare, itwould give me the margin I need to ditch the government's smooth shadows,vanish completely and be on my way."

"Otherwise?" Mason asked.

"Otherwise," Gideon said,"I am trapped in an economic net. They stripped me clean when they sent meto prison. They released me with only what is referred to as 'gatemoney'."

Mason regarded the man's clothes andthe cigar. "You seem to have done very well for yourself in a short periodof time."

Gideon smiled. "Let ussay," he said, "that I am resourceful and not entirelyunintelligent."

"And so you come to me?"Mason asked.

"And so I come to you,"Gideon said.

"And if your requests are notcomplied with?"

"Then I keep coming toyou," Gideon said. "Every time I come to you it causes more and morespeculation on the part of the government. And if, after my visits, you get intouch with Horace Warren or his wife, that triggers an investigation which wouldbe disastrous to the welfare of your clients."

"This is a very interestingform of blackmail," Mason said.

"Please, please, Mr Mason!Don't use that word! This is not blackmail. I have the greatest respect forHorace Warren and I am very, very fond of his wife. I wish them everyhappiness. I am trying to give them an opportunity to achieve that happiness.

"If I remain financiallyembarrassed, it is almost certain that sooner or later I will have to betraymyself. Some clue will crop up which will enable the authorities to know thereal identity of Loma Warren. Of course, they don't have anything against herat the moment, but they would bring her in and question her and it would soonbecome known that she was none other than Margaret Loma Neely who was tried andacquitted for conspiracy to defraud by use of the mails.

"Now surely, Mr Mason, youwouldn't want that to happen, and Mr Warren, with his present social andbusiness contacts, wouldn't want it to happen.

"I don't want any financialconsideration given me to keep quiet. That would be blackmail. I simply want tovanish. I want to elude the smooth shadows of the government. In order to dothat I need money. I have to be able to buy an automobile."

"Why an automobile?" Masonasked.

"Because I would need that inorder to ditch the smooth shadows and disappear."

"Surely," Mason said,"the government operatives could follow an automobile."

"Oh, of course. That's thesimplest thing in the world, particularly in these days when they haveelectronic shadowing devices. They simply put a little installation on myautomobile and the thing gives off little 'beeps' which would enable governmentdetectives in an automobile to follow me without the slightest bit of trouble.They wouldn't even have need to get close to me. They could get three or fourblocks behind me and still have no difficulty following me."

"Then perhaps you'd betterexplain why you want the automobile," Mason said.

"I would want to play the sametrick on the government detectives that they are trying to play on me. In otherwords, they want me to become overconfident and I want them to becomeoverconfident.

"You see, Mr Mason, I wouldn'tget a new car, and I would buy it on a contract. Then I would assume theinitiative. It has been my experience that one can do very much better when hehas the initiative.

"Of course, the money withwhich I paid for the automobile would be pounced on by government agents whowould look it over for some clue. I would, therefore, like to have this moneyin older bills of five-and ten-dollar denominations and some ones. It wouldappear that I had put the bite on someone who had had to dig deep into hissavings in order to get that money."

"Go on," Mason said.

"Then," Gideon went on, "Iwould take that automobile and let the government think that I had no ideathere were any smooth shadows on the job. I'd ditch the rough shadow, which, asI said, wouldn't be very much of a job."

"Go on," Mason said.

"So then the smooth shadowswould handle things in such a way that they would flatter themselves that Iwould have no idea I was being shadowed. They might perhaps have as many asfive cars on the job. They might even work with a helicopter andbinoculars."

"And they'd keep you in sight?"Mason asked.

Gideon grinned and said, "Ofcourse."

"They could do that?"Mason asked.

"They're clever," Gideonsaid, "and they hold all the face cards. I would, of course, go throughall the expected motions. I'd take a lot of evasive tactics so the governmentdetectives would know that I felt certain I had ditched the rough shadow. Iwould then go into a restaurant to eat, and leave the car parked outside.

"While I was gating, thegovernment agents would, of course, put an electronic bug on the car so that Iwould be shadowed by cars that were two or three blocks away."

"Just how would you handle thatsituation?" Mason asked.

Gideon smiled. "You have toleave me with some cards I don't turn face up, Mr Mason. I'd handle it. Thegovernment agents would never see me again. Just when they were flushed withtriumph, I'd trump their aces and be on my way."

"You're certain you could dothat?" Mason asked.

"I'm certain."

"The government has some goodmen who are highly trained," Mason said.

Gideon's silence was eloquent.

"In other words," Masonsaid, "if you get this money I'll never see you again?"

"Exactly."

"And if you don't get it?"

"I'll be in daily touch withyou."

"You realize that after thisinitial experience I wouldn't ever see you again," Mason said. "I'dlet you cool your heels in the outer office until you got tired."

"No," Gideon said, puffingat the cigar, then removing it from his mouth and turning it so he couldinspect the burning tobacco, "I rather think you'd see me, Mr Mason. Ithink you'd be instructed to see me."

"And do what?"

"Give me money."

"How much money?"

Gideon moved his hands in anexpansive gesture. "You would, of course, want me to make a good job ofit. You wouldn't want me to play right into their hands. You'd want to be surethat I didn't come back, because of course once I ditched the smooth shadowsthey'd put a stake-out on your office."

"And would probably assume thatI had given you the money with which to purchase an automobile."

"They might."

"And might even questionme."

"Oh, I think you can count onthat," Gideon said. "I think they'd be certain to question you. Afterthey once woke up to the fact that they had been outwitted, they'd be ratherannoyed. They'd question you. They'd think perhaps you had thought up thescheme for outwitting them. They'd talk about compounding felonies, about beingan accessory after the fact they'd be rather rough. But I'm assuming that youwould simply sit back in your chair, with an enigmatic smile, and tell themthat if they thought they had any case against you, to go right ahead andprosecute you otherwise, to just keep the hell out of your office and leave youalone."

"All of this has been mostentertaining," Mason said, "but it just happens, Gideon, that I don'tknow anyone who would be likely to give you any sum of money."

"You know the Warrens."

"I don't know them well enoughto go to them and suggest that they should pay blackm-"

Once more Gideon held up his hand."Please, Mr Mason, please don't use that word. It has unsavoryconnotations and it bothers me. It's crude."

"What do you think this is thatyou're doing?" Mason asked.

"I'm simply putting my cards onthe table."

"You're asking for money inreturn for silence."

"No, I'm not. I'm suggestingthat perhaps you might care to communicate with people who would like to seethat I had money for my rehabilitation."

"And in the event you don't getthe money, you're making threats."

"No, no! No threats,"Gideon said. "After all, Mr Mason, I haven't threatened you."

"You've said that you wouldkeep coming back here."

"I'm rather persistent,"Gideon said. "After all, there's no law which says I can't come to youroffice as often as I like. It's a public place. I am acting on the assumptionthat you will either advise some of your clients or, let us say, some of yourfriends, to pay me some money to see that I don't keep hanging around or thatyou will be instructed by those people to see that I get enough money so I canget out.

"Well, I mustn't detain you, MrMason. You're a busy man, a very busy man."

Gideon got to his feet.

Mason said, "Don't ever try toput pressure on me, Gideon. We deal with lots of blackmailers in this business.If I thought you were resorting to blackmail, I'd deal with youaccordingly."

"And how is that?" Gideonasked, smiling ominously as he stood in the exit doorway

"We have various methods ofdealing with blackmailers," Mason said.

"I dare say you do,"Gideon said. "And I certainly wouldn't want you to put me in thatcategory. However, I would like to know, just as a matter of curiosity, how youdo deal with blackmailers."

"There are three methods,"Mason said.

"Indeed?"

"One," Mason said, holdingup his right index finger, "you pay off."

"Very sensible," Gideonsaid.

"Two," Mason went onholding up a second finger, "you confide in the police. They protect yoursecret. You catch the blackmailer red-handed and he goes to prison."

"Very nice if it works,"Gideon said. "Now, what's the third method?"

Mason met his eyes, held up a thirdfinger. "The third method," he said, "is that you kill the sonof a bitch."

For a moment Gideon recoiled."You can't go to the police, and I can hardly fancy you as a murderer, MrMason."

"Guess again," Mason said."You, yourself, said that the utterly ruthless person had all theadvantage in this world."

"Well," Gideon said,"since I am not a blackmailer, the discussion is simply academic. I will,however, be in touch with you from time to time, Mr Mason, and I feel certainthat you will become interested in, shall we say, my rehabilitation?"

He bowed from the waist.

"Thank you for seeing me, MrMason." He turned, again bowed from the waist. "Miss Street," he said, his eyes and voiceappreciative. Then he opened the exit door and walked out into the corridorwithout once looking back.

Della Street looked at Perry Mason in dismay. "Whydid you say that about killing him?"

"I'll give him something tothink about," Mason said.

"Shall I try to get hold of MrWarren?" she asked.

"Heavens, no," Mason said."Remember that Warren told me calls had to go through his switchboard, that it would be verydifficult to get hold of him, and that our conversations would berestricted."

"You mean you aren't going tolet him know anything about this conversation?"

"Exactly," Mason said."He paid me to handle the situation and I'll handle it."