Chapter Five

It was midafternoon when Paul Drake again gave his code knock on Mason’s door and Della Street let him in.

“Well, Perry,” Drake said, “I’ve had more reports from Cloverville and I can give you the picture. I don’t know what it’s all about, but the information I have can be used by you to fill in the missing parts.”

“Shoot,” Mason said.

“The Cloverville Spring and Suspension Company is virtually a one-man concern. It was operated by Harmon Haslett until his death a few days ago. His father, Ezekiel Haslett, was the founder of the company, and the company, as I told you, is virtually all there is to Cloverville.

“Haslett was unmarried at the time of his death, but he left two half brothers, Bruce Jasper and Norman Jasper.

“Rumor has it that there’s a will leaving everything to the Jaspers unless Haslett left issue.

“That is a peculiar provision in the will, because although Haslett was once married, so far as is known he never had any children.

“Now, then, I give you rank gossip, but this is a story that my operative ferreted out.

“Many years ago, during his flaming youth, Harmon Haslett got a girl in ‘trouble,’ as they said in the parlance of the times.

“The girl was all right as far as that end of it was concerned, but she wasn’t society and Haslett was the crème de la crème of Cloverville. He was supposed to make a marriage with some wealthy society queen and all that sort of stuff.

“Haslett got in a panic when he found out about the girl, and he went to Garland — our old friend Slick Garland, the troubleshooter for the company, the man who is supposed to keep the public image intact.

“At that time Harmon’s father, Ezekiel Haslett, would have raised the roof if he had known that his son had a girl in trouble.

“Good old Garland was the worldly-wise man of the picture. Apparently he said to the kid, ‘Now, take it easy, buddy; this is something that can happen to anyone.’

“ ‘I’ll tell you what you do. You get on the next boat for Europe. Stay over there for a year if necessary. At the same time I’ll send your girlfriend a thousand dollars. That’s the smart way to take care of it.’ ”

“How did you hear this?” Mason asked Drake.

“Through my operative, who, in turn, had it from a person to whom Haslett had confided the secret of his past.

“Everything worked out the way it was supposed to. Haslett went to Europe; the troubleshooter sent the girl — whose name, incidentally, was never mentioned to the person in whom Haslett confided — a thousand dollars in crisp new hundred-dollar bills in a plain, unmarked envelope.

“The girl took the money and disappeared. Up to that point everything went according to schedule.

“There was only one flaw: the girl didn’t come back.

“Now that started worrying Haslett. He felt that if the girl had had things fixed up, within the course of time she would have returned. But she never came back. Her parents apparently had never heard from her, and eventually they moved away. I believe the father died and the mother remarried.

“Haslett felt that somewhere he might have an illegitimate child. He spent money trying to find some trace of the girl. He couldn’t even get a clue.

“Now, then, the half brothers want to be able to prove that there never was any child — or if there was a child, they want to prove that it wasn’t Haslett’s child.

“Their idea is to locate the woman in the case, to get her to confide in some clever female operative, and to find out what happened to the illegitimate child; and if the child is still alive, they want to be able to prove that the father was someone other than Haslett.

“Haslett never even intimated that the child wasn’t his, although the troubleshooter, good old Slick Garland, kept implanting doubts in Haslett’s mind.”

“He could trust Garland to protect his secret?” Mason asked.

“Apparently Garland was one of those troubleshooters who knew what to do and went ahead and did it and then knew how to keep his mouth shut.”

“Looking at it from young Haslett’s point of view, you can see the logic of the situation and the fact that he was getting sound advice,” Mason said.

“Does anyone look at it from the girl’s point of view?” Della asked.

“Apparently Garland did,” Drake said; “but he just may have sized her up a hundred per cent wrong.”

Mason glanced at Della Street.

“The fact that she never returned home, never kept in touch with her parents, is certainly indicative of the fact that she didn’t do what they planned for her to do.”

Mason and Della Street exchanged glances.

“Now, then,” Drake went on, “you’re dealing with some mysterious woman. You substituted a ringer, a decoy. You haven’t told me anything about the case, other than that you wanted a decoy of a certain description. I furnished you that decoy. I don’t know anything about the case except what you’ve told me and what I’ve reported to you. I imagine you can’t tell me anything more without betraying the confidence of a client, but here’s the information. I’ve dumped it in your lap.”

Paul Drake got to his feet. “All right. Perry,” he said, “this is official notification that even with trade discounts your client’s two hundred dollars is long gone and your additional two hundred just disappeared around the corner. Now, then, do I discontinue everything?”

“That would mean having your operative move out of the apartment?”

“Sure,” Drake said. “I’m paying her a per diem and all of her expenses. I’m doing this job for you at cost and maybe a little less.”

“Don’t,” Mason said. “Bill me at regular prices, Paul.”

“And what do I do about discontinuing?”

“Keep on until I tell you to stop,” Mason said. “I’m enjoying this tremendously; and somehow I have a hunch, Paul, that all of the information we can collect at this time is going to prove very valuable later on.”

“Will contest?” Drake asked. “That’s somewhat out of your line, isn’t it?”

Mason said, “I’m a trial lawyer, Paul. I go into court on anything where there’s a contest. I’ve specialized in criminal cases. I’ve done some personal-injury work. I have tried a will contest now and then. Wherever there’s a fight, I’m apt to be in the middle of it.”

“Well,” Drake said, “you could have a fight in this case. I’ll keep on. Perry, but it’s going to cost money.”

“I’ve got money.”

Drake laughed. “You also have the damnedest sense of adventure.”

“And,” Mason said, “I have a sense of justice. When I see all of these people pitted against... Oh, well, never mind.”

Drake grinned. “I’m not doing any speculating, Perry. I don’t even want to know where you have the real girl stashed away, but I can warn you to be careful. Garland is one hell of a smart operator. Jarmen Dayton is no slouch. You may have those people fooled for a while, but be careful they don’t turn the tables on you.”

“I’ll be careful,” Mason promised.