The Case of the Stepdaughter’s Secret

Chapter Twenty-Two

It was four o’clock when Mason got Paul Drake on the phone.

“You down there at the bay, Paul?”

“I’m down here.”

“What’s the weather?”

“Foggy again.”

“Damn it,” Mason said, “I was hoping the fog would lift.”

“Well, it may be lifting. It looks as though it’s getting a little lighter.”

“You’re camped down there by that wharf?”

“Hell, I’m on the wharf,” Drake said. “I’ve got a set of white coveralls with the name of an oil company all over the back and I’m ostensibly waiting for boats to come in to be refuelled.”

“All right, keep your eyes open,” Mason said.

“What am I looking for?”

“Divers,” Mason told him. “I think before the afternoon is over you’ll find the district attorney and the sheriff down there with some divers. I’ve got the sheriff worried. He thinks that maybe he should have explored the bottom of the bay around where the yacht was found, and I’m positive the district attorney will try to disprove Mrs Bancroft’s testimony by sending a diver down to look over the place where she says she jumped overboard. I think he’s convinced the actual murder took place out where the yacht was found.”

“All right, I’ll stick on the job,” Drake said.

“And when any divers come along I’ll want to know,” Mason told him. “You have a phone there?”

“Right here on the wharf,” Drake said. “I’m sitting here inside the little cabin at the end of the wharf and looking out over the bay right now.”

“All right,” Mason said, “keep looking.”

“How long do I stay here?”

“Have someone bring your meals,” Mason told him. “Get a relief, if you have to, but I’d prefer to have you on the job personally.”

“It’s colder than hell with this fog,” Drake said. “I came down here with just a business suit. I’ve got these white coveralls over it but they’re not sufficient.”

“Try running and jumping up and down,” Mason told him. “Try thumping your hands against your thighs. That will keep the circulation going. Make your arms go up and down. Pretend you’re a seagull, trying to fly.”

“Go jump in the lake,” Drake told him. “It’s easy for you to sit up there in a heated office with the temperature regulated by a thermostat and tell me what to do to keep warm.”

Mason chuckled. “Just stay on the job, Paul. I’ve been a big help already, you’re mad enough now to keep warm for an hour.”