The Case of the Stepdaughter’s Secret

Chapter Two

Paul Drake studied the copy of the blackmail note which Della Street had made on her typewriter.

“What do you make of it?” Mason asked.

“To whom was it sent?”

“To Rosena Andrews, who is the stepdaughter of Harlow Bissinger Bancroft.”

Drake whistled.

“Now then,” Mason said, “take another look at it. What do you make of it?”

“It’s the first bite,” Drake said. “If they fall for this, there will be another and another and another.”

Mason said, “I know. But look at the note again, Paul. Notice the business about the tightly sealed coffee can, and it has to be a red coffee can, capable of holding the money and ten silver dollars.”

“So?” Drake asked.

“So,” Mason said, “it means that the delivery is to be made by tossing the can in the water somewhere. And that, after all, is about the best way a blackmailer could work.

“The Bancrofts are at present living at their summer home out on Lake Merticito. Rosena Andrews, the stepdaughter, is an avid water-skier.

“My best guess is that the telephoned instructions will be for her to start out water-skiing with the can under her arm, to drop it at a certain spot in the lake, after making certain no other boats are around.”

“Then what?” Drake asked.

“Then the blackmailers’ boat will swoop out after Rosena is out of sight. They will pick up the coffee can, take out the money and the note, dump the can back in the water, with the lid off so it will sink, and the blackmailers will be merrily on their way.”

“And so?” Drake asked.

“So,” Mason said, “you’re going to have to work fast. I want you to round up some female operatives who will look good in bathing suits. If possible, get a starlet who would like to have some publicity in the newspapers. Dress the girls in the briefest bathing suits the law allows, and rent yourself the speediest boat you can find. Get one with twin motors that are souped up so the boat will be capable of having a burst of speed. Get a pair of powerful binoculars and get started.”

“What do I do?”

“Go out there and have the girls just act crazy,” Mason said. “Have them jumping in the water, flopping around, having water fights, taking sun baths. Run the boat at trolling speed, and if there is any fishing in the lake, you can have some fishing lines out. Then once in a while give the boat a burst of speed. All the time you’ll be hanging around the shoreline where you can keep a watch on the Bancroft residence.

“Sometime this afternoon or tomorrow, you’ll see Rosena Andrews coming out on water-skis and—”

“How will I recognize her?” Drake asked.

“If she’s your pigeon,” Mason said, “she’ll have a red coffee can under her arm, and the boat will leave from Bancroft’s summer home on the lake.”

“I see,” Drake said.

“She’ll go water-skiing or else just be running the boat,” Mason said. “You’re to make no effort to follow her. You’ll be loafing along the shoreline. You watch until she drops the red coffee can. When she drops that coffee can, your girls go crazy. You start the boat out at high speed — not directly for the coffee can, but to try and catch the waves made by the wake of Rosena’s boat. You splash up in the waves and have a great time, and then apparently by accident, you pick up this coffee can.

“Now, this is the tricky part of it, Paul. I want you to have a duplicate red coffee can. It will, of course, be empty. I want you to go past the can that Rosena drops so you can scoop it up with a landing net, but at exactly that moment, you drop the decoy coffee can into the water and keep right on going, so if anyone should be watching you, the action will be so fast that it will look as if you’ve simply cut in close to the floating coffee can but haven’t paid any particular attention to it.”

“That’ll take some doing,” Drake said.

“That’ll take perfect co-ordination, but it can be done,” Mason told him.

“You’ll be cutting figure eights and circles and you’ll have the surface of the lake all churned up with big waves. Have the girls water-skiing if they’re expert enough. That can will be up at the top of a wave, then down at the bottom. Anyone watching can’t be sure exactly what happens. I want you to have at least three, and preferably four, scantily clad girls in the boat. One of them can be a starlet who would like publicity. The others can be female operatives whose discretion you can trust.”

“And what do I do with the real coffee can when I get it?”

“You telephone me,” Mason said.

“And where will you be?”

“Della and I will be sitting on the porch of the country house of Melton Varas Elliott, that’s one of the mansions on the lake. Elliott has had me do work for him and will be glad to accommodate me in a matter of this sort. Once you get that coffee can in your possession, pop it into a bait box of some sort or a canvas duffle bag, so that anyone who is watching won’t see what you have.

“And after you’ve tossed out the decoy and have the real coffee can in your possession, get back to shore someplace where you can keep your eyes on that decoy coffee can. Some boat will come along to pick it up. I want to get the licence number of the boat, a description of the people who are in it, and I want to know where they go — but I don’t want them to know that they’re being followed. That’s where your girls are going to have to come in. They’ll be cutting all sorts of capers and you apparently will have your attention riveted exclusively on the girls.”

“Okay,” Drake said, “I’ll do my best.”

“Get started,” Mason told him. “Grab your car, get the girls and head for the lake. You don’t have much time. The probabilities are the delivery will take place sometime this afternoon.”

“On my way,” Drake said, leaving the office.

Mason turned to Della. “Ring up Melton Elliott, Della, and tell him that we want to use his house at Lake Merticito for the afternoon.

“In the meantime, Della, take this roll of film, or have Gertie take this roll of film over to Frank Stenter Dalton, the handwriting expert. Tell him to develop the pictures, make an enlarged print of the blackmail note, determine what make and model of typewriter was used in typing it, and then tell him to buy me a somewhat battered model of the same typewriter.

“Then get me three thousand dollars in tens and twenties,” he said, reaching for a chequebook; then added, as something of an afterthought, “you’d better take along a bathing suit, Della. It’s a hot day and you might like a swim.”