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Belter walked toward thedoor. “All right,” he said. “Take a good look at this man, Digley. If you ever see him on the place again, throw him off. Call a cop if you have to.”
Mason turned and stared at the butler.
“Better call two cops, Digley,” he observed. “You might need ’em.”
He walked down the stairs, conscious of the fact that the other two men were descending immediately behind him. As he reached the lower hallway, a woman glided out from a corner near the door.
“I hope I didn’t interrupt you, George,” she said, “but…”
Her eyes met those of Perry Mason.
She was the woman who had called on Mason at his office, and given the name of Eva Griffin.
Her face drained of color. The blue eyes became dark with sudden panic. Then, by an effort, she controlled the expression of her face, and the blue eyes enlarged to that wide-eyed stare of baby i
Mason’s face showed nothing whatever. He stared at the woman with eyes that were perfectly calm and serene.
“Well?” asked Belter. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” she said, and her voice sounded thin and frightened. “I just didn’t know you were busy. I’m sorry I disturbed you.”
Belter said, “Don’t mind him. He’s just a shyster who got in under false pretenses—and is leaving in a hurry.”
Mason whirled on his heel.
“Listen, you,” he said, “I’m going to tell you…”
The butler grabbed his arm. “This way, sir,” he said.
Mason’s powerful shoulders swung in a pivot that was like the swing of a golf professional. The butler was hurled across the hallway and slammed against the wall with force that jarred the pictures on their hangings. Perry Mason strode directly to the massive form of George Belter.
“I decided to give you a break,” he said, “and now I’ve changed my mind. You publish a word about my client, or about me in your sheet, and you’ll go to jail for the next twenty years. D’you hear?”
The diamond-hard eyes stared at him with the uncordial glitter of a snake’s eyes staring into the face of a man armed with a club. George Belter’s right hand was in his coat pocket.
“It’s a good thing,” he said, “that you stopped right when you did. Make a move to lay a hand on me, and I’ll blow your heart out! I’ve got witnesses to show it’s self-defense, and I don’t know but what it would be a good thing to do anyway.”
“Don’t bother,” Mason said, evenly, “you can’t stop me that way. There are others who know what I know, and know where I am and why.”
Belter’s lip curled.
“The trouble with you is,” he said, “that you keep singing the same tune. You’ve already played that game for all that it’s worth. If you think that I’m afraid of anything that a cheap, blackmailing ambulance chaser can try to pin on me, you’re mistaken. I’m telling you to get out, for the last time!”
Mason turned on his heel. “All right. I’m getting out. I’ve said all I’ve got to say.”
George Belter’s sarcastic comment reached his ears as he gained the door.
“At least twice,” said Belter. “Some of it you’ve said three times.”
Chapter 5
Eva Belter sat in Perry Mason’s private office, and sobbed quietly into a handkerchief.
Perry Mason sat behind the desk with his coat off, and watched her with wary eyes and an entire absence of sympathy.
“You shouldn’t have done it,” she said, between sniffs.
“How was I supposed to know that?” asked Perry Mason.
“He’s utterly ruthless,” she said.
Mason nodded his head.
“I’m pretty ruthless myself,” he observed.
“Why didn’t you put the ad in the Examiner?”
“They wanted too much money. They seemed to think I was going to play Santa Claus.”
“They knew it was important,” she wailed. “There’s a lot at stake.”
Mason said nothing.
The woman sobbed silently for a moment, then raised her eyes, and stared in mute anguish at Perry Mason.
“You should never have threatened him,” she said. “You should never have come to the house. You can’t do anything with him by threats. Whenever he gets in a corner, he always fights his way out. He never asks for quarter, and he never gives any.”
“Well, what’s he going to do about it?” asked Mason.
“He’ll ruin you,” she sobbed. “He’ll find every lawsuit that you’ve got, and accuse you of jury bribing, of suborning perjury, and of unprofessional conduct. He’ll hound you out of the city.”
“The minute he puts anything about me in his paper,” said Mason, grimly, “I’ll sue him for libel, and I’ll keep on bringing a suit every time he mentions my name.”
She shook her head with tears on her cheeks.
“You can’t do that,” she said, “He’s too smart. He’s got lawyers who tell him just what he can do, and just what he can’t do. He’ll get around behind your back, and frighten the judges who are sitting on your cases. He’ll make the judges give adverse decisions. He’ll keep under cover and fight you at every turn of the road.”
Perry Mason drummed on the edge of his desk. “Baloney,” he said.
“Oh, why,” she wailed, “did you come out there? Why didn’t you simply put an ad in the paper?”
Mason got to his feet.
“Now look here,” he said. “I’ve heard enough of this. I went out there because I thought it was good business to go out there. That damned paper tried to hold me up, and I won’t be held up by anybody. Your husband may be ruthless, but I’m pretty ruthless myself. I’ve never asked for quarter yet. And I won’t give any.”
He paused to stare down at her accusingly. “If you’d been frank with me when you came in here this thing wouldn’t have happened. You had to go and lie about the whole business, and that’s the thing that’s responsible for the present mess. It rests on your shoulders, not on mine.”
“Don’t be cross with me, Mr. Mason,” she pleaded. “You’re all I’ve got to depend on now. It’s an awful mess, and you’ve got to see me through.”
He sat down once more and said, “Don’t lie to me then.”
She looked down at her knees, adjusted the hem of her dress over her stocking, and plaited little folds in the garment with the tips of her gloved fingers.
“What shall we do?” she asked.
“One of the first things we’ll do,” he said, “is to begin at the begi
“But you know all there is to know.”
“All right then,” said Mason, “tell me what I know, so that I can check up.”
She frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“Go ahead,” said Mason, “spill it. Tell me the whole business.”
Her voice was thin and helpless. She continued to fold the cloth of the skirt over the top of her crossed legs. She did not look at him as she talked.
“Nobody,” she said, “ever knew George Belter’s co