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“I’m not a fool, and I knew how black things would look for me, particularly in view of the mess that I was in with Harrison Burke on account of the Beechwood I
“I just ran blindly out into the rain and didn’t have very much of an idea what I was doing. I remember grabbing a coat as I went past the hall stand. But it shows how rattled I was that I didn’t even take my own coat. It was there, but I grabbed an old overcoat that Carl Griffin sometimes wore. I threw it around me and kept ru
“He didn’t run after me, so I was afraid that I’d killed him. It really wasn’t premeditated. It was just on impulse. He’d found my purse and gone through it. That was a habit he had, looking for letters. I wasn’t foolish enough to have any letters in there, but I did have those receipts, and he put two and two together.
“He was taking a bath when I came in. He heard me, I guess. He climbed out of the bathtub, and threw the bathrobe around him, and started bellowing for me. I went up there and he had the receipts. He accused me of being the woman who was with Harrison Burke, and then he accused me of a lot of things, and said that he was going to throw me out without a pe
“It was a stall that wouldn’t have gone over with you, but it went over with Burke all right. Burke was frantic.
“I told him there was only one thing to do, and that was for him to get under cover, and fix it so they couldn’t trace the gun to him, if he could. And in the meantime, to see that you had plenty of money to go ahead and do anything that you could. Then I telephoned you and got you to come over.
“While you were driving down there, I got to thinking how much better it would be if I could have you in a position where you were forced to get me out of it in order to save yourself and also, have some kind of an explanation that I could make to the police if the police should start suspecting me.
“You were right about that.” She went on, “I knew that they could never convict you, because you were too smart and skillful. You could get out of it, and I figured that if they got to crowding me too close, I’d give them the information that I did, so that they’d go after you and that would clear me. If they ever tried to come back on me after you had drawn their fire, I knew that it would be an easy case to beat.”
Mason looked up at Paul Drake and shook hishead.
“Nice little playmate, isn’t she?” he said.
There was a knock at the door.
Mason looked at the occupants of the room. Then tiptoed to the door, and opened it.
Sidney Drumm stood on the threshold. There was another man back of him.
“Hello, Perry,” he said. “We had a devil of a time finding you. We trailed Della Street to this hotel, but it took us quite a little while to find out what alias you were registered under. I’m sorry to bother you, but you’ve got to take a little ride with me. The District Attorney wants to ask you a few questions.”
Mason nodded. “Walk right in,” he said.
Eva Belter gave a little cry. “Perry, you’ve got to protect me! I came clean. You’ve got to stand back of me.”
Perry looked at her, then turned abruptly to Sidney Drumm.
“This is a break for you, Sidney,” he said. “You’re going to be able to make the arrest. This is Eva Belter, who has just confessed to the murder of her husband.”
Eva Belter screamed, got to her feet and swayed uncertainly.
Drumm looked from one to the other.
“It’s a fact,” Paul Drake said.
Mason motioned toward Della Street.
“It’s all down there,” he said, “in black and white. We’ve got witnesses, and we’ve got her statement taken verbatim.”
Sidney Drumm whistled under his breath.
“By God, Perry,” he said, “that’s a lucky break for you! They were going to charge you with the murder.”
Mason’s voice was savage, “There wasn’t any luck about it. I was willing to give her a break as long as she shot square. But when I read in the paper about her dragging me into it, I made up my mind that I was going to call for a show-down.”
Paul Drake said, “Do you really know where Harrison Burke is?”
“Hell, no!” said Perry Mason. “I didn’t even get out of this room last night. I simply sat here and thought. I did get hold of Mrs. Veitch, and told her that Eva Belter was going to be in here this morning and wanted her to be here in order to corroborate a statement she was going to make to the reporters. I sent a taxi out for Mrs. Veitch and had her come in.”
“She wouldn’t have backed you up in the statement?” asked Drake.
“I don’t know,” said Mason. “I don’t think so. I didn’t talk with her at all. She wouldn’t talk with me. I think she’s holding something back, though. I’m satisfied she knows something. I simply wanted to have you open the door and let Eva Belter see her here for the purpose of exerting a little pressure.”
Eva Belter stared white-faced at Perry Mason.
“Damn you,” she said, “for a double-crossing back-stabber!”
It was Sidney Drumm who gave the situation its last touch of irony. “Hell,” he said, “Eva Belter was the woman who told us where you were, Perry. She said she was going to see you this morning and that we could wait until someone else came here and claim we’d followed that other person. She wanted to have you think we’d followed Della Street or someone, instead of her.”
Mason made no comment. His face was suddenly very weary.