The Case of the Velvet Claws

“You and your mother talked over what you had seen, and decided that it was a fine opportunity to make Griffin pay a good price for silence. So it was agreed that he was to have his alternative of being convicted of murder, or making a marriage which would be advantageous to you.”

Sergeant Hoffman scratched his head,and lookedpuzzled.

Norma Veitch flashed a swift glance to her mother.

Mason said slowly, “This is your last chance to come clean. As a matter of fact, you’re both accessories after the fact, and, as such, you’re liable to prosecution, just as though you were guilty of murder. Griffin has made his statement, and we don’t need your testimony. If you want to try to keep up the deception, go ahead. If you want to cooperate with the Police Department, now’s your time to do it.”

Sergeant Hoffman interrupted. “I’m just going to ask you one question,” he said, “and that’s going to stop this business. Did you, or did you not, do what Mason says, or substantially what he said?”

Norma Veitch said, in a low voice, “Yes.”

Mrs. Veitch, roused at last, whirled on her with fury snapping in her eyes.

“Norma!” she screamed. “Shut up, you little fool! It’s a bluff! Can’t you see?”

Sergeant Hoffman moved toward her. “It may have been a bluff, Mrs. Veitch,” he said slowly, “but her statement and your comment have spilled the beans. Go ahead and tell the truth. It’s the only thing left for you to do; otherwise I’m going to figure you’re accessories after the fact.”

Mrs. Veitch ran her tongue along the line of her lips, and burst out furiously, “I should have known better than to trust the little fool! She didn’t know anything about it. She was asleep, as sound as a log. I was the one who heard the shot and came up here. I should have made him marry me, and never taken my daughter into my confidence. But I thought it was a break for her, and I gave it to her. That’s the gratitude I get!”

Sergeant Hoffman turned and stared at Perry Mason.

“This,” he said, “is a hell of a mess. What happened to the bullet that missed Belter?”

Mason laughed. “Sergeant,” he said, “that’s what had me fooled all along. That wet umbrella in the rack, and the locked door bothered me. I kept figuring what must have happened, and then I couldn’t figure out how it could have happened. I’ve been over this room carefully, looking for a bullet hole. And then I realized that Carl Griffin had sense enough to know that he couldn’t have pulled the crime if there had been that bullet hole. Therefore, there was only one thing which could have happened to that bullet. Don’t you see?

“Belter had been taking his bath. It’s an enormous bath tub, and holds over two feet of water when the bath water is drawn. He was furious with his wife and was waiting for her to come in. He heard her come in when he was in his bath, and jumped up and flung on a bathrobe, yelling for her to come up.

“They had their fight, and she shot at him. He was standing in the door of the bathroom, just about where the body was subsequently found. You can stand over there by the door and figure the line of fire by pointing your finger. When the bullet missed him, it went into the bath tub, and the water stopped the force of the bullet.

“Then Carl Griffin came home, and Belter told him what had happened. That’s when he unwittingly signed his own death warrant. Griffin saw his opportunity. He got Belter to stand in just the position he had been when the shot was fired, and then Griffin picked up the gun in his gloved hand, pointed it at Belter, fired one shot through the heart, picked up the second empty shell, which had been ejected, put it in his pocket, dropped the gun and walked out. That was all there was to it. It was that simple.”

Chapter 20

Morning sun streamed through the windows of Perry Mason’s office. He sat at his desk, his eyes blood-shot from lack of sleep, looking across at Paul Drake.

“Well,” said Paul Drake, “I got the low-down on it.”

“Shoot,” Perry Mason told him.

“He caved in about six o’clock this morning,” the detective said. “They worked on him all night. Norma Veitch tried to go back on her story when she saw that he was going to sit tight. It was the housekeeper that broke him down. She’s peculiar. She would have hung out until the end of the world if her daughter hadn’t cracked and spilled the beans.”

“So she worked against Griffin finally, eh?” asked the lawyer.

“Yes, that’s the fu

“How about Eva Belter?” asked Mason. “I’ve got a writ of habeas corpus out for her.”

“You won’t need it. I think they turned her loose about seven o’clock. Do you suppose she’ll come here?”

Mason shrugged his shoulders. “Perhaps she’ll be grateful,” he said, “perhaps not. The last time I saw her she was cursing me.”

The door in the outer office made a sound as it opened, then clicked back into place.

“Thought that door was locked,” said Paul Drake.

“Maybe it’s the janitor,” said Mason.

Drake got to his feet, gained the door of the private office in three swift strides, jerked the door open, looked out, and gri

Della Street’s voice came through from the outer office. “Good morning, Mr. Drake. Is Mr. Mason in there?”

“Yes,” said Drake, and closed the door.

He looked at his wristwatch and then at the lawyer. “Your secretary comes to work early,” he said.

“What time is it?”

“Not eight o’clock yet.”

“She’s not due until nine,” Mason said. “I didn’t want to bother her. She’s had so much work piled on her in this case. So I worked out the application for a writ of habeas corpus on the typewriter myself. I got a judge to sign it about midnight, and had it served.”

“Well, they turned her loose,” the detective said. “You wouldn’t have needed the writ.”

“It’s better to have them when you don’t need them than to need them when you haven’t got them,” Perry Mason said grimly.

Once more the outer door opened and closed. In the quiet of the building the sound came through to the i

The business street below the office had not yet taken on its rumble of sounds, and the words were audible to the detective. He got to his feet. “I’m on my way, Perry,” he said. “Just dropped in to tell you that Griffin has confessed and that they’ve turned your client loose.”