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CHAPTER ELEVEN
Della Street said, "We saved it for you, Chief, but it's all cold. I didn't dare to keep it in the warming oven for fear it would be too well done."
"That's all right," Mason said. "I'll eat it cold."
"Oh, no," Della Street protested. "Let's have another hot one sent up. I'll-"
"There may not be time," Mason said. "You didn't eat much, Dia
"I didn't- Somehow I don't seem to be hungry."
"A little different from the way you were when I first met you," Mason said.
"Yes, I-"
"Something happened to change the picture?" Mason asked conversationally, seating himself and cutting off a piece of the steak. "You don't crave food as you feared you would?"
"I… I don't know. I guess I just lost my appetite."
"What did you come up here for?" Mason asked.
"To Riverside?"
"Yes."
"To see Mr. Boring."
"See him?"
"Not yet. Della said to come here. I know now after listening to her, that you should be the one to do the talking."
There was silence for a minute.
Della Street said, "The coffee is hot, Chief. I kept that going over the candle flame but it isn't fresh-it will only take a few minutes to get more coffee."
Mason shook his head, said to Dia
"Why?" she asked, her eyes wide. "Did something happen to him?"
"Something happened to him," Mason said.
Dia
"Something happened to him," Mason said, "while you were talking with him."
"I… I…" She started blinking back tears.
Mason said, "Now look, Dia
"What do you mean, what happened?"
Mason said, "You went to the Restawhile Motel. You knew that Boring was in Unit io. You called on him. Now, did you find him lying on the floor or-"
"Lying on the floor!" she exclaimed. "What do you mean?"
"Go on," Mason said. "Tell me the truth. And don't ever lie to me-don't ever try to lie to me again, Dia
She said, "All right, Mr. Mason, I'll tell you the truth. I wanted to tell you the truth all along. I did see him. I knew he was up here at the Restawhile."
"Who told you?"
"This man that told me so much about him. He told me where I could find him. He told me that the only thing to do was to make him give me back the other copy of that contract; that he had deliberately tricked me and that he didn't care a thing in the world about whether I put on one pound or fifty; that all of that stuff about being a model and building up my figure and all that was just so much eyewash, that he would use that contract to get me to go to South America and then suddenly cut me off without any funds and I'd have to.. - to sell myself. He said that as long as Boring had that contract with my name on it, he could ruin my reputation any time he wanted to."
"Did you tell him Boring had terminated that contract?" Mason asked.
"No, because I felt that so-called repudiation was just a part of the plan to get me in his power."
"What time did you see Boring?" Mason asked.
"Just before I came here."
"And did he tear up the contract?"
"He… gave it back to me."
"And then what?"
"Then I walked out."
"How long were you there?"
"The whole thing couldn't have been over five minutes."
"And when you left, what about it?"
"Then I came here."
"How long were you in there?"
"It couldn't have been-not over five minutes."
"You couldn't have been in there fifteen or twenty minutes?"
"Heavens, no, Mr. Mason. I don't think I was in there five minutes. Those things happen awfully fast. I don't think I was in there over two minutes. I just told him that I'd found out about him and found out about that contract and it was all a phony and I wanted to call things off and I wanted him to give me that other copy of the contract back."
"And then what?"
"And then he said that he didn't know who had been talking to me but he had my name on the dotted line and, as he said, he had me sewed up."
"And then what?"
"Mr. Mason, I've been over it. It's just the way I told you. He told me that he had me all sewed up and I told him that I knew he was a big phony, that the whole contract was a phony, that he didn't have any career as a model for me, that he just wanted to get me in his power, and he laughed and said I was in his power, and I told him I wasn't, that if he thought he could make me do anything that wasn't right just because of the money involved, he had two more guesses coming and that I had retained you as my lawyer and then he gave me the contract. That scared him."
Mason said, "Look, Dia
She tried to meet his eyes but failed.
"Dia
Abruptly she said, "I have to lie, Mr. Mason. The truth is simply too utterly devastating."
Mason said harshly, "You've wasted enough time trying to lie. You can't get away with it, Dia
"What do you mean, too late?"
"The police," Mason said. "They may be here any minute. Now, tell me the truth."
"I'm afraid you won't believe me."
"Tell me the truth," Mason said, "and get started- fast!"
"All right," she said, "I went to the motel unit and- well, I was all worked up and excited and indignant and-"
"Never mind all that," Mason said. "What did you do?"
"I went to the door and it was open just an inch or two and I could see a light on inside. I knocked and no one answered so I pushed the door open and-well, there he was, lying on the floor. The place reeked with the smell of whiskey and I thought he was dead drunk."
"You didn't hit him with anything?"
She shook her head vehemently. "Heavens, no! He was lying there. I thought he was drunk and so I looked around to try and find his signed copy of my contract."
"And you found it?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"In a brief case."
"You took it?"
"Yes."
"Then what?"
"I bent over him and it was then I noticed that he was hurt. The whiskey wasn't on his breath, it was on his clothes."
"Then what?"
"I ran out, drove to a phone booth about three blocks clown the street, called the office of the motel, told the woman who answered that the man in Unit Number io had been hurt, and then hung up the phone before she could ask any questions.
"Then I came up here."
"Dia
She shook her head. "It was just as I told you. I took the contract. I didn't see any money."
"How long were you in there?"
"I don't think it was two minutes."
"Then why did you try to lie to me at first?"