Страница 6 из 36
Dia
"Come on in," Mason invited.
She stood on the threshold as Della Street opened the door wide. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Mason. Thank you so much, but I won't disturb you, I'll just run on."
"Come in, I'd like to talk with you."
"I…"
Mason indicated a chair.
Reluctantly, apparently qot knowing how to avoid the lawyer's invitation without giving offense, Dia
"You have dependents?" Mason asked.
"No longer. Mother died over six months ago."
"Leave you any estate?" Mason asked casually.
"Heavens, no. She left a will leaving everything to me, but there wasn't anything to leave. I was supporting her. That's why I had to keep on with a steady job. I had thought some of-well, moving to the city but Mother liked it here and I didn't want to leave her, and it's too far to commute."
"Father living?"
"No. He died when I was ten years old. Really, Mr. Mason, I don't like to intrude on your time, and I-well… someone is waiting for me."
"I see," Mason said, and nodded to Della Street. "Better give her the contract, Della."
Dia
"Well?" Della Street said, closing the door.
Mason shook his head. "That girl needs someone to look after her."
"Isn't the contract all right?"
"Is Boring all right?" Mason asked.
"I don't know."
"He's paying one hundred dollars a week," Mason said. "He agrees to pay fifty-two hundred dollars a year. Suppose he doesn't pay it. Then what?"
"Why, he'd be liable for it, wouldn't he?"
"If he has any property," Mason said. "It hasn't been determined that he has any property. No one seems to know very much about him.
"Dia
"Suppose that some Saturday morning the hundred dollars isn't forthcoming. Suppose she rings the telephone of Harrison T. Boring at the modeling agency and finds the phone has been disco
"Yes," Della Street said, "I can see where that would put Dia
"He could," Mason said, "but if he hired her in the first place and her services were satisfactory, he would have no particular reason to dispense with them."
"Perhaps Boring would have no reason to dispense with her services," Della Street said.
"That depends on what he was looking for in the first place," Mason pointed out. "If Dia
Abruptly the lawyer reached a decision. "Get Paul Drake at the Drake Detective Agency, Della."
Della Street said, "Here we go again."
"We do, for a fact," Mason said. "This thing has aroused my curiosity. As an attorney I don't like to stand with my hands in my pockets and watch Dia
"I know I'm getting the cart before the horse, but I'll bet odds that before we get finished Dia
Della Street said archly, "Would you be so solicitous of her welfare if she were flat-chested?"
Mason gri
"All right," she said, "I'll call Paul. He usually comes into the office around this time on Sundays to check up on the reports made by his various operatives over Friday and Saturday."
Della Street put through the call. After a few moments she said, "Hello, Paul… The boss wants to talk with you."
Mason moved over to the telephone. "Hi, Paul. I have a job for you. A gentleman by the name of Harrison T. Boring. He has a business. It's called the Hollywood Talent Scout Modeling Agency. It's a Hollywood address and that's all I know for sure."
"What about him?" Drake asked.
"Get a line on him," Mason said, "and I'm particularly interested in knowing if he is cultivating some millionaire who has a penchant for young women. If you find any millionaires in the guy's background, I'd like to know about them.
"And it's very important that he has no inkling of the fact he's being investigated."
"Okay," Drake said, "I'll get a line on him."
"Here's another angle of the same picture," Mason said. "Dia
"May I ask who your client is?" Drake said. "I'd like to get the picture in proper perspective."
"I'm the client," Mason said. "Get your men started."
When Mason had hung up the telephone, Della Street said, "You think she's under surveillance, Perry?"
"I'm just wondering," Mason said. "I'd like to know if someone knew she'd been talking with us and had delivered a warning. She seemed rather disturbed about something. If anyone is playing games, I want to find out about it and if I'm going to be asked to sit in on the game I want to draw cards.
"Comment?"
Della Street smiled. "No comment, but I still wonder what would happen if she'd been flat-chested."
CHAPTER FOUR
Perry Mason had a court hearing set for Monday morning. The hearing ran over until midafternoon and it was not until three-thirty that the lawyer reached his office.
Della Street said, "Paul has a preliminary report on your friend, Harrison T. Boring."
"Good," Mason said.
"I'll tell him you're here and he'll give you the lowdown."
Della Street put through the call and a few moments later Paul Drake's code knock sounded on the door of Mason's private office.
Della Street opened the door and let him in.
"Hi, Beautiful," he said. "You certainly are a dish with all that beautiful sun tan."
"You haven't seen it all," she said demurely.
Mason said, "She gave me an overdose of sun just sitting out on the beach, looking at Dia
"I understand from my operatives," Drake said, "that Dia
"She certainly cuts a figure," Della Street said.
"She's a nice kid, Paul," Mason said, "and I'm afraid that she's being victimized. What have you found out?"
"Well, of course, Dia