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"Then something came along and she quit, but she didn't tell them why she was quitting. She quit almost overnight, simply giving them two weeks" notice.
"She'd been supporting her mother, who had been helpless for some eighteen months prior to her death. It had taken every cent the girl could earn and scrape together to pay the expenses of nursing. She'd work in the office daytimes and then come home and take over the job of being night nurse. It was quite a physical strain and quite a financial drain."
"No one knew why she had quit?" Mason asked.
"No. She was rather mysterious about the whole thing, simply said she was going to take life a little easier, that she had been working very hard and had been under quite a strain. People who knew what she had been through sympathized with her and were glad to see her relaxing a bit.
"One of the girls in the office thought that Dia
"Dia
"Bodies?" Mason asked.
"The body of the other man was found, but George Alder's body was never found. That caused complications. At the time there was quite a bit of property, but his affairs were more or less involved and there was a delay due to the fact that the body wasn't found. However, after a while the court accepted circumstantial evidence that the man had died, and the property, which was community property, went to the wife. She tried to straighten it out so she could salvage something but there were too many complications. And I guess by the time she got through meeting obligations and working out equities, the estate didn't amount to much.
"The mother worked as a secretary for a while and got Dia
"Now then, we start in on Harrison T. Boring and there's a different story. Just as it was easy to find out about Dia
"However, we finally ran the guy to earth but we haven't been on the job long enough yet to tell you very much about him. Right at the moment he's somewhere in Hollywood. The place where he has desk space can evidently reach him on the phone whenever it's necessary.
"There's a phone listing under the name of the Hollywood Talent Scout Modeling Agency. It's the same number that's shared by all the clients, and the place where desk space is rented and where mail is answered.
"You wanted to find out about any millionaires in his background. There may be one. Boring has had some business dealings with a George D. Winlock. It's just business, but I don't know the nature of the business.
"Winlock is one of the big shots in Riverside, but he's very shy and retiring, very hard to see; handles most of his business through secretaries and attorneys; has a few close friends and spends quite a bit of his time aboard his yacht which he keeps at Santa Barbara."
"Did you make any attempt to run down Winlock?"
"Not yet. I don't know very much about him. He drifted into Riverside, went to work as a real estate salesman, worked hard and was fairly successful. Then he took an option on some property out at Palm Springs, peddled the property, made a neat profit on the deal, picked up more property and within a few years was buying and selling property right and left. The guy apparently has an unca
"Of course, today the desert is booming. Air conditioning has made it possible to live comfortably the year around, and the pure air and dry climate have been responsible for attracting lots of people with a corresponding increase in real estate prices.
"Winlock got right in on the ground floor of the desert boom, and as fast as he could make a dollar he spread it out over just as much desert property as he could tie up. At one time he was spread out pretty thin and was pretty much in debt. Now he's cashing in. He's paid off his obligations and has become quite wealthy."
"Married?" Mason asked.
"Married to a woman who has been married before and who has a grown son, Marvin Harvey Palmer.
"That's just about all I can tell you on short notice."
"When did Winlock come to Riverside?" Mason asked.
"I didn't get the date. It was around fifteen years ago."
Mason drummed with his fingers on the edge of the desk, looked up and said, "See what you can find out about Winlock, Paul."
Drake said, "What do you want me to do, Perry? Shall I put a man on Winlock?"
"Not at the moment," Mason said. "Boring yes, but Winlock, no."
"I already have a man working on Boring," Drake said. "He's in Hollywood at the moment and I've got a man ready to tail him as soon as contact can be made. I can put a round-the-clock tail on him if that's what you want."
"Probably the one man is sufficient at the moment," Mason said. "The point is that he mustn't get suspicious. I don't want him to feel anyone is taking an interest in him.
"What about the Hollywood Talent Scout Modeling Agency, Paul? Did you get anything on it?"
"It's just a letterhead business," Drake said. "The address is at one of those answering-service places where they have a telephone, a secretary and a business address that serves a dozen or so companies. The whole thing is handled by one woman who rents an office and then subrents desk space and gives a telephone-answering, mail-forwarding service."
"Okay, Paul," Mason said. "Stay with it until you find out what it's all about. Remember that technically I don't have any client. I'm doing this on my own so don't get your neck stuck out."
"Will do," Drake said and went out in a rush, slamming the door behind him.
Drake had been out of the office less than ten minutes when the phone rang and Della Street relayed the message from the receptionist. "Dia
Mason's frown suddenly lightened into a smile. "Well, how about that?" he said. "She's taken the bait and now someone has jerked the line and she's feeling the hook. Go bring her in, Della."
Della Street nodded, hurried through the door to the reception room and was back in a few moments with an apologetic Dia
"Mr. Mason," she said, "I know I shouldn't intrude on you without an appointment and I feel just terrible about what happened yesterday; but… well, the bottom has dropped out of everything and I just had to find out what to do."
"What's happened?" Mason asked.
"A letter," she said, "sent registered mail, with a return receipt demanded."
"You signed the receipt?"
She nodded.
"And the letter is from Boring?" Mason asked.