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Again she nodded.
"Telling you that your contract was at an end?"
She said, "Not exactly. You'd better read it."
She took a letter from an envelope, unfolded the paper and handed it to Mason.
Mason read the letter aloud for the benefit of Della Street.
"My dear Miss Alder: I know that as a very attractive young woman you realize the instability of styles and the vagaries of the style designers.
"A few weeks ago when we approached you with the idea of creating a new trend, we felt that there were very great possibilities in the idea; and, what is more to the point, we had a wealthy backer who agreed with us.
"Now, unfortunately, there has been a change in certain trends which ha.s caused our backer to become decidedly cool to the whole idea and we ourselves now recognize the first indications of a potentially adverse trend.
"Under the circumstances, realizing that you are making great sacrifices in order to put on weight which may be difficult to take off, knowing that you have given up a good job and feeling that you can very readily either return to that position or secure one equally advantageous, we are reluctantly compelled to notify you that we are unable to go ahead with further payments under the contract.
"If you wish to keep yourself available and there should be a change in the trend, we will keep you in mind as our first choice but we feel it would be unfair to you to fail to notify you of what is happening and the fact that we will be unable to continue the weekly payments in the nature of a guarantee.
"Sincerely yours, Hollywood Talent Scout Modeling Agency, per Harrison T. Boring, President."
Mason studied the letter thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "May I see the envelope, please, Dia
She handed him the envelope and Mason studied the postmark.
"You received your money Saturday morning?" he asked.
She nodded.
"And this letter was postmarked Saturday morning. Would you mind telling me why you were so anxious to get your contract back yesterday, Dia
"Because I realized that I was not supposed to give out any information about what I was doing and-"
"And someone telephoned you or reminded you of that clause in your contract?"
"No, it was just something that I remembered Mr. Boring had said."
"What?"
"Well, you know I had been working as secretary for a firm of attorneys and he told me that he not only didn't want any publicity in co
"I see," Mason said.
"So after I let Della take the contract I suddenly realized that if she should show it to you, I would have been violating his instructions and the provisions of the contract. Tell me, Mr. Mason, do you suppose there's any chance that he knew what I was doing? That is, that I'd seen you Saturday and that I'd let Della Street look at the contract and-"
Mason interrupted by shaking his head. "This letter is postmarked eleven-thirty Saturday morning," he said.
"Oh, yes, that's right. I… I guess I felt a little guilty about letting the contract out of my possession."
"Was there a letter with the check you received Saturday morning?"
"No. Just the check. They never write letters, just send me the check."
"Did you notice the postmark?"
"No, I didn't."
"Save the envelope?"
"No."
"It must have been mailed Friday night," Mason said, "if you received it Saturday morning. Now, that means that between Friday night and Saturday noon, something happened to cause Mr. Boring to change his mind."
"He probably learned of some trend in styles which-"
"Nonsense!" Mason interrupted. "He wasn't thinking about any trend in styles. That contract, Dia
"What kind of a trap?"
"I don't know," Mason said, "but you will notice the way it's drawn. Boring pays you a hundred dollars a week and gets one-half of your gross income from all sources for a period of up to six years if he wants to hold the contract in force that long."
Dia
"That's what the contract says," Mason said.
"Well then, what right does he have to terminate it in this way?"
"He has no right," Mason said.
"I'm so glad to hear you say so! That was the way I read the contract, but this letter sounds so-so final."
"It sounds very final," Mason said. "Very final, very businesslike, and was intended to cause you to panic."
"But what should I do, Mr. Mason?"
"Give me a dollar," Mason said.
"A dollar?"
"Yes. By way of retainer, and leave your copy of the contract with me, if you brought it."
Dia
"I can pay you-I can pay you for your advice, Mr. Mason."
Mason shook his head. "I'll take the dollar, which makes you my client," he said. "i'll collect the rest of it from Boring or there won't be any charge."
Mason turned to Della Street. "Let's see what we can find listed under the Hollywood Talent Scout Modeling Agency, Della."
A few moments later Della Street said, "Here they are. Hollywood three, one, five hundred."
"Give them a ring," Mason said.
Della Street put through the co
Mason picked up his telephone and heard a feminine voice say, " Hollywood three, one, five hundred."
"Mr. Boring, please," Mason said.
"Who did you wish to speak with?"
"Mr. Boring."
"Boring?" she said. "Boring?… What number were you calling?"
" Hollywood three, one, five hundred."
"What?… Oh, yes, Mr. Boring, yes, yes. The Hollywood Talent Scout Modeling Agency. Just a moment, please. I think Mr. Boring is out of the office at the moment. Would you care to leave a message?"
"This is Perry Mason," the lawyer said. "I want him to call me on a matter of considerable importance. I'm an attorney at law and I wish to get in touch with him as soon as possible."
"I'll try and see that he gets the message just as soon as possible," the feminine voice said.
"Thank you," Mason said, and hung up.
He sat for a few moments looking speculatively at Dia
"Do you think there's any chance of getting something for me, Mr. Mason?"
"I don't know," Mason said. "A great deal depends on the setup of the Hollywood Talent Scout Modeling Agency. A great deal depends on whether I can find something on which to predicate a charge of fraud; or perhaps of obtaining money under false pretenses."
"False pretenses?" she asked.
Mason said, "I don't think Boring ever had the faintest idea of promoting you as a model legitimately. Whatever he had in mind for you was along entirely different lines. He didn't intend to use you to start any new styles, and my best guess is that all of this talk about finding a firm-fleshed young woman who could put on twelve pounds and still keep her curves in the right places was simply so much double-talk.
"I think the real object of the contract was to tie you up so that you would be forced to give Boring a fifty per cent share of your gross income."
"But I don't have any gross income other than the hundred dollars a week-unless, of course, I could make some because of modeling contracts and television and things of that sort."
"Exactly," Mason said. "There were outside sources of income which Boring felt would materialize. Now then, something happened between Friday night and Saturday noon to make him feel those sources of income were not going to materialize. The question is, what was it?"