The Case of the Spurious Spinster (Perry Mason Series Book 64) by Erle Stanley Gardner

Author:Erle Stanley Gardner [Gardner, Erle Stanley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Della Street Press
Published: 2014-03-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Perry Mason rang the chimes in Susan Fisher’s apartment and received no answer.

He frowned at Delia Street, tried the door. The door was locked. Again he sounded the chimes.

“I can’t understand it,” Mason said. “I told her to stay in her apartment and be where she could be reached instantly on the telephone.”

“What do you suppose has happened?” Della Street asked.

“Whatever it was,” Mason said, “it was something of sufficient importance to cause her to break the promise she made me and . . . unless, of course, she was confronted with some emergency and called Paul Drake. Let’s see if she left a message there.”

They went back down to the ground floor, found a telephone booth and called Drake.

“Perry Mason,” the lawyer said. “What have you heard from Susan Fisher—anything?”

“She telephoned at six o’clock,” Drake said. “She told me that something had come up which was so exceedingly confidential she didn’t dare breathe a word of it, but that she was going to have to be out for a while. She asked me to relay the message to you.”

“Did you try to pump her to find out what it was?”

“Yes, but I couldn’t get to first base. She was evidently in a breathless hurry. She said to tell you things were going to be all right and for you not to worry.”

“Okay,” Mason said. “I’ll keep in touch with you. She’ll let you know when she gets back.”

The lawyer hung up the telephone, emerged from the booth and shook his head in response to Della Street’s unspoken question. “She’s gone out,” he said. “She left rather a cryptic message for Paul Drake. He said she was in a breathless hurry. Under the circumstances, Della, I guess we go and eat. Everybody seems to be standing us up tonight.”

“Those,” Della Street announced, “are words that ring musical chimes in my brain. Those words tinkle upon my eardrums with the effect of music—we eat.”

Mason said, “Well, we’ll do it on the installment plan, Della. I notice there’s a cocktail lounge a couple of blocks down the street. We’ll go down there, have a cocktail, then get back here in about twenty minutes, check on our client once more and then if she isn’t in we’ll go get a nice dinner.”

Della Street said, “May I offer an amendment?”

“What is it?”

“Long experience with you has taught me that the bird in the hand is far, far better than two in the bush. In place of having a cocktail now and eats later, let’s forget the cocktail and put in the half-hour at the restaurant around the corner. I would much prefer digesting a meat loaf in my stomach than to get through until midnight on the promise of a filet mignon. Meat is more nourishing than words.”

“Okay,” Mason said, laughing, “but I want to be back here within thirty minutes at the outside. There’s something about this case which worries me.”

They went to a little restaurant around the corner where the service was prompt.

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