JК
The Case of the Lucky Legs :: Гарднер Эрл Стенли
Страница: 7 из 154What is it you want?"
"I want to find out what deputy was consulted by a man named Bradbury who came here from Cloverdale to see about a racket that was pulled on the Chamber of Commerce in Cloverdale."
She frowned.
"Bradbury?" she said. "Why it was Dr. Doray who was in here about that—Dr. Robert Doray."
"No," he said, "I'm after a Bradbury—that's the name—J.R. Bradbury."
"Wait a minute," she said, "I'll take a look through the appointment book."
She ran her finger down the pages of a daybook, then nodded.
"Yes, he saw Carl Manchester. They both saw Carl Manchester."
"And Dr. Doray," said Perry Mason, "being young, handsome and impressionable, is remembered without consulting the records, whereas Bradbury, being fattish and forty, is relegated to the limbo of forgotten names. Once more psychologists are vindicated in claiming that we remember that which we are interested in, and —"
"Carl Manchester," she said, interrupting him, "is the third door down the corridor on the left. Shall I tell him you're coming? If you start probing the secrets of my heart, I'm going to bang this law book at you, and there's a sadfaced man who was defrauded out of the savings of a lifetime sitting there in the waitingroom, who'll think it's conduct unbecoming a lady and as out of place as an accordion at a funeral."
"Tell him I'm on my way in," Perry Mason said, smiling, and walked through the gate which separated the waitingroom from the long corridor of offices.
Carl Manchester looked up from a law book, a halfsmoked cigarette hanging from his lips, as Perry Mason opened the door.
Manchester gave the impression of being one whose body was always on an angle of fortyfive degrees. He seemed to put in his entire waking time leaning over a law book in rapt concentration, or else looking up at a visitor with the manner of one who trusts that the interruption will not cause him to lose his place in the book he is reading.
"Hello, Perry," he said. "What brings you here?"
"Doing my duty to a client," said Perry Mason.
"Don't tell me you're retained in that hammer murder!" Manchester said. "We've got a good case against that woman, but if you start in —"
"No," Mason said, "I'm working on the same side of the street you are this time."
"How do you mean?"
"Bradbury was in to see you about Frank Patton, who put on a racket in Cloverdale," Mason said.
"So was Dr. Doray," Manchester told him. "Doray's coming back in half an hour.
"I want to find out what deputy was consulted by a man named Bradbury who came here from Cloverdale to see about a racket that was pulled on the Chamber of Commerce in Cloverdale."
She frowned.
"Bradbury?" she said. "Why it was Dr. Doray who was in here about that—Dr. Robert Doray."
"No," he said, "I'm after a Bradbury—that's the name—J.R. Bradbury."
"Wait a minute," she said, "I'll take a look through the appointment book."
She ran her finger down the pages of a daybook, then nodded.
"Yes, he saw Carl Manchester. They both saw Carl Manchester."
"And Dr. Doray," said Perry Mason, "being young, handsome and impressionable, is remembered without consulting the records, whereas Bradbury, being fattish and forty, is relegated to the limbo of forgotten names. Once more psychologists are vindicated in claiming that we remember that which we are interested in, and —"
"Carl Manchester," she said, interrupting him, "is the third door down the corridor on the left. Shall I tell him you're coming? If you start probing the secrets of my heart, I'm going to bang this law book at you, and there's a sadfaced man who was defrauded out of the savings of a lifetime sitting there in the waitingroom, who'll think it's conduct unbecoming a lady and as out of place as an accordion at a funeral."
"Tell him I'm on my way in," Perry Mason said, smiling, and walked through the gate which separated the waitingroom from the long corridor of offices.
Carl Manchester looked up from a law book, a halfsmoked cigarette hanging from his lips, as Perry Mason opened the door.
Manchester gave the impression of being one whose body was always on an angle of fortyfive degrees. He seemed to put in his entire waking time leaning over a law book in rapt concentration, or else looking up at a visitor with the manner of one who trusts that the interruption will not cause him to lose his place in the book he is reading.
"Hello, Perry," he said. "What brings you here?"
"Doing my duty to a client," said Perry Mason.
"Don't tell me you're retained in that hammer murder!" Manchester said. "We've got a good case against that woman, but if you start in —"
"No," Mason said, "I'm working on the same side of the street you are this time."
"How do you mean?"
"Bradbury was in to see you about Frank Patton, who put on a racket in Cloverdale," Mason said.
"So was Dr. Doray," Manchester told him. "Doray's coming back in half an hour.