The Case of the Velvet Claws   ::   Гарднер Эрл Стенли

“Hell, it’s you! Don’t you ever stay in your office to seeclients?”

“Listen,” Mason told him, “I’ve got a break. Norma Veitch was married!”

“What of it?” asked Drake.

“She’s engaged to Carl Griffin.”

“Well, couldn’t she have gotten a divorce?”

“No. There’s no divorce. There wasn’t time for a divorce. The marriage was only six months ago.”

“Okay,” said Drake. “What do you want?”

“I want you to find her husband. His name’s Harry Loring. I want to find out when they separated, and why. And I’m particularly anxious to find out whether she ever knew Carl Griffin before she came to the house on her visit. In other words, I want to know whether she’d ever visited her mother while her mother was working at Belter’s place, before the date of this last visit.”

The detective whistled.

“By God!” he said. “I believe you’re going to set up a defense of emotional insanity, and the unwritten law for Eva Belter.”

“Will you get busy on that thing right away?”

“I can have it for you inside of half an hour if he’s anywheres in the city,” said Drake.

“The sooner the quicker. I’ll be waiting in the office.”

He went back to his own office, walked past Della Street without a word.

She stopped him as he was entering his office. “Harrison Burke telephoned.”

Mason raised his eyebrows.

“Where is he?”

“He wouldn’t say. He said he was going to call later. He wouldn’t even leave me a telephone number.”

“Presume he’s read about the new development, in the extras,” said Mason.

“He didn’t say. Just said that he’d call later.”

The telephone rang.

She motioned toward the inner office.

“This is probably the call,” she said.

Mason went into the inner office.

He heard Della Street say, “Just a moment, Mr. Burke,” and then as he took down the receiver, Burke’s voice on the wire.

“Hello, Burke,” he said.

Burke’s voice was still impressively resonant, but there was an overtone of panic in it. Every once in a while it seemed that his voice would climb to the high notes and crack, but he always managed to get it back after just the one break.

“Listen,” he said, “this is awful. I’ve just read the papers.”

Mason said, “It’s not so bad. You’re out of the murder case. You can pose as a friend of the family on the other. It isn’t going to be pleasant, but it isn’t like being held for murder.