The Case of the Velvet Claws   ::   Гарднер Эрл Стенли

“Do you see those?” he asked Eva Belter.

Eva Belter looked at him, frowned, and nodded her head.

“All right,” said Mason. “Those are cases. Every one of them is a case, and all the other drawers are filled with cases just the same way. They represent cases that I’ve handled. Most of them are murder cases.

“When I get all done with your case you’re going to have a jacket in there, just about the same size as all of the other jackets, and it’s going to be of just about the same importance. Miss Street is going to give you a number. Then if anything comes up, and I want to look back at the case to find out what was done I’ll give her that number, and she’ll get me the jacket with the papers in it.”

Eva Belter frowned.

“What’s the matter,” she asked, “don’t you feel well? What are you trying to do? What do you want to say?”

Della Street stepped from the filing case to the door which led to the outer office. She moved out and softly closed the door. Perry Mason stared steadily at Eva Belter, and said, “I’m just telling you where you stand in this office. You’re a case and nothing but a case. There are hundreds of cases in that file, and there are going to be hundreds of other cases. You’ve paid me some money already, and you’re going to pay me five thousand dollars more. If you take my advice you’re going to get twentyfive hundred of it from Harrison Burke.”

Eva Belter’s lip quivered.

“I wanted to thank you,” she said. “Believe me, this is sincere. This comes from the heart. I’ve done play acting with you before, but this time it’s real. I feel so deeply grateful to you that I’d do anything on earth for you. You’re simply wonderful. I come up here to tell you so, and you start talking to me as though I was just a specimen that had strayed into a laboratory.”

This time there were real tears in her eyes, and she looked at him wistfully.

“There’s lots to be done yet,” he told her. “You’ve got to see that Griffin is convicted of first degree murder, in order to set that will aside. You’ve got to keep in the background in this thing, but you’ve got to keep in the battle. The only money that’s available to Griffin is money that’s in George Belter’s safe. We’ve got to see that he doesn’t get any of it. Those are some of the things that have got to be done. I’m just telling you so you won’t think you can get along without me.”

“That isn’t what I said! That isn’t what I meant. That isn’t what I thought,” she said rapidly.