The Case of the Velvet Claws   ::   Гарднер Эрл Стенли

“Thank God I’ve got you! Get in your carand come at once! This is Eva Belter.”

Perry Mason was still sleepy.

“Come where?” he said. “What’s the matter?”

“Something awful has happened,” she said. “Don’t come to the house. I’m not there.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m down at a drug store onGriswold Avenue. Drive out the Avenue and you’ll see the lights in the drug store. I’ll be standing in front of it.”

Perry Mason was getting his faculties together.

“Listen,” he said, “I’ve answered night calls before, where people have been trying to take me for a ride. Let’s make sure that there isn’t anything phony about this.”

She screamed at him over the telephone.

“Oh, don’t be so damned cautious! Come out here at once. I tell you I’m in serious trouble. You can recognize my voice all right.”

Mason said calmly, “Yes. I know all that. What was the name you gave me the first time you came to the office?”

“Griffin!” she shrieked.

“Okay,” said Mason. “Coming out.”

He climbed into his clothes, slipped a revolver in his hip pocket, pulled on a raincoat, and a cap which came down low over his forehead, switched out the lights, and left the apartment. His car was in the garage, and he nursed it into action; moved out into the rain before the motor was fully warmed.

The car spat and backfired as he turned the corner. Mason kept the choke out and stepped on the gas. Rain whipped against the windshield. Little geysers of water mushroomed up from the pavement where the big drops splashed down were turned to brilliance by the illumination of his headlights.

Mason ignored the possibility of any other traffic on the road as he swept past the intersections with increasing speed. He turned to the right onGriswold Avenue, and ran for a mile and a half before he slowed down and commenced to look for lights.

He saw her standing in front of a drug store. She had on a coat and no hat, and was heedless of the rain, which had soaked her hair thoroughly. Her eyes were wide and scared.

Perry Mason swung into the curb and brought the car to a stop.

“I thought you’d never get here,” she said, as he opened the door for her.

She climbed in, and Perry saw that she wore an evening gown, satin shoes, and a man’s coat. She was soaking wet and water trickled down to the floorboards of the car.

“What’s the trouble?” Perry Mason asked.