JК
The Case of the Velvet Claws :: Гарднер Эрл Стенли
Страница: 45 из 149He had that same quiet way of dominating a conversation. He could raise his voice, and yet make it seem quiet and controlled, just like you, but I’ll never mention that to any one, never in the world! They could torture me, but I wouldn’t mention your name.”
She widened her blue eyes by an effort, and stared full into his face with that look of studied innocence.
Perry Mason stared at her, then shrugged his shoulders. “All right,” he said, “we’ll talk about that later. In the meantime you’ve got to get yourself together. Now were your husband and this other man quarreling about you?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know!” she said. “Can’t you understand that I don’t know what they were talking about? I only know that I must go back there. What will happen if somebody else should discover the body and I should be gone?”
Mason said, “That’s all right, but you’ve waited this long, and a minute or two isn’t going to make any great difference now. There’s one thing I want to know before we go.”
“What is it?”
He reached over and took her face and turned it until the light from the globe in the top of the car was shining full on her face. Then he said, slowly, “Was it Harrison Burke that was up in the room with him when that shot was fired?”
She gasped. “My God, no!”
“Was Harrison Burke out there tonight?”
“No.”
“Did he call you up tonight or this afternoon?”
“No,” she said, “I don’t know anything about Harrison Burke. I haven’t seen him or heard from him since that night at the Beechwood Inn, and I don’t want to. He has done nothing but bring trouble into my life.”
Mason said, grimly: “Then, how did it happen that you knew that I had told him of your husband’s connection with Spicy Bits?”
She dropped her eyes from his, tried to shake her head free of his hands.
“Go on,” he said, remorselessly, “answer the question. Did he tell you that when he was out there tonight?”
“No,” she muttered in a subdued voice. “He told me that when he telephoned me this afternoon.”
“Then he did call up this afternoon, eh?”
“Yes.”
“How soon after I had been at his office, do you know?”
“I think it was right after.”
“Before he had sent me some money by messenger?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before? Why did you say that you hadn’t heard from him?”
“I forgot,” she said. “I did tell you earlier that he’d called up.
She widened her blue eyes by an effort, and stared full into his face with that look of studied innocence.
Perry Mason stared at her, then shrugged his shoulders. “All right,” he said, “we’ll talk about that later. In the meantime you’ve got to get yourself together. Now were your husband and this other man quarreling about you?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know!” she said. “Can’t you understand that I don’t know what they were talking about? I only know that I must go back there. What will happen if somebody else should discover the body and I should be gone?”
Mason said, “That’s all right, but you’ve waited this long, and a minute or two isn’t going to make any great difference now. There’s one thing I want to know before we go.”
“What is it?”
He reached over and took her face and turned it until the light from the globe in the top of the car was shining full on her face. Then he said, slowly, “Was it Harrison Burke that was up in the room with him when that shot was fired?”
She gasped. “My God, no!”
“Was Harrison Burke out there tonight?”
“No.”
“Did he call you up tonight or this afternoon?”
“No,” she said, “I don’t know anything about Harrison Burke. I haven’t seen him or heard from him since that night at the Beechwood Inn, and I don’t want to. He has done nothing but bring trouble into my life.”
Mason said, grimly: “Then, how did it happen that you knew that I had told him of your husband’s connection with Spicy Bits?”
She dropped her eyes from his, tried to shake her head free of his hands.
“Go on,” he said, remorselessly, “answer the question. Did he tell you that when he was out there tonight?”
“No,” she muttered in a subdued voice. “He told me that when he telephoned me this afternoon.”
“Then he did call up this afternoon, eh?”
“Yes.”
“How soon after I had been at his office, do you know?”
“I think it was right after.”
“Before he had sent me some money by messenger?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before? Why did you say that you hadn’t heard from him?”
“I forgot,” she said. “I did tell you earlier that he’d called up.