The Case of the Velvet Claws   ::   Гарднер Эрл Стенли

“Iunderstood that they were looking for you,” he said.

“Who was?” asked Perry Mason carelessly.

“Reporters, police, detectives. Lots of people,” said Locke.

“I saw them all.”

“This afternoon?”

“No, last night. Why?”

“Nothing,” Locke replied, “except that they may be looking for you in a different way now. What is it you want?”

“I just dropped in to tell you that Eva Belter had filed a petition for letters of administration on her husband’s estate.”

“What’s that to me?” asked Locke, his milkchocolate eyes on Perry Mason.

“It means that Eva Belter is running things from now on. You’re going to take your orders from her,” said Mason. “And it means that, inasmuch as I’m representing Eva Belter, you’re going to take some orders from me. One of the first things you’re going to do is to kill anything about that Beechwood Inn affair.”

“Is that so?” said Locke, sarcastically.

“That,” said Mason, with emphasis, “is so.”

“You’re what they call an optimist.”

“Maybe I am. Again, maybe I’m not. Just take down the telephone and ring up Eva Belter.”

“I don’t have to ring up Eva Belter, or anybody else. I’m running this newspaper.”

“You’re going to be like that, are you?”

“Just like that,” Locke snapped.

“I might talk with you again if we went some place where I was certain that I could talk without too many people listening,” Mason remarked.

“You’d have to make better talk than you did the last time,” said Locke, “or I wouldn’t be interested in leaving.”

“Well, we might take a stroll, Locke, and see if we could come to some terms.”

“Why not talk here?”

“You know the way I feel about this place,” Mason told him. “It makes me uneasy, and I don’t talk well when I’m uneasy.”

Locke hesitated for a minute, finally said, “Well, I won’t give you over fifteen minutes. You’ve got to talk turkey this time.”

“I can talk turkey,” Mason remarked.

“Well, I’m always willing to take a chance,” Locke said.

He got his hat and went down to the street with Mason.

“Suppose we get a cab and ride around until we find some place that looks good, where we can talk,” said Locke.

“Well, let’s walk down the block here, and around the corner. I want to be sure that we get a taxi that isn’t planted,” Mason said.

Locke made a grimace.