The case of the gilded l.., p.20
The Case of the Gilded Lily,
p.20
“Because she knew they were fingerprints that had been taken from the silver platter and not from the motel where she said she found them, she only went through the motions of comparing them. She was so certain whose prints they were that she just didn’t bother to look for distinguishing characertistics.”
“But,” Bedford asked, “how did you know they were gilding the lily, Mason? How did you know my wife hadn’t been down there?”
Mason looked him in the eyes. “I asked her if she had been there,” he said, “and she assured me she hadn’t.”
“And you did this whole thing, you staked your reputation and everything on her word?”
Mason, still looking at Bedford, said, “In this business, Bedford, you get to be a pretty damn good judge of character or else you don’t last long.”
“I still don’t see how you knew that Brems had a criminal record.”
Mason grinned. “I was simply relying on the law of averages and of character. It would have been as impossible for Morrison Brems to have lived as long as he has with the type of mind he has without having a criminal record as it would have been for your wife to have looked me in the eyes and lied about having gone to that cabin.”
Knuckles tapped gently on the door of Mason’s office.
“That’ll be Ann Roann now,” Bedford said, getting to his feet. “Mason, how the devil can I ever thank you enough for what you have done?”
Mason’s answer was laconic. “Just write thanks underneath your signature when you make out the check.”
About the Author
Erle Stanley Gardner (1889–1970) was the top selling American author of the twentieth century, primarily due to the enormous success of his Perry Mason Mysteries, which numbered more than eighty and inspired a half-dozen motion pictures and radio programs, as well as a long-running television series starring Raymond Burr. Having begun his career as a pulp writer, Gardner brought a hard-boiled style and sensibility to his early Mason books, but he gradually developed into a more classic detective novelist, providing clues to allow astute readers to solve his many mysteries. For over a quarter of a century, he wrote more than a million words a year under his own name as well as numerous pseudonyms, the most famous being A. A. Fair.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1956 by Erle Stanley Gardner
Cover design by Ian Koviak
ISBN: 978-1-5040-6123-0
This edition published in 2020 by Mysteriouspress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Gilded Lily
