Drake had been out of the office less than ten minutes when the phone rang and Della Street relayed the message from the receptionist. "Dianne Alder is in the office," she reported.

  Mason's frown suddenly lightened into a smile. "Well, how about that?" he said. "She's taken the bait and now someone has jerked the line and she's feeling the hook. Go bring her in, Della."

  Della Street nodded, hurried through the door to the reception room and was back in a few moments with an apologetic Dianne Alder.

  "Mr. Mason," she said, "I know I shouldn't intrude on you without an appointment and I feel just terrible about what happened yesterday; but… well, the bottom has dropped out of everything and I just had to find out what to do."

  "What's happened?" Mason asked.

  "A letter," she said, "sent registered mail, with a return receipt demanded."

  "You signed the receipt?"

  She nodded.

  "And the letter is from Boring?" Mason asked.

  Again she nodded.

  "Telling you that your contract was at an end?"

  She said, "Not exactly. You'd better read it."

  She took a letter from an envelope, unfolded the paper and handed it to Mason.

  Mason read the letter aloud for the benefit of Della Street.

  "My dear Miss Alder: I know that as a very attractive young woman you realize the instability of styles and the vagaries of the style designers.

  "A few weeks ago when we approached you with the idea of creating a new trend, we felt that there were very great possibilities in the idea; and, what is more to the point, we had a wealthy backer who agreed with us.

  "Now, unfortunately, there has been a change in certain trends which ha.s caused our backer to become decidedly cool to the whole idea and we ourselves now recognize the first indications of a potentially adverse trend.

  "Under the circumstances, realizing that you are making great sacrifices in order to put on weight which may be difficult to take off, knowing that you have given up a good job and feeling that you can very readily either return to that position or secure one equally advantageous, we are reluctantly compelled to notify you that we are unable to go ahead with further payments under the contract.

  "If you wish to keep yourself available and there should be a change in the trend, we will keep you in mind as our first choice but we feel it would be unfair to you to fail to notify you of what is happening and the fact that we will be unable to continue the weekly payments in the nature of a guarantee.

  "Sincerely yours, Hollywood Talent Scout Modeling Agency, per Harrison T. Boring, President."

  Mason studied the letter thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "May I see the envelope, please, Dianne?"

  She handed him the envelope and Mason studied the postmark.

  "You received your money Saturday morning?" he asked.

  She nodded.

  "And this letter was postmarked Saturday morning. Would you mind telling me why you were so anxious to get your contract back yesterday, Dianne?"

  "Because I realized that I was not supposed to give out any information about what I was doing and-"

  "And someone telephoned you or reminded you of that clause in your contract?"

  "No, it was just something that I remembered Mr. Boring had said."

  "What?"

  "Well, you know I had been working as secretary for a firm of attorneys and he told me that he not only didn't want any publicity in connection with the contract, and that I wasn't to talk to anyone about it, but he mentioned particularly that he didn't want me to have any attorney friend looking it over, and if I took it to an attorney it would be a very serious breach of confidence."

  "I see," Mason said.

  "So after I let Della take the contract I suddenly realized that if she should show it to you, I would have been violating his instructions and the provisions of the contract. Tell me, Mr. Mason, do you suppose there's any chance that he knew what I was doing? That is, that I'd seen you Saturday and that I'd let Della Street look at the contract and-"

  Mason interrupted by shaking his head. "This letter is postmarked eleven-thirty Saturday morning," he said.

  "Oh, yes, that's right. I… I guess I felt a little guilty about letting the contract out of my possession."

  "Was there a letter with the check you received Saturday morning?"

  "No. Just the check. They never write letters, just send me the check."

  "Did you notice the postmark?"

  "No, I didn't."

  "Save the envelope?"

  "No."

  "It must have been mailed Friday night," Mason said, "if you received it Saturday morning. Now, that means that between Friday night and Saturday noon, something happened to cause Mr. Boring to change his mind."

  "He probably learned of some trend in styles which-"

  "Nonsense!" Mason interrupted. "He wasn't thinking about any trend in styles. That contract, Dianne, is a trap."

  "What kind of a trap?"

  "I don't know," Mason said, "but you will notice the way it's drawn. Boring pays you a hundred dollars a week and gets one-half of your gross income from all sources for a period of up to six years if he wants to hold the contract in force that long."

  Dianne said somewhat tearfully, "Of course I didn't regard this as an option. I thought it was an absolute contract. I thought I was entitled to a hundred dollars a week for two years, at least."

  "That's what the contract says," Mason said.

  "Well then, what right does he have to terminate it in this way?"

  "He has no right," Mason said.

  "I'm so glad to hear you say so! That was the way I read the contract, but this letter sounds so-so final."

  "It sounds very final," Mason said. "Very final, very businesslike, and was intended to cause you to panic."

  "But what should I do, Mr. Mason?"

  "Give me a dollar," Mason said.

  "A dollar?"

  "Yes. By way of retainer, and leave your copy of the contract with me, if you brought it."

  Dianne hesitated a moment, then laughed, opened her purse and handed him a dollar and the folded contract.

  "I can pay you-I can pay you for your advice, Mr. Mason."

  Mason shook his head. "I'll take the dollar, which makes you my client," he said. "i'll collect the rest of it from Boring or there won't be any charge."

  Mason turned to Della Street. "Let's see what we can find listed under the Hollywood Talent Scout Modeling Agency, Della."

  A few moments later Della Street said, "Here they are. Hollywood three, one, five hundred."

  "Give them a ring," Mason said.

  Della Street put through the connection to an outside line, her nimble fingers whirled the dial of the telephone, and a moment later she nodded to Mason.

  Mason picked up his telephone and heard a feminine voice say, " Hollywood three, one, five hundred."

  "Mr. Boring, please," Mason said.

  "Who did you wish to speak with?"

  "Mr. Boring."

  "Boring?" she said. "Boring?… What number were you calling?"

  " Hollywood three, one, five hundred."

  "What?… Oh, yes, Mr. Boring, yes, yes. The Hollywood Talent Scout Modeling Agency. Just a moment, please. I think Mr. Boring is out of the office at the moment. Would you care to leave a message?"

  "This is Perry Mason," the lawyer said. "I want him to call me on a matter of considerable importance. I'm an attorney at law and I wish to get in touch with him as soon as possible."

  "I'll try and see that he gets the message just as soon as possible," the feminine voice said.

  "Thank you," Mason said, and hung up.

  He sat for a few moments looking speculatively at Dianne.

  "Do you think there's any chance of getting something for me, Mr. Mason?"

  "I don't know," Mason said. "A great deal depends on the setup of the Hollywood Talent Scout Modeling Agency. A great deal depends on whether I can find something on which to predicate a charge of fraud; or perhaps of obtaining money under false pretenses."

  "False pretenses?" she asked.

  Mason said, "I don't think Boring ever had the faintest idea of promoting you as a model legitimately. Whatever he had in mind for you was along entirely different lines. He didn't intend to use you to start any new styles, and my best guess is that all of this talk about finding a firm-fleshed young woman who could put on twelve pounds and still keep her curves in the right places was simply so much double-talk.

  "I think the real object of the contract was to tie you up so that you would be forced to give Boring a fifty per cent share of your gross income."

  "But I don't have any gross income other than the hundred dollars a week-unless, of course, I could make some because of modeling contracts and television and things of that sort."

  "Exactly," Mason said. "There were outside sources of income which Boring felt would materialize. Now then, something happened between Friday night and Saturday noon to make him feel those sources of income were not going to materialize. The question is, what was it?"

  "But he must have had something in mind, Mr. Mason. There must have been some tentative television contract or some modeling assignment or something of that sort."

  "That's right," Mason said. "There was something that he had found out about; something he wanted to share in; something he was willing to put up money on so he could hold you in line. And then the idea didn't pan out."

  "Well?" she asked.

  Mason said, "There are two things we can do. The obvious, of course, is to get some money out of Boring by way of a settlement. The next thing is to try and find out what it was he had in mind and promote it ourselves.

  "Now, I want you to listen very carefully, Dianne. When a person is a party to a contract and the other party breaks that contract, the innocent person has a choice of several remedies.

  "He can either repudiate the contract or rescind it under certain circumstances, or he can continue to treat the contract as in force and ask that the other party be bound by the obligations, or he can accept the fact the other party has broken the contract and sue him for damages resulting from the breach.

  "All that is in case the element of fraud does not enter into the contract. If fraud has been used, there are additional remedies.

  "Now, I want you to be very careful to remember that as far as you are concerned the contract is at an end. There are no further obligations on your part under the contract. But we intend to hold Boring for damages because of the breach of the contract. If anyone asks you anything about the contract, you refer them to me. You simply refuse to discuss it. If anyone asks you how you are coming with your diet, or your weight-gaining program, you tell them that the person with whom you had the contract broke it and the matter is in the hands of your attorney. Can you remember that?"

  She nodded.

  "Where are you going now? Do you want to stay in town or go back to Bolero Beach?"

  "I had intended to go back to Bolero Beach."

  "You have your car?"

  "Yes."

  "Go on back to Bolero Beach," Mason said. "See that Della has your address and phone number and keep in touch with your telephone. I may want to reach you right away in connection with a matter of some importance.

  "Now, how do you feel about a settlement?"

  "In what way?"

  "What would you settle for?"

  "Anything I could get."

  "That's all I wanted to know," Mason said. "You quit worrying about it, Dianne, and incidentally start cutting down on the sweets and developing a more sensible diet."

  She smiled at him and said, "My clothes are so tight I… I was just about to get an entirely new wardrobe."

  "I think it'll be cheaper in the long run," Mason said, "to start taking off weight."

  "Yes," she said somewhat reluctantly, "I suppose so. It's going to be a long uphill struggle."

  CHAPTER FIVE

  It was shortly before five o'clock when Gertie rang Della Street 's telephone and Della Street, taking the message, turned to Mason.

  "Harrison T. Boring is in the outer office in person."

  "What do you know!" Mason said.

  "Do I show him in?"

  "No," Mason said, "treat him like any other client. Go out, ask him if he has an appointment, get his name, address, telephone number and the nature of his business, and then show him in. In the meantime slip Gertie a note and have her call Paul Drake, tell him Boring is here and I want him shadowed from the moment he leaves."

  "Suppose he won't give me his telephone number and tell me the nature of his business?"

  "Throw him out," Mason said, "only be sure there's enough time for Paul to get a tail on him. He's either going to come in the way I want him to or he isn't going to come in at all. My best guess is the guy's scared."

  Della Street left and was gone nearly five minutes. When she returned she said, "I think he's scared. He gave me his name, telephone number, address, and told me that you had said you wanted to have him call you upon a matter of importance, that rather than discuss it over the telephone he had decided to call in person since he had another appointment in the vicinity."

  "All right," Mason said. "Now we'll let him come in."

  Della Street ushered Harrison Boring into the office.

  Boring was rather distinguished-looking, with broad shoulders, sideburns, keen gray eyes, and a certain air of dignity. He was somewhere in his late thirties, slim waisted and spare-fleshed, despite his broad shoulders. He had a close-clipped mustache which firmed his mouth.

  "Good afternoon, Mr. Mason," he said. "I came to see you. You asked me to get in touch with you, and since I was here in the neighborhood on another matter I decided to come in."

  "Sit down," Mason invited.

  Boring accepted the seat, smiled, settled back, crossed his legs.

  "Dianne Alder," Mason said.

  There wasn't the faintest flicker of surprise on Boring's face.

  "Oh, yes," he said. "A very nice young woman. I'm sorry the plans we had for her didn't materialize."

  "You had plans?"

  "Oh, yes, very definitely."

  "And made a contract."

  "That's right-I take it you're representing her, Mr. Mason?"

  "I'm representing her."

  "I'm sorry she felt that it was necessary to go to an attorney. That is the last thing I would have wanted."

  "I can imagine," Mason said.

  "I didn't mean it that way," Boring interposed hastily.

  "I did," Mason said.

  "There is nothing to be gained by consulting an attorney," Boring said, "and there is, of course, the extra time, trouble and expense involved."

  "My time, your trouble, your expense," Mason said.

  Boring's smile seemed to reflect genuine amusement. "I'm afraid, Mr. Mason, there are some things about the facts of life in Hollywood you need to understand."

  "Go ahead," Mason said.

  "In Hollywood," Boring said, "things are done on front, on flash, on a basis of public relations.

  "When a writer or an actor gets to the end of his contract and his option isn't taken up, he immediately starts spending money. He buys a new automobile, purchases a yacht, is seen in all the expensive night spots, and lets it be known that he is at liberty but is thinking of taking a cruise to the South Seas on his yacht before he considers any new contract.

  "The guy probably has just enough to make a down payment on the yacht and uses his old automobile as a down payment on the new car. He has a credit card which is good for the checks at the night spots and he's sweating in desperation, but he shows up regularly with good-looking cuties and buys expensive meals. He radiates an atmosphere of prosperity.

  "During that time his public relations man is busily engaged in trying to plant stories about him and his agent is letting it be known that while his client has his heart set on a nine to twelve months vacation on his yacht in the South Seas, he might be persuaded to postpone the vacation long enough to take on one more job if the pay should be right.

  "That's Hollywood, Mr. Mason."

  "That's Hollywood," Mason said. "So what?"

  "Simply, Mr. Mason, that I live in Hollywood. I work with Hollywood. I had some elaborate plans. I backed those plans up with what cash I had available and I was able to interest a backer.

  "Late Friday night my backer got cold feet on the entire proposition. I hope I can get him reinterested, but I can't do it by seeming to be desperate. I have to put up a good front, I have to let it appear that the loss of his backing was merely a minor matter because I have so many other irons in the fire that I can't be bothered over just one more scheme which could have earned a few millions."

  "And so?" Mason asked.

  "And so," Boring said, "Dianne would have shared in my prosperity. Now she has to share in my hard luck. If the girl is willing to keep right on going, if she's willing to develop her curves and try to glamorize herself in every way possible, I am hoping that the deal can be reinstated."

  "How soon?"

  "Within a matter of weeks-perhaps of days."

  "You mean you hope the backer will change his mind?"

  "Yes."

  "Do you have any assurance that he will?"

  "I think I can- Well, I'll be perfectly frank, Mr. Mason. I think I can guarantee that he'll come around."

  "If you're so certain of it, then keep up your payments to Dianne Alder."

  "I can't do it."

  "Why?"

  "I haven't the money."

  Mason said, "We're not interested in your hard luck. You made a definite contract. For your information, upon a breach of that contract my client could elect to take any one of certain remedies.

  "She has elected to consider your repudiation of the contract as a breach of the contractual relationship and a termination of all future liability on her part under the contract. She will hold you for whatever damages she has sustained."

  "Well, I sympathize with her," Boring said. "If I were in a position to do so, I'd write her a check for her damages right now, Mr. Mason. I don't try to disclaim my responsibility in the least. I am simply pointing out to you that I am a promoter, I am an idea man. I had this idea and I had it sold. Something happened to unsell my backer. I think I can get him sold again. If I can't, I can get another backer. But every dollar that I have goes into keeping up the type of background that goes with the line of work I'm in. My entire stock-in-trade is kept in my showcases. I don't have any shelves. I don't have any reserve supplies."