Della Street nodded. “He didn’t turn a hair. Afterwards he didn’t seem nervous or hurried, yet somehow he managed to get rid of us very adroitly by calling attention to the lateness of the hour.”

  “But you think he was disturbed?”

  “Chief, I think that man is as badly frightened as it’s possible for him to be.”

  “All right,” Mason said. “I wouldn’t be prepared to go that far, but I’ll agree with you that the message was for him and meant a lot to him.”

  “Why are you slowing down, Chief?”

  “We’re looking for the first public phone we can find.”

  “Better swing over to the boulevard then,” Della Street said. “You’ll find some all-night cafés catering to the through traffic, and nearly all of them have pay phones. Whom are we calling?”

  “The Drake Detective Agency,” Mason said. “We’ll see if Paul happens to be around. If he isn’t, I’m going to use his private number, get him out of bed and start him on the job.”

  “Doing what?”

  “I’m going to put a tag on M. D. Carlin.”

  Mason turned into the boulevard and within four blocks found a café from which he was able to get Paul Drake on the phone.

  “Have a heart, Perry,” the detective protested. “I’m dog-tired. I’m just winding up a case and for two hours now have been looking forward to crawling into bed. I’m all in.”

  “This is nothing that needs to worry you personally,” Mason said. “Do you have some men you can send out on a job right quick?”

  “What do you mean by quick?”

  “Right now.”

  “No. Wait a minute. One of these men who’s been working on this other job might like to work. He’s only had three or four hours.”

  Mason said, “Okay, Paul. Get this. Medford D. Carlin, 6920 West Lorendo. Telephone Riverview 3–2322. A man around sixty, bullet-headed; face absolutely devoid of expression except when he gives a peculiar lopsided smile; about five feet six and a half, or seven inches; weight about a hundred and seventy-five or a hundred and eighty pounds; living alone.

  “I want men to cover that house. I’m particularly interested in finding out who may come to call on him.”

  “Anything else?”

  “In case he goes out, I want to know where he goes.”

  “You think he’s going out?”

  “I have an idea he is. How soon would it be possible for you to get someone on the job?”

  Drake said, “What’s that address? 6920 West Lorendo. Let’s see, it’ll take … If this man wants to work on the job he should get there within fifteen to seventeen minutes, Perry. But he’s already had one case today, and …”

  “That’s fine, Paul. Let’s start with him. How long will it take to get another man on the job?”

  “That’s a question,” Drake said. “Just hold the phone a moment.”

  Mason could hear Paul Drake talking to someone who apparently was seated near the telephone, then Drake said, “Hello, Perry. I’ve got one man on the way. I’m instructing him to follow Carlin if Carlin leaves the place. Is that right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “On a plant of this kind,” Drake went on, “we usually have one man watching the front door, then we have a man out where he can watch the back, and one man held in reserve. In case someone comes to the place and leaves by the front door, one of the men in front follows him. If the party should leave by the back door the man in back will follow. Then the man in reserve in front would move around to the back and in case someone else comes …”

  “I’m not interested in the mechanics of the thing,” Mason interrupted. “It’s about twelve-fifty now, and I want action. I think Carlin is going places. I’m afraid he may go before your man can get on the job.”

  “He’ll have to work fast if he does. Remember I have one man on his way. This chap’s a good driver and there’s not too much traffic right now. He’ll be there. Soon as you hang up I’ll get started on the others.”

  “Okay,” Mason said. “Give me a report in the morning.”

  He hung up the telephone, said to Della Street, “How about something to eat?”

  She shook her head. “Not me. How about you?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “I could use quite a bit of shut-eye,” Della Street said. “It’s been a tough day. In case you’re interested, the exact time of your conversation with Paul Drake was twelve-fifty-two A.M.”

  “Make a note of it,” Mason said.

  “I already have,” she told him, smiling.

  Chapter 4

  Mason heard the steady rhythm of the bell on his unlisted telephone breaking through his slumbers. He fought his way back to consciousness, groped for the chain on the bed light, closed his eyes against the dazzling brilliance, picked up the receiver and said, “Hello.”

  Paul Drake’s voice over the wire sounded crisply businesslike. “Hate to bother you, Perry,” he said, “but they woke me up and I decided I’d pass the buck to you.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Carlin’s place is on fire.”

  “How serious?”

  “Apparently it’s pretty serious. There was sort of an explosion at five minutes past three and …”

  “What time is it now?”

  “Three-twenty.”

  “You mean it’s been going on for fifteen minutes,” Mason asked, “without …?”

  “Keep your shirt on, Perry,” the detective told him. “My man had to drive half a mile to an all-night service station. He telephoned the fire department, then he telephoned me and made a report, and I telephoned you. All of that took time.”

  “All right,” Mason said. “I’m going out there.”

  “I’ll meet you there,” Drake told him, and hung up.

  The lawyer jumped out of bed, starting to peel off his pajamas almost before he hit the floor. He dashed to the closet, jumped into a pair of slacks and golf shoes, pulled on a heavy turtle-necked sweater, made certain he had his keys and wallet, and didn’t even take time to switch out the lights as he left the apartment.

  Some ten minutes later a patrol car pulled alongside Mason’s speeding automobile. A belligerent officer rolled down the window. “Hey,” he yelled, “where the hell’s the fire?”

  Mason, keeping his foot on the accelerator, barely turned his head. “6920 West Lorendo.”

  The officer consulted a chart of fire calls. “That’s the address all right,” he said to his companion.

  The driver shook his head sadly. “In twelve years on the force,” he said, “that’s the first time a speeder ever gave the right answer to that question.”

  Within a dozen blocks of the Lorendo Street address, Mason was able to detect a faint ruddy glow in the sky, but by the time he had arrived at the fire lines, he realized the fire department was rapidly getting the fire under control.

  Paul Drake, who had already made contact with the officers and arranged for Mason to go through the fire lines, led the lawyer to within some fifty feet of the burning building.

  Standing in back of one of the fire wagons, listening to the hiss of water on live embers, the rhythmic throbbing of the fire engines and the sound of solid streams of water impinging on the walls of the building, Mason looked at Paul Drake inquiringly.

  “Want it now?” Drake asked.

  Mason pulled up his sweater collar. “Gosh, it’s turned cold! Okay, Paul, let’s have it.”

  The detective looked carefully around to make certain that their actions were unobserved. “I couldn’t get all three men here at the same time. I felt you wanted action so I rushed them out as I was able to pick them up.”

  Mason nodded.

  “The first man on the scene,” Drake said, “got here at seven minutes past one. He started watching the front door. The house was dark. Shortly before one-thirty (my man clocked it at one-twenty-eight) a woman turned the corner up there, hurried down the street, then walked up the steps and entered this house.”

  “Ring the bell?”

  “She seemed to have a key that fits the lock or else the door was open. My man couldn’t be certain which.”

  “What did the woman look like?”

  “Around thirty to thirty-five, apparently a nice figure. Hard to tell much because of the raincoat.”

  “She went in?”

  “That’s right.”

  “When did she come out?”

  “Now there,” Drake said, “you have us stumped. We don’t know that she came out.”

  “Go ahead. What happened?”

  “At one-fifty my second man got here, and at two-five, or a minute or two before, the third man arrived. His notebook says two-o-three A.M.

  “The second man took up his position where he could command a view of the alley and the back of the house, and the third man was to act as general relief, a tail on anyone who left, and be ready to carry messages.

  “This third man cased the joint before he got on the job. He knew that the other two would be out there ahead of him and he wanted to get a description of Carlin. He located an all-night service station about half a mile down the boulevard and, as luck would have it, struck pay dirt right away. Carlin trades there. He has a credit card and charges his purchases. He has a Chevvie that he bought in 1946, right after the restrictions were loosened on the buying of automobiles.”

  “What’s the description?”

  “About sixty-one or sixty-two; high cheekbones; bullet head; wears glasses; lopsided smile; about five feet seven; weighs about a hundred and sixty-five pounds.”

  “That’s our man all right,” Mason said. “What else?”

  “Well, my third man came out and reported on duty. They kept the place pretty well sewed up. The man in front reported that there was a woman in the house who might or might not be living there. They arranged a series of signals so they could pick anyone up for a shadowing job from either the back door or the front door.”

  “And this woman didn’t come out?”

  “Not unless she went out the back door before my second man got on the job.”

  “No sign of life inside the house?” Mason asked. “That is, when the fire broke out?”

  “No sign of life then or up until the present time.”

  “Not so good,” Mason said.

  Drake nodded.

  “Tell me about the fire.”

  “Well, just about five minutes after three there was the sound of a muffled explosion from the inside of the house. For two or three seconds nothing happened and then all of a sudden a glow began showing in the windows.

  “My man jumped in his car, raced to the service station, called the fire department, called me and then came back here. The other two men kept their stations at the front and rear of the house. No one came out. Of course, it took a little dodging to keep from being conspicuous, but after the flames attracted attention and people began to leave adjoining houses it wasn’t too difficult.”

  “They’re certain the woman didn’t come out?”

  “She’s still in there unless she left by the back door before one-fifty.”

  “Police talk with you?” Mason asked.

  “Not yet, but they will—if it’s a police job!”

  “Okay,” Mason said. “Tell your men not to volunteer any information.”

  “They won’t.”

  “I mean about how long they were here.”

  “They won’t tell anyone anything, Perry. You can trust these boys.”

  Mason paused to study the situation. “They’re getting the fire under control, Paul?”

  “Very rapidly,” the detective said. “Ten minutes ago it looked as though the whole house was going, but now they’re going to save the walls and probably quite a bit of the downstairs.”

  “Where did the fire start?”

  “Apparently on the second floor. The place is a firetrap. If it hadn’t been for my men being on the job and getting in such a prompt alarm there wouldn’t be anything there right now except a pile of embers. In another five minutes the firemen will go in. They’re drenching it down with water. Men are on the roof now. That shows they have the interior fire pretty well under control and don’t think there’s any chance of a collapse. The east side of the roof is pretty well gone, but this west side is all right. The whole fire seems to have centered on the east side of the house.”

  Mason said meditatively, “I’d certainly like to see the inside of that house.”

  “It’ll be a mess,” Drake warned. “Water will have drenched everything and the inside will be all soggy, water-soaked embers and charred wood. You get in there now and your clothes would stink for a month. You couldn’t get that smell out of them.”

  “Nevertheless,” Mason said, “I should like very much to get in there.”

  “I can fix it up,” Drake said. “It’ll take some sort of a story. Suppose you’re the man’s lawyer, making a will and …”

  “No,” Mason interrupted, “that won’t do.”

  “Well, you think up one that will do.”

  “That’s what I’m mulling over in my mind. It isn’t going to be easy.”

  “Why not tell them the truth for a change?” Drake asked.

  “The truth is that a mysterious woman client wanted me to give a message to Carlin. I don’t want the police to know about that—not just yet.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know what we’re going to find on the inside.”

  “Would that make any difference?”

  “It might.”

  “What other reasons?”

  “I’m not certain my client wants the police to know that she was interested.”

  “Who is your client?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Then the police won’t.”

  “The police might be able to find out, and then there would be embarrassing questions.”

  “Well,” Drake said, “if you’re going to concoct a story, for heaven’s sake get one that will sound reasonable. Here’s the deputy fire chief working over this way. We’re going to have to do something fast. He’ll turn back here, spot us and—oh-oh, here he comes now.”

  The deputy chief came slogging over toward the two men.

  Drake said, “Hi, Chief, how are you? Do you know Perry Mason?”

  “The lawyer?”

  “That’s right,” Mason said, shaking hands.

  “Well, I’ll be damned. What are you doing here?”

  “Watching the fire. It looks as though you have it about under control.”

  “It’s all finished now. Just a question of soaking the thing down and seeing that there are no latent sparks to catch later on. Sometimes when the floors drop you get a pocket of embers that’ll break out after a while, so we just make it a rule to give the thing a good soaking and then go in and look it over.”

  “You’re going inside?”

  “Very shortly.”

  “Looking for anything specific?”

  “Bodies.”

  “Oh,” Mason said, his voice indicating interest, “like that, eh?”

  The deputy chief looked at him sharply. “In a dwelling house at this time of night, when we find a fire with no one around on the outside, there’s always the possibility that someone hoisted a few drinks too many, decided to light a cigarette, went to sleep and set the bedding afire. It’s happened thousands of times before and it’ll happen thousands of times again.”

  Mason, glancing at Paul Drake, said, “I’m interested in your technique of fighting a fire of this sort. Now, as I understand it …”

  “It’s a technical subject,” the deputy chief interrupted, “just as technical as practicing law, only you don’t have so much time to fool around making up your mind. What I’m interested in is how you two happen to be on the job, particularly in view of the fact that we can’t seem to find who turned in the alarm.”

  “Probably one of the neighbors,” Mason said.

  “You still haven’t answered my question.”

  Mason said, “As a matter of fact I’m not exactly in a position to answer your question.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well,” Mason said, smiling affably, “let’s just suppose that I had a client who wanted to buy this property and had asked me to look up the title. The fire could be a very important development, yet I could hardly state my interest.”

  “You got a client who wants to buy this property?”

  “Don’t be silly. I was merely pointing out that if such were the case I could hardly communicate the fact.”

  “Then I take it that isn’t the case.”

  “I didn’t say it was.”

  “I’m not asking you if it was, I’m asking you if it isn’t.”

  “All right,” Mason said, grinning, “it isn’t. You shouldn’t have been a fireman, you should have been a lawyer or a detective.”

  The man’s steady, intense eyes studied Mason’s poker-faced immobility of expression.

  “We have to do lots of detective work in our line,” the deputy chief said. “Why do you suppose I’m out here?”

  “To put out the fire.”

  “That’s why my men are here. I’m here because the report was flashed into headquarters that it was an arson—an inside job, an explosion of gasoline or something of the sort. I want to take a look inside.”

  “So do I,” Mason said.

  “Me too,” Drake chimed in.

  “Nope. Too dangerous. Anything’s apt to happen in there. Timbers will be weakened and falling, floors and stairways have been weakened by fire and may collapse. I’m going in alone.”

  “Of course,” Drake pointed out, “you could outfit us with helmets and …”

  “I could,” the officer told him, “but I’m not going to.”

  One of the firemen winked a flashlight and the deputy chief said, “That’s the signal. I’m going in. You two better stick around. I want to find out a little more about this.”

  He walked away.

  “Hang it,” Drake grumbled, “I know the man in charge. If it hadn’t been for the deputy chief showing up we’d have been sitting pretty. Now the deputy chief knows you’re here and he knows I’m here and if it’s an incendiary fire he’s going to be plenty suspicious.”