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Stewart G Bedford	Della Street	Grace's landlady
Elsa Griffin	Paul Drake	Two Drake operatives
Ann Roann Bedford	Dr Leroy Shelby	Uniformed officer in court
Binney Denham	Harry Elston	Judge Harmon Strouse
Delbert	Sid Carson	Jurors
Dinner guests	[Ann's aunt]	Various routine witnesses
Ann Roann's butler	Mason's garage attendant	Ass't D A Vincent Hadley
Banker	Lieutenant Tragg	Drive-yourself agency manager
Geraldine Corning aka . . .	Sergeant Holcomb	Drive-yourself agency employee
Staylonger Motel manager, Morrison Brems	Hamilton Burger	Court bailiff
Thomas G Farland	Holcomb's fingerprint expert	Officer Richard Judson
Waiter	Drake's switchboard girl	Judson's partner
Perry Mason	. . . aka Grace Compton	Arthur Merriam
	Drake's operative	Department store gun salesman

Walter J R Camp, MD, PhD, Professor of Toxicology and Pharmacology at the University of Illinois, Coroner's Toxicologist of Cook County and Secretary of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences is the subject and dedicatee of Erle Stanley Gardner's Foreword

When there is a butler, is he always the crime-committer. Did he do it? Did Ann Rohann's butler listen over the phone and protect his employer?

When did credit cards first come into use? Aside from Diners Club, the first cards were, I believe, issued by gasoline companies. Here one is used at a gas station, another example of Gardner's revealing details of cultural history.

One.	Stewart G Bedford enters his office and sees the newspaper placed there by secretary Elsa Griffin with a photograph of his wife, Ann Roann Bedford, facing him. Elsa makes him admit Binney Denham, who tries to blackmail him for his friend Delbert who wants instead to sell proof of Ann's police record to scandalous magazines. He says he'll think it over.
Two.	A tête-à-tête dinner with his wife strains Bedford, who slips a silver cocktail tray into his room then out of the house the next morning. At his office, he learns that Elsa has overheard his discussion with Denham because he left the intercom on. She, who has taken a correspondence course in how to be a detective, helps him lift prints left by his wife, and they match those on Denham's police records. Denham doesn't call Back at home some friends have joined Bedford, his wife in a "hostess gown which plunged daringly to a low V in front", and the butler. Then Denham's call comes. Delbert is going to the publishers first thing in the morning. Bedford says he'll get twenty thousand dollars from the bank in the morning. Denham hangs up, then Bedford hears another click. Was it his wife, or the butler whom Ann had hired, who overheard the call? He takes a snub-nosed, blued steel .38 caliber gun from his dresser and puts it into his brief case. As he descends the stairs, he notices Ann in the butler's pantry inspecting the silver tray, which hadn't been washed and showed that it has been inspected.
Three.	Bedford signs two hundred one-hundred-dollar traveler's checks during which the banker tries unsuccessfully to enter into conversation. Back at his office he is warned by Elsa that a "Blonde, nice complexion, beautiful legs, plenty of curves, big limpid eyes, a dumb look, a little perfume, and that's all" is waiting for him. It is Geraldine Corning who has come to take Bedford and his money. They drive out Wiltshire, turn north, with Binney Denham following them for a time. Eventually they decide on the Staylonger motel, where he registers as S G Wilfred and the manager gives him keys to connecting rooms fifteen and sixteen. While Gerry is occupied, Stewart writes a note; "Call this number and say I am at The Staylonger Motel" and wraps it in a twenty-dollar bill. Gerry's suitcase is new, stamped "G C." The two kibitz a while, then go out for dinner. At the restaurant Bedford gives his note to the waiter. Back at the Staylonger, they both fall asleep under the influence of a drug slipped into Gerry's bottle of liquor. During his sleep he hears voices, and an auto motor. When he wakes up, it is dark outside. He finds Binney Denham shot through the chest in the adjacent room.
Four.	Stu panics and, afraid to go out the front way past the manager's office, slips through barbed wire fencing at the back, tearing his trousers. He is surprised by a car; Elsa is driving it. She was in unit twelve, saw him go through the fence. She has Perry Mason waiting for him.
Five.	Perry Mason and "Della Street, his trusted confidential secretary" await Bedford, who arrives and, prompted by Elsa, reveals all. She has the license of Gerry's car. Mason phones Paul Drake, tells him to find the car which he'll have Elsa take to criminologist Dr Leroy Shelby who will gather all evidence, then put in other stuff so some other criminologist won't get wrong ideas. He then tells Bedford to go home and give his wife a good tale. He tells Elsa to report the murder, then get out of circulation.
Six.	At one in the morning, Drake reports. Denham has a safe-deposit box in a twenty-four hour bank with one Harry Elston who, the previous night at 9:45, went to the box. The police have the car, which was rented by a mousy little man. At the Staylonger, a girl rented unit twelve which a prowler entered later. Denham was killed by a shot from a .38 caliber revolver; the bullet has been recovered. The police know of a man who slipped through the barbed wire fence; they have his footprints. Elsa has apparently returned to Mason's office and heard all this for, after Drake leaves, they agree that Drake had a good description of the "occupant of unit twelve." Mason suggests that she go back with a fingerprint kit, lift all she can find, wipe the place clean and return.
Seven.	Drake says Elston has disappeared. The police have found Denham's apartment, with forty thousand dollars hidden under his rug, so they surmise he was involved in blackmail. Elsa returns with the fingerprints which go to Drake's specialist; she's washed unit twelve. She tells Mason she's always had an interest in crime, and wonders if she could help her boss. Couldn't some planted evidence incriminate Denham's accomplice?
Eight.	Mason gets fingerprint expert Sid Carson's report. Only four are not identified. Mason matches them to Ann Rohann Bedford's police record.
Nine.	Mason meets Mrs Bedford at a service station and confronts her with her fingerprints at the motel and her police record. She admits her earlier indiscretion, of pawning jewelry and then having to claim it was stolen when her aunt found it missing, and thus she committed insurance fraud. She was simply trying to get ahead in the world, and needed to be among a better crowd of people. She had been paying Denham blackmail, and knew about her husband's previous affair with Elsa. She didn't hear any conversation on the phone, but thought she recognized Binney's voice. She love being Stewart's toy, his show girl, and says Mason must keep her past from coming to light. Does she think he's a magician? Her husband does.
Ten.	Mason's garage attendant waves frantically to the attorney as he drives into the parking lot. The police are looking for him. He goes in anyway, and there, waiting, is Lieutenant Tragg of homicide. Tragg tells Mason what the police already know, and that Sergeant Holcomb is, of course, on the case, as is D A Hamilton Burger. He notes that the police check the nearest hamburger stand, so know when Drake or Mason is up late.
Eleven.	Perry instructs Della to call Stewart Bedford and tell him not to try to reach him. Della argues that he should tell Bedford that his wife is involved, but the lawyer reminds her Bedford is his client and he's in love with Mrs Bedford.
Twelve.	Mason stops at Drake's. He wants Drake to find Denham's blond girl friend. Her initials are G C, for Gloria or Grace Somebody-or-other.
Thirteen.	Almost as soon as he's showered and gotten into bed, Mason's phone rings. Morrison Brems, the manager of The Staylonger Motel has identified Bedford's photograph. Mason hurries to Bedford's office, but is too late; Sergeant Holcomb is already there, with a fingerprint man and Morrison Brems, manager of the Staylonger. Bedford has refused to give Holcomb his fingers for printing, but the expert uses an ashtray, finds a match with what they have from the motel. Instead of following Mason's instructions to shut up, Bedford confesses to a hit-and-run six years earlier, for which he was paying blackmail to Denham. Holcomb arrests him anyway.
Fourteen.	Drake's switchboard girl tells Mason that Drake is in his office. He is asleep on his couch, but the phone wakes him. Geraldine Corning is Grace Compton. They head out to her apartment, find her in lounging pajamas. She is originally friendly, tells Mason and Drake her story, most of which is already known, but adds that he double-crossed her, and that she's gotten religion. She gets annoyed when it becomes clear they could make her the fall guy. Back outside, Mason has Drake put his man on her tail.
Fifteen.	Jail. Bedford tells Mason how he knew about the hit-and-run victim he used as his way of keeping the press from digging into why he was paying blackmail. He wants Mason to go after the "other" woman. Mason counters with Gerry, and Bedford says she's a good girl, he knows her. He's sure his gun was not the murder weapon, but that the "other" woman brought her own and killed Denham.
Sixteen.	Yawning, Mason returns to his office, finds a rested Della. Drake reports that Bedford is asking for an immediate trial so he can clear his name. The box Denham and Elston had is full of useless Denham stuff. Grace is on the way to Acapulco, but is in a disguise. Mason sends Della to the airport, to engage Grace in conversation and stay with her. Mason tells Drake he doesn't want to convict Grace, just acquit Stewart.
Seventeen.	Della has gotten nowhere with Grace. Drake has rented the apartment of Grace Compton from the landlady using two operatives. He has several lifted fingerprints. Mason takes the cards with pencilled numbers, selects four, has Della put the same numbers on them in ink that Elsa put on her four cards of Ann Bedford.
Eighteen.	Judge Harmon Strouse gives Mason his peremptory challenge, then Burger, and asks that the jurors be sworn in. Hamilton Burger waives his opening statement, calls Thomas G Farland, the officer who found the body. Mason gets him to admit it was a woman who phoned in the murder call. Various routine witnesses identify the body of Denham, and that a .38 caliber bullet fell from his coat when the body was moved. Brems testifies to his seeing Bedford as Wilfred and Wilfred's wife come and go and return, and her leave, and seeing Denham. Mason adroitly forces Brems to reveal the prowler who went to unit twelve, even as assistant D A Vincent Hadley objects strenuously. Following Brems the manager of the drive-yourself agency testifies to the renting and return of the car and an employee describes the woman. The fingerprint expert admits that the fingerprints he collected in the motel rooms could be of the murderer or not. The bailiff calls Richard Judson, the officer who had inspected the Bedford house after the murder testifies as to how he and his partner searched the premises. They found the gun in the drain in the garage floor.

Della Street	Defense attorney, Mortimer Dean Howland	Drake's secretary
"Miss 'Cash' "	Balfour butler	Roger Farris
Perry Mason	Gertie	Deputy sheriff
Theodore Balfour	Guthrie's wife, Dorla Balfour	Florence Ingle impersonator
Red-haired fortyish woman, later Myrtle Anne Haley	alias Marilyn Keith	Taxi driver
Chestnut-haired younger woman, alias	Addison Balfour	Autopsy surgeon
Judge Mervin Spencer Cadwell	Paul Drake	Firearms expert
Court bailiff	Jackson Eagan	Other expert witnesses
Spectators	Car rental agency people	DA's office investigator
Jurors	Sleepy Hollow Motel people	Court reporter
Officer George Dempster	Unidentified police officer	Collector for the syndicate
Prosecutor (Roger Farris)	Florence Landis Ingle	Boles' assistant
Balfour servant	Two stenographers	Eagan's widow
Guthrie Balfour	Telephone operator	Hamilton Burger
Officer Dawson	Banner Boles

The Foreword to this novel departs from a dedication to an individual and instead honors a lengthy list of citizens who formed the Texas Law Enforcement Foundation.

The DBC issue misspells two words, including "annonymous."

Here's a good one; Paul Drake calls Perry Mason instead of the other way 'round.

ONE.	Della Street answers a call from a woman wanting Mason to sit in on a trial. She gives her name as "Cash." Mason listens to her story about a case involving Theodore Balfour. He sets a fee of $500 to cover office expenses and the need to cancel appointments. Miss Cash is a secretary, and can only afford a hundred dollars, out of her Acapulco vacation money. Mason is intrigued, says he'll take her on. She says a red-haired fortyish woman will be sitting next a chestnut-haired younger woman in the fourth row, and they will save a seat by placing coats on it.
TWO.	Judge Mervin Spencer Cadwell enters the courtroom, the court bailiff bangs his gavel, spectators and jurors seat themselves and officer George Dempster returns to the stand. He tells the prosecutor that he went to the Balfours to look at a Balfour car, a servant living over the garage admitted him, and he found the car, owned by Guthrie Balfour, with a broken right front headlamp. He was told that the car was driven by Ted Balfour. Defense attorney, Mortimer Dean Howland, objects and is sustained. Dempster and his partner, officer Dawson, had the Balfour butler arouse Ted. The butler brought the three coffee. Over objections, it is brought out that Balfour was being driven by a woman whom he can't remember. Howland cross-examines. He is very aggressive, picks a point, backs up to catch the witness off-guard. For instance, when the witness is asked if he went to the Balfour's to get a confession, and the witness says no, Howland ask if the witness didn't go out to the house - yes - and then, didn't he try to get a confession. The witness is thus made to look a bit foolish, or as if he's trying to conceal something. On the difference between admission and confession, he gets the officer to look as if he remembers only what is against the defendant, and forget what is helpful. Myrtle Anne Haley, the red-haired woman two seats from Mason, is called.
THREE.	Myrtle was driving behind Balfour between 12:30 and 1:30 the morning of the twentieth, going west on Sycamore Road. She saw Balfour's car weaving. She shot past it, then saw one headlight go dark, then come back on, in her rearview mirror. She wrote the license in her notebook, which the prosecutor gave back to her this morning. Howland attacks her about her unscrewing a fountain pen with one hand, writing so neatly in the dark and so on. When she returns to her seat, she asks the chestnut-haired younger woman next Mason if she did all right. A nod indicates yes.
FOUR.	Summaries. Howland preys on the witnesses writing in her notebook while driving, and the prosecution didn't even ask if a man was driving the car, or a woman. He demands "a verdict of NOT GUILTY!" The jury goes out. Howland comes over to Mason, asks if the lawyer is involved professionally, an notes that the body has never been identified. They look at the notebook, noting the evenness of the writing. Mason agrees that there might be a hung jury.
FIVE.	Della has the switchboard patched through, since Gertie has gone home. Finally Mason's client calls, but Mason demands she prove she is that client, so she must come to the office. While waiting, Guthrie Balfour phones in from Chihuahua City in Mexico. He's on an expedition. He says Ted must not be convicted and he'll fly his wife home to see Mason at nine in the morning. Then the client, chestnut-haired Marilyn Keith, arrives. Mason tells her the prosecution witness, Myrtle Anne Haley, was probably lying, and proves it by having Keith write a 6 while sitting, then two while walking. They don't match, but the two 6s written by Haley are perfect. She's thankful. When she leaves, Della suggests that Marilyn is in love, and frightened.
SIX.	Della has the newspapers. The jury was hung, but the prosecutor and Howland arranged a deal by which the sentence of guilty by the judge would be suspended if Balfour paid a $500 fine. Della announces Dorla Balfour, assuring her boss he'll fall for her. He merely gives her the newspapers. She gets annoyed, stamps on them, then apologizes to Mason. She's angry that loudmouthed egoist Howland tried the case. Mason explains that he apparently got a good deal. She then explains that her husband Guthrie is not the rich one, Addison, who is dying, is. He was given six months, has taken eighteen. She's certain Addison will disinherit Ted if he learns he's been convicted of killing a man with an auto. Ted was not driving his sports car the night of the accident. She can get Howland off the case, and writes Mason a thousand dollar check as retainer.
SEVEN.	Paul Drake phones Mason because he's heard the attorney is interested. The hit-and-run victim has been identified as Jackson Eagan. The car rental agency people took no notice because there was a large deposit. The Sleepy Hollow motel people didn't care because the rent was paid in advance. A police officer noticed the code on a key in Eagan's pocket; it was the only thing that could lead to identification.
EIGHT.	Dorla is back in Mason's office. She's seen Ted. He was given a loaded drink. A "cut trick with dark chestnut hair" drove him home between ten and eleven from a party given by Florence Ingle. She's paid off Howland and has a letter from him to Mason that is quite friendly. Dorla has arranged for Mason to see Addison Balfour.
NINE.	The butler greets Mason and takes him to the office where two stenographers and a telephone operator are busy. Marilyn Keith is the appointment secretary; Mason acts as if he never met her. She warns him to be quick with Addison Balfour. Mason meets the man "made of colorless wax" with "high cheekbones" "gaunt face" and "sunken eyes." Balfour tells him it was just a bluff to Dorla that Ted would be disinherited, for Ted is the last of the Balfours. He wants Ted to fight. Balfour Allied Associates will pay what is necessary. He say "{Guthrie wanted a good-looker. He had money. He bought one." When he wakes up he'll marry Florence Ingle. When Mason leaves, Keith has him phone Della. He's referred to Drake, who says the body has been exhumed, and "the man has been killed by a small-caliber, high-powered bullet" which was still in the skull. Keith admits to have been driving the car. She warns Mason of Banner Boles, Balfour trouble-shooter who will manipulate facts. She's afraid for Ted. Mason leaves, phones Drake in privacy, learns that Ted is already in police custody.
TEN.	Mason tells Drake to get the jump on the police, and find out about Jackson Eagan. Then he and Della go out to the Balfours, conjecturing along the way. Dorla takes them into Ted's room where they pry open a gun case. Mason finds a .22 automatic which, after smelling, he thinks might be the weapon. He asks Dorla about the trip to Mexico; she left on short notice without a stitch of clothes. As the police approach, they grab a tape recorder and separate box from the closet and escape.
ELEVEN.	Drake reports to having located Eagan's town, Chico, north of San Francisco. Mason pulls out the recorder and Drake explains its operating speeds. They listen to a tape and find only a few words. In the other box is a "wall snooper." So Drake surmises the user was snooping, then erasing the tape. Drake's secretary brings a note stating Jackson died two years earlier and was shipped home for burial in a closed coffin.
TWELVE.	Judge Cadwell gets agreement from prosecutor Roger Farris that Mason may interview his client but Mason refuses to the stipulation of the writ of habeas corpus being vacated. Mason argues that Balfour has been convicted of manslaughter and that jeopardy cannot be doubled by a charge of first-degree murder. Cadwell calls a recess and has a deputy sheriff take Balfour to the law library.
THIRTEEN.	Ted tells how Uncle Guthrie headed to Tarahumare country, into barrancas so inaccessible that probably no white man had been there before. Mason prods him to see if Dorla is after him, but he doesn't know. He denies knowing about the tape recorder. He, as had Dorla, repeats the point that Addison would get to dislike a car and get a new one of a different make. He and some friends, then Marilyn Keith, showed up to see Addison and Dorla off. They'd come from a party at Florence Ingle's place. Florence hates Dorla and was friendly with Addison. They went back to the party and he began to see double after a drink. Florence was married, but her husband died in a private plane crash while he was off prospecting. Ted has noticed the car has an extra twenty-five miles on it. He had his gun in the glove compartment, because he was afraid of a collector coming for his gambling debts. Mason tells him to talk to no one unless his lawyer is present. Judge Cadwell returns, says Mason has a good point, but the situation might have been engineered, so he'll let a higher court decide. Drake catches Mason as the lawyer leaves the court. Florence Ingle bought the tape recorder. She's disappeared, having taken a plane to Miami, then a person took her place and went on to Atlantic City. The real Florence is in Riverside under her maiden name of Landis.
FOURTEEN.	Mason goes to Riverside, startles Ingle at the pool by calling her by her married name. She says Ted came to her asking for twenty thousand dollars. She didn't give it to him, hoping he'd grow up. She thinks Ted killed the man and tried to make it look like an accident. He brings up the tape recorder and she denies knowledge. Mason gives her a subpoena. She now says she's protecting someone. Dorla is a tramp. When Guthrie is out of town, she got into circulation. Guthrie had caught on. He thought he could catch Dorla so, when she got off the train in Pasadena, so did he. He followed her to the Sleepy Hollow Motel. When she left, he confronted Jackson Eagan. A fight ensued, and he killed the man. He fled, called Florence, who flew on a commercial flight to Phoenix , then flew the company plane back to the company airfield. Meanwhile Dorla went back to the motel, found the body, and called Banner Boles to take care of it. Dorla then flew to Tucson, with a murder rap to hold over Guthrie. Boles could figure that a drunk-driving charge against Ted was better than a murder charge against Guthrie. Florence shows Mason a telegram from Guthrie saying he and Dorla have reached a full agreement. She says, of course, Mason couldn't drag this story out of her on the witness stand.
FIFTEEN.	Addison has decided that Banner Boles should become active in the problem. Boles insists it be on neutral ground. Perry sends Della to Paul, to check Eagan, especially the driver's license thumbprint. When Boles arrives at Mason's office, Perry has him remove his watch, then takes the miniature wire recorder which is connected to it from Boles. The get into a taxi to talk privately. Boles gives Mason everything that was in Eagan's pockets, driver's license, drive-yourself car agency contract, a broken watch which stopped at 1:32, Sleepy Hollow Motel receipt and other items. Boles explains that Balfour Allied Associates is a large, rich company and it is privately held by Balfours only. Dorla would wreck this if she got stock. He tells a tale similar to Ingle's. Guthrie had the recorder, and used it in the room next Dorla and Jackson. He confronted Eagan and killed him. Boles then sent him with the company plane to Phoenix where he joined the train. Boles dragged the body around and smashed it up. He took the rug from the room into his car, moved the rug from Addison's room into Eagan's room. Dorla returned. Boles told her he had a tape which proved her infidelity. He also got a written statement from Eagan then, in a scuffle, shot him in self-defense. After Ted returned, he had Dorla take the car out and smash the body, thus getting her involved up to her pretty little eyebrows. He then sent Dorla to Tucson to join the train and give Guthrie an alibi. But she double-crossed him. She planted the car key in Ted's pocket before leaving, undressing him and making it look like he'd gone out. Myrtle Anne Haley, a Balfour employee, was instructed as to what she should testify. Boles tells Mason this is what he must supporet. Mason says he'll serve the best interests of Ted Balfour and won't suborn perjury. Boles stops the cab, gets out, slams the door.
SIXTEEN.	Addison Balfour terminates Mason's connection with Balfour Allied Associates and his $100,000 fee. Marilyn Keith, however, pleads with him to see Ted, who wants Mason to continue, whatever the cost. She offers him $525, all she has, and says that, though she's been fired, she'll find a job and pay a percentage. Mason tears up the check, saying she'll need it until she gets a job.
SEVENTEEN.	Judge Cadwell says he had hoped the case would be assigned another judge. He thinks "the real interests of the defendant will in no way be curtailed by" his ruling against the double jeopardy argument of Mason. Roger Farris calls an autopsy surgeon, a firearms expert and other expert witnesses. Mason is admonished by the judge for not cross-examining. Farris then states that Myrtle Anne Haley, witness for the People, has disappeared, and he wishes to have her testimony read into the record. An investigator from the DA's office testifies as to Haley's disappearance, probably under pressure from the Balfour company. Her testimony is read into the record by the court reporter. Banner Boles comes to the stand, and lies. He states that he saw Guthrie Balfour off on the train for El Paso. Also Dorla Balfour. He went back to his downtown office, got a call from Ted Balfour at an intersection near the accident. He told Ted t wait, but he didn't. Then, about 1:50, Boles went to the Balfour's, found the car with a smashed right headlight. He found Ted on bed with his shoes on. He woke Ted, learned he'd been gambling and the syndicate was after him for $20,000. Ted tried to raise the money, failed, but knew a trustee who could give him the money would soon be in town. A woman drove him home after the party. He thought he'd go out to see if the trustee was back in town but found the collector at the garage. He had his pistol with him and, in a scuffle, shot the man. The man was not dead. He drove out to the state highway and phoned Boles. Then he found the man dead, so created the hit-and-run situation. He tried to call Boles, got an assistant. Then he got to Boles and asked him to take charge. Boles went to the scene, but the police were already there. He went back to Balfours place and helped Ted into bed, and took the papers Ted had taken off the body. When he discovered the next morning that Ted was already interrogated, he did nothing. The judge wants to know what was done with the papers. Boles says he gave them to Perry Mason. The judge calls a recess and tells Farris and Mason to come to the bench. Mason gives the judge the papers, and the judge inspectsthem, calls them evidence. Mason asks "of what?" The judge produces the driving license of Jackson Eagan. Mason says it is not important, since Eagan died two years before. [Now the reader should be able to figure it all out!] The judge suggests mason has withheld evidence, but Mason simply states he'll meet that charge "when it is properly made, at the proper time and at the proper place." Mason warns the judge against prejudicing the jury against the defendant by his attitude towards the defendant's attorney. The judge says Mason has lost the respect of the Court, takes a recess.
EIGHTEEN.	Mason, Street, Keith and Drake are having lunch. Mason points out that Boles has committed "the damnedest, most clever perjury [he's] ever encountered." Mason points out that the thumbprint on Eagan's driver's license doesn't match that of the dead man. Drake notes that the body of Eagan was apparently identified by his widow in Mexico. But signatures on the license and car-rental contract are similar. Has Drake gotten Guthrie Balfour's driver's license application yet. [Bingo! Make the connection!] He's awaiting it. Mason notes that all the information he needs is in conversations where the defendant was not present, so they cannot be entered into testimony. Drake notes that the one they need, Guthrie, was in Chihuahua only long enough to phone Mason, and probably assumes nothing much can happen to Ted.
NINETEEN.	Mason asks Boles about their taxicab conversation. He prompts Boles; didn't he tell him "that Mr Guthrie Balfour had told you that he had done the shooting . . ." Boles acts incredulous. Boles denies ever being at the Sleepy Hollow Motel. He last saw Guthrie at the train station, and spoke to him once just after Guthrie had spoken to Mason. Mason says he may recall the witness. Florence Ingle is called. She states Ted's asking for twenty thousand dollars and the demand or a collector would see him. He said he'd use his gun to scare the collector. Mason asks her if she talked with Guthrie on the same day. Farris objects, as it is outside permissible testimony since such conversation was not brought up in any previous testimony. As Dorla comes forward, Drake hands Mason a certified photostatic copy of Guthrie Balfour's driver's license application (They can't get the license without getting Guthrie). Then Hamilton Burger makes a dramatic entrance, thinking that Mason is in a corner and he's finally got him. {We know he's wrong, again!.] Dorla testifies to Ted's asking for her to intercede with her husband to get the money. She says not right away but later, because she was to get off the train at Pasadena, but he asked her to accompany him. " 'And you did?' Mason asked." Objected to. Sustained. "Didn't you actually get off the train at Pasadena?" Objected to, overruled. She says she didn't. Didn't she go tot he Sleepy Hollow Motel. "Certainly not." Was she with her husband when he phoned from Chihuahua? "Certainly." Over repeated objections by Farris, Mason finally gets the answers he is looking for. Was she with her husband when he telephoned Banner Boles. "Yes, sir." Mason springs his bombshell. "Well then, perhaps, Mrs Balfour, you wouldn't mind turning to the jury and explaining to them how it could possibly be that you journeyed on the train to El Paso with a corpse, that you spent some time in Chihuahua with a corpse, that you were with a corpse when he telephoned Mr Banner Boles?" He continues; "The right thumbprint of your husband Guthrie Balfour . . .is an exact copy of the right thumbprint of the dead man . . ." The judge asks for the thumbprint evidence, sees the similarity. Mason now notes the similarity in signatures on the license application and the car rental contract. The judge takes a recess and calls counsel into his chambers.
TWENTY.	Hamilton Burger rages about Mason's withholding and concealing evidence. The judge wants to hear Mason's theory. Simply put, Banner Boles assumed the identity of Jackson Eagan. Guthrie Balfour was listening to the conversation between Dorla and Boles. As the machine had some distortion, Guthrie didn't know it was Boles. When he confronted him, Boles couldn't afford to be recognized. When the gun went off, Boles slumped to the floor and Guthrie panicked, rushed out. He realized no one knew he had gotten off the train. He called Florence Ingle, asked her to return the plane he'd fly to Phoenix to get back on the train. But Dorla overheard him, picked up Ted's gun which Guthrie had left by the telephone and asked Guthrie innocently "Why, dear, what's this?" Then she shot him in the head. She and Boles got together, banged up the body, and made it look as a hit-and-run by Ted. If that didn't work, they'd use Florence Ingle to make appear as if Guthrie was the murder and he had resorted to flight. Boles sent the anonymous tip to the police so they could find the gun. Boles could call Mason as Guthrie, because Mason didn't know Guthrie's voice. He never called Ingle, because she would have recognized it was not Guthrie. Burger, never satisfied with any Mason explanation, challenges him, but the judge sides with Mason's explanation of all the events.
TWENTY-ONE.	Perry Mason, Della Street, Marilyn Keith, Paul Drake and Ted Balfour gather in the witness room to celebrate. Mason warns Balfour that the press is going to interview him. The bailiff calls Mason to the phone, and Drake and Street follow. It is Addison Balfour, who thanks Mason and ups his fee fifty percent, and rehires Marilyn Keith, to whom he will also make a large cash settlement. He asks all of them to get out to the house and forgive him. Mason goes to get Ted Balfour and Marilyn Keith. Della was right about her (see chapter five). Mason opens the door of the witness rooms, then steps back, suggesting they wait a minute or two. "I think the two people in there are discussing something that's damned important -- to them."

By the end of chapter fourteen the outline of the crime is in place, but Gardner holds an important piece of information from us to the end of a chapter which he gives Mason at the beginning of the chapter. Then he provides a much more complex solution than is necessary. One could simply place Boles in the motel room instead of Eagan in Ingle's story, and everything fits without other complications. Of course, Boles does this in his explanation, but we still don't catch on that there is still one element, one person, that is out of place. By the beginning of chapter eighteen, we should see the light, and count available bodies. By the end of eighteen, Gardner is almost hitting the reader over the head with all the clues that are needed.

Della Street	[Mr and Mrs Grover Olney]	Carver Kinsey
Perry Mason	Donald Derby	Trial deputy Sims Ballantine
Mrs John (Joan) Kirby	[Niece Gertrude]	Judge Conway Cameron
[Gertie]	Norma Logan	Joseph Hesper
John Northrup Kirby	Ronson Kirby	George Franklin
Lois Wagner	Drake's operative (later, Bill)	Harvey Nelson
Motel proprietor	[Drake's switchboard operator]	Milton Hazen Rexford
Beauty Rest manager	[Kirby's cook]	Steve Logan
[Dr Phineas Lockridge Babb]	[Kirby's housekeeper]	Uniformed officer
Paul Drake	DA's receptionist	Spectators
Motley Dunkirk	Deputy	Newspaper reporters
Elvira Dunkirk	Hamilton Burger	Public administrator

Erle Stanley Gardner in his Foreword takes great notice of the ability of A W Freireich, M D, F A C P (Fellow of the American College of Physicians), to undermine seemingly plausible medical defenses which are, nevertheless wrong, with his extensive knowledge of poisons and bodily conditions, such as hypoglycemia, and what causes them. So, of course, this Perry Mason novel is dedicated to Dr "Abe" Freireich.

Keeping up on technology -- tape recorders is one Erle Stanley Gardner liked; he used various "dictating machines" to write his books, having a secretary then transcribe his thoughts -- here we learn about automatic garage door openers. Not the kind like now, done by hand-held remote control, but ones triggered by black light as the car passes. (Should you be interested in Gardner's lifestyle, go see his "cabin" where he did much of his writing. It is in the library of the University of Texas, Austin.

Mason has always been an outrageously fast, even daredevil, driver. Here he gets religion and, to Paul Drake's surprise and delight, drives within speed limits.

It has been many novels since Mason put his hands into the armholes of his vest. Here he finally jams them in his pants pockets instead.]

ONE.	Della Street tells Perry Mason that she has a lulu for him. Mrs John Kirby wants him to cross-examine her husband. Mason takes Mrs Kirby's phone call. She insists she loves her husband but wants him to realize a story he's told her won't hold up. Mason says he'll see him.
TWO.	John Kirby, salesman, president of the Kirby Oilwell Supply Company, is announced by Gertie. The previous night he picked up a "young, good-looking, well dressed" woman who was carrying a one-gallon can of gasoline. They went searching for her car, didn't find it. He, who carries large sums of money at all times, went to a motel, was rejected by the proprietor, found another, the Beauty Rest,r and registered with Lois Wagner as husband and wife as Mr and Mrs John Wagner. He got home about one o'clock, told his wife about it the next day. They want back to the motel, and Lois was gone. Mason asks about the gasoline can. He's not sure if it is in his car. Mason says he'll find the girl through her auto registration. Kirby hurriedly exits. Mason tells Della that Kirby now realizes his story won't hold up and is going to get a gasoline can. Della remembers a story in the newspapers about neighbors of Dr P Lockridge Babb, a.k.a. Phineas L Babb, hearing a woman screaming. Dr Babb was knocked unconscious and a woman who looked much like Lois was seen leaving. The police found the doctor's appointment book and Della remembers one of the two evening appointments was a Kirby. Perry sends Della to Paul Drake, then has her try to reach either Kirby. She can't.
THREE.	Della relay's Paul's information. Dr Babb is semi-retired, lives within a few blocks of the Beauty Rest Motel. About eleven-thirty there was quite a commotion. The neighbors, Dunkirks, saw the girl who ran out, without a purse. Police found the names of Kirby and Logan in the appointment book.
FOUR.	Della and Perry go to the Dunkirks, are met by Motley, who is laconic, but Elvira recognizes the lawyer and invites them in. Mason comments on the marvelous view they have from their window. Elvira says that she and Motley watch the world over the top of Dr Babb's place. Motley is a photographer, and has a very fine pair of binoculars. They notice the Olney's (Mr and Mrs Grover) cat playing with a dead goldfish from the pool laid out by Don Derby, who brings rocks heavy with minerals back from every trip he takes. She fixes the time Motley went into the darkroom as eleven-fifteen, the event as eleven-thirty. The piano in the background switches from jazz to classical. Sixteen-year-old niece Gertrude is at the player piano. It is a true antique. Gertrude was playing it until after midnight. An embarrassed silence follows Mason's request to talk to her. Mrs Dunkirk continues. She saw this girl walking up the street, turn into Dr Babb's. She was wearing a grey plaid jacket over bluish-green ruffed blouse and gray skirt. She had dark brown hair, and was not carrying anything. After she went in she heard banging. She called to Motley, ran to the front door and then heard screaming, then glass shattering. She called the police, went back to the front door, saw the same woman run out the front. As she started down to the house the police arrived. Motley explains he was in the darkroom and when he came out he saw Donald Derby wrapped in a towel come out so he went back to his pictures. He explains how he was once a witness in "a little, two-bit automobile accident case" and the lawyer on the other side browbeat him and the judge didn't do anything. So he wants to stay uninvolved. Then he mentions the other woman who was coming out of the back door. The police don't know about her since they didn't interview him. He only knows it was a woman, nothing more, except he believes she's the one who knocked Dr Babb out. Mason advises Motley that it is his duty to report this to the police, as Della takes down the conversations verbatim. They decide to interview the handy man. Don welcomes them. He was taking a shower after making his bed. He heard a woman screaming, ran out in a towel, saw the back door swinging shut. Mason suggests the woman could have been in the open door screaming, then gone back in, and Don says that could be. He went to the back door, banged on it. All was quiet. He went to the side, tapped on a window, then the police found him. Another officer went in the open front door. Yes, he's heard the description of the woman who was running out of the house. It might be a Logan woman, who came by in the morning, driving a nice, shiny Ford. It had a temporary pasteboard license number in the rear window, and he helped her put on the regular plates. AAl 279. Don doesn't know why she drove her car right down the driveway. Mason asks about the niece. "She's a funny kid." Often sits at the goldfish pond, seems to have nothing to do. She's probably fifteen, not sixteen. Perry and Della leave, phone Drake with the license number, learn that Dr Babb has died. Ten minutes later they learn the license belongs to Norma Logan.
FIVE.	Perry and Della go to the Mananas Apartments and apartment 280, are met by Norma Logan who doesn't admit to knowing anyone named Kirby or a Dr Babb. When Mason says Dr Babb is dead, she breaks down, admits to knowing a John Kirby who was nice enough to pick her up when she was carrying a can of gasoline and take her to a motel. Mason continues; Dr Babb is dead and she was seen running out of his house, she admits that Kirby told her to back him on his story, a half hour earlier. She now admits she's Ronnie's half-sister, namely Ronson Kirby. Dr Babb was running a baby mill, running two little private hospitals, one for rich society women, the other for unfortunate women who went to be delivered of unwanted children. Babb put the foster parents name on the birth certificate, charged them $10,000 and gave the mother $1000 and an assurance the child would be with a good family. How was she involved? Her father was an "adventurer, impractical, but dashing and magnetic." He remarried and within a year was wiped out, dying in the jungles of South America. She was seventeen with a pregnant stepmother. Babb took the baby. She looked for it and the birth records for the day had only on, a son to John and Joan Kirby. This is her Ronnie. She went to Dr Babb, who promised he'd call if there were ever a problem. Then the past Friday, he called. Someone was trying to blackmail him and it had to do with the Kirby's. She contacted Kirby, and they went to see Dr Babb, only he parked around a corner and she went in. She heard a scream, found Dr Babb on the floor and an early-thirties mature woman with upturned nose and dark hair and eyebrows was over him. The woman ran to the back while she stole Dr Babb's confidential records, ran to Kirby's car, and they drove away just as the police were arriving. She and Mason argue. He demands the book. She confides with Della in private. Mason tells Norma to get a lawyer. He and Della leave. (She has the book, or so we are led to believe.) He says he'll have Drake get an operative to watch the Kirby's.
SIX.	Paul Drake is eight and a half minutes late for his seven-forty-five appointment with Perry Mason. He's put two and two together. The police have traced the woman to the Beauty Rest Motel and taken fingerprints which matched those found in Dr Babb's office, tho not on the glass beaker which was the weapon. The license number registered at the hotel was right for the letters and first digit (JYJ 1), leaving ninety-nine possibilities, which narrows down since they know the make of the car. Since the police are looking for a Kirby, and Mason has a Drake operative watching the Kirby residence . . . (2+2!) The operative phones in; Kirby has returned. Drake's switchboard operator gets Kirby on the line, and Mason learns that he's "been out on a short business trip" with his wife and son. Mason tells him to stay put until he arrives. He then phones Della to be ready to be picked up. While driving to Kirby's, Mason expresses his gratitude (it is as close to "love" as he'll come) for Della's loyalty and dependability. The Kirby's are not home, so they investigate the garage, which has doors that open when tripped by an approaching car, and which later close automatically. They find a one-gallon gasoline can in an Oldsmobile with a license plate that matches what the police know. The three doors swing up and Mrs Kirby drives in. She is startled to find Mason, then Street, in her garage, wonders why they didn't go to John in the house. So she looks for him, and he's not there. Mason thinks the police may already have him, and Joan says he'll probably try to explain things. She cannot understand Mason's interest. "Murder."
SEVEN.	Mason goes to the district attorney's office. The receptionist says he's in a conference. Mason bypasses the receptionist and is met by a deputy who hesitates long enough for Mason to get to Hamilton Burger's office and bang on the door. The district attorney says he hasn't finished questioning Kirby. Mason says he has. Kirby is hesitant, then says he knows his way around. Mason escorts Kirby to his car, stating "I'm not accustomed to having my word doubted, Mr Mason." Mason confronts Kirby with his illegal child and Dr Babb, and he denies all, including any knowledge of a Norma Logan. He asserts that the district attorney was very considerate. He's given them permission to take his car for fingerprints and the gasoline can. Mason tells him they'll search the glove compartment . . . Now Kirby wants Mason to hurry up, get home quicker. He's worried that some of his business secrets might be in the glove compartment. Mason shows him the sales slip for the gasoline can, and Kirby is relieved, but indignant. He insists that he didn't visit Dr Babb.
EIGHT.	Mrs Kirby is awaiting the trio's return. His car has been towed away. Mason calls Kirby down, explains how the girl was seen running from Babb's and her fingerprints are there, at the motel and in his car, so he's an accessory to murder. Further, Ronson is a black-market baby, whose half-sister is Norma Logan. Burger was cordial because he had John in a trap, and would love the publicity of convicting a wealthy man of murder. John still protest he and the girl are in the clear. Mason regards "Kirby with angry eyes, feet spread apart, hands jammed in his trouser pockets." He tells Kirby he did the worst possible thing, lie to his lawyer. Kirby says he's a prominent man in the city and he has influential friends and can political wires. This is why, says Mason, they played cat-and-mouse with him, but they'll pick him up after they hear Norma Logan's story. He's pulled the rug out from under her, so they can convict her of murder and him of being an accessory. Mrs Kirby chimes in; she wants Mason to stay on and protect sensitive, sweet Ronnie. Mason points out that Kirby's name was on Babb's register, but Kirby again asserts he had no appointment. He talked with Norma, but was afraid to talk with Dr Babb because of blackmail. Kirby keeps weaseling even after Mason tells him to tell the police nothing. Mason and Street leave, and the lawyer notes to the secretary that Mrs Kirby mentioned the mother-of-pearl buttons on the jacket of the girl. Since Kirby didn't mention them, he hasn't told his wife, so how did she know? They'll talk to her after John is arrested so he cannot coach her.
NINE.	The police have picked up John, so Mrs Kirby phones Mason, who tells her to come up to the office immediately. When she arrives Mason brings up the mother-of-pearl bit which forces Joan to tell her story. A letter came to John from Dr Babb. She steamed it open, found that the doctor was asking John to come to his office to discuss ramifications on the matter which he thought had been concluded years before. She burned the letter, and made the appointment herself, at a time she knew her husband would be at the sales meeting. She parked a block away. She was early and the doctor told her to wait until he finished with someone else. She found the rest room with doors into the inner and outer offices. She watched things, and the outer door opened and Logan came in. There was a commotion in the inner office and she saw a man there, and Dr Babb lying on the floor. The man fled out the back door. She followed, ran around the side of the house to her car. She's a light sleeper, so she and John have separate rooms, but she spoke shortly with him when he came in. She was unable to fall asleep. John went out about three for an hour and a half. The next morning John told his story and she suggested they go out and give her some money. She know all along the Kirby the police were talking about was her. She suggested to John he see Mason so if blackmail came up later he'd be protected. She's scared for Ronnie.
TEN.	Mason makes Street admit she has Dr Babb's book of adoptees and adoptors. Della gets the book. Perry asks her to have Paul look up the whole Logan family tree. Della suggests he consult another lawyer who could advise him to not turn it over to the police. That is when Gertie informs them that Carver Kinsey wants to see Mason. Mason tells Della that Kinsey is "one lawyer who is really shifty." Kinsey banters, gets Della to put her notebook away, then brings up Dr Babb's notebook. He thinks it "is a dream come true." Won't even involve blackmail, but will raise him to being a lawyer for bigshots. He intends to get money. He wants the notebook, but will share it with Mason. Mason will pass this on to his client. Kinsey counters that Mrs Kirby can write a $25,000 check from an account that is always keep at four times that. Mason says he'll advise his client against the deal. Kinsey thinks he can get immunity from the district attorney for Norma Logan who will then crucify Perry Mason.
ELEVEN.	John Kirby has wilted under incarceration. He thinks Mason should pay off Kinsey, but Mason says no. Mason knows they don't yet have enough evidence to convict, so he'll "push for an immediate preliminary hearing."
TWELVE.	Trial deputy Sims Ballantine tells the Court, including Judge Conway Cameron, that he doesn't "know what the evidence in this case will show." He wants a continuance, but Mason refuses. The judge says he won't allow a fishing expedition, that maybe the case should go to the grand jury later. Joseph Hesper was the first officer on the scene. He went in the front while his partner, George Franklin, went around the back. George found Denby tapping on a side window, then he admitted George at the back door (thus obliterating any useful fingerprints). Mrs Dunkirk came to the front door, and she described the young woman who ran out. The ambulance came in fifteen minutes, and the search for the girl went on another ten. Hesper explains the time element of Denby's coming to the window, in a towel, dripping water. He admits someone other than the runaway woman could have been in the house. Harvey Nelson, fingerprint expert, testifies to finding fingerprints of Dr Babb, handyman Denby, an unidentified person, and some found also in the motel and Kirby's car. Nelson also tried to get information from Dr Babb and, after many attempts to get an answer, he gave the name of John Kirby. Milton Hazen Rexford, neighbor of Dr Babb, saw a car license JYJ 112 in front of his house, and John Kirby in it. He saw Kirby the next day in a lineup. He saw the girl go from Kirby's car to Dr Babb's.. He saw Kirby drive away quickly after the girl came back to the car. Mason grills him about lighting conditions and such, and largely discredits the witness's testimony. Don Derby is next. He's fairly sure no one could have come out of the back door while he went to the side window.
THIRTEEN.	Mason tells Della that the case went so-so, but he can counter this with Motley Dunkirk's testimony, though this will involve Joan Kirby. He knows Kinsey hasn't gone to the D A, because Sims Ballantine is conducting the prosecution. Norma will recognize Joan Kirby as the woman in Babb's when her face appears in newspapers. Norma has an uncle, Steve Logan, a big used-car dealer. She purchased her shiny car from him. Drake arrives with the news that Steve Logan was at Dr Babb's the afternoon of the murder. He was there to get specification on the goldfish pool. The Grover Olneys saw him. Little waterfalls feed it. Apparently they were off, since the sound interferes with Dr Babb's sleep. Drake notes that Gertrude also watches the goldfish. She's in some sort of scrape and is staying three months with the Dunkirks. The neighbors think she, sixteen, unmarried, is going to have a baby. Kinsey returns to tell Mason he has a lead-pipe cinch, if he'll play along. Of course, he won't. Perry tells Della that Kinsey will try to make a trade with Burger so he can keep the book, but none of them have taken into consideration "The technical rules of evidence.
FOURTEEN.	Della wakes Perry with the news that she's been served a subpoena duces tecum calling for her to produce "a cardboard-backed notebook which was the property of Dr P L Babb" at ten o'clock in Judge Cameron's courtroom. A knock at Mason's door, and a uniformed officer gives him a subpoena duces tecum. Drake informs Mason that Norma Logan's attorney is Carver Kinsey and he's sold Burger a load of goods.
FIFTEEN.	Spectators and newspaper reporters now jam Judge Cameron's courtroom. Hamilton Burger is no trying the case, and he calls Della Street as a hostile witness. She answers preliminary questions, but as soon as Burger asks about her conversation with Norma Logan Mason objects. Burger argues that he'll prove the defendant is an accessory, and Mason's fingerprints on a gasoline prove he planted evidence. Mason notes that since Burger's fingerprints are on the can, and "that is the sole criterion of guilt," he can prefer charges against Burger. Mason's objection is upheld in that it calls for a conclusion of the witness. Further, what has the notebook to do with the case? Mason wins every time Burger rephrases his questions. Burger gives up, calls Norma Logan. Mason asks Joan Kirby to sit next her husband. Shortly into Burger's examination of Logan, she recognizes Joan Kirby, shouts out "That's the woman!" Commotion. Mason points out that Logan has just exonerated John Kirby of the murder, for he was in his car and Joan was in the office. Kinsey whispers to Burger, who asks about the book she took from Dr Babb's office, but Mason points out that this book could have nothing to do with his client. Burger slanders Mason, is admonished by Judge Cameron, and recalls Harvey Nelson. Nelson now testifies that maybe it was Joan, not John, that he heard the dying Dr Babb name as his assailant. Nelson has a tape recording of the declaration. Mason gets him to admit that he was given "instructions not to mention it unless" he was asked, by Mr Ballantine. The tape recorder is sent for. Joan admits being at Dr Babb's to Mason and John.
SIXTEEN.	The tape is played and the judge thinks he hears John, not Joan, but Burger persists, yet doesn't want the tape admitted as evidence. Mason demands it, and the judge agrees. Mason asks to recall a witness, handy man Don Derby. The back door to Dr Babb's had a device to shut it automatically and spring lock it. So, too, didn't his door have the same device. Yes. Then how, wrapped in a towel only, thus without key, how did he get back in his house? Mason suggests the police search Dr Babb's house for shoes and clothes that will fit Derby. He notes that he's given the notebook to the public administrator, so has stolen nothing, instead he has recovered stolen property. The judge instructs Burger to see that things are competently investigated.
SEVENTEEN.	Mason and Street are finally introduced to Ronnie by Mrs Kirby. Mason explains all. The man should have been seen leaving Dr Babb's, but wasn't seen by either Dunkirk. So he must have stayed on in the house. He had begun to figure out what Dr Babb was up to. Perhaps Derby and Steve Logan were working together, but Derby was key. He slugged Dr Babb when the doctor discovered him in the house after Steve Logan left by the back door. He hit him too hard. He couldn't find the notebook. He detoured into the doctor's bedroom, disrobed, went out the back and plunged into the pool, so was wet. The key clue was the fact that the neighbor's cat was playing with a dead goldfish. The cat had never before been able to catch a goldfish. When Derby plunged in, there was an overflow which sent a goldfish out of the pool. Mason thinks the secrets in the book are safe.

Again, this is an overly complicated solution, with far more red herrings than are necessary. Motley Dunkirk could have as well been "made" the murder by Gardner, for he could have been protecting Gertrude.

Jerry Conway	Sgt Holcomb	Hamilton Burger
Gifford Farrell	Radio car officer	Lt Tragg
Rosalind	Deputy coroner	Uniformed officer
Eva Kane	Police photographer	Alexander Redfield
Gashouse Baker	Two plain-clothes men	Police shorthand reporter
Unidentified phone voice	Gladedell Motel manager	Headquarters reporters
Redfern desk clerk, Robert Makon [Bob] King	Evangeline Farrell (Rosalind)	Officers at motel with mine sweepers
[Gerald Boswell]	Holly Arms switchboard operator	Judge Clinton DeWitt
Redfern elevator operator (Myrtle Lamar)	. . . Rose Mistletoe Calvert	Ladies & gentlemen of the jury
Mildred	Drake's operative at Lane Vista	Marvin Elliott
Perry Mason	Simon & Wells detective	Dr K C Malone
Paul Drake	Norton Barclay Calvert	Dr Reeves Garfield
Murdered woman . . .	Ruth Culver	Redfern chambermaid
Della Street	Fred Inskip	Redfern waiter
Homicide officer	Hamilton Burger's secretary	Court officers

In what must be Erle Stanley Gardner's shortest Forewords, he dedicates this Perry Mason novel to Merton Melrose Minter, M D, who, after rising to the top of his profession, "turned his razor-keen mind to a 'spare-time' study of the problems of evidence, of law enforcement and the part the citizen could and should play in co-operating with the various law-enforcement agencies."

To keep interest in his mystery plots high, Erle Stanley Gardner changes significantly his openings, and his chapter lengths. In the majority of his Perry Mason novels the average chapter length is about one-tenth the length of the book (Morrow edition). In many of his mysteries, Perry Mason is the first person encountered. Next, of course, is secretary Della Street, readying the office for Mason's arrival. Then, as here, we start with the problem up front. This time Mason is held off until the end of the first chapter, tho in some mysteries it can go two, three, even four chapters before the best sleuth among lawyers appears.

An interesting side note; an elevator operator is reading a twenty-five cent novel, No Smog Tomorrow. This reveals that smog was part of the Los Angeles scene back in the mid-fifties. And how about 25¢ for a novel?

Mason now drinks Scotch, with soda.

1.	Jerry Conway reads a half-page ad that challenges proxy holders in California & Texas Global Development & Exploration Company to send him, Gifford Farrell, their proxies. Conway had reinvested rather than declare a big dividend, and Farrell was out to take away his company. A phone call comes to him from a woman identifying herself as "Rosalind." She has information about Farrell and the proxies he's gathered. She's afraid of getting killed. The next day Conway's secretary, Eva Kane, gives him another phone call from Rosalind. She's afraid of what can be done to her by a one-man goon squad, Gashouse Baker. She calls again, this time with Eva Kane taking down the conversation. She gives him elaborate instructions on how to shake his tail and go to a phone in the Empire Drugstore for a at exactly six-fifteen for instructions on how to meet her. Eva is certain it is a trap, and he's certain he knows the voice, not by its town, but its cadence. He gets to the phone early, and at six-twelve gets a call from someone other than Rosalind. He goes to the Redfern Hotel, gets an envelope from the clerk acting as if he's Gerald Boswell, finds in it a key to room 729. He takes the elevator, whose operator barely recognizes him, and goes there, enters, then Mildred enters in bra and panties with a mudpack covering her face. She gets a gun, which he wrests from her, and leaves. Driving away, he discovers one bullet has been fired from the .38 caliber revolver. He calls Perry Mason's night number.
2.	Perry Mason answers Paul Drake's call. Conway has phoned Drake at his office, with what is probably a murder weapon in his possession. Mason has Drake ask if his services are worth a thousand dollar retainer. Drake reports back two thousand. Mason says he'll meet Conway at Drake's office. There Conway tells his story of a woman called Rosalind. Mason checks the gun, notes that it has recently been fired. He says the woman in the room was not embarrassed, but frightened. Mason and Drake drive to the Redfern Hotel. Drake plays at being Boswell to the clerk, then he and Mason go to 729. The elevator girl is reading No Smog Tomorrow, a twenty-five cent novel. In the room they find a dead woman, not in mudpack. Drake wants to report the murder from the room, but Mason cautions him that they don't know Conway is involved, and Conway is not Drake's client, but Mason's. In the lobby Mason phones Della Street, tells her to pick up Conway, grill him on who the girl was who phoned him, and get him out of circulation. He then calls homicide, and the answering officer passes him directly to Sgt Holcomb. Holcomb say's he's on his way, skeptical of Mason's tale of finding the body. While waiting, Mason informs desk clerk bob King that Drake is not Boswell and cross-examines him into confusion. An officer arrives and Mason chides him for asking questions rather than securing the murder room. When Holcomb arrives, the clerk states that Drake is Mason's client. Mason answers all questions put to Drake. Holcomb goes to the room, and Drake begins getting operatives on the case. A deputy coroner, police photographer and two plain-clothes men arrive. Holcomb returns, demands to know who Mason's client is, and the attorney says he'll produce him at nine in the morning.
3.	Mason returns to his office and tells Della that it is murder. She says Conway is at the Gladedell Motel, which has a friendly manager. She's learned that Conway is a very eligible bachelor. Farrell was promoted beyond his capacities by Conway until the boss learned that he was being stabbed in the back. The board backed Conway. Mason goes to the Gladedell. Conway cannot remember the possessor of the voice on the phone, nor identify the murdered woman, but he has the gun, serial C 48809, which Mason tells him to keep in hand. Mason points out that it was a trap getting him to the apartment. The woman walked towards him, virtually forcing him to take the gun from her. Conway feels certain that Rosalind was sincere. He thinks he shouldn't sit while they snipe at him, but he should double-cross them. Mason tells him to not fool around, but sit tight.
4.	Mason passes the gun number on to Drake, then goes to see Eva Kane. She's worried, was sure it was a trap. Then she gets it; Rosalind is Evangeline Farrell, separated wife of Gifford.
5.	Mason goes to the Holly Arms apartments, gets the switchboard operator to put through his call. Red-headed Evangeline is quite attractive in her "Chinese silk lounging pajamas, embroidered with silken dragons." She smokes cigarettes in a "long, carved, ivory cigarette holder." She's trying to negotiate a property settlement with Gifford. Mason traps her into admitting she is Rosalind. She has a next egg of stock in Texas Global, and thinks it will be worthless if Gifford gets the company. So she wanted to help Conway. But she didn't get through to him at six-fifteen; another man eventually answered and said Conway had left. She has a photo of Gifford's latest girl friend, Rose Calvert, in a bikini that is hardly noticeable. Mason is rather sure she's the murdered girl. Evangeline offers a drink. Mason takes Scotch after she twists his arm, playfully. She has perfect carbons of the proxy list, and offers them to Mason. Mason tries the Gladedell Motel, but Conway doesn't answer. Mason is in a hurry to use his information, and Evangeline gives up trying to vamp him.
6.	Mason phones Drake that he's going out to see Rose Calvert, wants an operative to precede him and see if anyone else is watching the place. Mason gets a couple of cups of coffee, calls Conway, who says he ran out for shaving stuff. Mason says he has the proxy list. He goes on to the Lane Vista Apartments, where Drake's man informs him that another detective from Simons & Wells has been waiting for Rose. A letter to Rose identifies Norton B Calvert, possibly Rose's husband, way out in Elsinore. Mason decides to see him, even though it is rather late. He wakes Norton, who says he was sort of hoping his wife would change her mind, but seems as if she really wants a divorce. He inherited sixty thousand, wanted to buy a business, is working a service station next the place he wants to buy. This doesn't fit Rose's lifestyle. She wants to use her good looks. Mason describes the dead woman's clothes, and Norton says the tight-fitting blue sweater is a Christmas present from him. Rose has sent him a letter saying she wants to go to Reno, which he shows Mason. He is defeated, goes to his bedroom and cries, as Mason leaves. The attorney calls his detective, and asks him to get check-outs from the seventh floor between six and eight.
7.	Mason returns to his office where Della is dozing. She has coffee and donuts. Mason washes his face, reports to Drake and Street on Norton Calvert. Mason expects the body to be identified within a half hour. Drake gets a call indicating the gun was sold to Texas Global for the protection of the cashier. Mason explains how Conway was misled by an early phone call before Rosalind could get her call to him. Paul says a woman named Ruth Culver checked out from 728, across the hall from the murder room. Operative Fred Inskip is in the room. Mason makes Della go home, and follows her to make sure she's save.
8.	At the Gladedell Conway shows Mason an envelope he found in his car. It has names of those who sent in proxies, not enough to defeat him. Mason produces the carbons. The indicate Conway would lose the company. On the way to the district attorney's, Mason warns Conway that he had better not have done any gun switching.
9.	Promptly at nine Mason and enter the D A 's office. Lt Tragg, a uniformed officer and ballistics expert Alexander Redfield were with Hamilton Burger, as was a tape recorder. A microphone is relaying the room to a police shorthand reporter. Conway relates his story in full detail, and Mason interrupts to take note of important facts of which Conway may not know the import. Once Conway says he realized the gun he'd taken from the woman had been fired once, he called Mason. Here Mason ends Conway's story. Burger tries to involve Mason, but the lawyer points out he didn't even know there was a murder. Conway gives them a gun. After much haggling, Redfield points out that the gun Conway handed over was a Smith & Wesson, while the murder weapon was a Colt revolver. Of course Burger now accuses Mason of switching guns. Farrell is brought in, and he challenges Mason and Conway until Mason asks about his involvement with Rose Calvert of whom he made photos in a bikini. Mason takes Conway out, leaving Farrell to be questioned by Burger, Holcomb and company. They meet newspaper reporters.
10.	Conway doesn't think he did bad, but Mason reminds him that the girl wanted him to take the gun. As they near Mason's parked car, Mason notices police searching the motel grounds with mine detectors. One holds up a revolver by a pencil in the barrel. Mason. After Mason points out that whoever is framing him must have followed him from the drug store, Conway asserts Farrell must have planted the gun.
11.	Mason goes back to the Redfern, tries to conceal himself from the elevator girl with a newspaper, but she recognizes him by the way he stands. She asks about Drake. Mason sends her back to the lobby, goes to Inskip. They search the room, eventually the bed, and find a bullet in the mattress. Mason makes Inskip keep it. Inskip says he will remember telling Mason to report the bullet.
12.	Judge Clinton DeWitt asks Hamilton Burger if he wishes to make an opening statement, and Burger responds, "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I am going to make one of the briefest opening statements I have ever made." He goes on to argue that he will convict Gerald Conway of first-degree murder. He identifies the murder weapon as having serial 7408181. Mason, unexpectedly, also decides to give an opening statement, and says that perjury and circumstantial evidence, to which he can offer a different solution, will demand a verdict of not guilty. Sgt Holcomb testifies to his conversation with Mason and going to the hotel room. He found the body, left arm hanging down, right arm frozen above the face stiff of rigor mortis. Assistant Marvin Elliott examines Gifford Farrell, who testifies about the proxy fight and introduces the proxy list that Conway found in his car. Farrell admits it is a false list he had Rose Calvert prepare. Robert Makon King, desk clerk at the Redfern hotel, testifies that the murdered woman registered under the name of Gerald Boswell, to whom she was secretary. She paid in advance because she had no luggage. He delivered an envelope to the defendant. Mason gets his admission that he didn't at the time think it wasn't Paul Drake to whom he gave the envelope. Dr K C Malone testifies death occurred between six-fifteen and seven o'clock. This is based on contents of the stomach, and the fact that a waiter brought lunch up at 4:30, as well as rigor mortis. Mason pursues the question of time of death. Dr Reeves Garfield from the coroner's office concurs with Dr Malone on the time of death, but Mason gets him to admit there were factors which could lead to an earlier time of death, including a certain discoloration of the body. Room service sent a lunch up at four-thirty, indicating death around six-thirty. The lunch contents were found in the stomach, plus peas. The waiter apparently forgot about the peas. A recess is called. Mason thinks he's got the prosecution on the run, but Conway thinks Mason did not rigorously cross-examine Farrell.
13.	Street, Mason and Drake discuss the case. Mason knows he is missing a woman. He is certain the body was moved. Drake says he's getting on fine with Myrtle Lamar, the Redfern Hotel elevator operator. She knows everything that goes on in the hotel. Mason all of a sudden realizes that he's taken Conway's story that it is a frame-up. He tells Drake tohave Myrtle in court the next day, and let Inskip go to the police with his story. He now thinks he has an idea, one predicated on sound logic.
14.	Judge DeWitt calls the court to order. Dr Garfield is still on the stand. Mason asks him about the discoloration. Did the doctor ever know of a case where rigor mortis was in the right shoulder but not the left unless someone had broken the rigor? No, he doesn't. So here the rigor had been broken. Burger appears worried. Lt Tragg testifies as to the statement made by Conway. The uniformed officer testifies to the same statement. Mason joins Street, Drake and Lamar, then takes them to Farrell. When she leaves the room Myrtle is ushered into Evangeline's bedroom and asked to look at her shoes. Evangeline comes in and is more than upset, but confronted with Mason's attempt to call Lt Tragg, she tells her story. She knew Rose Calvert was Ruth Culver. She was in 728 typing the proxy list. She wanted to get the list to Conway, so fabricated the situation, including Gashouse Baker. She watched Rose, who would not recognize her. When Rose left the building, she tossed the key on the clerk's desk while the clerk was busy. So Evangeline became Boswell's secretary and rented the room across from Rose. When Rose returned, she didn't type, so perhaps the list Evangeline had was obsolete or phony, which led her to phone Conway as Rosalind and give him the old rigmarole. She called him from a place away from the hotel, so was away from the apartment. About three-thirty she heard what sounded like a banging on her door. She was terrified that she'd been found out. Instead, Gifford walked out of 728. She waited. Heard nothing. Went out, called 728, was told the tenant was not in. She went back, tapped on the door, went in, found Rose dead. The gun next her was the one the company had bought for the cashier and it was now hers except she'd left it behind when she moved out from Gifford. When she started to leave, she met the chambermaid. She told her she was waiting for a friend who had given her the key, but could wait no longer. When the maid had moved on, she returned to 729. She knew the maid would place her in the room, so she had to move the body to 72. She had a waiter bring up lunch, so she could make it appear as if the murder had happened later. While arranging the rooms, she found the carbons of the correct proxy list. She then got mud and did a mud pack for her face, knowing that it tightens the skin and would make her totally unrecognizable. Then she called Conway early and gave him the information that brought him to the room, where she forced the murder weapon on him. He grabbed the gun and ran. She washed her face, carried the body across the hall. Then she found the second gun, under the bed. She put it in a hatbox. The body had begun to stiffen, so she arranged it with the left arm dangling. She then calmly called the bellboy and checked out, explaining her father was critically ill in San Diego, which is why she was checking out so early. She knew calls had to go through the switchboard so, after Mason left her, she checked where he had called, found that it was the Gladedell Motel, asked if Jerry Conway was registered there, found he was, and planted the gun and put the phony list of proxies under his car seat. He could afford lawyers to get him off. She knew the evidence would point to her if she didn't do this. Drake serves her a subpoena.
15.	Mason lectures Drake on the importance of circumstantial evidence and how careful you have to be to not misinterpret it. He's not certain that Farrell killed Rose, for he wouldn't have left the second gun there. He tried to make the crime look like a suicide. Myrtle demands her lunch, and Mason makes Drake take her. And Evangeline didn't murder Rose, because she gave the wrong weapon to Conway. Drake sees "a darned good restaurant" and asks Myrtle how much lunch she wants. "Not too much. I'll have two dry Martinis to start, then a shrimp cocktail, and after that a filet mignon with potatoes au gratin, a little garlic toast, a few vegetables on the side such as asparagus or sweet corn, then some mince pie à la mode, and a big cup of black coffee. That will last me until evening," she says. Apparently the murder weapon was stolen from a gun store by a bunch of kids and this gun was not found when the kids were caught. He's now sure that the peas in Rose's stomach prove she was murdered earlier. Back at court, Elliott spars for time until Burger and Redfield arrive. Elliott calls Inskip who tells the story of Mason coming to the hotel and finding the bullet. Mason has so far had no cross-examination. Redfield testifies that the bullet given him by Inskip came from a Smith & Wesson C 48809. The fatal bullet was fired from Colt 740818. It is the Smith & Wesson that Conway took from the woman in the room. No cross. Robert King comes back. He is forced to admit that the woman who checked in could have been the murdered woman. Ruth Culver and Rose Calvert have the same initials. Burger is getting annoyed by Mason's tactics, starts objecting, says Mason planted the bullet. The judge sides with Mason, and suggests that a handwriting person compare the hotel register and the handwriting of the dead woman. Mason interjects, "and when he does that, Your Honor, the handwriting expert will have to testify that the Ruth Culver who signed the register and checked into 728 was the Rose Calvert whose body was found in 729." Burger, of course, has not checked the register. The judge admonishes Burger for not anticipating the defense. Burger calls Norton Barclay Calvert and gets Rose's husband to admit he learned of his wife's death from Mason about one in the morning. Mason asks about the letter he wrote to his wife. Didn't he when Mason arrived say he wouldn't do anything to make it easier for Rose to get a divorce. Mason confronts him with why he didn't go directly to the Elsinore police station to find if his wife had been murdered, but waited until later in the morning. Didn't he, once he knew of the letter in the mailbox, go to get the mailbox to get a letter that incriminated him. Myrtle Lamar enters with Paul Drake. Mason asks her to join him and the witness to stand up. As Burger objects to the procedure, Mason tells Calvert that he's not standing right. When Calvert disagrees, Myrtle laughs; she'd never forget his shoes. Mason now challenges Calvert with loving his wife so much he decided if he couldn'tthave her, no one would. He was willing to kill her, but lost his nerve trying to commit suicide. Judge DeWitt grants Mason's request for a recess. Calvert is confronted by Myrtle Lamar as he heads towards the door. He starts running, and officers have to gram and handcuff him.
16.	Mason, Street, Drake, Conway and Lamar sit in the courtroom after the commotion had subsided. The judge had instructed the jury to return a verdict of "Not Guilty" and Calvert was in custody. Mason says that from Mrs Farrell we knew lunch had been eaten at twelve-forty, so death was at two-forty, when Evangeline was phoning Jerry. He remembered telling Calvert about the letter, then noting that Calvert didn't go directly to thew police to determine if Rose were dead. Mason agrees to appear at the stockholder's meeting. Myrtle thinks they owe her more than dinner, like a fur coat. Conway says put it on his tab.

Perry Mason	Mason's parking attendant	Homicide receptionist
Della Street	Lt Tragg	Shorthand reporter
Stephanie Falkner	Maid at Casselman's	Uniformed officer
Momer Horatio Garvin, Sr	Another cab driver	Judge Hilton Decker
Homer Garvin, Jr	Lodestar desk clerk	Guy Hendrie
Eva Elliott	Garvin's salesmen	Radio officer
Marie Arden Barlow	Garvin's secretary	Police photographer
[Glenn Falkner]	Sgt Holcomb	Autopsy surgeon
Mr X (George Casselman)	Paul Drake's receptionist	Jurors
Lawton Barlow	Paul Drake	Alexander Redfield
1st cab driver	Jack Crowe	Paul Clinton
Gertie	Mrs Homer Garvin, Dawn Joyce	Lorraine Kettle
Lucille	3rd cab driver

Michael Anthony Luongo gains Erle Stanley Gardner's dedication in the Foreword to this novel for "his desire for truth and his refusal to be stampeded into jumping to conclusions.

Usually Paul Drake comes into action early on, but here it is chapter 9 of 21 before Mason calls on him.

Sometimes it is the little things that are interesting. Now everyone has his/her own phone, sometimes two what with the introduction of cellular phones, but it was rare in 1957. Here Garvin (Junior) and his wife Dawn Joyce have separate phones.

1.	Della Street asks Perry Mason, "What is the status of an unmarried woman who is quote, keeping company, unquote, win an unmarried male?" Her boss answers, "There is no legal status." Stephanie Falkner, in the outer office, is "keeping company" with Homer Garvin, not Senior, but Junior. She has inherited a gambling place in Las Vegas. Mason has her try to reach Senior, but cannot get past Eva Elliott, his secretary and replacement for Marie Arden. Miss Falkner is brought in. She owns forty per cent of the stock in a modest Las Vegas motel and casino. Her father was victim of a still unsolved murder. He was in to gambling, and sent her off to boarding school. The syndicate killed him. She was going with Junior. Senior bought fifteen percent of the stock to protect her. No a Mr X is trying to buy controlling interest. She wants Mason to reach Senior and wants Mason to go after her father's murderer. She says she'll be in touch at ten the next day, and walks out.
2.	Eva Elliott has set herself up "in a corner which framed her blond beauty against the dark mahogany paneling." She replaced Marie Arden, not married to Lawton Barlow. She is unfriendly to Mason, won't tell him how to reach Senior. Mason hails a cab, and is welcomed by Marie, who is due in nine weeks. She says she tried to visit Senior twice, was put off by Eva, who was put in the office when Junior switched from her to Stephanie. Eva must know where Senior is, but he often stays at the Double-O Motel.
3.	Back at the office Della checks on Mason's dealings with Senior; over a year. Della gets Gertie to call the Double-O. They eventually get a call back from Garvin Senior, who is surprised Eva wouldn't tell Mason where he was. Mason tells about Mr X. He tells Mason to represent him, and to get the name and address of Mr X and, if he's not in, give it to Lucille.
4.	Stephanie shows up at ten, says anything Garvin wants is okey with her. Mr X is George Casselman. Della Checks with Gertie, who reads the society columns faithfully as an incurable romanticist. She has found an article about Homer Junior, who was married in Chicago and has just returned.
5.	Mason drives to the Ambrose Apartments, 211, and gets to Casselman, who offers thirty thousand dollars for the fifteen percent Mason's client controls. Casselman gets a phone call. Mason leaves. Garvin Senior goes into the building. He returns and leaves as Stephanie drives up. She goes in, later comes out the back way and is picked up by Mason. She says he offered her thirty thousand for her forty percent. Mason returns to his office. Garvin arrives, saying he was offered thirty thousand for his fifteen percent, and he thinks Casselman murdered Glenn Falkner. Falkner was pushed out of a moving car , dead, driven by Casselman. The car had blood spots. Garvin shows Perry that he's a deputy sheriff and carries arms. Mason worries he might get rash. When Garvin learns that Marie tried to see him and was turned away, he says he's already fired Eva.
6.	Stephanie is delighted to see Homer with Mason. Homer tells her he's been in Las Vegas and he believes George Casselman killed her father. He thinks it is time to sell her property and Casselman is but an independent operator. She says she'd take anything over thirty thousand dollars. He agrees she should get eighty thousand, and they'd split anything above. After leaving, Mason queries Della as to why Stephanie should keep insisting on thirty thousand for forty percent, when thirty was offered for fifteen. Mason feels that Casselman was prepared to pay eighty and thirty until he got the phone call while Mason was there.
7.	Mason nods to his parking attendant as he pulls into his regular parking stall. Della meets him; Lt Tragg is looking for him. George Casselman has become a corpse. A maid found him about eight in the morning. They catch a cab to the Lodestar Apartments, nod at the desk clerk and go straight to Stephanie. Mason finds a snub-nosed revolver under her pillow. It has one empty chamber. It was given her by Homer, and is very similar to the one Homer had in his shoulder holster. He left it the previous night, she says. The continue with their cab to Garvin's office. It is locked. They go to Garvin Junior's used car lot. He walks past a lot full of salesmen and goes straight to Garvin Junior. There's friction between Junior and Senior, because of the faster pace of the current generation. He gives them Elliott's address and they head off to the Monadnock Apartments. Eva is not happy to see them, but Mason disarms her with a bit of charm. He came in at about eight forty-five and they had their to-do at nine. She now plans to further her stage career. Mason offers to take her in her cab. The cab driver drops Mason off at his office with Miss Street, sends the cab on with Eva to Hollywood. Lt Tragg greets the inseparable duo with the news of Casselman's death by .38 caliber revolver the previous night. As Tragg probes for information, he reminds Della how Mason fends off the questions he asks by digressing from the subject. He tells Mason that he should have gotten out of the cab a block away from his office and walked, which he would have done if it weren't for the cute blonde, for now he has the cab number and can trace his movements. Who was the blonde? Mason tells him. Tragg posits that the attorney might have picked up some young woman who might have killed Casselman and then called her attorney for help with self defense? Would the attorney's obligation not to betray a client control all other rules of ethics, asks Mason, then answers with "no." Tragg tells Mason he's given him a chance to come clean. He also notes that Homer Garvin, as a special deputy sheriff, has the right to carry a gun. Does Mason know where that gun might be. "What gun?" With Tragg gone, Mason contacts Marie Barlow and asks her to have Garvin call him if he calls her. He tells her that Eva has been fired, and she says she'll go back to the office until Garvin can get a new secretary. Almost as soon as he hangs up, Garvin calls. He thinks Stephanie may have fired the gun that killed Casselman, and tells Mason to protect her, wherever the chips may fall, while he goes out and becomes a red herring. Mason warns him that's dangerous, but Garvin says he realizes he loves the girl. Mason lets him know that Eva has left for good, and Marie is on the job. Mason tells Della he has something important to do and he has two things to be thankful for. First, he knows the police will trace his taxi route and second, Senior's wife insisted their first child be named Junior.
8.	Mason drives to Garvin Junior's used car lot and is immediately accosted by a salesman who follows him into Garvin's outer office where Mason also ignores the secretary. He demands Garvin to produce his gun, then gets its balance, notes it is identical to his father's weapon, and pulls the trigger. "The bullet plowed a furrow across the polished mahogany of Garvin's desk, glanced off the desk and imbedded itself in the wall." When the secretary and a salesman barge in, Mason merely claims he didn't know it was loaded. Garvin says he keeps "it loaded. There's very little percentage in clicking an empty gun at a band who it is trying to hold you up." Now he tells Garvin to put the gun in his pocket and come with him. Garvin calls for "that x-60 job" to be brought for their use, and for Mason's car to be taken out and checked. Mason roars off to the Lodestar Apartments. There he tells Garvin to give Stephanie his gun for her protection. Junior and Stephanie shake hands as friends. In the apartment lobby, Mason and Garvin hide behind magazines as Lt Tragg, Sgt Holcomb and the (second) taxi driver enter, confer with the desk clerk, and get into the elevator.
9.	Marie calls Mason at his office from Gavin's office and says Tragg and Holcomb want to search and they have a warrant. Mason says, "Invite them to make themselves at home." He goes to Drake's office, where the receptionist says the detective is in. When Mason says the job is George Casselman, Drake says he was murdered the previous night. Drake says Casselman was a penny ante racketeer, not a gambler. On the way back to his office he meets Stephanie Falkner, who says the police came up after he left and got the gun. She told the police she got it from Homer, without specifying Senior or Junior. Mason says that next time they question her, tell them she won't say anything unless her attorney is with her. She says Senior came back and stayed until around midnight. Mason suggests to Della he doesn't think Stephanie's dress is photogenic, how long would it take to shop for a better one. He suggests they be conspicuous, and shop until the stores close. She tells Mason that the other gun is well-hidden.
10.	Marie reports to Mason that the police searched and left, unhappy. The office is a mess with duplicate files, incorrectly filed documents and such, including overpaid bills. Drake comes in, says Mason is going to get some unpleasant publicity from Jack Crowe who writes a daily column entitled "Crowe's Caws." The story about Mason's mishandling of the gun at Garvin's will be in the paper.
11.	"Crowe's Caws" tells the story of Mason's gunsmanship, ending with a wounded desk, a corpus deskus. Della tells Perry that Junior is "tickled to death with the publicity." Stephanie doesn't answer at her apartment. Drake reports that George Casselman had a criminal record, and was killed between seven and eleven-thirty Tuesday night by a .38 caliber bullet with the gun held against his chest. Drake receives a call which lets him know that the gun found at Stephanie's fired the fatal bullet which means the gun Mason fired at Juniors is the murder weapon. It seems that the police now suspect Mrs Homer Garvin (Junior) of the murder, since Casselman was a blackmailer and she knew him in Las Vegas. When Drake leaves, Mason confides that Senior must have a key to Junior's office and he switched guns, but that still doesn't identify the murderer. He notes that the bullet he fired at Junior's proves he had the fatal gun in his possession. The D A might even try to prove Mason fired the fatal bullet. Della is tired, feels like a wet dish rag, so Mason sends her home.
12.	Senior phones from Las Vegas. He's happy with the developments. "The more trails they have to follow the more confused they'll get" is his take on the problems of the police. Della returns; she got some headache medicine. She went out to Junior's and is considering a car. She tried to phone Mason to get his opinion, but she couldn't get a connection. Drake phones in that the police just a few minutes ago decided to go to Garvin's and dig out the bullet, and it was gone. Della is demure. Sgt Holcomb arrives without knocking, wants to know where Mason got the murder weapon. Mason tells him. Holcomb suggests that Mason switched guns. Either Mason switched guns and is guilty, or didn't, and still is guilty, is Holcomb's position. Mason tells Holcomb of a mysterious visitor whose imminent arrival caused Casselman to kick him out of the apartment. Mason assures Holcomb that he didn't switch guns.
13.	Junior arrives. He's angry that Mason has involved his wife, Dawn Joyce. The police have a notebook in Casselman's with her phone number, and she has his on a pad next her phone. On Tuesday night he was interviewing a car dealer about taking twenty used cars and Dawn was at home, though he must have had the wrong number of her phone because twice she didn't answer when he tried to call her. The car dealer won't know he dialed the wrong number, only that she didn't answer. Mason explains the gun mixup, and Junior changes his attitude, tries to sell the attorney the x-60. He admits that the janitor, Dawn, his secretary, himself and his dad have keys to his office.
14.	Marie Barlow calls Mason with a tale of checks being sent a non-existent Acme Electric company. Further, Eva did not take the 2% discount for early payment. Then a call from Lucille at the Double-O. Garvin has not phoned her at the appointed time, so he's probably been picked up by the police.
15.	About to order dinner, Mason first calls Drake, and learns that Garvin is at police headquarters. He catches a cab and a homicide receptionist sends him to Burger's office where the DA, Tragg, a shorthand reporter, a uniformed officer and Homer are waiting. Mason demands to speak to his client before any questions are answered. They are sent to an office but Mason takes Garvin into a closet to avoid bugs. Garvin admits he's in love with Stephanie and maybe his son married the right girl. Casselman was busy when he went to visit. He wasn't to his office, had it out with Eva. Then he went to Stephanie and gave her his gun. He then got his other gun and went back to Casselman's, found him dead. There was a woman's shoe print in blood. He went to Stephanie, saw a recently-washed show identical to the one in the blood. He went back to Casselman's, stepped over her print and did everything to remove evidence of Stephanie. He did not switch guns. Back with Burger the two are shown a black and white photograph of the shoe print which matches Garvin's shoes. A color photograph shows a woman's shoe under the man's shoe. There is a thumb print of Garvin's on the back door knob. Mason tells Burger that since either of these situations would involve Garvin in crime, he won't answer. Mason says also he is responsible for Falkner having Junior's gun. Tragg sees that there is something in the case which doesn't fit together. Garvin is held, Mason release, and he goes to Della for dinner.
16.	Paul reports that Dawn Joyce worked on salary as a shill, part time as a show girl in a chorus, and part time as scenery. Casselman was a blackmailer. He dealt in cash, didn't use a bank, never made an income tax return. The Acme Electric company had mail delivered to a man in a rented room.
17.	Hamilton Burger opens with a brief and factual statement leading to his expectation of convicting Stephanie Falkner of first-degree murder. Then he will consider Garvin Senior and Mason as accessories. Judge Hilton Decker offers Mason the opportunity for an opening statement but Mason will wait. Guy Hendrie, Burger's assistant, calls a radio officer and a police photographer, then the autopsy surgeon. Holcomb is recalled, identifies the gun as one he found in Falkner's apartment at eleven-forty-five. Mason wakes the jurors up by deciding to cross-examine at this point, and asks about the position of the gun and such. Alexander Redfield states that the fatal bullet was fired from the gun Holcomb got from Falkner. Paul Clinton states he found evidence of blood on a shoe of Falkner's, plus evidence of said shoe on a blood-stained towel in Casselman's room. When Burger tries to get Clinton to identify the heel print of the show as appearing in the color photo, Mason objects that it is for the jury to decide, and the judge agrees. Clinton then identifies Garvin Senior's shoe as having a defect identical to what is shown in the photograph, and it revealed traces of blood. He identifies a thumb print from the back door, but Mason gets him to admit he cannot know when it was made. Mason argues that someone could have reversed the door knob, moving inside out, and vice versa. Garvin admits it is his show, but refuses to answer if he stepped in the pool of blood. He entered Casselman's apartment about eleven. He won't answer if he wiped fingerprints. Yes, it is his gun. He refuses to answer about other activities. He got the gun from his sporting goods store, kept two, gave his son one. We now have a Junior gun, a Holster gun, and a Safe gun. He gave his Holster gun to Stephanie, then put the Safe gun in his holster. When he returned to Stephanie's, did he see the Holster gun, and had it been fired. Yes. Mason asks why Senior gave the gun to Falkner, and he confesses he loves her. "Stephanie Falkner, sitting behind Mason at the bar, suddenly put a handkerchief to her eyes and started sobbing." Mason continues. Had Garvin not uncovered information that made him believe Casselman murdered Glenn Falkner, Stephanie's father? Burger is livid, objects, is sustained, but Mason points out that this is part of a conversation previously admitted, so he can get the whole conversation. Once this is in, Mason asks to have all of Garvin's testimony stricken, since "there is no evidence whatsoever showing that the defendant knew of the things Garvin was doing or had any inkling of what he intended to so. She is not bound" by what he may have done thinking he was helping her. Judge Decker notes that his giving the defendant the gun fully loaded, and fining it later having been fired, is pertinent, and Mason agrees that may stay in. Court adjourns overnight.
18.	Homer Garvin Junior is Burger's surprise witness. Burger tries to get in evidence from Junior that Mason switched guns, but Mason argues that Junior is concluding what happened because he could not explain things otherwise. The conclusion is objected to and sustained. They go in circles. Mason suggests that his wife might have switched guns when she brought the gun he left on his dresser to his office. Judge Decker suggests to "the discomfited District Attorney" that he prove what bullet was fired from the gun in Mason's hand, but the D A admits he cannot do that.