The Case of the Singing Skirt

'And you don't have a key to the locker?' Mason asked.

'Why should I have a key?'

'I thought perhaps you might have a master key that would open all of the lockers.'

'Well, think again.'

'You can't get in this locker?'

'Of course not. I gave her the key. She's got it in her purse, that little purse she keeps down in the front of her sweater. I saw her put it there.'

'And you have been unable to open her locker?' Mason asked.

'Of course. Sure, that's right. How could I get in? She's got the key.'

'Then,' Mason said, 'how did you expect to get her things out and send them by bus to Phoenix, Arizona?'

George hesitated only a moment, then said, 'I was going to get a locksmith.'

The police chief said, 'Don't talk with him, George. He's just trying to get admissions from you.'

'First,' Mason said, 'I'm going to get my client's things. I'm warning you that any attempt to search her things without a warrant will be considered an illegal invasion of my client's rights. I'm also demanding an apology from Mr. Anclitas because of remarks he has made suggesting that my client is less than honest. Such an apology will not be accepted as compensation by my client, but we are suggesting that it be made in order to mitigate damages.'

George started to say something, but the chief of police said, 'Take it easy, George. Where's Jebley?'

'That's what I want to know,' Anclitas said angrily. 'I told my attorney to be here. This tramp is going to show up with an attorney, I'm going to have an attorney. I-'

The door opened. For a moment the light from the sidewalk poured in, silhouetting a thick neck, a pair of football player's shoulders and a shock of curly hair. Then the door closed and the silhouette resolved itself into a man of around thirty-seven with dark-rimmed spectacles, a toothy grin and hard, appraising eyes.

'This,' George Anclitas announced, 'is Jebley Alton, the city attorney here at Rowena. The city attorney job isn't full time. He takes private clients. I'm one.'

George turned to the attorney. 'Jeb,' he said, 'this man is Mason. He says he's a lawyer and-'

Anclitas was interrupted by Alton 's exclamation. 'Perry Mason!' he exclaimed.

Mason nodded.

Alton 's hand shot forward. 'Well, my gosh,' he said, 'am I glad to meet you! I've seen you around the Hall of Justice a couple of times and I've followed some of your cases.'

Alton 's fingers closed around Mason's hand.

'All right, never mind the brotherly love stuff,' George said. 'This guy Mason is representing this woman who's trying to blackmail me and-'

'Easy, George, easy,' Alton warned. 'Take it easy, will you?'

'What do you mean, take it easy? I'm telling you.'

Alton said, 'This is Perry Mason, one of the most famous criminal lawyers in the country.'

'So what?' Anclitas said. 'He's representing a broad who's trying to blackmail me. She claims I accused her of being dishonest.'

'Oh, George wouldn't have done that,' Alton said, smiling at Mason. And then turning to Della Street, bowing, and swinging around to face Ellen Robb, 'Well, well,' he said, 'it's the cigar and cigarette girl.'

'That's the one,' George said.

'What's the one?'

'The one who's making the trouble. Ellen Robb, here.'

The chief of police said, 'There's been a program of pilfering going on in the place. George has run up against a whole series of shortages. He's asked me to make an investigation.'

Alton 's eyes swept over the chief of police with skeptical appraisal. 'The law of searches and seizures is rather technical, Chief,' Alton said easily. 'Several decisions of the Supreme Court in California and the Supreine Court of the United States haven't simplified matters any. I'll take charge here.'

Mason turned to Ellen Robb. 'Do you have a key to your locker?'

She nodded.

'Get it,' Mason said.

Her hand moved into the front of her sweater, came out with a small coin purse. She opened it, took out a key.

'Let's go,' Mason said.

Ellen Robb led the way. Mason and Della Street came next, then the chief of police. George Anclitas, striding forward, was checked by Jebley Alton who, laying a restraining hand on his client's arm, drew him back to one side and engaged in rapid-fire, low-voiced conversation.

Ellen led the way into a room marked Employees, through a curtained doorway which had the word Female painted over the top, and paused before a locker.

'Open it,' Mason said.

She fitted a key and opened the locker. In it there was a cheap suitcase, a pair of shoes, a suit and a raincoat.

'These all yours?' Mason asked.

She nodded.

'Do you want to put those things in that suitcase?'

'They came in that way. They can go out that way,' she said.

'You have some other things?'

'Yes.'

'Where?'

'There's a motel unit assigned to us girls. We sleep there. It's a sort of dormitory. Sadie Bradford, another girl and I share the unit. He wouldn't let me get my things out of it last night. I was virtually thrown out.'

'Better start packing,' Mason said.

She pulled out the suitcase and flung back the lid. 'I think Miss Robb would like some privacy while she changes her clothes,' Mason said. 'My secretary, Miss Street, will wait with her and-'

Mason broke off at the startled exclamation from Ellen Robb.

'What is it?' he asked.

She instinctively started to close the lid of the suitcase, then checked herself.

'Let's take a look,' Mason said.

'I'll take a look,' the chief of police said, pushing forward.

'What is it, Ellen?'

Ellen Robb reopened the lid, then pulled forward the elastic which held closed one of the compartments in the lining of the suitcase. A wad of currency had been thrust hurriedly into this compartment.

'I'll take that into my custody,' the chief of police said.

Mason moved so that he interposed a shoulder between the officer and the suitcase. 'We'll count it,' he said.

Ellen Robb glanced at him in questioning panic, then with trembling fingers counted the money. 'Five hundred and sixty-eight dollars,' she said.

'Good,' Mason told her. 'We'll give George credit for that on the amount of back wages due and our claims against him for defamation of character.'

George, who had quietly entered the room with Alton at his side, started to say something, but just then the curtained doorway was flung back with such violence cloth was almost ripped from the guide rings on the overhead pole. A woman's voice said angrily, 'Defamation of character, indeed! That's a laugh-pot calling the kettle black, I'd say!'

Her eyes blazed hatred at Ellen, then she turned back to George.

'But I didn't come here to see that husband stealer, I came to see you. Just what do you think you're doing to my husband?'

'Why Mrs. Ellis!' George said, stepping forward and smiling cordially. 'This is-that is-we aren't really open for business yet. I had some people come in and- Come on with me and I'll buy a drink.'

She ignored the man's proffered hand, said furiously, 'You've been trimming my husband in a crooked game here and I am tired of it. He tells me you took him for six thousand dollars last night. We don't have that kind of money to lose, and I'm not going to let you make a sucker out of my husband. I want the money back.'

'You want it back!' George said incredulously.

'That's right, you heard me. I want it back.'

George said soothingly, 'Your husband was in a little private game last night, Mrs. Ellis. I don't know how he came out. I believe that perhaps he did lose a little, but I haven't tried to figure up just how much. I can assure you that the game was on the up and up. I was in it myself. If we gambled with people at night, let them take a chance on winning the place, and then, if they weren't lucky, gave them back the money they had lost the next morning, it wouldn't be very long before I'd be selling apples on the street corner.'

He laughed at the idea, his mouth making the laughter, his eyes anxiously watching her, appraising her mood.

'As far as I'm concerned, that's exactly where you belong,' Mrs. Ellis said. 'I want our money back. That's money my husband earned, and I have other uses for it than giving it to you. I'm not going to let you cheap crooks rob us of that money and get away with it.'

The chief of police said, 'I hope I don't have to take you into custody for disturbing the peace, Mrs. Ellis. If you continue to make abusive statements of that sort in public, I'll have to take action.'

'You!' she snapped at him. 'You fatheaded nincompoop! You're just a shill for these gambling houses. George Anclitas has you right in his hip pocket. You don't dare to hiccup unless he gives you permission. Don't tell me what I can do and what I can't do!'

'You're using loud and profane language in a public place,' the chief said.

'I haven't moved into profanity yet,' she told him, 'but I'm getting ready to, and when I do, I'm going to have some very biting adjectives and a few nouns that may startle you… you-'

'Just a minute,' Mason interposed. 'Perhaps I can be of some help here.'

'And who are you?' Mrs. Ellis demanded, turning to regard Perry Mason belligerently. 'You… I've seen your pictures… why, you're Perry Mason!'

Mason bowed, said, 'I think it might be better to control your temper, Mrs. Ellis. Apparently you aren't going to get anywhere making a personal demand, and I think perhaps a written demand made in a more formal manner through an attorney would do you more good.'

'What are you talking about, through an attorney?' George said scornfully. 'You know as well as I do that when a guy loses money gambling he can't get it back.'

'Can't he?' Mason asked.