he Case of the Stuttering Bishop

She's easy on the eyes. Try and think up some stall which will take her away and give us a chance to get out. Tell her there's someone waiting in the car downstairs who is very anxious to see her. Don't mention any names, but let her think it's the bishop, and see what her reaction is to that.'

'Okay,' Della said, 'don't worry. I'll work out some thing.'

'She's dynamite,' Mason warned. 'Don't start an argument with her because I wouldn't put it past her to start hair pulling.'

'Do we switch on the lights?' Drake asked.

'Sure,' Mason said.

'Okay, here goes.'

'Close the door first,' Mason warned.

They closed the door. Drake groped for the light switch and clicked the room into brilliance. Apparently it was exactly as they had seen it earlier in the day. The clothes were piled on the bed, the wardrobe trunk was open in the center of the floor and partially packed.

Mason said in a low voice, 'If she did anything, Paul, she did it right after we were here talking with her. You take a look in the bathroom; I'll take the kitchenette.'

'Don't forget the big closet behind the bed, either,' Drake said. 'My God, Perry, I'm afraid to take a look. If we find her dead, it's going to put us in one hell of a spot.'

'Are you,' asked Perry Mason, 'telling me?'

They separated, made a hasty search of the apartment, and met once more by the bed, with sheepish grins.

'Well, Perry,' Drake said, 'she out-smarted us. Of course, there's a chance she has a friend here in the building and has gone in with her.'

Mason shook his head and said, 'If she'd been doing that she'd probably have finished her packing so she'd be all ready to come back, grab her stuff and make a dash for it just as soon as the coast was clear. No, Paul, she walked out on us through the back door within five minutes of the time we left the place and before your second man had time to get on the job.'

Drake sighed and said, 'I guess you're right, Perry. But it makes me sore to think she took me as easily as that. Here I've been sewing the place up tight while she's been on the loose.'

Mason said grimly, 'Well, we'll go and see the bishop. Della, you go back to the office and stick around. Keep the light on and the outer door open.' As he saw the look of inquiry on her face, he said, 'I want you to wait for Julia Branner, or Mrs. Oscar Brownley, whatever name she's going under. We'll drive you over to the boulevard and you can get a taxi. Then we'll go on to the Regal Hotel.'

Drake left orders his men were to keep a watch of the apartment and report as soon as Janice Seaton returned. They drove Della Street to the boulevard, saw her headed for the office in a cab, and drove directly to the Regal Hotel. In the hotel, Drake looked around in the lobby and said, 'I don't see either of the boys here.'

'What does that mean?' Mason asked.

'Probably that he's gone out.'

'Meeting the Seaton girl somewhere,' Mason surmised.

'I'll hunt up Jim Pauley and see if he knows anything,' Drake said. 'There he is now, over… Hey, Jim!'

The house detective, looking ponderously incongruous in a tuxedo, ducked his bald head in a grinning greeting and came strutting across the lobby. 'This Mallory is a Church of England bishop,' he said, 'and right now he's nursing a mighty sore head. But he's a good sport. He says there is nothing missing and he isn't going to make a squawk about it so we can hush it up. Under the circumstances, we're ready to meet him halfway. By the way, he went out a while ago and left a letter for Mr. Mason.'

Mason and Drake exchanged glances. 'A letter for me?' Mason asked.

'Yeah. It's at the desk. I'll get it.'

'Take any baggage with him?' Drake asked.

'No. He was just going out for dinner, I think.'

The detective stepped behind the counter and took a sealed envelope from a pigeon-hole. The envelope was addressed: 'Perry Mason, Attorney at Law. To be delivered to Mr. Mason when he calls this evening.'

Mason slit open the envelope. A five-dollar bill was clipped to a sheet of hotel stationery. A brief note read:

'DEAR MR. MASON: I realized I was being followed shortly after I left your office, so I got the janitor to let me out through the basement and alley. I subsequently telephoned to try and locate my cab, and found that you had paid it off. I am, therefore, reimbursing you herewith.

Insofar as the advice which you have given me is concerned, I beg you to consider it as bread cast upon the waters, and believe I can assure you that it will be returned a thousandfold. 

 WILLIAM MALLORY'

Mason sighed, pulled the five-dollar bill from the clip, folded it, and slipped it in his vest pocket. 'The bishop didn't say when he'd be back, did he?' Mason asked.

Jim Pauley shook his head, said, 'A mighty nice chap, the bishop. Didn't seem to resent things at all. He got a lulu of a crack on his head. Couldn't even wear his hat. Had to be all bandaged up like a turban.'

Mason nodded to Drake and said significantly, 'Suppose you call your office, Paul.'

Drake went into the telephone booth and talked for several moments into the transmitter. Then he opened the door of the booth and beckoned to Mason. 'My operatives have reported back,' he said in a low monotone, keeping his head back in the shadows of the booth. 'They followed the bishop to Piers 157-158, Los Angeles harbor. He stopped at a pawnshop on the way, and bought two suitcases and some clothes. They followed him from there to the pier. He went up the gangplank of the S.S. Monterey, and he didn't come down again. The Monterey sailed tonight for Australia via Honolulu and Pago Pago. My men followed the ship in a speed launch well beyond the breakwater, to make sure the bishop didn't get off. Looks like your friend has taken a run-out powder. Watch your step, Perry. He's a phoney.'

Mason shrugged and said, 'Let me at that phone, Paul.'

Della Street 's voice on the line was excited, 'Hello, Chief,' she said. 'You win.'

'On what?' he asked.

'Julia Branner is here at the office, waiting for you; says she must see you at once.'

Chapter 5

Julia Branner stared at Perry Mason with reddish-brown eyes which matched the glint in her hair. Her face was that of a young woman in the late twenties, save for a line beneath her chin and incipient calipers which stretched from her nose to the corners of her lips when she smiled.

'It's rather unusual for me to see clients at this hour,' Mason said.

'I just got in,' she told him. 'I saw a light in your office, so I came in. Your secretary said you might see me.'

'Live here in the city?' Mason asked.

'I'm staying with a friend at 214-A West Beechwood. I'm going to share an apartment with her.'

'Married or single?' Mason asked casually.

'I go by the name of Miss Branner.'

'You're working?'

'Not at present, but I've been working until recently. I have a little money.'

'You've been working here in this city?'

'No, not here.'

'Where?'

'Does that make any difference?'

'Yes,' Mason told her.

'In Salt Lake City.'

'And you say you're sharing an apartment with a woman here?'

'Yes.'

'Someone you've known for some time?'

'Yes, I knew her in Salt Lake City. I've known her for years. We shared an apartment in Salt Lake.'

'Telephone?'

'Yes, Gladstone eight-seven-one-nine.'

'What's your occupation?'

'I'm a nurse… But wouldn't it be better for me to tell you what I want to see you about, Mr. Mason, before we go into all of these incidental matters?'

Mason shook his head slowly and said, 'I always like to get the picture. How did you happen to consult me?'

'I heard you were a very fine lawyer.'

'So you came on here from Salt Lake City to see me?'

'Well, not exactly.'

'You came by train?'

'No, by plane.'

'When?'

'Recently.'

'Precisely when did you arrive?'

'At ten o'clock this morning-if you have to know.'

'Who recommended me to you?'

'A man I knew in Australia.'

Mason raised his eyebrows in silent inquiry.