The lawyer hung up the telephone, turned to Della Street. 'Della,' he said, 'tell Dianne the story. Break it to her easy, one woman to another. When the food comes up, give her some food and put a piece of steak aside for me. I may be back in time to get it. I may not.'
'Two Martinis for Dianne?' Della Street asked.
Mason shifted his eyes to Dianne.
She met his gaze for a moment, then lowered her eyes.
Mason whirled to Della Street. 'Not a damn one,' he said, 'and she's not to talk with anyone until I get back. Understand? Not anyone!'
Mason made a dash for the door.
CHAPTER TEN
Sid Nye picked Mason up in front of the Mission Inn.
'What do you make of it, Sid?'
'It's a jam of some sort. Moose isn't one to lose his head in a situation of that kind. Evidently something's happened and he didn't dare say anything over the phone because the call probably went through the switchboard at the motel. He evidently wanted to use something that I'd understand and other people wouldn't. Moose is quite a character. He had a circus background and he knew I'd understand Hey Rube.'
'That means a free-for-all fight?' Mason asked.
'Not exactly. It means that all the carnival people gather together against the outsiders. It may or may not mean a clem, but it means you start knocking anything or anybody out of your way and-well, it's just a good old rallying battle cry.'
Nye was piloting the car with deft skill through the traffic.
'Then Dillard needs help?'
'He sure as hell does,' Nye said. 'It could be almost anything. It means he's in a hell of a jam and wants us to get there.'
'Well,' Mason said, 'it suits me all right. I'm due to have a little talk with Harrison T. Boring as of now.'
'It's a talk he'll like?' Nye asked, grinning.
Mason said, 'It's a talk which will, I hope, give Mr. Boring an entirely new series of ideas and perhaps a complete change of environment.'
Nye swung the car down a side street, suddenly slowed, said, 'That's a police car in front of the place, Perry.'
'What number is Dillard in?' Mason asked.
'Number 5.'
'All right,' Mason said, 'drive right up to Number 5. if Dillard is in trouble, we'll be right there. If the police car is there for someone else, we'll pay no attention but go into Dillard's place.'
Nye swung into the entrance of the motel, found a parking place, switched off headlights and ignition, looked to Mason for instructions.
'Right into Number 5,' Mason said.
The lawyer and Nye converged on the door of Number5.
'Try the knob,' Mason said in an undertone.
Nye was reaching for the knob when the door opened.
There were no lights on inside the unit. The big lumbering individual who hulked in the doorway said in a husky voice, 'Come on in.'
'No lights?' Nye asked.
'No lights,' Dillard said, and closed the door behind them. 'Don't stumble over anything. Your eyes'll get accustomed to the darkness in a minute. I'm sitting here at the window with the curtains parted so I can get a line on what's happening.'
'What is happening?'
'I don't know. The police are there now, and the ambulance left just a few minutes ago.'
'The ambulance?' Nye said.
'That's right. They took him away.'
'Who? Boring?'
'Right.'
Nye said, 'You know Perry Mason, Moose.'
'Sure,' Moose said, his hand groping for Mason's in the dark. 'How are you, Mr. Mason? Haven't seen you for a while.'
Then he said, by way of explanation to Nye, 'Mason got me out of a jam a while back.'
'I know,' Nye said. 'Just wanted to be sure you recognized him in the dark. Now, what's been happening out here?'
'Plenty has been happening,' Dillard said, 'but what it's all about is more than I know. Boring was having a convention. All sorts of people coming and going. Then the girl showed up and left in a hurry and about ten minutes after she left the cops came. I wanted to keep casing the joint and didn't want to give a tip-off to the manager. I had a hell of a time getting anyone on the phone. Whatever was happening, it took their attention off the switchboard. Finally I managed to get them to answer.- You can't get an outside line on these phones unless they connect you.- I guess I was all of five minutes jiggling that hook up and down, putting the light on and off, waiting for someone to answer.'
'All right,' Nye said, 'they answered. 'Was there anything unusual? Did they apologize or make any explanation?'
'Not a word. Someone said, 'Manager's office,' and I said, 'I want to get an outside line,' and the manger said, 'You can't dial a number from this phone. You have to give me the number and I connect you.' So I gave them the number of the Tri-Counties and asked for you. I was pretty certain they were listening on the line. I could hear breathing. So I just told you, 'Hey Rube,' and hung up. I figured that would get you here as quick as anything and I didn't want to ask you to come rushing out because I knew you'd ask questions and if I started answering questions we'd have this unit. under surveillance and that might not be the thing you wanted.'
'That's good thinking,' Mason said. 'What happened after that?'
'An ambulance came right after I hung up. They took him out on a stretcher.'
'He isn't dead then,' Mason said.
'It was an ambulance, not a meat wagon. I don't know what sort of a system they use here but I have an idea the ambulance means the guy's hurt.'
'All right,' Mason said, 'let's find out what happened. Who came here?'
'I can't give you names,' Dillard said. 'I can give you one license number and some descriptions. That's all I have to go on at the present time.'
'You were watching through the window?'
'Had the lights out and the curtains parted and a pair of eye-glass binoculars. Those have about a two and a half power magnification; and then I've got an eightpower binocular here that is a night glass. I use it on surveillance jobs of this sort.'
'All right, what can you give us?' Mason asked.
'I can't give you too much without turning the light on so I can read my notes. I made the notes in the dark.'
'Tell us what you can remember.'
'First rattle out of the box,' Dillard said, 'there was this fellow who's been prowling around Bolero Beach; a slim, fast-moving guy with a mosquito beak for a nose.'
'His name's Montrose Foster,' Mason said. 'He's the president, whatever that means, of Missing Heirs and Lost Estates, Inc. Boring was working for him until he suddenly quit his job, and Foster thinks Boring hit some pay dirt that he didn't want to share with anyone.'
'Could be,' Dillard said. 'Anyway, this fellow came in around eight and he was there about fifteen minutes. I've
