been sitting when he entered the offices. That made his story sound a lot more plausible, made it seem less likely there was collusion between you, and put you in the outer office and away from the vault door. Later on, when Manning reported that Paul Drake had employed him, you worked out a story about the target practice which would enable Manning to lay a good foundation for a suicide theory. The bullets Manning dug out from the beam were fired this morning. But, while you were doing all this, you suddenly realized there was a much better chance to pin the crime on Sylvia Oxman. So you had Manning stress the suicide angle, but were ready to toss that theory overboard if it looked as though you could pin it on Sylvia.'
Duncan laughed and said, 'That's one of the greatest pipe dreams I've ever heard. I always knew you were an ingenious attorney, but I never thought you'd break out with such a wild story as that in order to save a guilty client.'
The Federal District Attorney nodded. 'Yes, Mr. Mason, I'm afraid your desperate attempt to free Mrs. Oxman will act as a boomerang and leave you convicted of complicity in the crime by your own statements, without…'
'Wait a minute,' Mason said, 'I'm not talking through my hat. I have proof.'
'What proof?' Duncan asked.
'Simply this,' Mason said. 'Belgrade was watching the entrances to the office. He didn't see Manning go in. No one saw Manning go in. No one saw Manning in the casino. When Duncan and Perkins came aboard, Manning wasn't in the casino. Manning claims that he slipped down the passageway just as Perkins and I went out, but I didn't see him and Perkins didn't see him.'
'You had your backs turned to me,' Manning said.
'Then why didn't Belgrade see you?' Mason asked.
Manning shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Belgrade's a crook. He sold Paul Drake out. I wouldn't take his word for anything.'
The Federal District Attorney frowningly inspected Belgrade. 'Did you see Mr. Manning go in those offices?' he asked.
Belgrade shook his head, his puzzled expression indicating his sincerity. 'No,' he said. 'By God, I didn't!'
The Federal District Attorney thoughtfully regarded Duncan, Manning and Mason. 'This,' he said irritably, 'is one of the damnedest things I've ever encountered. I simply can't believe that…'
Matilda Benson interrupted him to say, 'Well, I may as well confess.'
'You may as well what?' the district attorney demanded.
'Confess,' she said. 'You don't mind if I smoke, do you, Mr. Wilson?'
'No,' he said. Duncan and Manning exchanged glances, then Manning looked away hastily.
Matilda Benson calmly pulled a cigar from her leather cigar case, cut off the end, and lit the cigar before the astonished eyes of the district attorney. 'This shorthand reporter is going to take down everything I say?' she asked.
'Yes. He's taking down everything,' the district attorney said.
'Very well,' Mrs. Benson remarked, in a voice of complete resignation. 'I don't know what the punishment will be for what I've done. Whatever it is, I'm willing to take my medicine. I'm not afraid to die. My life-expectancy is short, anyway. Sylvia and her daughter mean a lot more to me than my own life. Grieb and Duncan were blackmailing Sylvia. I felt they were both a couple of rats. I didn't think they deserved to live. I went aboard the ship with the deliberate intention of killing both Grieb and Duncan.'
'Were you armed?' the district attorney asked.
'Certainly I was armed,' she said. 'I carried a.38 automatic in my handbag. What did you think I expected to kill them with, my hands?'
'Go ahead,' the district attorney said hastily.
'I watched for a chance, waiting. I saw Sylvia go into the office. I waited. I saw Frank Oxman go into the office. I opened my bag and slipped the automatic down the front of my dress. I saw Oxman come out. I saw Mason go in, and Sylvia come out. I saw Duncan and Perkins go in. Then I saw Perkins and Mr. Mason come out. I said to myself, 'Now is my time. Both the men I want to kill are in there.' I gripped my gun in my right hand and tiptoed cautiously down the corridor. I slipped silently into the outer office. I could see the door of the vault in the inner office, but I couldn't see Grieb's desk. The door blocked my line of vision; but I supposed, of course, Grieb was sitting there at his desk. I saw Duncan bending over the vault door, opening it. I leveled my gun, and was just about to pull the trigger, when Duncan opened the door of the vault and I saw Manning come out. I didn't want to kill Duncan while Manning was there, so I slipped back into the corridor. I saw Duncan come out. I followed him down to the room where Perry Mason was being searched. I listened at the door. I heard voices and learned Grieb had been killed, so I ran up on deck and waited a few moments, wondering what to do. I saw Sylvia come up, and I thought Sylvia was going to speak to me. I realized then that I'd be searched, so I tossed my gun overboard. But Sylvia didn't see me. She ran down the landing-stairs and took a launch which was leaving for the shore. I tried to protect Sylvia, because I thought she might be implicated in Grieb's murder. So I had Mr. Mason get my coat, and I threw it overboard. I smuggled Sylvia's coat ashore and…'
'You're willing to swear to this?' the district attorney interrupted, his voice excited. 'You're willing to swear that you actually saw Duncan open the vault and Manning step out?'
Slowly, impressively, Matilda Benson got to her feet and held up her right hand. 'You show me the grand jury room, young man,' she said, her eyes snapping, 'and I'll go in and swear to it right now. I'm telling the truth and nothing but the truth.'
Duncan met the district attorney's accusing eyes. His own eyes were slightly squinted as though he were making a rapid mental readjustment. Suddenly he said, 'They're all wet. I wasn't Manning's accomplice. I didn't know Manning was in the vault. I didn't lock it, as Mason claims. I did open it after Mason had left the office. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I opened that vault and Manning walked out. He told me he'd gone into the vault to get some papers for Grieb, when he heard someone knock at the outer door and a woman's voice call out, 'This is Sylvia Oxman. Let me in.' Grieb yelled, 'You stay in there for a few minutes, Arthur,' and slammed the door of the vault shut.
'Arthur stayed inside and heard the muffled sound of a shot. He tried to get out and couldn't. He didn't hear anything more until I opened the door of the vault. It was Sylvia Oxman who shot Grieb, and she carried away the gun.
'I wanted to get rid of Mason and Perkins so I could get those IOU's out of the vault. I'm willing to admit I figured I could pull a fast one with them. I didn't see any reason why they should be a part of the partnership assets and be ruled uncollectable by a court. If I could have found them, I could have collected from Sylvia and pocketed the coin.
'Finding Manning in there gave me an awful shock. Manning told me what had happened. He said Sam had the IOU's under the blotter on his desk. I looked for them and they were gone. I knew I'd put myself in an awful spot. If I said anything about finding Arthur Manning in that vault, I knew someone would accuse me of having planned the whole business, with Manning as my accomplice. I figured Perry Mason was covering Sylvia Oxman.
'I realized no one knew Manning had been in the vault, so I figured the best thing to do was to let Arthur out, say nothing about what had happened, and let the police pin the murder on Sylvia Oxman. Of course, if I'd known Mrs. Benson had seen me…'
'You damn fool!' Manning screamed. 'She didn't see you! She couldn't have seen you. She's lying. Belgrade was watching the corridor, and he didn't see her go down the corridor before you came out. What's more, she didn't ring the bell in the inner office. She'd have done that if what she says is true. You've walked into a trap!'
Perry Mason chuckled delightedly. 'Keep right on talking, Arthur,' he said.
CHAPTER 16
PERRY MASON sat in his office and regarded Matilda Benson with respect in his eyes. 'How the devil,' he asked, 'did you ever concoct such a beautiful lie on the spur of the moment?'
'Young man,' she said, taking her cigar from her mouth and staring at him with snapping gray eyes, 'I've lived
