The Case of the Troubled Trustee

'That's a wonderful Mexican city, wonderful food, sweet lobsters, the caquama, or big turtle from the Gulf, enchiladas, chile con came, refried frijoles, ice cold Mexican beer-'

'Hush,' Della Street said, 'you're breaking Paul's heart. He had stomach trouble last night.'

'How come?' Mason asked.

Drake shook his head. 'I knew when I was getting into this business what the occupational hazards were. Like a surgeon who lives under tension and usually develops heart trouble by the time he's fifty-five, a detective lives on hamburgers and bicarbonate of soda… How the devil did you know about Ensenada, Perry?'

'Stopped in your office on the way down,' Mason said. 'Your telephone operator told me you had a call from Ensenada.'

'Well,' Drake said, 'my man lost Dutton.'

'Lost him!'

'That's right.'

'For how long?'

'About an hour.'

'What happened?'

Drake said, 'My man who relieved me took up the tailing job.'

'And what did he do?' Mason asked.

'Well, Dutton left the apartment house just as the cops came up. Me drove around aimlessly for a while; then after about ten or fifteen minutes stopped at a service station and-'

'I thought you said his car was filled up,' Mason said.

'That's right, he'd filled it up where he had it serviced, but this time he was only interested in the telephone. He went into the telephone booth and dialed a number. My man had to be a little careful. He parked across the street and watched with binoculars but he couldn't get the number.

'Anyhow the fellow either got the wrong number or a busy signal, because he just held the phone to his ear for a few seconds; then hung up, waited a few seconds, then dialed again.'

'What happened this time?'

'Well, my man figured that telephone conversation was pretty damn important. Me wanted to get it the worst way, so he took a chance.'

'On what?'

'He approached the booth while the fellow was in there, acting as though he wanted to make an important call. Dutton waved him away, but my man had one of those pocket battery-powered wire recorders and some adhesive tape. I've been using them lately and they work pretty well. He had parked his car around the back of the booth and he ostensibly walked back to wait by his car. What he actually did was fasten the wire recorder on the back of the booth, using adhesive tape, and then he got in his car and drove away. He didn't drive very far but waited where he could watch Dutton's car.

'When Dutton came out of the booth after that last call, he was going like a house afire. My man figured he'd retrieve the wire recorder later on or ring the office and tell somebody to go and get it. He stayed with Dutton.'

Mason nodded. 'That was the thing to do.'

'But Dutton drove like crazy. He went through three red lights that my man followed him through, hoping that a traffic officer would tag both of them. On the fourth red light, Dutton almost had a collision. The intersection was blocked. Dutton got away and my man was stymied by traffic.'

'Going through red lights that way, didn't Dutton know he was being followed?'

'Probably,' Drake said. 'He may even have been trying to shake pursuit, but somehow the way my operative felt, Dutton was going someplace in too much of a hurry to give a hoot about anything-and that's the way it turned out.'

'Go on,' Mason said.

'Well, after my man lost him and knew he'd lost him for good, he went back to the phone booth and picked up the wire recorder, turned back the wire recorder to the starting point and then listened to the conversation. Of course, he could only hear one end of the conversation. It was brief and to the point.'

'What was it?' Mason asked.

'The first thing Dutton said was a question. 'What's new? You know who this is.' Then he waited for the answer and then said, 'I called the other number and was told to call you at this pay station I'll pay over the five thousand if you're acting in good faith.' Then there was a period of silence while he was evidently getting instructions, and then he said, 'Give me that again… the seventh tee at the Barclay Country Club, is that right? -.. Why pick that sort of place?' Then he said, 'All right, all right, it's nearly that time now… Yes, I've got a key…' Then he hung up the phone and that was the end of the conversation.'

'Your man followed up that lead?' Mason asked.

'My man went to the Barclay Country Club. It's a key job, and my man didn't have a key, and at that hour of the night there wasn't any chance of getting in without one, but there were three or four cars parked and one of them was Dutton's. My man checked the license number.'

'So what did he do?'

'Put himself in a position where he could pick up the car when it left, and waited it out. He got there at ten minutes after ten o'clock.'

'Mow long did he have to wait?'

'About twelve minutes.'

'Then what?'

'Then Dutton came out at ten-twenty-two and started driving south. My man tailed him without headlights for a while and it was pretty damn risky. But Dutton stopped after a short distance and got out of the car. My man went on past, then pretended to have tire trouble, jacked up the car and waited until Dutton came sailing past.

'Dutton drove to the border, kept on driving down to Ensenada. He had no idea he was tailed. Me's staying at the Siesta del Tarde Auto Court. He is registered under the name of Frank Kerry.'

Mason said, 'He doesn't need any credentials in the way of tourist cards or anything of that sort as long as he's no farther south than Ensenada, eh, Paul?'

'That's right. If he gets below Ensenada, he's going to need a tourist card or an entry permit of some kind; but as far as Ensenada he's on his own.'

'Your man still tailing him?'

'That's right. Me's doing the best he can. Of course, one man isn't much good on a twenty-four-hour-a-day job… Do you want me to send a relief down?'

Mason was thoughtful. 'Might as well, Paul,' he said. 'And I think the time has come for me to assume the role of a Dutch uncle.'

'Doing what?' Drake asked.

'Getting this thing cleaned up before I get too deeply involved,' Mason told him. 'After all, Dutton is a client of mine but- Well, I may have to insist that he surrender himself or go to the police.'

'And then what?'

'Then,' Mason said, grinning, 'I'll try to beat the rap.'

The lawyer turned to Della Street. 'How,' he asked, 'would you like to take a couple of notebooks, plenty of pencils, a briefcase and a quick trip down to Ensenada, Mexico? This time I think we'll get the real story.'

Chapter Eight

Mason and Della Street left Tijuana behind, took the smooth, new road to Ensenada.

'The old road,' Mason said, 'was more scenic.'

'Wasn't it? But these days one sacrifices everything to speed. However, it's nice to get where you're going without fighting the steering wheel around a lot of curves. Do you think he's really embezzled money, Chief?'

'I don't know,' Mason said. 'The way he acts, I'm afraid he's leaving me to hold the sack.'