The Case of the Troubled Trustee

that's going to help us clear up a murder case, he'd better get it in our hands fast.'

'That's what we want to do,' Mason said. 'We're even going to charter a plane and fly in to the airport. We'll meet you there in about half an hour. We'll go to the morgue with you. If it turns out it's the same man, Drake will be only too glad to give you all the information you want.'

Tragg said, 'We're bringing a suspect in for questioning on that murder. Do you suppose there's any chance-of course, I know it's only a one-in-a-million shot- but is there any chance, Mason, that this man is a client of yours?'

'The victim?'

'No, the one we're bringing in.'

'Well, that would depend,' Mason said, 'on the identity of the man you're bringing in.'

'His name,' Lt. Tragg said, 'is Kerry Dutton. He's a young man who's had quite a spectacular success as an investment counselor.'

'What connects him with the murder?' Mason asked.

Tragg said, 'I had my question in first. Is he, by any chance, a client of yours?'

'He's a client of mine,' Mason said.

'That,' Tragg said, 'explains a lot. Where are you now?'

Mason told him.

'You think you can get here within twenty-five or thirty minutes?'

'Yes. We have a twin-motored plane all ready to go.'

'Get in it, and get started,' Tragg said. 'I'll meet you personally with a radio car at the airport, and I want one-hundred-per-cent co-operation- Now, get that, Mason, I want one-hundred-per-cent co-operation. We're not playing tiddlywinks. This is murder.'

'We'll meet you there,' Mason said.

Mason hung up the phone. 'How bad is it?' Drake asked.

'Just as bad as Tragg can make it if things don't work out so well.'

'And if they do work out well?'

'It's just about as bad as I could make it for my client,' Mason said.

'Well, there's one advantage about giving the officers the information they need to clinch a case against someone,' Drake pointed out, 'they don't catch you unprepared.'

They gave Pinky only time enough to finish a cup of coffee; then were flown in to Los Angeles where Lt. Tragg met them.

'All right,' Tragg said, 'start talking.'

'We have to go to the morgue before we talk,' Mason said. 'We don't know that this is the same person.'

'You tell me what the highlights are on the way,' Tragg said, 'and then if it turns out to be the same person, we won't lose any time; and if it isn't the same person, I'll keep the facts in confidence.'

'I'm sorry,' Mason said, 'we can't do that. It's a matter of a professional obligation to a client.'

Tragg said, 'Under those circumstances, you boys can prepare yourselves for a ride. We're going places very, very fast. You'd better strap yourselves in with those seat belts, because they might come in handy. And hang onto your hats.'

The trip to the morgue was made in record time. Lt. Tragg and the officer who was with him led the way into the big, silent room where the wall was lined with steel drawers, looking for all the world like some huge sinister filing cabinet.

The officer knew the number without looking it up, took hold of the handle and pulled out the sliding cabinet.

Drake stood looking at the corpse for nearly ten seconds.

'All right,' Tragg said at last, 'is it or isn't it?'

Drake looked at Mason and shrugged his shoulders, then turned to Tragg. 'It is,' he said.

'All right,' Tragg said, 'let's get started. We've lost enough time already-perhaps too much.'

Drake said, 'I had the job of shadowing Kerry Dutton yesterday.'

'Go on.'

'Someone else was on the job.'

'Who?'

'This man,' Drake said, indicating the still form on the slab.

'What do you know about him?'

'Nothing. I thought he was a process Server.'

'He was tailing Dutton?'

'He was waiting for Dutton. That is, he was casing Dutton's apartment and I had an idea he was a process server.'

'What gave you that idea?'

'Just something about the way he acted.'

'All right,' Lt. Tragg said, 'I don't want to pull it out of you a piece at a time, minutes are precious. We're trying to build up a case and we don't want to get the wrong man but we sure do want to get the right one.'

'I can't tell you much about him,' Drake said, 'except I can give you the license number of his automobile. I looked it up and have the owner's name.'

Tragg's face lit up. 'What was the license number?' he asked.

Drake pulled out his notebook and gave Tragg the number and the name of Rodger Palmer.

Tragg dashed to the telephone, exploded into action, telephoned orders to trace the license application, to wire in a descriptive classification of the thumbprints, and to check identities.

When he had finished, he returned to where Drake and Perry Mason were standing.

'Just why were you shadowing Kerry Dutton?' Tragg asked.

Drake started to say something, caught Mason's eye, hesitated; then said, 'Because Perry Mason told me to.'

Tragg flushed. 'Let's not try any run-arounds,' he said.

'That isn't a run-around,' Mason said. 'It's a straight-forward answer. That's all Paul Drake knows about it.'

'All right, then I'll ask you. Why did you tell Paul Drake to shadow Dutton?'

'That,' Mason said, 'is something I'm not at liberty to disclose.'

Tragg said, 'You'll disclose everything you know about the murder, or you'll find yourself in hot water up to your necktie.'

'I'll disclose everything I know about the murder,' Mason said.

'Well, what you know about Dutton fits in with what we know about the murder.'

'I don't think it does,' Mason said. 'As a matter of fact, I was having Paul Drake shadow Dutton because I was worried about my own responsibility in the matter.'

'So I gathered,' Tragg said. 'You don't ordinarily have a detective agency shadow your own clients.'

'Sometimes I do.'

'Now then,' Tragg said, 'here's the important question, and I want an answer to it. Did any of this shadowing take Kerry Dutton to the vicinity of the Barclay Country Club?'

There was a period of silence. Then Mason said cautiously, 'I believe I should answer that question. I can state that it did.'

'The hell it did!' Tragg said, his face lighting up. 'At what time?'

'What time, Paul?' Mason asked.

'Right around ten-ten to ten-twenty,' Drake said.

'Now then,' Mason volunteered, 'in order to keep you from feeling you're having to draw information out of us a bit at a time, I'm going to tell you that before Dutton went out to the country club he had a conversa tion with someone and apparently arranged to meet that person out at the country club.'

'How do you know?'

'He went into a telephone booth and called someone. One of Drake's men was shadowing him. He put a wire recorder on the outside of the telephone booth and walked away. It's a very sensitive recorder, compact but highly