"Gardner, Erle Stanley - Perry Mason 072 - The Case of the Daring Divorcee" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner Earle Stanley)

Della looked up from her notes.
"Hundred-dollar bills," Mason said. "Fifty.dollar bills. Here's one thousand--fifteen hundred--two thousand-- three thousand dollars in big bills, and let's see, twenty-- forty--sixty--eighty--ninety--a hundred--a hundred and five--a hundred and ten--a hundred and fifteen dollars in smaller denominations, and some silver amounting to - . . two dollars and forty-three cents.
"Well, Della, our visitor seems to have been financially able to pay a retainer fee."
"Why the past tense?" Della asked.
"Because I don't know whether we're ever going to see her again. You have to admit that any woman who would walk away from a purse with this much money in it and forget all about it must have a very, very short memory. She might even forget what she had used a gun for.
"Now let's see, here's a compact, lipstick, a half-empty pack of cigarettes--here's a key container-- Now, that's a peculiar thing, Della. This key container at one time had quite a collection of keys in it. Now there's only one left. You can see where the keys which had been carried in it have left marks on the leather. Now it's down to just one key. . . . However, here's another key container that has half a dozen keys in it, and--"
The telephone rang.
Della answered it, said, "Just a moment, who's calling, please?"
She listened a moment, then placed her hand over the transmitter, turned to Mason and said, "A Mr. Huntley L. Banner, an attorney, says he wants to talk with you about the Hastings' case."
Mason's eyes went from the purse to the gun on the desk. For a moment he hesitated, then nodded, picked up his phone and said, "Yes, Mr. Banner. This is Mason speaking."
The man's voice said, "I'm attorney for Garvin S. Hastings, and I understand you're representing his wife in connection with the property settlement."
"May I ask what gave you that impression?" Mason asked.
"Aren't you?" Banner asked.
Mason laughed and said, "In legal parlance, Mr. Banner, I'm afraid you're avoiding the question. Before I can answer your question I'd like to know just what basis you have for stating that I am representing Mrs. Hastings."
"Well, she told me that you would be representing her."
"May I ask when?"
"Shortly before noon."
"You were talking with her?"
"She talked with my secretary on the telephone."
Mason said cautiously, "I was out of my office when Mrs. Hastings called to see me. She didn't wait. At the moment I don't have any authority to represent her."
"Well," Banner said, "she'll be in to see you again. There's no question that you're her choice for an attorney. You might bear in mind that as far as a settlement is concerned she doesn't have a leg to stand on. All of Hastings' property is separate property. As far as the divorce is concerned, my client has been most co-operative-- as far as one can go in such matters without collusion. I think you'll understand what I mean.
"Of course, Hastings doesn't want to see her left without a penny, but I think perhaps she has some exalted ideas in regard to a property settlement. It might be a good thing if she understood right at the start that she isn't going to feather her nest at the expense of my client."
"Isn't there _any_ community property?" Mason asked.
"Not worth mentioning. Of course we'll make some sort of a settlement. In fact we'll make a generous settlement."
"Would you care to outline your proposition?" Mason asked.
"Not over the telephone," Banner said.
"Where's your office?" Mason asked.
"In the Grayfrier Building."
"Why, that's only a block and a half away," Mason said. "Look here, Banner, do you have a minute? If you do, I'll come over. There are a couple of things I'd like to find out about the case before I agree to represent Mrs. Hastings."
"If you can come over right away I'll be glad to see you," Banner said.
"Give me five minutes and I'll be there," Mason told him.
Mason hung up the telephone and said to Della, "I'm going over to Banner's office and see if I can get a little of the background on this case. If I start trying to pump him over the telephone he'll get suspicious, but if I go over and visit with him for a while he's apt to do more talking than be really intended to."
Mason left the office and walked down the street to the corner, waited for the signal, crossed the street, walked half a block and entered the Grayfrier Building. He consulted the directory and learned that Banner's entrance office was in Room 438.
The building was a modern steel and concrete structure with a bank of smooth-running elevators, and within a matter of seconds Mason opened the door marked HUNTLEY L. BANNER--_Enter_.
The young woman who sat at a desk facing the door, combining the duties of secretary, stenographer, receptionist and telephone operator, smiled rather vaguely at Mason.
"I'm Perry Mason," he said. "I was talking with Mr. Banner on the telephone and--"
"Oh, yes," she interrupted, coming to life with startling alacrity. "Oh, yes, Mr. Mason!"
She pushed back the secretarial chair, came around the desk, smiled over her shoulder and said, "This way, please."
Mason noted the trim figure, the lithe walk, as she went to the door and opened it.
"Mr. Mason," she announced.
The man who was seated behind the big desk got up and came forward with outstretched hand, his face twisting into a slow smile. He was in his late thirties, chunky in build and had shrewd eyes.
"This is an honor, Counselor," he said. "I'd have been glad to come over and see you but you talked so fast I didn't have a chance to get my thoughts organized.
"This is Miss Mitchell, my secretary, Mr. Mason. She's quite a fan of yours."
The secretary regarded Mason with dark eyes in which there was quite plainly a hint of personalized interest. She extended her hand and said, "I'm delighted to meet you.',
Mason took her hand and bowed gravely. "A pleasure, Miss Mitchell."
"See that we're not disturbed," Banner said. "Shut off all telephone calls."
"Oh, it isn't _that_ important," Mason said, smiling.
"It is to me," Banner told him. "Sit down, Mr. Mason. Make yourself comfortable. . . . This Hastings case may be rather long and drawn-out, but if your client wants to act sensibly there's no reason why the property settlement part of it can't be handled almost overnight."
"You said you had a proposition in mind that you couldn't outline over the telephone?" Mason suggested.
"Well, I have and I haven't," Banner told him. "Of course, you know the gambit, Mason. I'm not going to be dumb enough to stick my neck out and say, '_Here's what my client will do_.' That would crucify us at some later date.