The Case of the Fenced-In Woman by Erle Stanley Gardner Read Free Book Online

seen you or seen your picture. This is a real pleasure, Mr. Mason. I'm Nadine Palmer-although I suppose you know or you wouldn't be calling. However, I'm simply not presentable. I was just out of the shower when I heard the chimes."
    She hesitated a moment, then gave him her hand, extending it with a certain deliberation which made the gesture seem that she was extending to the lawyer a part of her personality.
    "May I come in for just a moment?" Mason asked.
    "I'm not presentable.. oh, well, come on in. You'll have to wait for me to get some clothes on."
    "Thank you," Mason said. "It's important or I wouldn't bother you."
    Mason followed her into the small but tastefully furnished apartment, She indicated a seat by a reading table and said, "What is it, Mr. Mason, am I in trouble?"
    "Were you expecting trouble?" Mason asked.
    She said, "I've had troubles and I will probably have more. Now if you'll excuse me I'll change."
    Mason said, "Go right ahead. I'll wait although I haven't much time. I have to go to a press conference. I'm attorney for Morley Eden. Morley Eden, in case you didn't know, purchased some property from Loring Carson and…"
    At the mention of Carson's name her eyes flashed, her mouth tightened. Halfway to the bedroom she paused, whirled to face him. "Just what do you have to do with Loring Carson?" she asked ominously.
    "At the moment," Mason said, "I am not violating any confidence in telling you that I am about to file suit against him for something over three hundred and fifty thousand dollars in damages on the ground of fraud, asking for triple compensatory damages, and for exemplary damages."
    "I hope you collect every last red cent," she said.
    Mason smiled. "Evidently he is no great friend of yours."
    "That louse!" she said, spitting the words out contemptuously. "He's torn my reputation to shreds and hung the tatters up before every gossip columnist in the city."
    "I understood there was some mistake," Mason said, "and-"
    "Mistake!" she snapped. "There wasn't any mistake. That man deliberately tried to blacken the name of his wife, and the fact that he dragged me down in the process made not one bit of difference to him."
    "I believe your name was mentioned?" Mason asked.
    "Mentioned?" she said. "He screamed it all over the city. He filed a cross – complaint stating that his wife was carrying on an affair with one Norbert Jennings, that they had made trips together over weekends, his wife registering under the fictitious name of Nadine Palmer.
    "Then, after his wife stood by her guns and contested the suit, the heel had the audacity to state that it was all a mistake, that his private detective had shadowed the wrong person; that he had inadvertently pointed me out to the detective instead of his wife; that his wife was not the person who had registered in various weekend resorts, but that it was I, one Nadine Palmer, a person whom his private detective had been shadowing under the misapprehension that the woman was his wife. You can imagine where that has left me."
    Mason nodded sympathetically.
    Abruptly she seated herself. "You're a lawyer, Mr. Mason. You've seen women in bathrobes before. You don't have much time and neither do I. Okay, let's talk it over and get it settled right now.
    "People make me sick! There's more hypocrisy about our civilization and our so – called code of morals than anyone wants to admit. When I married Harvey Palmer, I was what is referred to generally as a 'good girl.' That was the trouble with me. I didn't know enough about men. I didn't know enough about life and I knew virtually nothing about sex.
    "I went through five years of all the degrading hell to which a woman could be subjected, and then I decided that since there weren't any children I certainly owed Harvey Palmer nothing more. I walked out. Just to show you how dumb I was, I waived all claim to alimony. I had been a working girl before I was married and I went back to being a working girl-only I was