The Case of the Singing Skirt by Erle Stanley Gardner Read Free Book Online Page A

settlement. It was for the purpose of paying my expenses in the matter and-"
    "Did you sign anything?" Mason asked.
    She shook her head. "George said my word is good enough for him."
    Mason nodded.
    "Right this way," Della Street interposed. "I'll get your receipt."
    When Della had returned to the office, Mason picked up the file of urgent correspondence. "Don't you think fifty dollars was a little steep?" he asked.
    "It should have been two hundred and fifty," Della Street said. "Do you realize you made a trip out of the office, killed half a day, and then she had the temerity to come back and see you? You mark my words, Chief, that girl is one who could become a pest. She's got her eye on you."
    "On me?" Mason asked.
    "On you! You don't react the way she's accustomed to having men react. You noticed the way she bent over when she leaned over to put her hands on the arm of your chair?"
    "I noticed," Mason admitted.
    "You were supposed to," Della Street said. "That's why she did it. I'll tell you something else. She's a pretty good shorthand stenographer. While you were talking with Gowrie over the telephone, she was taking notes."
    "What!" Mason exclaimed incredulously.
    "That's right."
    "You're sure it was shorthand?" Mason asked. "It was shorthand," Della Street said. "I couldn't see the point of her pencil but I could see the way her shoulder moved, and I would say she was a very clever shorthand stenographer, and she was taking down your entire conversation with Gowrie."
    "Well, isn't that interesting," Mason said, his eyes narrowing. "And do you suppose that Mr. Gowrie called quite by accident, that the fact he made his call while Ellen Robb was in the office was pure coincidence?"
    "Not pure coincidence," Della Street said flatly.

CHAPTER FIVE
    Perry Mason latchkeyed the door of his private office to find Paul Drake, head of the Drake Detective Agency, visiting with Della Street over a cup of coffee from the office percolator.
    "Hi, Perry," Drake said. "Della was telling me about your Rowena case."
    "Quite a case," Mason said.
    "Well, I'll be on my way and let you get to work. I just dropped in to make a report on that Finsley case. I gave it to Della. There's nothing you need to take any action on at the moment."
    "Don't run away, Paul," Mason said. "We haven't had a visit for quite a while. I don't have anything pressing this morning."
    "On the contrary," Della Street said firmly. "This is the morning you are going to dictate replies to the letters in that file of urgent mail. On your way, Paul."
    "I've been ordered out," Paul Drake said, grinning.
    He started for the door, paused midway and said to Perry Mason, "You're all cleaned up with that bunch down in Rowena?"
    "Uh-huh."
    "It's rather a mess down there," Drake said. "The joints actually control the town. It's a prosperous little community as far as outside money pouring in is concerned, but this fellow Anclitas you tangled with is quite a guy."
    "How come?"
    "I don't know too much about him," Drake said, "except that he's supposed to be bad medicine. He fights dirty. He has the city attorney and the chief of police in his pocket. I don't know whether you remember reading about it, but about a year ago there was a case in the papers."
    "Involving him?"
    "That's right. He filed charges against a girl who had been working there, claimed that she had been stealing money from the cash register and that she had stolen a gun. They found the gun in her possession, and she claimed the whole thing was a frame-up. There was an investigation. I guess the kid had been smoking marijuana. Quite a lot of those people connected with music go for that type of junk. The police found some marijuana in her apartment along with this stolen gun. Then George's friend, the chief of police down there, took the girl's fingerprints and from them dug up an FBI record which showed a prior conviction for marijuana."
    "What happened?" Mason asked, interested.
    "I think the girl went up, as I