The Case of the Stuttering Bishop by Erle Stanley Gardner Read Free Book Online Page B

said, "I'm afraid, Paul, you overlook the potential possibilities of the situation. In the first place, it's a mystery, and you know how I feel about mysteries. In the second place, unless all signs fail, what we're having so far is what is technically known as the 'build-up.'"
    "Build-up to what?" Drake asked in his slow drawl.
    Mason looked at his wristwatch and said, "My guess is the within twelve hours I'll receive a call from a woman who gives her name either as Julia Branner or Mrs. Oscar Brownley."
    The detective said, "You may, at that, Perry. And she may be phoney. If she isn't – well, you might have lots of action."
    Mason put on his hat and said, "Come on. Let's go."
    They went in Drake's car to the apartment house on West Adams. Behind the windshield of a battered car, a little spot of light marked the glowing end of a cigarette. A figure detached itself from the black shadows and proved to be that of Charlie Downes. "All clear?" Drake asked.
    "Everything's under control," the man grinned. "How long do I stay here?"
    "You'll be relieved at midnight," Drake said. "Until then, stick on the job. We're going up. She may go out as soon as we leave. If she does, we want to know where she goes."
    They took the elevator to the third floor. Drake led the way to Apartment 328 and tapped gently on the panels. There was no answer. He knocked more loudly.
    Mason whispered, "Wait a minute, Paul. I've got an idea." He said to Della Street, "Call out, 'Open the door, Janice, this is I.'"
    Della Street nodded, placed her mouth close to the door and said, "Open up, Janice. It's I."
    Again there was no sound of motion. Mason dropped to his knees, took a long envelope from his pocket, inserted it under the door, moved it back and forth and said, "There's no light in there, Paul."
    "The devil!" Paul Drake said.
    They stood in a silent, compact group for a moment. Then Drake said, "I'm going down and make certain the back end of the place is covered, and has been covered ever since we left."
    "We'll wait here," Mason told him. Drake didn't wait to use the elevator, but ran down the stairs.
    "Suppose," Della Street ventured. "that she really couldn't have left the building."
    "Well?" Mason asked.
    "Then she's in there."
    "What do you mean?"
    "Perhaps she's… you know."
    "You mean committed suicide?"
    "Yes."
    Mason said, "She didn't look like that kind to me, Della. She looked like a fighter. But of course there's some chance she's wise enough to have gone into some friend's apartment here in the same building. That's one thing we may have to figure on. Or, she may be inside, playing possum."
    They stood in uncomfortable silence, waiting.
    Drake came back, panting from his exertion in taking the stairs two at a time, and said, "She's sewed up in the place. It's a cinch she hasn't left by either the front or the rear. She's bound to be inside. You know, Perry, there's just a chance…"
    His voice trailed away into silence and Perry said, "Yes, Della was wondering about that. But, somehow, I can't figure her for that sort of a play."
    Drake grinned and said, "I know a way we can find out."
    "Speaking as a lawyer," Mason observed, "I'd say such a method would be highly illegal."
    Drake produced a folding leather tool kit from his pocket and took out some skeleton keys.
    "Which'll it be," he asked, "conscience or curiosity?"
    Mason said, "Curiosity."
    Drake fitted a key in the lock and Mason said to Della. "You'd better keep out of this, Della. Stand in the corridor and don't come in. Then you won't be guilty of anything in case there's a squawk."
    Drake clicked back the lock and said, "If you see anybody coming, Della, start knocking on the door. We'll lock it from the inside. When we hear you knock that'll be our signal to keep quiet."
    "Suppose it should be the girl herself?" Della Street asked.
    "It won't be. She can't have left. But if it should be, she's about twenty-one or twenty-two, with dark copper hair that's alive, eyes that