The Case of the Grinning Gorilla

“Well, he’s a very obstinate individual. He told me he had evidence that would convince anyone that Mrs. Kempton had made away with the diamond ring and the watch; that he hadn’t been sufficiently nasty about it to resort to criminal proceedings, but that if I dragged him into court he’d blast Mrs. Kempton’s name forever. He said that if she wanted to get a job without giving him as a reference, it would be all right with him. All she had to do was to lie about where she’d been working, but that when anyone wrote to him and asked him for his opinion about Mrs. Kempton, he was going to give it.”

“I suppose,” Mason said, “you’ve looked up the law in regard to privileged communications?”

“That’s what I’m digging around in now,” Etna said. “There’s a question of privileged communications. Also the question of malice, the question of reasonable grounds for writing such a letter, and all of that stuff. The law isn’t too clear.”

“Now I want to ask you one question,” Mason said. “Do you remember reading in the paper about the disappearance of Addicks’ secretary, a girl by the name of Helen Cadmus?”

“I don’t remember too much about the newspaper accounts, no,” Etna said.

“But you do know something of her disappearance?”

“I know a few things that Mrs. Kempton has told me,” Etna said cautiously.

“Now,” Mason said, “you’re getting close to what I want. What did Mrs. Kempton tell you?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I’m not at liberty at the moment to disclose that information.”

“Then I’m not at liberty at the moment to give you any.”

“All right, can you tell me about when Mrs. Kempton was discharged with reference to the disappearance of Helen Cadmus?”

Etna said, “Helen Cadmus is supposed to have committed suicide about two days before Mrs. Kempton was discharged. It is our considered opinion that if — now understand, Mr. Mason, I’m not making any charges — that if anything had been feloniously taken from the Addicks residence, there is much more reason to believe that Helen Cadmus was responsible than Mrs. Kempton. Now I’ll elaborate that to this extent. The ring and the watch were left in Mr. Addicks’ bedroom. That bedroom was kept locked. Two people had a key to it. One was Mrs. Kempton, and the other was Helen Cadmus. Mrs. Kempton had to go in connection with her duties as housekeeper, and Helen Cadmus had to go into the room in connection with her secretarial duties. It was actually a suite of rooms. A bedroom, office, bath, and den. Now that much I can tell you, Mr. Mason, and that’s all I can tell you at the moment.”

“Can you give me a number where I can reach you later on tonight?”

“I’ll be here for an hour or two. My home number is West 9-7211.”

Mason said, “Thanks a lot. You may hear from me later on.”

Mason hung up. Della Street raised inquiring eyebrows.

“I presume,” he said, “your unspoken question is a desire to know what Mr. James Etna told me.”

“My unspoken questions,” she said, “is a desire to know when we eat.”

Mason laughed. “We eat right now, Della, and after we have eaten we’re going to drive out and call on Mr. Benjamin Addicks, and see what he has to say, and if perchance — understand now, Della, this is just a shot in the dark, a one chance in a thousand — but if we should find a five thousand dollar ring and a seventeen hundred and fifty dollar platinum watch in the Grecian urn in the reception room, we’re going to make a very arrogant and perhaps a sadistic millionaire crawl in a hole and pull the hole in after him.”

“That’s fine,” Della Street said, “but I take it that is not to be done on an empty stomach.”

“Definitely not. Where would you like to eat?”

“Where I can get a thick steak with butter and chopped parsley, and if we’re going to call on a millionaire I think we should enjoy the luxury of eating some French bread, toasted to a delicious brown, and dusted with shredded garlic.”

“By all means,” Mason said gravely. “One owes it to one’s profession to enjoy the opportunities of the moment. Now if we were making a will for Mr. Addicks, or, if we had been called to consult with him on a business matter, we would naturally have to forego the garlic, Della.”

“Oh, naturally,” she agreed, her eyes twinkling, “but under the circumstances, and since I have now labored far into the night, you might also buy me a bottle of red Tipo Chianti to go with the steak and garlic bread.”

“Well, before you go,” Mason said, “you might call up Mr. Mortimer Hershey, and tell him that we will call on Mr. Addicks this evening at nine-thirty.”

“Shall I tell him that if he hasn’t dined yet, he’d better try a little garlic bread, because under those circumstances he might enjoy our company more?”

“No,” Mason told her, “we don’t know him that well yet.”

“But we will?” she asked.

“Oh, definitely,” Mason promised, smiling. “We will, but he wouldn’t enjoy our company anyway.”

Chapter number 4

Perry Mason swung his car to a point where two square pillars furnished supports for wrought iron gates which barred a wide graveled driveway.