The Case of the Mischievous Doll

“The pay-off, of course, is that the accident took place in a stolen car. I am not the possessor of a completely untarnished reputation, Mr. Mason. My driving record is fairly well studded with citations and I would dislike to have to acknowledge another traffic accident. However, I think you will agree that the idea that I would be driving a stolen car is just a little far-fetched.

“And,” Minerva Minden went on, “the man who was found fatally wounded in Dorrie Ambler’s apartment was the detective who had assisted her in putting her swindle across, a member of the firm of Billings and Compton. The dead man was Marvin Billings. His death will seal his lips so he can’t testify against her. I make no accusations, but you must admit his death is quite fortunate.

“I’m not any plaster saint. I’ve been in lots of scrapes in my time and to be perfectly frank with you I expect to be in a lot more before I retire from active life. I want life, I want adventure, I want action, and I intend to get all three.

“I’m given to the unconventional in every sense of the word and in all of its various forms, but I am not given to stealing, I am not given to murder, and I don’t have to use stolen cars to take me where I’m going.”

Mason said, “Have you ever been operated on for appendicitis, Miss Minden?”

“Appendicitis? No, why?”

“This is very unconventional,” the lawyer said, “but it happens to be important. Would you mind turning your back to me and letting Miss Street look to see if there’s a scar on your abdomen?”

The girl laughed. “Why must I be so modest? Good heavens, you’d see that much of me in a bikini. If you think it’s important, take a look.”

She got up, faced them, pulled up her blouse, loosened her skirt, slipped it far down and stretched out the skin over the place where a scar would have been.

“Satisfied?” she asked. “Feel the skin if you want.”

Before Mason could answer, the door from the outer office burst open explosively, and Lt. Tragg hurried into the room.

“Well, well, well,” he said, “what is this — a strip tease?”

Minerva Minden said, “Mr. Mason wanted to check to see if I had had an operation for appendicitis.”

“I see,” Tragg said. “Now that we’re all here I’ll ask your pardon for having kept you waiting. I want to ask a few questions.”

“What questions do you want to ask?” Minerva Minden inquired, adjusting her clothing.

“In your case,” Lt. Tragg said, “quite frankly, Miss Minden, I wanted to ask questions about a murder and you may be the prime suspect. I feel I should warn you.”

“If you want to interrogate me about a murder case,” she said, “and there’s any possibility that I am going to be a suspect, I will have to ask you to interrogate my attorney and get your facts from him.”

“And your attorney?” Tragg asked.

Minerva Minden turned to Perry Mason with a slow smile. “My attorney,” she said, “is Mr. Perry Mason. I believe you were told by my secretary and manager, Henrietta Hull, Mr. Mason, that you were at the top of the list as potential counsel in the event of any serious charge being made against me.”

Tragg turned to Mason. “You’re representing her, Mason?”

“I am not,” Mason said vehemently. “I’m representing Dorrie Ambler, and there’s a very distinct conflict of interest. I couldn’t represent Minerva Minden even if I wanted to.”

“Now, that’s not a very chivalrous attitude, Mr. Mason,” Minerva Minden said. “What’s more, it’s not a very good business attitude. I am perfectly willing to let you represent Miss Ambler in any way that you want to in connection with any claims to an inheritance, but I am quite certain Lieutenant Tragg will assure you that in case any murder charges are to be pressed against me—”

“I didn’t say they were,” Tragg said. “I said that I wanted to interrogate you in connection with a murder and that you may be a suspect.”

“Whose murder?”

“The murder of Marvin Billings,” Lt. Tragg said. “His partner says Billings was working for you at the time of his death, that he was going to interview Miss Dorrie Ambler at your request.”

“And so I killed him — to keep him from following instructions?”

“I don’t know,” Tragg said. “I only wanted to question you.”

“You’ll have to see my lawyer,” she said. “I’m not going to talk with you until I’ve talked with him.”

Tragg asked, “Do you know Marvin Billings, the man who was found in a dying condition on the floor of Miss Ambler’s apartment?”

“The apartment is one that I know nothing about,” she said firmly. “And I have never met Marvin Billings.”

“The landlady identified your picture as being the one who lived in the apartment under the name of Dorrie Ambler, and she picked you out of a line-up.”

Minerva Minden said casually, “Well, before she identifies me as Dorrie Ambler, you’d better have Dorrie Ambler in the line-up and then see who she identifies.”

“I know, I know,” Lt. Tragg said. “We’re investigating, that’s all. We’re just trying to get the situation unscrambled.”