“What do you want out?”
Mason said: “Well, let’s discuss procedure first. Are you willing to talk a straight money proposition?”
Locke shook his head emphatically.
“We’re not a blackmailing sheet,” he said. “We sometimes extend favors to our advertisers.”
“Oh, that’s it, is it?” said Mason.
“That’s it,” said Locke.
“What would I advertise?” asked Mason.
Locke shrugged his shoulders. “We don’t care,” he said, “you don’t need to advertise anything, if you don’t want to. We sell you the space. That’s all.”
“I see,” said Mason.
“Okay. What is it you want?”
“There was a murder at the Beechwood Inn last night. That is, there was a shooting. I don’t know whether it was a murder or not. I understand that the man who was shot was trying to hold up the joint.”
Frank Locke turned his dispassionate milkchocolate eyes upon the attorney.
“Well?” he asked.
Mason continued: “I understand there’s some mystery about the thing. That is, the District Attorney is going to make quite an investigation.”
Locke said: “You still haven’t told me anything.”
“I’m telling you,” said Mason.
“Okay. Go ahead.”
“Somebody told me,” continued Mason, “that the list of witnesses that was handed to the District Attorney might not be complete.”
Locke stared at him.
“Who do you represent?” he asked.
“A possible advertiser in your paper,” said Mason.
“All right. Go on. Let’s hear the rest of it,” Locke invited.
“You know the rest of it,” said Mason.
“Even if I did, I wouldn’t admit it,” Locke replied. “I don’t do anything except sell advertising space. You’ve got to come out in the open. You’re the one that comes all the way. I don’t budge an inch.”
“Okay,” Mason said. “As an advertiser in your paper, I wouldn’t like to see it mix into that murder too closely. That is, I wouldn’t like to have it mention the name of any witness who might have been there, but whose name wasn’t included on the list which was given to the District Attorney. I would particularly dislike to see your paper come out with the name of some prominent witness whose name had been omitted from that list, and ask why he was not summoned as a witness and questioned. And, still speaking as an advertiser, I would dislike very much to see any comment made in any way about this witness having a companion with him, or any surmises as to the identity of that companion. Now then, how much is advertising space going to cost me?”
“Well,” said Locke, “if you’re going to dictate the policies of the paper, you’ll have to take quite a bit of advertising. It would have to be handled under a contract. I would draw up an advertising contract with you, and agree to sell you the space over a period of time. The agreement would contain a clause for liquidated damages in the event you broke the contract. Then, if you didn’t want to take all the advertising, you could pay over the sum of liquidated damages.”
Perry Mason said: “I could pay over that sum just as soon as I broke the contract?”
“Sure,” said Locke.
“And I could break the contract just as soon as it was drawn up, eh?”
“No,” said Locke. “We wouldn’t like that. You’d have to wait a day or two.”
“There’d be no action taken while I was waiting, of course,” said Mason.
“Of course.”
Mason took out a cigarette case, fished out a cigarette with his long, capable fingers, lit it, and surveyed Locke with eyes that were cold and uncordial.
“All right,” he said. “I’ve said everything I came to say. Now I’m listening.”
Locke got up from his chair and took several paces up and down the floor. His head was thrust forward, and his chocolate colored eyes blinked rapidly.
“I’ve got to think this thing over,” he said.
Mason took out his watch and looked at it. “All right, you’ve got ten minutes to do your thinking in.”
“No, no,” said Locke. “It’s going to take a little while to think it over.”
“No, it isn’t,” said Mason.
“I say it is.”
“You’ve got ten minutes,” insisted Mason.
“You’re the one that came to me,” said Locke. “I didn’t come to you.”
Mason said: “Don’t be foolish. Remember that I’m representing a client. You’ve got to make a proposition to me, and I’ve got to see that it’s transmitted to my client. And it isn’t going to be easy to get in touch with that client.”
Locke raised his eyebrows. “Like that, eh?” he said.
“Like that,” said Mason.
Locke said: “Well, maybe I could think it over in ten minutes. But I’ve got to call the office.”
“Okay,” said Mason. “Go ahead and call your office. I’ll wait right here.”
Locke went at once to the elevator and went down to the main floor. Mason strolled to the railing of the mezzanine and watched him cross the lobby. Locke did not go to the telephone booths, but left the hotel.
Mason went to the elevators, pressed the button, went down to the lobby, straight through the door, and crossed the street. He stood in a doorway, smoking and watching the buildings across the street.
After three or four minutes, Locke came out of a drug store and walked into the hotel.
Mason crossed the street, entered the hotel a few steps behind Locke, and followed him until he came abreast of the telephone booths. Then Mason stepped into one of the telephone booths, left the door open, thrust out his head and called: “Oh, Locke.”
Locke whirled, his chocolate brown eyes suddenly wide with alarm, and stared at Mason.
“Got to thinking,” explained Mason, “that I’d better telephone and see if I could get in touch with my client. So that I could give you an immediate answer. But I can’t get a call through. Nobody answers. I’m waiting to get a nickel back.”
Locke nodded. His eyes were still suspicious.
“Let the nickel go,” he said. “Our time’s worth more than that.”
Mason said: “Maybe yours is,” and stepped back to the telephone. He jiggled the receiver two or three times, then shrugged his shoulders with an exclamation of disgust, and left the telephone booth. The two men rode together in the elevator to the mezzanine floor, and returned to the chairs they had occupied.
“Well?” said Mason.
“I’ve been thinking the thing over,” said Frank Locke, and hesitated.
Mason commented, dryly: “Well, I presumed that you had.”
“You know,” said Locke, “the situation that you’ve brought up, without mentioning any names, might have a very important political angle.