Thats all right, Mason told her. Right at the present time this is my party.
But even so, Mr. Mason, I just havent got enough
Miss Corning has money, Mason interposed.
She raised puzzled eyebrows.
Mason merely smiled.
After a few moments, Sue Fisher said, But, Mr. Mason, Miss Corning isnt going to pay for my legal expenses.
Certainly not, Mason told her. But I think we may be helping Miss Corning do something that she wants to do very much indeed. This makes for a very interesting situation.
Della Street smiled at Susan Fisher and said, Just get a magazine from the outer office and make yourself comfortable. We have work to do and were going to have to utilize every minute.
Della Street went to her office and presently the keyboard of her typewriter exploded into noise. Mason picked up a copy of the Advance Decisions, and said to Sue Fisher, Im so busy that its awfully hard to keep up on these new decisions. If it werent for moments like these I wouldnt be able to catch up.
Sue nodded, went to the waiting-room, then tiptoed back with several magazines. She tried to read for a while, then, finding herself too excited to get lost in the printed page, left the magazines on her lap and sat quietly watching Masons face, noticing that his concentration was so great that he seemed to have completely dismissed her from his mind.
The phone shattered the silence within thirty minutes after Paul Drake had left the room. Della Street, hurrying to the telephone, said, Hello, then said, Yes, what is it, Paul?
She listened with a frown, then said, I think youd better come down... Yes, shes still here.
Della Street hung up the telephone and said, Pauls corning down. Theyve uncovered a peculiar situation.
I thought perhaps they would, Mason said, putting down the paper-backed Advance Decisions.
Della Street moved over to stand by the door.
He has his offices on this floor? Susan Fisher asked.
Mason nodded.
Drakes knock sounded on the door and Della Street had the door open with the first touch of the detectives knuckles.
Well? Mason asked, as Drake entered the room.
Drake shook his head. Something goofy, Perry.
What?
All right, Drake said, heres what happened. She made no attempt to cover up on her arrival at the depot. She attracted a lot of attention. She had four suitcases. Two of them were very heavy, as though they contained books of some sort.
Or bottles, Mason said, grinning.
Or bottles, Drake admitted. Somehow the redcap thought they were books.
She wanted the suitcases put in some of the key lockers, where you drop a quarter, put in the suitcase, close the door, turn the key, and walk away.
Mason nodded.
She got rid of all the suitcases, gave the porter a good tip, and then went whizzing along in her wheelchair towards the ladies room and completely disappeared.
Didnt enter the ladies room? Mason asked.
She got rid of all the suitcases, gave the porter a good tip, and then went whizzing along in her wheelchair towards the ladies room and completely disappeared.
Didnt enter the ladies room? Mason asked.
No one knows. From that point she just vanished into thin air.
You covered the trains?
Train dispatchers, redcap porters, ticket sellers, everybody. We got the redcap porter who had put the suitcases in the lockers for her to point out the lockers. We got one of the locker superintendents with a pass-key to open them.
Empty? Mason asked.
Empty, Drake said.
That, Mason said, is what I was afraid of.
What? Susan Fisher asked.
Masons face hardened. I told you, he said, that a woman of fifty-five, with dark blue glasses, a woman who is almost blind and confined to a wheelchair couldnt go to a public place like the Union Depot and simply disappear into thin air.
I know you did, Sue Fisher said, but
Mason smiled as she broke off.
Sue Fisher went on, But she seems to have done it?
Mason turned to Paul Drake. Paul, he said, I want you to close up every possible avenue out of that Union Depot. I want your men to get to work and cover everything. Everything, you understand? I want to know every way by which a person could leave that depot, and I want every one of those ways checked. I dont care if they have to stay on the job all night.
Will do, Drake promised, and left the office.
Sue Fisher said, Can you tell me what youre afraid of, Mr. Mason?
Mason said, A woman of that sort couldnt vanish into thin air. Therefore, if she did vanish into thin air, we have to start out with the idea that our premise is wrong.
You mean that she couldnt do what she actually did?
No, Mason said, I mean that she wasnt a woman of that description.
You mean...? Are you trying to tell me that...?
Suppose, Mason suggested, this woman was an impostor? You dont know Amelia Corning. Youre the only one who saw her. She called you and said she was Amelia Corning. She looked like the Amelia Corning youve had described to you. You went down to the airport. She was sitting there surrounded with luggage with South American labels that alone may be a significant fact.
What do you mean?
Mason said, Under ordinary circumstances, the baggage would have been held in the checkroom of the airport. This woman was sitting in the lobby in a wheelchair. She had the baggage around her. Now, how did she get it there? Obviously she didnt go and pick up the baggage and carry it in a wheelchair. Therefore, she must have had a porter bring it to her.