The Case of the Baited Hook (16 page)

"Why?"

"Because if I were ever called on to testify, I wanted to be certain that I could give the true facts."

Mason said, "You mean you wanted something for blackmail."

Freel's shoulders seemed to slump. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, his eyes avoiding those of Mason.

Mason said, "Look up at me, Freel."

For a moment Freel continued to avoid his eyes, then, with an obvious effort, looked up at the lawyer.

"What's back of all this business about Byrl Gailord?" Mason asked.

"Just what I told you," Freel said, and his eyes slithered away from those of the lawyer.

"Look up at me, Freel."

Mason waited until the man had slowly raised his eyes.

"Now," Mason said, "I'll tell you the whole business. Byrl Gailord is no more the daughter of a grand duke than I am. Byrl Gailord is the illegitimate daughter of Mrs. Tump's daughter. That grand duke business was invented within the last few months by Mrs. Tump to give the child a background of respectability. Gailord's will referred to her as an adopted child. She inherited a lot of money under that will, but that will also disclosed the fact that she had been taken from a welfare home somewhere, and had never been formally adopted, that she was the illegitimate offspring of an illicit affair… No, don't shift your eyes, Freel. Look up at me. Keep looking at me… Mrs. Tump wanted to get the girl into society. Byrl Gailord attracted the interest and attention of Coleman Reeger. Reeger's family are high society with a capital H.S. They'd never have consented to a marriage with a young woman of Byrl Gailord's real antecedents, so Mrs. Tump took it on herself to furnish a fictitious background. She knew she couldn't do it by herself, so she hunted you up and planted you as a witness."

Freel fidgeted. The bedsprings squeaked uneasy accompaniment.

"How much?" Mason asked.

"Fifteen thousand dollars," Freel said in a thin, reedy voice.

"How much of it have you actually received?"

"One thousand. The other comes when – when…"

"When she marries Reeger?" Mason asked.

"Yes," Freel said, his eyes still avoiding those of the lawyer.

"Go ahead and tell me about it."

"That's all there was to it. I was out of work, and desperate. Mrs. Tump had detectives hunt me up. She made me this proposition. That thousand dollars looked big to me. I'd have agreed to anything."

"And that's all bunk about this Russian blood in the girl's veins?"

"Not entirely. The father is a Russian, the son of a head – waiter who was a refugee from Russia."

Mason abruptly turned away from the little man and started pacing the floor. His hands were thrust deeply down in his trousers pockets. His eyes from time to time swung to study Freel's face.

Drake, manifestly uncomfortable in the conventional, straight – backed, rickety chair, watched Mason in silent interest.

After several minutes of thoughtful floor – pacing. Mason said, with slow deliberation, "I can't understand what interest Tidings had in bribing you to change your testimony… Exactly what did he want?"

"I don't know, Mr. Mason," Freel said hastily. "It never got that far. He tried to bribe me, and I let it be known right at the start that I wasn't interested-that I wasn't that sort of a man."

Mason said, "But you were that sort of a man. You'd let Mrs. Tump bribe you to testify to a lot of lies."

"But that was different, Mr. Mason. This man wanted me to sell Mrs. Tump out."

"Why?"

"I tell you, I don't know. He didn't say."

"Exactly what did he want?"

"He wanted me to change my testimony."

"In what way? Did he want you to tell the truth?"

"No. He didn't know the truth."

"Well, what did he want?"

"I tell you, I don't know."

"How did he get in touch with you?"

"I don't know that. He found me the same way you did. I was here in my room when he came to me."

"More than once?"

"No, just once."

"When was that?"

"I don't know. Around a week ago."

"And what did he say?"

"He said he could make it worth my while if I'd cooperate with him."

"Cooperate how?"

"Well, something about changing my story."

"But what earthly advantage would that give him?" Mason asked.

"I don't know. I tell you, I don't know anything at all about it."

"How much money did Mrs. Tump give you?"

"A thousand dollars."

"When?"

"That was two months ago."

"And you took a little while fixing up your story- perhaps forging a few records?"

"Well, naturally, I wanted to make my story stand up."

Mason said suddenly, "Freel, you went to Tidings. He didn't come to you. Your first contact was with Tidings. You wanted to sell him information about Byrl Gailord. Because he was the trustee of her funds, you thought there'd be a chance for a shakedown. And then you found out about Mrs. Tump, or she found out about you, and you cashed in on that. But you were still doing business with Tidings. There was something he wanted… Now what did Tidings want?"

Freel put his hands on his knees. His head was lowered until his voice sounded muffled as he said, "You've got me wrong, Mr. Mason. It wasn't anything like that at all."

Mason strode over to him, placed his hand on the collar of the little man's coat, and said, "Get up off that bed," and, as he spoke, jerked Freel to his feet.

Mason whipped the pillows from the bed and felt underneath them. He turned to Paul Drake. "Give me a hand with this mattress, Paul," he said. "We might as well try here first."

Mason took the head of the mattress, Drake the foot.

"Flip it over."

They turned the mattress over.

Freel came running forward to grab at Mason's arm. "No, no," he cried, tugging futilely at the lawyer's right arm.

Mason shook him off.

"You can't do that," Freel screamed indignantly.

Near the center of the mattress on the under side, inch – wide strips of adhesive tape had been interlaced into a network. Mason took out his penknife and cut through the strips of tape.

Once more Freel lunged at him, and Mason said, without looking up, "Take care of that guy, Paul. He might get hurt on the knife."

Drake slipped an arm around the man's shoulders. "Come on, Freel," he said. "Take it easy. No one's going to hurt you."

Freel struggled with frantic effort against Drake's restraining arm. Mason, cutting through the strips of adhesive tape, disclosed a little recess which had been hollowed out in the padded cotton stuffing of the mattress. A roll of bills, fastened with two elastics, became visible in the opening. Mason pulled out the roll and unsnapped the elastic.

There were ten one – thousand – dollar bills in the roll.

Mason turned to Freel. "All right, Freel," he said. "Who gave you the money?"

"Mrs. Tump," Freel said.

"Tidings," Mason corrected.

Freel's eyes shifted. He shook his head nervously. Mason put the bills back into a roll, snapped the elastics around them. "All right, Freel," he said, "if you're going to act that way, this money goes out of the room with me. I'll turn it over to the police."

Freel moistened his lips. "What do you want?" he asked.

"The truth," Mason said.

'Then will you give me my money?"

"Yes."

Freel said, "Tidings gave it to me." 'Tell me about it," Mason said.

"I double – crossed Mrs. Tump," Freel admitted miserably. "You're right. Maybe I have done a little blackmailing. I've had to live since the Home let me go. If I've collected from a few people, it was because I had to. And I've never been able to get very much-just a little here and a little there-and I had to be careful because I only dared to work in the cases where they couldn't complain to the police-cases where the publicity would have ruined someone. Sometimes I'd collect a little money from the father, sometimes from people who had adopted children and didn't want the children to know about the adoption." Freel was whining badly now. "I didn't ask for much money, Mr. Mason, only enough to get by on. I figured that the world owed me a living."

"Go ahead," Mason said. "Tell me about Tidings."

"I went to Tidings. I told him what I knew about Byrl Gailord."

"What did Tidings do?"

"He laughed at me and kicked me out."

"Then what?"

"Then out of a clear sky, Mrs. Tump hunted me up. She offered me a thousand dollars in cash and fifteen thousand dollars later on if I'd bolster up her story about the adoption proceedings and about the Russian parentage of the girl… The entire thing was made up out of whole cloth. The girl was the illegitimate child of her daughter. The daughter's married to a Des Moines banker. He'd have a fit if he ever found out… But that wasn't the game that Mrs. Tump was gunning for. Byrl was getting along in society. Mrs. Tump had a marriage staked out with this man Reeger."

"And then Tidings came back into the picture?"

"Yes."

"What did he want?"

"He wanted me to promise that when the time came, I'd tell the absolute truth. That was all he asked."

"What did you do?"

"I tried to protect Mrs. Tump. I told him that I couldn't. He laughed at me, and said he had enough on me to convict me of perjury if I didn't; and then he offered me ten thousand dollars and well, there was nothing I could do. I had to take the money. Otherwise, I'd have had to do just as he wanted, and wouldn't have had a cent for it. You see, he had me… Anyone could have had me who was willing to go to court. My record for the last few years wouldn't stand investigation. I knew it as well as anyone."

"Did you," Mason asked, "kill Tidings?"

"No, of course not."

"Tidings had plenty on you," Mason said. 'Tidings was a hard man. He might have crowded you too far."

"No," Freel said tonelessly. "I didn't kill him. I never killed anyone."

Mason tossed him the ten thousand dollars. "All right, Freel," he said, "here's your money. Come on, Paul."

Freel watched the two men out into the corridor. Then he darted over to close and lock the door.

"Put an operative on him," Mason said to Drake.

"He'll skip out," Drake said.

"I want him to skip out," Mason said, "and I want to know where he goes."

Drake stopped at the corner drugstore to call his office. When he emerged, he nodded to Mason. "An operative will be on the job in ten minutes, Perry."

"Now," Mason said, climbing into Drake's car, "tell me something about Peltham."

"What about him?"

"He lived in an apartment?"

"Yes."

"I believe you said he was rather circumspect."

"Very."

"Secretive?"

"Very."

"Does the apartment house have a garage?"

"Yes. In the basement. There's an attendant who has charge of the cars."

"Did Peltham leave in his automobile?"

"No. His car's still there."

"Got the license number and a description?"

"Yes. It's on the report that we sent into your office."

"The number of his apartment and all that?"

"Yes."

"I suppose police have searched the place?"

"Yes. They've gone through it with a fine – toothed comb."