Boy's Cinema (1935-39)

"Cart Wright," he said impressively, " if I act us your lawyer in this thing. I'm going to do what I think is for your own best interests, no matter what it may be/' "Oh, yes, yes!" agreed Cartwright eagerly. "Of course—I understand. Oh, yes!" "All right, then just a moment. I want to call in one of my assistants—I want him to hear the facts in the case." "Sure," nodded Cartwright, and sank down into the chair and passe<l his hand across his brow as the lawyer went briskly out from the room. The District Attorney Intervenes PERRY MASON crossed the general office, but he did not speak to aily of his assistants at their various desks. Instead, ho proceeded into the corridor and made liis way along it to ;) door that bore upon its frosted panel the inscription, "Dr. Carl Cooper. I'sj'chialrist." Ho opened the door and put his head lound it to speak to a little man, dw;<rfcd by the desk at which he was seated—a dapper little man with a blob of a nose and a monocle. "Oh, doctor," ho said cheerfully, "I want you to take a look at a client in my office. I want to know if he's in his right eenses." Dr. Cooper rose instantly. "What makes you think lie may be out of his mind?" he inquired. "He's, just paid me ten thousand dollars, in,.caah, as a retainer." "Oh, that settles it!" chuckled (he mental specialist. "That's a sure sign of insanity. A distinct departure from the normal." "I'll say it's a departure from the jiornial," laughed the lawyer. "Come and have a look at him!" Arthur Cartwright had been prowling about the room during Perry Mason's absence, but he sat dowti in the chair again as the handle of (he door was turned. "Mr. Cartwright," purred Mason, "this is my assistant, Mr. Smith." He perched on the corner of the desk vihilo the little doctor shook hands with the agitated young man and exchanged greetings. "It's alxjut a dog. Smith," he ex- plained. "Clinton Foley, a neighbour of Mr. Cartwright, has a dog that howls." "Yes!" cried Cartwright excitedly. "It's a German police dog, and it goes on, and on. That bowling's got to be stopped. D'you hear? It's got to be stopped!" "What makes him howl?" inquired Dr. Cooper, readjusting his monocle. "Wh.v, Foley makes him howl!" de- clared Cartwright. ;;why?" "Oh, because he knows it drives me cia7y! You .«ee, it means a death!" The little ijsychiatrist pursed his lips and tilted his head. "How long has it been going on?" ho asked. "It started night before last," was the quavering reply. "I want Foley uricsted." "Now, now, we've got to be careful," said Perry Mason, folding his arms. " Sup|)OS'! Foley were to turn round and sue you for malicious prosecution?" "Oh, he'd do that if he could!" Cart- wright declared vehemently. "That's why I came to you. I want to be pro- tected I" "Very well, then," said'thc lawyer; "here's what I suggest: We'll acquaint the district attoniey's office with the facts in a fair manner, and ask that a letter of warning be sent to Mr. Foley february 9Hi, 1935. BOY'S CINEMA • immediately, requesting that he abate the nuisance." "No!" shouted Cartwright. "I want him arrested!" "You've agreed to act on my advice," Mason reminded him. "If the letter warning Mr. Foley has no effect we will then ask that a warrant be issued." Cartwright's fingers moved spas- modically against one another on his knees. "All rigiit," he said reluctantly, "but sr-c that Foley's notified right away. Have it .sent by special tnessengcr—I can't stand another night of that infernal howling." "I'll attend to it," promised Mason; and his client rose and looked about the desk for the hat and gloves he had loft in the outer office, "Thank you, gentlemen!" he said. " I'm ^ sorry if I'm upset, but—but I haven't been sleeping much lately." Perry Mason opened the door for him and crooked a finger at Delia Street, who advanced with the hat and gloves. The door was closed, and Mason looked in- quningly at the doctor. ■•Well?" "Of course, I can't make a complete diagnosis on sue!) limited observation," replied Cooper with professional caution, "but I should say it's a case of : gitated melancholia." "Nerves all shot from some great mental stress, eh?" Perry Mason trans- lated into common English. "But he's not insane, is he ?" "Well, he isn't normal." "1 know—but he's not insane?" Dr. Carl Cooper grinned. " It isn't, of course, the degree of irresponsibility that would save a man from the penalty for having committed a crime," he said shrewdly, "if that's what you mean." That was exactly what Perry Mason had meant He picked up the notes and pocketed them. "Okay, doctor." ho said smilingly. "I guess it's up to me to get rid of that howling dog." Other matters engaged mo.st of his attention throughout the rest of that day ; but the howling dog had become an obsession with Arthur Cartwright, and that nighlr—after he had written for a while at a little desk in the library on the ground floor of his home—ho stood at the window with the binoculars in his hands. He saw Clinton Foley cross tlie wide hall of the house next door, and for a inoment ho glimpsed a big German police dog, howling on the mat at the front door. Then a dark-haired girl approached the window of the hall and pidled the curtains across the panes. Cartwright's mouth was all twisted as he lowered the useless glasses, and the voice of Elizabeth Walker behiml him made him jump. She had entered without knocking. "Excuse ine," she said. "I—I thought you'd retired." "Must you always go prowling around the house?" ho flamocl at her. "What?" said the housekeeper. He strode past her to the desk and picked up a large envelope which lay there, axldressed to Perry Mason. "I'm going out to post a letter," he shouted. "Letter?" she echoed. "Who's it from?" "Mind your own business!" he bawled "I'm going out!" "Oh!" She put down a decanter and a glass she had brought in on a tray and followed him to the door. "I've always worked for respectable people!" sho called uftev him. ^ T1)0 letter be posted that in'ght was Every Tuesday opened by Delia Street in Perry Mason's office next morning—in com- pany with many other letters and not a few bills. "Oh, here's something more from Mr. Cartwright," she said, and held out a sheet of notepaper and the will form, now completed. "Hmm!" mused Perry Mason, as he read what Cartwright had written. "He says: ' I know, now, why the dog howletl. I want you to represent the beneficiary named in the enclosed will, and fight for her interests all the way through.' " He dropped the letter to study the will. "Does he leave you something?" inquired Delia after a while. "My, but you're getting mercenary this morning!" quoth her employer with a grin. "He loaves his property nine-tenths to Mrs. Foley and one- tenth to me. Ho provides Well!" "What is it?" "Why, when he was in here yester- day, ho told me ho wanted to leave his property to the second Mrs. Foley, living with Clinton Foley in Milpas Drive, but now he leaves his property to the original Mrs. Foley, the divorced wife." Delia Street blinked. "Ob. that makes a difTcrence, doesn't it?" she exclaimed. "Of course it does! It means that the original Mrs. Foley, whoever sho may be, will now be my client. I've received my fee, and now I'm legally and morally obliged to protect her interests. The question is, what made Cartwright change his mind?" The telephone bell rang and Delia picked un the instrument. "Yes?" she said. "Oh! It's Mr. Drumni, the district attorney!" Perry Mason took the telephone from her, and Claude Drumm's none too pleasant voice sounded in his left ear. "Something's come up that you ought to know about," it informed the listener. "Clinton Foley intends to ask that your client, Arthur Cartwright, bo sent to the psycopathic ward for observation as to his sanity." "Just a moment, Claude," returned Mason. "Did you send that letter of warning, yesterday, to Mr. Foley about his howling dog?" "Yes, I did," the district attorney replied, "and apparently this howling dosr business is all a part of Cart- wright's iuiaginotion. Foley believes the man's dangeix)u9—that he has a homicidal complex which may cause him to take the law into bis own hands. Folev's in my office ri^ht now." "All right," said Mason, "hold him there. I'll be right down." A Visit to the Houn« THE district attorney's office was situated on the fir.st floor of the Municipal Building, only a little way along Hill Street, and Perry Mason reached it within ton minutes. "Come in, Perry, come in," said Drumm, a man of no ^reat stature, but a vcrv keen lawyer whose clean-shaven face bore some slight rofieinblance to that of the famous film star, Janios Cagney. "This is Mr. Foley—' Mason." Perry Mason gaze<l with interest at Clinton Foley He was a tall man of aiirio.st military bearing, with a long nose, a smudge of a moustuohe. tight lin«, and nnnleasant eyes. The two men greeted one another formally, "and Folev said : "I've explained the facts to Mr. Drumm here. Your clients Mr. Cart- wright. is a very pconliar man. Ho lives like a hermit, yet ho spies ou