Boy's Cinema (1935-39)

12 out, "five-fifty-six, Elniwood Drive. Say, Mr. O'Flaherty, ain't he the millionaire stockbroker?" "Yes," confirmed Perry, "but it seems he has other interests. Good-bye, Mr. O'Toole." Elmwood Drive, to wliich a taxicab conveyed him, proved to be a residential thoroughfaie of superior class. Most of the houses in it were large and sur- rounded by well-kept grounds, and No. 556 was no exception to the general rule, but possessed the added advantage of being situated on a rise and screened from the road by a belt of trees. Its front porch was wide and broad, and it provided plenty of room for Perry's body after he had been flung out from the hall l>y a particularly pugnacious-looking butler. "Mr. Belter is occupied, sir," said the butler. " Did I make myself clear, sir?" Perry lifted up his head. "Quite clear, thank you," he replied. The front door was slammed, and Perry picked up his fallen hat and re- stored it to his head, rose to his feet, and descended the steps from the porch, fastening his coat as he went. In the drive he looked up at the house; and then swiftly he made his way round to the back of it. A door there was on the latch, and quite boldly lie walked into a well-apijointed kitchen where two women were washing and \\il)ing plates and dishes. One of them was middle-aged and plain; the other was young, golden- haired, and rather pretty. The elder woman gaped at the intruder, the younger one emitted a gasp and nearly dropped a cup. "Who are you, and what arc you doing here?" demanded Perry, who was a firm believer in the axiom that aitack is the best form of defence. "Why, I—I—I'm Mrs. Veite, Mi: Bolter's housekeeper!" stammered the middle-aged woman. "Who's she?" Perry flung out a hand at the girl. "That's my daughter Norma," was the reply. "Good," said Perry; and with that he walked straight out from the kitchen into a passage, and from the passage inio the hall. On the left of (ihe liall a door was half- open, and he pushed it wider and .stepped into a drawing-room comfort- ably fuinished, but not in the best of style. A red-headed young' man was in there, helping himself to a drink at a tantahis on a table—a young man taller than himself and probably a little heavier. "Hallo!" said Perry blandly. '.'My name's Perry Mason. What's yours?" "Carl Griffin," replied the jouiiu; man, and evidently assumed that the questioner had been admitted by the butler. "Have a drink?" "Thanks." Perry accepted a whisky- and-soda. "You're not George Belter, then?" "No," Carl GrifEn laughed. " Belter's my uncle. He's upstairs in his study. Have you a gun?" "No," said Perry, and drank. "Why?" "Well, most people who call on my uncle brandish weapons." "He must be delightful!" Perry contemplated the hat upon the red head. "Going out?" "Yes," vvas the reply. "Know your way upstairs?" '=No." " Up the front stairs and the first door on your left." "Thanks," said Periy, and he put January 9tli, 1937. BOY'S CINEMA down the glass and went out into the hall. A curved staircase led up from it to the floor above, but before he could reach the foot of the stairs he heard a scufBing sound upon them and ducked hurriedly between a table and a cup- board. The pugnacious butler was seemingly at work again, for an angry voice rang out: "You don't have to hold my arm! I can find the way out!" '"Sorry, Mr. Garwood," returned the voice of the man who had ejected Perry, "hut Mr. Belter gave me his orders." Perry heard heavy footsteps, and then the broad back of the butler came into view, holding the arm of a man whom ho propelled towards the front door. "You may tell Mr. Belter," raged the prisoner, " that he will regret this treat- ment of me this evening!" "Very well, Mr. Garwood," said the butler, atid with his free hand proceeded to open the door. Perry immediately streaked up the stairs, with )io more noise than a cat would make, and reached the first door on the loft. The Sound of a Shot THE room beyond the door was a largo one; the furniture in it was of a massive type. Tiie walls were half-panelled, and the prnicipal feature of the i-ooin consisted of an elaborately carved desk, behind which a. full-faced man of considerable bulk was standing as Perry bui-st into the i-oom and closed the door. "Good-evening, Mr. Belter!" he said. "Who are you?" snapped the man behind the desk, his grey eyes coldly malignant. "I'm an attorney," replied Perry, "representing Peter Milnor." George C Belter repeated the name as though astounded. "Yss," said Perry, "and, in case you don't know it, your weekly, ' Spicy Bits,' is trying to blackmail him." "You're either drunk or crazy, or both!" roared Belter. "Now get out!" "I'll get out when I've said what I have to say," retorted Perry quite quietly. " No one in this town knows >ou own ' Spicj; Bits.' You're re- spected as a millionaire stockbroker. Well, if your paper publishes anything about my client, I'll rip off your mask and expose you." The door was opened and the butler stepped into the room. "Digley," .said Belter, who had pressed a bell-Lutton on the desk, " isn't this the man who you .threw out not ten minutes ago?" "Yes, sir," replied the man, blinking a pair of beady eyes. "Well, throw him out again!" The butler advanced towards Perry, but before he could reach him tho girl of the automatic, ran in from the stairs, bareheaded, but still wearing her black costume and white blouse. She stared at Perry, but did not appear to recognise him. "Oh, I didn't know you were busy, George!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry!" "Don't mind this person!" snarled Bolter. " He's just a shy.^ter lawj'er who's leaving in a hurry!" "Listen, Mr. Belter-—"' began Perry. "This way, sir!" The butler caught at his arm, but was instantly smitten on the point of the jaw by a well-directed fist and went Hoiuidering backwards against the wall. "That's for catching mo oflf balance the last lime," said Perry. Every Tuesday The butler sank to the floor and sat there dazed. "Now listen. Belter," said Perry. "I had decided to give you a break, but I've changed my mind. You print one woid about my client in your sheet, aud you'll go to gaol for twenty years!" "The trouble with you, Mason," re- torted Belter heatedly, "i.s that you keep on singing tho same song. Now, for tho last time, get out!" " All right, I've said all I've got to say." Perry moved towards the door. "Good-night, Mr. Belter." He bowed ironically to the butler, who had risen from the floor. "Good-night, Digley!" "Good-night!" murmured the alleged Eva Stewart. "Good-night, Mrs. Belter!" he returned pleasantly, and went out to the stairs. The butler followed him, none too steadily, and Eva Belter turned as though to follow him, too. But her husband called to her, and she closed the door and faced him inquiringly across the desk. " Where's the five thousand that was in the safe?" he demanded harshly. "The five thousand?" she echoed won- deringly. "I suppose you're going to tell me that a little bird took it?" " What oa earth are you talking about?" "The five thousand dollars that yoii stole!" he rapped at her. "Also this curious receipt on Perry Mason's hand- kerchief !" She looked down at the handkerchief he took from a drawer and flung before her, and she bit her lip. "Yes, I went through your bag!" he Ijlared. " You've messed things beauti- fully. You went to Perry Mason and gave him a fictitious name and a false lead. He came out here pretending to represent Peter Milnor, but he didn't know I had Milnor heie this evening. As a matter of fact they must havo passed each other on the stairs!" "You had Peter Milnor here?" gasljed his wife. "He came in the name of Garwood. I had him here trying to prove what I suspected—that you were with him last evening at the Beechwood Inn. Ho wouldn't tell me, but you've answered the question j-ourself!" There was a telephone on the desk. Belter dialed a number. "'Spicy Bits'?" he asked. "Mr. Locke— Mr. B. calling. Oh, is that jou, Frank? Mason was just here. Tracked me down in jig time, didn't he ? Sure, she was with Milnor all right. Go ahead—all over the front page of Thuis- day's issue. ' Candidate for Legislature a Home-wrecker.' Sure, use her name! She'll.get used to the publicity when I get her in the divorce courts." " Tell him not to print a word of that!" shrilled Eva Belter, and in her gloved hand was the automatic with which she had threatened Perry Mason.' But George C. Belter did not turn a hair. "Go ahead and shoot," he said, put- ting down the telephone. " It won't do you any good. I changed my will to-day." "You think you're clever, don't you?" she cried fiercely. " You've got away with murder for years. But you're not the only one who can get away with it!" The sound of a shot reached the eara of Mrs. Veite and her daughter, in the kitchen downstairs, and Airs. Veite started to her feet. "Norma, what was that?" she et- claimed. She ran out through the rear passage into the hall, but Eva Belter was down the stairs and out at the front door