The Case of the Troubled Trustee by Erle Stanley Gardner

Thirteen
    Desere Ellis said, "Oh, Mr. Mason, I'm so glad to see you. Isn't this simply too terrible for anything?"
    Mason said, "These things nearly always look blacker at the start; then after the facts begin to come to light the case looks better. Are you willing to talk with me?"
    "Willing? Why, I'm anxious! I've been wondering how I could get in touch with you. Tell me, how is the case against Kerry? Does it look bad? All I know is that he's been arrested."
    "That," Mason said, "is something I can't tell you. I'm Kerry's attorney. I want you to understand that. I'm here as Kerry Dutton's lawyer. I'm representing him and no one else.
    "Now, Dutton may be representing you, in a way, but that doesn't mean that I'm representing you. My whole interest in this case is to protect Kerry Dutton against the charges that have been made against him and to get an acquittal, if possible. Do you understand that?"
    "Yes."
    "All right," Mason said, "let's talk."
    "Won't you be seated?" she asked, indicating a comfortable chair.
    Mason said, "Thank you," and dropped into the chair.
    "May I get you a drink?"
    "No," Mason said, smiling, "I'm on duty and when I'm on duty I prefer not to drink. Now then, tell me about Dutton's gun."
    "About… Dutton's… gun!"
    "That's right."
    Her eyes were wide with panic. "What about it?"
    "Did he loan it to you?"
    "Why… why, yes."
    "Where is it?" Mason asked.
    "In the drawer, in my bedroom."
    "Let's go get it," Mason said.
    "All right. I'll bring it to you."
    "If it's all the same with you, I'd like to go with you," Mason said.
    "Why?"
    "One might say, to see how good an actress you are."
    "What do you mean?" she flared.
    "If you're telling the truth," Mason said, "I think I can detect it. If you're not, I think I can also tell that. It may make a big difference."
    "In what way?"
    "Let's get the gun first and then I'll tell you."
    "All right," she said, "come with me."
    She led the way down a passageway, opened the door of a typically feminine room, walked over to a dresser by the bed, triumphantly opened the drawer and then recoiled with her hand on her breast.
    "It's… it's not here!"
    "I didn't think it would be," Mason said dryly. "The gun was used in killing Rodger Palmer. Now, perhaps you'll tell me how thathappened?"
    "I don't know," she said. "I-I- Why, I just can't imagine. I would have sworn the gun was here."
    Mason eyed her narrowly. "That," he said, "is exactly what I want you to do."
    "What?"
    "Swear that the gun was there."
    "But… but what could have happened to it?"
    "Someone took it," Mason said. "Unless you took it and used it."
    "What do you mean?"
    Mason said, "Did you, by any chance, go out to the Barclay Country Club the night of the murder?"
    "No, why?"
    "You are a member of the Barclay Club?"
    "Yes."
    "And, as such, have a key?"
    "Heavens, I suppose so. There's one around here somewhere. Wait a minute, I had that in the drawer with the gun."
    "You say you hadit?" Mason said. "That's past tense."
    "All right, if you want to be technical about it, I haveit."
    "Let's take a look."
    She rummaged through the back of the drawer and then triumphantly produced a key.
    "Now then," Mason said, "is there any chance that last night you took this key and that gun, went out to the Barclay Country Club, met Rodger Palmer on the seventh tee, had an argument with him over blackmail and shot him?"
    "Good heavens, what are you talking about? Are you crazy?"
    "I don't think so," Mason said. "I'm just asking you if that happened."
    "No!"
    Mason said, "There's a pretty good chance that the Palmer murder was committed with Dutton's gun. Now then, as far as you know, that gun was here in this drawer until the day of the murder?"
    She regarded him with white-faced emotion. "Of course it was here. Only… only someone must have taken it, because it's gone."
    "And you don't know when it was taken?"
    Her forehead puckered into a contemplative frown. "I saw it here two days ago, or was it three days ago. I