Case of the Footloose Doll Read Online Free PDF Page B

Mildred Crest drove up.”
    “You knew her?” Mason asked.
    “No, I was simply waiting there at the service station for a ride. You see, a young woman on the highway is a little different from a man. A man will stand out by a boulevard stop and try to thumb a ride. Anyone who stops is a good ride. But not many people stop.
    “However, a young woman on the highway has plenty of rides. Almost every car stops and offers her a lift, but—well, I don’t care to play it that way. I like to be at a service station where I can size up the person and then ask if I may ride.”

    “So you asked Mildred Crest for a ride?”
    “Yes.”
    “And what happened?”
    “I sensed at the time that Mildred Crest was running away from something, that she was very much upset and—well, for instance, I asked her where she was going and she said, ‘Away.’“
    “So what did you do?”
    “Well, that was so exactly my own case, I asked her if I could go along with her, and she said, ‘All right.’ I don’t know. I think we might have confided in each other after a while. I had troubles of my own and she certainly had plenty on her mind.
    “However, we drove down to Pala and then turned on the road going up from Pala and there was an accident.”
    “What happened?”
    “There was an accident. Another car met us right on a hairpin turn. I tried to avoid—I mean, it was impossible to avoid the other car entirely. It was going too fast. It just barely sideswiped us, just a little bit, but enough to put the car out of control and over the embankment. The car went down and Mildred, I guess, opened the door and tried to get out of the car before it went over, but she didn’t have time. The door was unlatched and she was halfway out when the car went over. She struck her head against a rock and—Well, she died instantly.”
    Mason thought for a moment. “Who was driving the car?” he asked.
    She took a deep breath. “At the time, I was.”
    “How did that happen?”
    “Well, after we started out we talked a little bit and I could sense that Mildred was emotionally upset. She asked me if I drove and I said I did and she started to cry and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes while she was driving. So I offered to take the wheel and she said perhaps I’d better for a little while.”
    “Did you pick the roads or did she?”
    “She told me where to go.”
    Mason said, “If you went from Vista to Pala and then turned at Pala and started back up the grade, you were just doubling back on yourself and—”
    “I know. I think eventually she intended to return to Oceanside, but—well, as it afterward turned out, there were reasons why—”
    “Oh, I remember the case now,” Della Street interjected. She turned to Perry Mason and said, “You may remember it. Chief. We commented briefly about it. The girl had just learned her fiance was wanted for embezzlement. The autopsy showed she was pregnant.”
    “Oh, yes,” Mason said, looking at his visitor with renewed interest.
    “She didn’t tell you anything about this?”
    “No. I think she would have, but, as I say, there wasn’t time. We were just getting acquainted when the accident happened.”
    “All right,” Mason said, “why did you come to me?”
    “Because I . . . I was trying to disappear. I certainly didn’t want my name in the paper and I was afraid that, if the newspapers published that Fern Driscoll of Lansing, Michigan, was in the car, there would be an exchange item, or however it is they work those things, and the Lansing paper would get hold of it and—Well, you know the way they do, publish a little paragraph under headlines: ‘LOCAL GIRL INVOLVED IN CALIFORNIA TRAFFIC ACCIDENT.’ I just didn’t want that. I wanted to keep out of the whole thing.”
    “So what did you do?” Mason asked.
    She hesitated a moment, said, “I—well, I’m afraid I was negligent. I am responsible for the car catching fire.”
    “How did it happen?”
    “I found that I