The Case of the Dangerous Dowager Read Online Free PDF Page A

anything about that?"
    Mason said cautiously, "No, I wouldn't know anything about that."
    "Well, your client would."
    "Let's leave my client out of it, please."
    "Well," Grieb said, "we always like to co-operate. Now, you came out here looking for evidence. Perhaps we could help you out a little bit."
    "In what way?" Mason asked.
    "By giving you some evidence."
    "On what terms?"
    "Well," Grieb said, flashing a swift glance at his partner, "we'd have to discuss the terms."
    "Your idea of evidence might not be my idea of evidence," Mason said.
    "The evidence is all right," Grieb rejoined. "It's just a question of what you boys would be willing to do."
    "We'd want to see the evidence," Mason said.
    Grieb looked at Duncan significantly and jerked his head toward the vault. Duncan, his face still wearing a set smile, crossed to the vault and stepped inside. The three men in the room sat in tense silence. After a few seconds there was the peculiar whooshing sound made by air escaping as the door of the cannonball safe was slammed shut. Duncan emerged from the vault carrying three oblongs of paper which he slid across the glass top of the big desk.
    Grieb's diamonds again made glittering streaks as he scooped up the oblongs of paper and said, "Three demand notes, signed by Sylvia Oxman, and totaling seven thousand five hundred dollars."
    Mason frowned. "We hadn't figured on anything like this," he said.
    Grieb's voice was harsh with greed. "Figure on it now, then."
    Mason pursed his lips. "I suppose," he ventured, "you boys want something."
    Grieb moved impatiently. "Don't be so God damn cagey. You've drawn cards in this game but we hold all the aces. Quit stalling. You're going to have to come across – and like it."
    Duncan said chidingly, "Now, Sammy!"
    Mason said, "I'd want to inspect these."
    Grieb spread them out on the desk, holding them flat against the glass, his extended fingers pressing firmly against the upper edges. "Look 'em over," he invited grimly.
    Mason objected. "That's not what I'd call inspecting them."
    "That's what I call inspecting them," Grieb said.
    Duncan said soothingly, "Now, Sammy. Now, Sammy. Take it easy."
    "I'm taking it easy," Grieb said. "There was a check on this desk and he picked it up to 'inspect' it. Now it's torn in pieces and is in this guy's pocket."
    "The check was different," Mason said.
    "Well, I didn't like the way you did it," Grieb told him.
    Mason's eyes were cold. "No one asked you to," he said shortly.
    Duncan interposed. "Now, wait a minute, boys. This isn't getting us anywhere."
    Grieb's face darkened with rage. He picked up the oblongs of paper and said irritably, "That's the way he's been ever since he came in. You'd think he was God and I was some sort of a crook. To hell with him!"
    Duncan moved over to the desk, extended his hands for the notes. His face still smiling, but his eyes were hard. "This is a business deal, Sammy," he said.
    "It isn't with me," Grieb told him. "As far as I'm concerned, there's no dice. We're handing these guys a lawsuit on a silver platter and they're trying to make us come all the way. To hell with it."
    Duncan said nothing, but stood by the desk, his hand extended. And after a moment, Grieb handed him the slips of paper and said, "All right, you do it, if you know so much about it."
    Duncan handed one of the notes to the lawyer. "The other two," he said, "are like this."
    "I'd want to see them all," Mason said, without reaching for the note.
    "You can look them over one at a time," Duncan told him.
    Drake said, "That's fair, Perry. We'll look them over one at a time."
    Mason slowly extended his hand and took the oblong of paper. He and Drake studied it carefully while Duncan watched them with cold eyes over smiling lips. Grieb opened the left-hand drawer of the desk and dropped his hand casually into the interior.
    The note was on a printed form such as might have been readily obtained in any stationery store. It was in an amount of twenty-five