The Case of the Velvet Claws Read Online Free PDF

thirteen."
    He grinned at her, and went out.
    He found a drug store in the next block which had a public telephone. He called the number of the hotel, and asked for station thirteen.
    "Okay," he said, when he heard the girl's voice. "I'm calling for Frank Locke. Have him paged and be sure that you tell him to come to your station for the call. He probably won't come now, but I'll hold the line. He's in the barber shop. But don't tell the bellboy that I said he was. Simply tell him to look in the barber shop."
    "I getcha," said the girl.
    He held the line for some two minutes, and then the girl's voice said, "He said to leave your number, and he'd call you back."
    "That's fine," said Mason, "the number is Harrison 23850. But tell the bellboy to be sure that he goes to your station to get the call."
    "Sure, don't worry about that."
    "All right," said Mason, "tell him to ask for Mr. Smith at that number."
    "Any initials?"
    "No, just Smith, and the number. That's all."
    "Okay," she said. "I gotcha."
    Mason hung up.
    He waited approximately ten minutes, and then the telephone rang.
    He answered it in a high-pitched, querulous voice, and heard Locke's voice speaking cautiously at the other end of the wire.
    "Listen," said Mason, using the high-pitched voice, "let's not have any misunderstanding about this. You're Frank Locke from Spicy Bits?"
    "Yes," said Locke. "Who are you, and how did you know where to reach me?"
    "I got into the office about two minutes after you'd left, and they told me that I could reach you in a speakeasy out on Webster Street, or later on, here in the hotel."
    "How the devil did they know that?" asked Locke.
    "I don't know," said Mason. "That's what they told me. That's all."
    "Well, what was it you wanted?"
    "Listen," said Mason, "I know you don't want to talk business over the telephone. But this has got to be handled fast. You folks aren't in business for your health. I know that, the same as everybody else does. And I ain't in business for my health either."
    "Listen," Locke's voice was cautious. "I don't know who you are, but you'd better come and see me personally. How far are you from the hotel here?"
    Mason said, "I'm nowheres near the hotel. Now listen, I can give you something that's valuable to you. I won't give it out over the telephone, and, if you don't want it, I've got another market for the information. All I want to know is whether or not you're interested. Would you like to find out the name of the woman that was with Harrison Burke last night?"
    There was silence over the telephone for some four or five seconds.
    "We're a publication that deals with spicy bits of information about prominent people," said Locke, "and we're always glad to receive any information that is news."
    "Nix on that hooey," said Mason. "You know what happened. And I know what happened. A list was made up, and Harrison Burke's name wasn't on that list. Neither was the name of the woman who was with him. Now, is it worth a thousand dollars to you to have absolute proof who that woman was?"
    "No," said Locke, firmly and decisively.
    "Well, that's all right," said Mason hastily. "Is it worth five hundred to you?"
    "No."
    "Well," insisted Mason, putting a whining note in his voice, "I tell you what I'll do. I'll let you have it for four hundred dollars. And that's absolutely bottom price. I've got another market that's offering three hundred and fifty. I've gone to a' lot of trouble getting you located, and it's going to take four hundred for you to sit in."
    "Four hundred is a lot of money."
    "The information I've got," said Mason, "is a lot of information."
    "You'd have to give me something besides the information," said Locke. "I'd want something we could use as proof if we ran into a libel suit."
    "Sure," said Mason, "you give me the four hundred dollars when I give you the proof."
    Locke was silent for a few seconds. Then he said, "Well, I'll have to think it over a little while. I'll call you back and let you