Read Online The Case of the Horrified Heirs by Erle Stanley Gardner - Free Book Online

of seconds."
    And it was only a matter of seconds before Paul Drake's code knock sounded on the door.
    Della opened the door and let him in.
    "Paul," Mason said, "this is Virginia Baxter. You probably don't know it but she's the client whom I've been representing and is the reason you have been doing this investigative work."
    "I see," Drake said, smiling at Virginia. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Baxter."
    Mason said, "She has some papers locked in her car down in the parking lot. Could you help her bring them up?"
    "How heavy?" Drake asked. "Do I need anyone to help me?"
    "Oh, no," she said, "it's a bundle of papers probably twenty inches thick. But one man can lift them."
    "Let's go," Drake said.
    "There's one more thing I wanted to tell you, Mr. Mason," Virginia said. "While I was away from Julian Bannock's ranch, or farm, or whatever you call it, and telephoning you and getting ready to go back and get those papers, this man showed up at the ranch."
    "What man?"
    "The one who called on me. Eagan, you say he is, the chauffeur for Mrs. Trent."
    "And what did he want?"
    "He wanted to look at some of the old files of Delano Bannock. Julian-that's the brother-told him to wait, that I was going to be back there within a few minutes."
    "And what happened?"
    "The man jumped in his car and drove off, going fast."
    "I see," Mason said, and nodded to Drake. "Let's get those papers, Paul."
    Drake accompanied Virginia to the parking lot. She unlocked her car. Drake picked up the files in the card- board carton, hoisted the carton to his shoulder and they returned to Mason's office.
    Mason said, "Let's look at the file listed under 'T' and see what you have. Let's see, you have 'T-1,' 'T-2,' 'T-3,' 'T-4,' 'T-5'; just what do those mean?"
    "That's the way I kept the wills under 'T.' 'T-1' would be the first five letters of the alphabet. In other words, 'TA,' 'T-B,' 'T-C,' 'T-D,' 'T-E'; then, 'T-2' would be the next five letters."
    "I see," Mason said. "Well, let's look under the 'T-4' and see if we can find any papers relating to Lauretta Trent."
    Mason spread the files out on the desk and Mason, Della Street, Paul Drake and Virginia Baxter started rapidly going through the files.
    "Well," Mason said, after a few minutes' search, "apparently we have a lot of copies of wills here, but no copy of a will made for Lauretta Trent."
    "But we did her work, we made at least one will for her," Virginia said.
    "And," Mason said, "George Eagan was making inquiries as to the location of the carbon copies of Delano Bannock's files, and George Eagan is Lauretta Trent's chauffeur."
    Mason turned to Paul Drake, "What hospital was Lauretta Trent in when she had her so-called digestive upsets?"
    "Phillips Memorial Hospital," Drake said.
    Mason nodded to the phone, "Get them on the line, please, Della."
    Della Street asked for an outside line, got a number and whirled the dial. A moment later she nodded to Mason.
    Mason picked up the phone, "Phillips Memorial Hospital?" he asked.
    "Yes."
    "This is Perry Mason, the attorney," the lawyer said. "I would like to get some information on one of your patients."
    "I'm sorry we can't give information about our patients."
    "Well, this is just a routine matter of record," Mason said casually. "The patient is Lauretta Trent. You had her in the hospital on three occasions within the last several months and all I'm interested in is finding out the name of her physician."
    "Just a moment, we can give you that information."
    "I'll hold the phone, if I may," Mason said.
    A moment later the voice said, "The physician was Dr. Ferris Alton. He's in the Randwell Building."
    "Thank you," Mason said.
    The lawyer hung up, turned to Della Street, "Let's see if we can get Dr. Alton's nurse."
    "His nurse?"
    "Yes," Mason said, "I'd like to talk with Dr. Alton, but I think I'll have to speak with his nurse, personally, before we can get him on the line. After all, this is probably the beginning of a busy afternoon for a doctor. He