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the principal to Miss Celane, and giving the balance to charitable institutions. But that was something entirely in his discretion. He died without the discretion having been exercised. Therefore, the trust has terminated."
    "Don't be too sure he didn't do anything about that trust," said the housekeeper.
    "Did he?" asked Perry Mason.
    "Suppose," said the woman, without directly answering his question, "Fran Celane and her uncle had a big fight after you left last night? And suppose that he then and there told her he would give her five thousand dollars of the money, and give all the rest to charity?"
    "Did he?" asked the lawyer.
    "I'm asking you what would happen if he had."
    "Well," said Mason, "there certainly isn't any evidence that he did, is there?"
    "There ain't now," she said.
    "Exactly what do you mean?" he asked.
    "Suppose there should be some evidence like that?"
    "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Mason.
    "Well," she snapped, "if you don't do business with me, you'll come to it."
    "That's hardly possible," said the lawyer. "Come, come, Mrs. Mayfield, if you want to make any insinuations against Miss Celane, you will have to make them in a manner which will be substantiated by the circumstances of the case.
    "The evidence in this case shows that Miss Celane left the house before eleven o'clock and didn't return until after the police had arrived."
    "Yes," said the woman, "that's what the evidence shows, and you'd better see that it ain't changed."
    "I still don't get what you mean," said Perry Mason.
    "You will," said the woman, "when you've made Fran Celane come clean and quit pulling the wool over your eyes. I'm not going to stand here and have you high hat me with your lawyer talk. I've told you what I want, and I'm too smart to make any threats."
    "In other words," said Mason, "you want money."
    "Yes."
    "Very good," said Mason. "I take it that everyone wants money."
    "You know what I mean," she said, "and if you want to get some more evidence, you might look up what Bob Gleason was doing at the time this murder was committed."
    "Gleason?" said Mason, arching his eyebrows. "Why Gleason wasn't even here in the house."
    "Oh wasn't he?" said the woman.
    "Was he?" asked Mason.
    "Ask your Frances," she said.
    Mason suddenly turned, planted his feet wide apart, and stared at her.
    "Look here, my woman," he said, in his best courtroom manner, "I don't know whether it's ever occurred to you, but you may be guilty of a very serious crime. If you are seeking to frighten me or to frighten Miss Celane into paying you money by making insinuations, you are guilty of a crime known as extortion, and in a case of this kind it might be a very serious crime."
    The beady black eyes stared at him snappingly with hostility reflected from their burnished surfaces.
    "You're not frightening me a bit," she said.
    "And," said Perry Mason, "may I advise you that you are not frightening me in the least?"
    "I ain't trying to frighten you – yet," she said. "I just told you certain things."
    "What things?" he asked.
    "That I'm going to get some money out of it. Otherwise, nobody gets any money."
    "Nobody?" he asked.
    "Neither you nor the girl," she agreed.
    "That would be unfortunate," said Mason tonelessly.
    "Wouldn't it?" she said. "And then again I might find somebody that would pay me, if you didn't see which side of the bread had the butter. Some of these charities for instance."
    "Really," said Mason, "I don't get you. You've got to give me more particulars of what you're driving at."
    She said: "I'm too smart for you, Mister Lawyer. You go ahead and make your own investigation. Don't think that you're dealing with an ignorant woman, because you ain't. You talk with Frances Celane, and then you can talk some more with me."
    "I have talked with Miss Celane," said Mason.
    The woman's laugh was harsh and bitter.
    "Oh no, you haven't," she said, "you've listened to her. Frances Celane is the best little liar in the world.