The Case of the Caretaker's Cat Read Free Page B

Honolulu, Yokohama, Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Manila."
    Della Street continued to look demurely at her notebook.
    Perry Mason laughed, and pushed the pile of mail away.
    "We'll let it wait," he said, "until after we've disposed of Shuster. You sit right there and if I nudge your knee, start taking notes. Shuster's a pretty slippery customer. I wish he'd have his teeth fixed."
    She raised her eyebrows in silent inquiry.
    "Franklin teeth," he told her, "and they leak."
    "Franklin teeth?" she asked.
    "Yes, air-cooled, you know. If there's anything in reincarnation, he must have been a Chinese laundryman in a prior existence. Every time he snickers, he sprays his audience, like a Chinese laundryman sprinkling clothes. He has a fondness for shaking hands. Personally I don't like him, but you can't insult him. I suppose the situation calls for some show of professional courtesy; but, if he tries to slip anything over on me, I'm going to forget the ethics of the situation and kick him out."
    "The cat," she said, "must feel flattered – so many busy attorneys putting in their time deciding whether he's going to get his muddy feet on a bedspread."
    Perry Mason laughed outright. "Go ahead," he said, "rub it in! Oh, well, I'm in for it now. Shuster will try to egg his clients into a fight, and I'll either have to back up or play into his hands. If I back up, he makes his clients believe he's browbeaten me into submission, and charges them a good fee. If I don't back up, he tells them their whole inheritance is involved and soaks them a percentage. That's what I get for running that bluff about a forfeiture of the inheritance."
    "Mr. Jackson could talk with them," she suggested.
    Perry Mason grinned good-naturedly. "Nope, Jackson isn't accustomed to having his face sprinkled. I've met Shuster before. Let's get them in."
    He lifted the telephone, said to the girl at the desk, "Send Mr. Shuster in."
    Della Street made one last appeal, "Oh, please, Chief, let Jackson handle it. You'll get into an argument, and the first thing we'll know, you'll be putting in all of your time fighting over a cat."
    "Cats and corpses," Mason remarked. "If it isn't one it seems to be another. I've been fighting over corpses for so long, a good live cat will be a welcome diversion from…"
    The door opened. A blonde with wide blue eyes said in a lifeless voice, "Mr. Shuster, Mr. Laxter, Mr. Oafley."
    The three men pushed the doorway into the room. Shuster, small-boned and active, was in the lead, bustling about like a sparrow peering under dead leaves. "Good morning, Counselor, good morning, good morning. Going to be warm today, isn't it?" He bustled across the room, hand outstretched. His lips twisted back, disclosing a mouthful of teeth, between each of which was a well-defined space.
    Mason, seeming to tower high above the little man, extended a reluctant hand and said, "Now let's get these people straight. Which is Laxter and which is Oafley?"
    "Yes, yes, yes, of course, of course," Shuster said. "This is Mr. Laxter – Mr. Samuel C. Laxter. He's the executor of the will – a grandson of Peter Laxter."
    A tall man with dark skin, smoldering black eyes and hair which had been carefully marcelled, smiled with that oily affability which speaks of poise rather than sincerity. A large cream-colored Stetson hat was held in his left hand.
    "And this is Frank Oafley. Frank Oafley is the other grandson, Counselor."
    Oafley was yellow-haired and thick-lipped. His face seemed unable to change its expression. His eyes had the peculiar watery blue tint of raw oysters. He had no hat.
    He said nothing.
    "My secretary, Miss Street," Perry Mason remarked. "If there's no objection, she'll be here during the conference and take such notes as I may wish."
    Shuster chuckled moistly. "And if there is any objection, I suppose she'll stay here anyway, eh? Ha, ha, ha. I know you, Counselor. Remember, it isn't as though you were dealing with someone who didn't know you. I know