The Case of the Counterfeit Eye Read Free Page A

information bureau."
    For a moment there was flashing anger in her eyes. Then she controlled herself.
    "After all," she said, "perhaps you're right. If anyone came into my office and tried to find out something about who the man was who was just going out, I'd… I'd…"
    "You'd what?" Perry Mason prompted.
    She laughed, and said, "Probably lie to him, and tell him I didn't know."
    Mason opened a cigarette case and offered her a cigarette.
    She hesitated a moment, then took one of the cigarettes, tapped it on her thumb-nail with a practiced hand, leaned forward to the flame of the match which Mason held for her, and inhaled deeply. Mason offered a cigarette to Harry McLane, who shook his head in silent refusal. Mason, himself, lit a cigarette, settled back in the chair and looked from the young man to the young woman, then kept his eyes on Bertha McLane, as though expecting her to do the talking.
    She adjusted her skirt, and said, "Harry is in trouble."
    Harry McLane shifted uneasily in his chair.
    "Tell him about it, Harry," she pleaded.
    "You tell him," Harry McLane said, speaking in that mumbling undertone which he had used before.
    "Did you," she asked the lawyer, "ever hear of Hartley Basset?"
    "Seems to me I've heard the name over the radio. Doesn't he make automobile loans?"
    "Yes," she said, with feeling in her voice; "he does. He makes all sorts of loans. The automobile loans he makes, he advertises over the radio. He makes other loans that he doesn't advertise so much, and he isn't above buying a piece of stolen jewelry, or financing an expert smuggler."
    The lawyer raised his eyebrows quizzically and started to say something, but puffed on his cigarette instead.
    "You can't prove all of that stuff," Harry McLane said, in a surly undertone.
    "You told me."
    "Well, I was just guessing at lots of it."
    "No, you weren't, Harry. You know that you were telling the truth. You've worked for him, and you know the kind of business he's running."
    "What sort of trouble is Harry in?" Mason inquired.
    "He embezzled something over three thousand dollars from Hartley Basset."
    The lawyer's eyes shifted to Harry McLane. Harry McLane met his gaze defiantly for a moment, then dropped his eyes and said, in a voice so low that it could hardly be heard, "I was going to pay him back."
    "Does Mr. Basset know about it?" Mason inquired.
    "He does now."
    "When did he find it out?"
    "Yesterday."
    "Just how did the embezzlement take place?" Mason inquired, turning to the young man. "Was it over a long period of time? Was it in one sum, or was it in smaller sums, and what was done with the money?"
    Harry McLane looked expectantly toward his sister. She said, "It was in four separate amounts – almost a thousand dollars each."
    "How was it done?"
    "It was done by substituting forged notes for original ones."
    The lawyer frowned, and said, "I don't see just how that would be an embezzlement, unless the original notes were negotiated."
    Harry McLane, raising his voice for the first time since he had entered the room, said, "You don't need to go into all those details, Sis; just tell him what you want done."
    "What do you want me to do?" Mason inquired.
    "I want you to return the money to Mr. Basset. That is, I want you to arrange it so I can return the money to Mr. Basset."
    "All of it?" Mason asked.
    "Eventually, yes. I've only got a little over fifteen hundred dollars to give him now. I'll give him the balance in installments."
    "You're working?" Mason asked.
    "Yes."
    "Where?"
    She flushed and said, "I don't think it's necessary to go into that, is it?"
    "It might be," he told her.
    "We can go into it later if we have to. I'm secretary to an important business man."
    "What salary do you make?"
    "Is it necessary to go into that?"
    "Yes."
    "Why?"
    "So I can decide how much to charge for my services, for one thing," Mason told her.
    "It isn't as much as it should be, considering the work I'm doing. The employees have all had to take substantial