The Case of the Dangerous Dowager Read Free Page B

his?"
    "I'm his lawyer."
    Grieb interlaced fat hands across his stomach. Huge diamonds on his fingers caught the light and glittered scintillating accompaniment to the motion. "A lawyer, eh?" he said, almost musingly.
    Mason nodded, moving closer to the edge of the desk.
    "And just how did you propose to save us all this trouble?" Grieb asked, still in that same fiat voice.
    Mason, smiling amiably, suddenly reached across the desk and picked up the check from the blotter. "You won't have to cash it," he said.
    Grieb sat bolt-upright in his chair. His diamonds made a glittering streak of motion as he started to reach for the check, then caught himself, and sat with his finger-tips resting on the edge of the blotter. "What's the idea?" he asked.
    Mason said, "My client isn't a very good gambler. He's rather a hard loser. He started to place a few casual bets, then won a little money, got into the spirit of the thing, and was swept off his feet. He's come down to earth now. He doesn't want any more money. He's finished gambling."
    Grieb's eyes focused on Mason's face. "This little business matter," he said coldly, "is between Oxman and me."
    Mason handed the check across to Drake. "Better tear it up," he said.
    Drake tore it into pieces and shoved the pieces down deep into his trousers pocket. Grieb got to his feet. Mason moved so that he was standing between Drake and the gambler. "My client made a mistake in giving you this check," he said, by way of explanation.
    "You mean there aren't any funds in the bank to cover it?" Grieb asked ominously.
    "Of course there are," Mason said. "Telephone the bank tomorrow if that's what's bothering you. What I meant was that I don't want my client to have one of his checks cashed through this gambling ship. You see, we didn't come out here to gamble."
    Grieb slowly sat down, eyed the two men for a moment, then indicated chairs with a glittering gesture of his right hand. "Sit down, gentlemen," he said. "I want to talk with you."
    Drake looked to Mason for instructions. Mason nodded and seated himself on Grieb's left. Drake rather ostentatiously moved over to a chair nearer the door, farther from Grieb. The gambler still sat very erect, his fingertips resting on the edge of the blotter. "That check's good?" he asked.
    Mason laughed. "I'll guarantee this gentleman's checks up to any amount he wants to write them."
    "With that signature and on that bank?" Grieb persisted.
    Mason nodded and said, apparently as an afterthought, "Or with any other signature."
    Grieb's eyes studied Paul Drake, who, obviously ill at ease, returned the stare. Grieb shifted his eyes to Perry Mason and surveyed the granite-hard face of the lawyer. "So your name's Mason and you're a lawyer?"
    Mason nodded.
    "Tell me more about you."
    "Why?" Mason asked.
    "Because I want to know," Grieb said.
    "I think," Mason told him, "our little business transaction is entirely concluded, isn't it, Mr. Grieb?"
    Grieb shook his head. Suddenly a puzzled frown crossed his forehead. He said, "Say, wait a minute, you're not Perry Mason, are you?"
    Mason nodded. Grieb swung half around in the swivel chair and put his right elbow on the blotter. "That," he said, "is different. Suppose we talk business, gentlemen."
    Mason raised his eyebrows and said, "Business?"
    Grieb nodded, turned suddenly to Drake and said, "If you didn't come out here to gamble, what did you come out here for, Mr. Oxman?"
    Drake sucked in a quick breath, as though about to answer, then glanced at Mason and became silent.
    Mason said easily, "Let me do the talking." He turned to the gambler and said, "I don't want any misunderstandings, Mr. Grieb. You don't know this man. He's offered you a check signed 'Frank Oxman.' That check's good as gold, but that doesn't mean this man is really Frank Oxman. It only means he has a banking account under that name. And if you should ever say that Frank Oxman won or lost a dime on your ship, you might get yourself into serious