Free The Case of the Singing Skirt by Erle Stanley Gardner Page A

of yachtsmen and got taken ashore."
    "Couldn't you have started the engine on the yacht and gone into the pier?"
    "No chance," Ellis said. "She took the keys to the starting switch with her. I had had a burglarproof lock put on there so that when the keys are out it's impossible to start the motor. I suppose an electrician could have shortcircuited the wires back of the locking mechanism but I didn't know how to do it and I'm not too certain it could have been done. I had the sort of lock installed that would keep people from stealing the yacht and taking it for a joy ride.
    "It's not a particularly large yacht, Mr. Mason; only forty-two feet, but it's very expensive and perfectly appointed. I have spent a lot of money trying to make it very comfortable."
    "All right," Mason said, "you got ashore about ninethirty. Then what?"
    "So then I tried to find my wife and I couldn't find her. I went to talk with Ellen but I didn't want to alarm her. I just told her to be careful, that my wife was on the warpath. So then I went out looking for Nadine.
    "Then this morning my wife showed up very briefly at the house. She made further threats. She said Ellen Robb had been meeting me secretly aboard the yacht, that she was going to prove that fact by having fingerprint experts develop her latent fingerprints.
    "She also said she felt Ellen was waiting for me on the yacht right then and that if she was, she was going to kill her."
    "What did you do then?"
    "Nothing. Ellen had never met me aboard the yacht. I knew Nadine was barking up the wrong tree, so I let her go… But I want you to know that my wife is in a murderous rage so you can take steps to protect Ellen."
    "Did you know that Ellen Robb and George Anclitas had had an altercation?"
    "What about the altercation?"
    "He fired her, and gave her a black eye to boot," Mason said.
    "What!" Ellis exclaimed, half rising from the chair.
    "Gave her a black eye," Mason said.
    Ellis said, "I'll kill him for that. That… that boorish, arrogant, crooked..
    Ellis quit talking, compressed his lips in a thin, straight line.
    Mason said, "On behalf of Miss Robb I'm filing suit against George Anclitas and several John Does, who I think are partners in the business, for six thousand dollars exemplary damages and fifteen hundred dollars actual damages for pain and suffering."
    Ellis said, "Mr. Mason, I am beginning to be satisfied that game was crooked. I think that… I think that Ellen could tell you something about that. I want to get even with George Anclitas. If he struck Ellen, I'm going to give him the beating of his life. I'll-"
    "And how will that look when your wife files suit for divorce and names Ellen Robb as correspondent?" Mason asked.
    Ellis' face showed dismay.
    "There are some things you have to take into consideration," Mason said dryly.
    "Look," Ellis said, "I'll do anything I can in this matter, Mason. I'll-I'd like to pay your fees for prosecuting that case against George."
    "And how would that look in the divorce action?" Mason' asked.
    Ellis hesitated, then said, "All right. I have lost around ten thousand dollars there in The Big Barn. I'm now satisfied the game was crooked. If you want to act as my attorney to recover that money, I'll pay you fifty per cent of the recovery and give you all the expense money you need to prosecute. You can hire detectives or do anything else you need to do."
    "I may be disqualified on that action," Mason said. "I already advised your wife-gratuitously, of course-that she could probably recover the community funds that had been lost gambling, regardless of whether the game was straight or crooked."
    "Mr. Mason, don't you understand what that would do to my reputation? I'd be the laughingstock of-"
    "I don't think so," Mason interrupted. "I think if a few women would take action of this sort, it would give the big gamblers something to think about, particularly the ones where the games are crooked."
    "On the contrary," Ellis said with some