Free The Case of the Troubled Trustee by Erle Stanley Gardner Page A

questioning."
    Mason said, "They told me down in Mexico that he was under arrest; that there was a warrant out for him, charging first-degree murder."
    "Tut, tut," Tragg said.
    "You didn't extradite him?"
    "We couldn't have extradited him without preferring a charge."
    "But he is under arrest?"
    "He's been brought in for questioning."
    "He's my client," Mason said. "I want to see him."
    "If he's charged with anything, you can talk with him. As soon as he's booked, he can call an attorney."
    "Where is he now?" Mason asked.
    Tragg said, "I'll put it on the line with you, Perry. As far as I know he's between here and there."
    "There meaning?"
    "Tecate," Lt. Tragg said, grinning. "It was a lot easier for us to pick him up there than it would have been in Tijuana, so when the Mexicans deported him as an undesirable alien, they put him back into the United States at Tecate."
    Mason turned to Paul Drake. "Okay, Paul," he said, "let's go to the office. Della should be there by now with your car."
    "Better hang around your office," Tragg said. "If Kerry Dutton wants to call you, we'll give him one telephone call."
    "One should be enough," Mason said.

Chapter Eleven
    Perry Mason and Paul Drake found Paul's car in the office parking lot. "Your man Fulton, Paul?" Mason asked.
    "What about him?"
    "You know what about him. We've got to get in touch with him."
    "He's on his way home from Ensenada. Police will be laying for him and want to grab that wire recording."
    "I know they will," Mason said. "We've got to get to him before the police do."
    Drake shook his head. "What do you mean?" Mason asked. "You mean it can't be done?"
    "I mean it's not going to be done," Drake said. "I have a license to consider. We can't play hide-and-seek with the police in a murder case. You're a lawyer; you know that."
    Mason spoke slowly, giving emphasis to each word as he enunciated it. "Paul, I'm an attorney. I have a license, the same as you do. I'm not going to suppress any evidence. You're not going to suppress any evidence. We're not going to tamper with evidence, but I'm representing a client. The police are going to try to convict that client of first-degree murder. They're moving pretty fast in this thing. That means there's some evidence that we know nothing about. I want to find out about it. I want to know what it is. Your operative is going to be a witness for the prosecution. We can't help that, but we sure have a right to get a report from him at the earliest possible moment. You're paying him, and I'm paying you. Now then, what kind of a car is he driving? What route is he going to take?"
    Drake shook his head. "I don't like it."
    Mason said, "You don't have to like it. I know what I'm doing. I'm not asking you to violate any law."
    "Well," Drake said, reluctantly, "there's a service station out on the corner of Meiwood and Figueroa. It's a big service station with plenty of pumps and employees on duty, and every operative who has been on a long, out-of-town trip is instructed to fill his gas tank at this station when he comes in.
    "The big thing in the private detective business is to be sure you don't run out of gas when you're on a tailing job.
    "The man who runs that service station knows most of my operatives. I know he knows Tom Fulton. We can ask him if Tom has been in there yet. If he has, it means that Tom has parked his car and reported to the office and the cops have probably grabbed him by this time, or, at any rate, they will before we can get hold of him now."
    "There's a phone booth, Paul. Put through the call."
    Drake entered the phone booth, put through the call, came back and shook his head, "He hasn't been in yet. You can't tell just when he will come in. The guy has been up all night on a tailing job and it's a long drive from Ensenada up here. He was entitled to get some sleep."
    "The police will have a stakeout on your office, Paul, and I don't dare take any chances. You're going to have to go down to that service station