Free The Case of the Counterfeit Eye by Erle Stanley Gardner

real results as you do, Sergeant, you're remarkably cunning in your methods."
    And the lawyer bowed his way out while Sergeant Holcomb was trying to think up an answer.

Chapter Six
    PERRY MASON unlocked his private office, switched on the lights, and walked through the suite until he came to the entrance room, the door of which bore the words:
    PERRY MASON
    LAWYER

    entrance
    Della Street, seated behind a desk reading at law book, looked up at him with a grin.
    "I'm studying law, Chief," she said.
    She wore a fur coat which buttoned tightly about her. A length of stockinged leg protruded through the opening in the fur coat.
    "The police been here?" the lawyer asked.
    "I'll say. They did a lot of wisecracking."
    Mason's face clouded.
    "Did they get rough with the girl?" he asked.
    She let her eyes get wide.
    "Why, I thought you ditched the girl some place. She didn't show up."
    "She didn't show up here?" Mason inquired.
    Della Street shook her head.
    "What did you tell the cops?" he asked.
    "They cracked wise," she told him, "and I cracked wise back at them. I figured you'd found out the police were coming here, so you'd ditched the girl. That gave me a chance to be sassy. I told them I'd just dropped in to study a little; that I did a lot of night studying because you wanted me to become a detective; that you said so many of the detectives were incompetent there should be lots of room for a real intelligent one."
    "How soon did you get here?"
    "The cab was at my place in about two minutes after I hung up the phone. I was down on the street waiting. I gave him a tip to make a fast run. We got here in nothing flat. I came in and switched on the lights in this room, and left the door unlocked. I also told the night watchman that a young woman was coming up to the office, and to see that she got here if she made any inquiries."
    Perry Mason gave a low whistle.
    "Paul Drake was looking for you," she said. "The watchman told him I was in when Paul started home. So he came back to the office and left a package for you." She indicated a pasteboard package on the table, tied with string and sealed in several places with red sealing wax.
    The lawyer took out his knife, slit the string, and said, "Did you have any trouble with the officers?"
    "No. I let them look through the whole place. They thought I was holding a woman up my sleeve."
    "Hard to convince?" the lawyer asked, lifting the cover from the box.
    "No," she said. "They were delightfully easy to convince. They figured it out that you'd told the detectives you'd sent the girl here. Therefore, they figured it was the last place on earth where she'd really be. Not finding her here was not only exactly what they expected, but gave them a chance to make their wise cracks."
    Mason lifted the top layer of cotton from the box, took out six bloodshot glass eyes, which he spread on the desk, where they stared up unwinkingly.
    "We've got Brunold's address?" he asked.
    "Yes. It's in the file."
    "Was there a telephone number?"
    "I think so. I'll see."
    She opened a file of card indexes and pulled out a card.
    "Telephone?" he asked.
    "Yes. It's here."
    "Get him."
    She looked at her wrist-watch, but Mason said impatiently, "Never mind the time. Go ahead and get him."
    She plugged in a line, dialed a number, waited for almost a minute, then said, "Hello, is this Mr. Brunold?"
    She glanced across the desk at the lawyer, and nodded.
    "Tell him to come up here," Mason said. "No, wait a minute; I'd better tell him myself."
    He took the telephone from her and said, "This is Perry Mason talking. I want you to come up to my office right away."
    Brunold's voice was sulky.
    "Listen," he said. "You haven't any business that's important enough to make me…"
    "You paid me fifteen hundred dollars," the lawyer said, "because you had confidence in my ability to get you out of a mess. That was before you got in the mess. You're in it now. My best judgment is that you should come up here. If you don't