The Case of the Fenced-In Woman by Erle Stanley Gardner Page A

importance. Did you know her-ever meet her personally?"
    She frowned thoughtfully. "I don't think so. I saw some of the hostesses, of course, and have talked with many of them without knowing their names. I've been to Las Vegas quite frequently."
    "With Jennings?"
    "I've made several trips with him-I've made other trips. I like Las Vegas. I like the glitter. I like the excitement. I… I'll be frank with you, Mr. Mason. I like to gamble."
    "Have you ever been there just by yourself?"
    "Never. I always go in a foursome or with perhaps some escort as in the case with Norbert Jennings and-well, gambling is a little expensive for a working girl… If an escort wants to furnish me with chips, I…"
    "You say you didn't ask for alimony?" Mason asked, as her voice trailed away. "May I inquire just how you do get along?"
    She said hurriedly, "There's a taxicab right over by those apartments, Mr. Mason! If you'll let me out here, please, right here at the corner! I'll take a cab instead of a bus."
    She lowered the car window. "Taxi," she called. "Taxi."
    Mason eased the car to a stop. The cab driver nodded, opened the door of the cab and hurried over to pick up the baggage from the lawyer's car.
    "Thank you so much, Mr. Mason," she said.
    She blew him a saucy kiss, then turned to the cab driver.
    Behind Mason a car honked its horn and the lawyer moved on into traffic.

Chapter Six
    PERRY MASON drove up to the Eden side of the house, noting that half a dozen automobiles were filling every available parking space there. As he rolled smoothly to a stop in the middle of the driveway, a newspaper photographer with a camera and flashgun came running toward the car.
    Other photographers, seeing the running cameraman, scurried into activity and soon Mason's car was surrounded with popping flash bulbs.
    As Mason opened the car door, a reporter said, "What the hell? We've been out here nearly fifteen minutes! This guy says we can't get in the house until you arrive."
    "I'm sorry if you were kept waiting," Mason said.
    "You can't keep a newspaper waiting," the man said, "but the city editor wants an interview from you. Come on now, we're in a rush. Let's get the door open and take a look. What the hell is this all about?"
    "Have you tried to get in the other side of the house?" Mason asked.
    "No one answers the doorbell and the door is locked. We've been around and got photographs of the exterior and all that, but the place is all locked up. I understand Mrs. Carson was a model, and Eden says she parades around in a very abbreviated bathing suit."
    "I didn't say any such thing," Eden interrupted indignantly. "I said nothing about her parading around. I said that at one time she was taking a sunbath in an abbreviated bathing suit."
    "It's all the same," the reporter said. "Come on, you've got a key to the joint, let's open it up."
    Another reporter said, "My city editor wants an interview with Mason. How about telling us what it's all about, Mason?"
    The lawyer said, "I'll give you a very brief summary of the facts in the case. I would prefer not to have my photograph taken. As an attorney I'm not courting newspaper publicity and-"
    "Phooey," the reporter interrupted. "My editors want an interview and they want photographs. We've got photographs. Now come on, tell us what's it all about."
    Mason briefly sketched the background of the litigation.
    "And you filed this suit for fraud?" the reporter asked.
    "That's right. We've asked for punitive or exemplary damages, as well as actual damages."
    "And Carson told Eden that he had the deadwood on his wife, that he had a detective who had traced her to various weekend resorts where she'd been having a torrid affair with some guy. Is that right?"
    "As to that," Mason said, "you can get your facts from Morley Eden, or from the pleadings. I prefer not to discuss that phase of the case, and naturally I would prefer not to have it tried in the press but in a courtroom."
    "Lawyers have ideas about ethics and