The Case of the Lucky Legs by Erle Stanley Gardner

pass-key and see what's in the apartment anyway."
    The woman took a key from her purse and opened the door of the apartment opposite 302. The officer stood aside for her to enter; then followed her in and closed the door. Perry Mason moved swiftly down the corridor and didn't bother to wait for the elevator, but found the stairs and took them two at a time. He slowed to a leisurely walk as he went through the lobby of the apartment house. There was, however, no one at the desk.
    Perry Mason walked rapidly down the street and picked up his taxicab.
    "Run straight down the street. Keep your eye open for a place where I can telephone, after you've gone about a dozen blocks, but I don't want to telephone from any place in the neighborhood."
    The driver nodded.
    "She's all warmed up ready to go," he said, and slammed the door as the lawyer settled into the cushions, and jerked the cab into almost immediate motion. He ran for eight or ten blocks; then slowed.
    "The drug store over there on the corner," he said.
    "That'll be fine," Mason said.
    The cab pulled in by a fire plug.
    "I'll keep the motor running," the driver said.
    "It may be a little while to wait," Mason told him, and entered the drug store. He found a telephone booth, dropped a coin and dialed the number of his office.
    Della Street's voice answered.
    "Is Bradbury there, Della?" asked Perry Mason.
    "Not right now," she said, "he's due any minute. He called up from the Mapleton Hotel about fifteen minutes ago; said that he had the newspapers and that he had some other stuff, some communications that had been written to the Chamber of Commerce, some contracts that were used by the merchants, and some samples of the scrip, and a lot of that stuff. He asked if I thought you'd want that as well as the newspapers. He said he had it all in a brief case."
    "What'd you tell him?" asked Mason.
    She laughed.
    "I didn't know whether you wanted it or not," she said, "but I figured it would keep him out of mischief, so I told him sure to bring it along. He should be in – here he comes now."
    "Put him on the phone," Perry Mason said, "I want him."
    Mason could hear the sound of her voice, coming faintly over the line.
    "Mr. Mason is on the line, Mr. Bradbury," she said, "and he wants to talk with you. You can take the call from that phone over there on the table."
    There was a click in the connection; then Bradbury's eager voice.
    "Yes?" he asked. "Yes, what is it?"
    Perry Mason's voice was low and impressive.
    "Now listen, Bradbury," he said, "I'm going to tell you something, and I don't want a fuss made over it."
    "A fuss," Bradbury asked, "what sort of a fuss?"
    "Shut up," Mason told him, "and keep quiet until I can tell you just what the situation is. Just answer yes or no. I don't want my secretary to know what's going on. Do you understand?"
    "Yes," said Bradbury.
    "You've been to your hotel?"
    "Yes."
    "Did you get the papers?"
    "Yes."
    "You have them there with you?"
    "Yes."
    "And there was a brief case with some other stuff in it that you brought?"
    "Yes."
    "The one you telephoned my secretary about?"
    "Yes."
    "All right," Mason said, "Now we located Frank Patton a little while ago."
    "You did," exclaimed Bradbury. "That's great. Have you talked with him yet?"
    "He's dead," Mason said.
    "What?" yelled Bradbury, his voice shrill with excitement. "What's that? You mean to say you found him -"
    "Shut up," barked Perry Mason into the telephone. "Use your head. I told you to sit tight and listen. Don't make a lot of exclamations."
    There was a moment of silence. Then, Bradbury's voice, lower in tone, said, "Yes, Mr. Mason. Go ahead. I couldn't hear you very well."
    "Now get this," Perry Mason said, "and get it straight, and don't make a commotion about it. We located Frank Patton. He's living at the Holliday Apartments and he has apartment 302. Those apartments are out on Maple Avenue. I went out to see him. I wanted to try and get a confession out of him before you entered the