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

smart. I won a beauty contest. I thought I was going to be a Hollywood actress. I had a darned good husband and I guess I just took him too much for granted. When he started getting restless and playing around, I played the jealous wife to perfection. I nagged him and made his home life a hell. I drove him right into her arms. I told you that before."
    "And then?" Mason asked.
    "Then," she said, "I just didn't seem to care. I went out and tried to get away from everything and everybody I knew. I found that good stenographic jobs were rather difficult to get. I got a job as hat-check girl in The Green Swan. We.only got to keep a very small percentage of our tips there, and George had his eye on me. He found out I liked to sing and he offered me a good job with a salary and a chance to keep all my tips- Look, Mr. Mason, your time is valuable. If I tried to tell you about all of my career, you'd have to charge me more than I could afford to pay."
    "Have you ever had any trouble with the law?"
    "Never."
    Mason turned to Della Street, said, "If you'll excuse us, Miss Robb, I have to make a rather confidential phone call at this time." Mason walked around his desk, opened the door to the law library and nodded to Della Street.
    She joined him and Mason pulled the door shut.
    "Well?" Della asked.
    "I don't like it," Mason said. "I have a feeling that I've been suckered into a trap."
    "By Ellen Robb?" she asked.
    "By George Anclitas," Mason said, "and I don't like it."
    "What do you think happened?"
    "George resented me when I first appeared on the scene Monday morning. He realized, however, that I had him in a position where he was hooked, and struggling or resentment wouldn't do him any good, so he capitalized on my weakness."
    "Your weakness?" Della Street asked.
    "Exactly," Mason said. "I should have been a hardboiled lawyer. I should have made a settlement on behalf of my client, charged her thirty-three and a third per cent of it and had proper releases signed. In place of that, I left it to her to make her own terms with George so she wouldn't have to pay me any fee, and I walked out.
    "That's where George saw a heaven-sent opportunity. He started playing up to Miss Robb. He ate a little crow and told her he was sorry. He got her to stay on. All the time he was planning to jockey her into a position where she'd be in trouble, and if I tried to help her I'd be in trouble."
    "The gun?" she asked.
    "I think in due time he's going to charge her with stealing the gun. He may even plant some dope in her baggage."
    "When do you think George will spring this trap of his?" Della asked.
    "When I have filed an action on behalf of Ellen Robb."
    "You intend to do that?"
    "Sure I intend to do that. I have to, to protect her interests and to save my own face. The point is, Della, that I started something that is destined to raise the devil with the gambling interests. They aren't going to like that. They're going to try to smear me in some way, and Ellen Robb is their point of contact.
    "You can see from the way she tells her story that they laid plans very carefully and then George punched her in the eye."
    "She slapped his face," Della pointed out.
    "He egged her on," Mason said.
    The lawyer was thoughtful for a few minutes, then he said, "Della, we've got quite a collection of guns in the safe, guns that have been surrendered by clients from time to time. Do you suppose we have a Smith & Wesson in thereone of the police models with a two-and-ahalf-inch barrel?"
    "Yes, I'm certain we do."
    "Get the gun and bring it in here," Mason said.
    Della Street went to the safe and after some two minutes returned with the gun.
    The lawyer extracted one of the cartridges, pried the bullet out, shook out the powder, put the empty cartridge shell back in the revolver and, going over to the coat closet, exploded the percussion cap with the hammer. He replaced the other cartridges, put the revolver in his left coat pocket and returned to the office.
    "I'm