“Go ahead and worry, then,” Mason told her gravely.
Sarah Breel sighed resignedly and said, “Very well, Ginny, since you feel that way about it, I agree with Mr. Mason. We’ll let you worry.”
Virginia’s eyes sparkled dangerously. “You two act as though you were laughing at me all the time,” she said. “This isn’t any laughing matter. In case you want to know it, Mr. Perry Mason, the general comment around the courtroom has been that you’re laying down on the job.”
There was something of a twinkle in Mason’s eyes. “Don’t let that worry you,” he said. “You see, I’m mentally lazy. I save all of my energy for fighting where it will do the most good. These lawyers who doggedly contest a case every step of the way use up too much energy. They bum themselves out.”
Virginia Trent and the nurse turned Mrs. Breel’s wheel chair around, and Virginia Trent snapped over her shoulder, “Well, you haven’t burnt yourself out. If you ask me, you aren’t even lukewarm.”
Sarah Breel couldn’t turn in the wheel chair so she could see Mason’s face, but she raised her right hand to wave reassuringly. “Don’t mind Ginny,” she called. “I always thought she took life too seriously. After all, I’m the defendant in this case. Come on, Ginny.”
Paul Drake moved forward and whispered to Perry Mason, “Sergeant Holcomb’s detectives have found Mrs. Peabody.”
“You mean Lone Bedford?” Mason asked.
“Yes.”
“What are they doing about it?” Mason asked.