Virginia Trent said very firmly, “I don’t approve of this in the least. I don’t think Aunt Sarah would want it handled this way.”
“Well, I want it handled this way,” Cullens said, “and after all, I’m the one chiefly concerned. Remember, I’m the one who brought the stones in to your Uncle George in the first place.” He turned to Perry Mason. “If it’s a fair question, Mr. Mason, where do you stand in this?”
“I don’t stand,” Mason told him, grinning. “I’m sitting on the sidelines. It happens that I was present when Mrs. Breel staged what was apparently her first public demonstration of shoplifting. It also happens that it was a most edifying experience.”
Cullens grinned. “It would be. What happened?”
“Well,” Mason said reminiscently, “she carried it off remarkably well. And after that, she and her niece were good enough to join me at lunch. I hardly expected to hear any more of the matter, until Miss Trent came in to consult me. I haven’t, as yet, found out exactly what it is she wants me to do, but I felt you were entitled to an explanation. As nearly as I can tell, you’re getting it.”
Cullens turned to Virginia Trent. There was a flash of dislike in his eyes. “I suppose you wanted to duck out and leave me holding the sack, didn’t you?”
“Most certainly not! ”
He laughed unpleasantly. “And it was Mason who insisted you should see me, wasn’t it?” She said nothing. “What did you want Mason to do?” he asked.
“I wanted him to locate Aunt Sarah for me, and to... well, to figure some way of stalling things along until we could find out where we stand.”
“We can find out where we stand without stalling things along,” Cullens said.