Mason said to Della Street, “I think you’d better call Sergeant Holcomb of the Homicide Squad, Della, and tell him we have a witness who knows something about Robert Peltham.”
“You can’t do that,” Adelle Hastings said.
“Why not?”
“It wouldn’t be fair. Mr. Peltham retained you.”
“Not to protect him,” Mason said, “to protect a woman.”
“Who was the woman?”
Mason said, “Mr. Peltham took steps to conceal her identity from me.”
She said, “I know now what you were referring to when you talked with me before — intimating that I had something to give you.”
“Do you indeed?” Mason said, his voice showing only polite interest.
Della Street said, “Do you wish me to put through that call now, Chief?”