Once more Mason crooked his elbow so that he could consult his wrist watch. “Thirty seconds,” he said.
The room became uncomfortably silent. At the end of twenty-five seconds, Adelle Hastings stirred and inhaled a quick breath, as though getting ready to speak. Then she clamped her lips again into dogged silence.
Mason got to his feet. “Come, Della,” he said, and held the door open to let her precede him into the corridor. Then he turned to face the motionless form of Adelle Hastings sitting mutely on the chair. “Remember,” he said, “you had your chance.”
He pulled the door shut.
Chapter 12
Mason latchkeyed the door of his private office and said, “Skip out to the reception room, Della. See who’s there, and tell Gertie I’m back but that I don’t want to see anyone.”
Della Street slipped silently through the door. She returned to find Mason lighting a cigarette.
“What’s new, Della?” he asked.
She motioned with her finger on her lips for silence, and tiptoed across to him. In a low voice, she said, “There’s someone in the law library.”
Mason raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Who?”