“That,” Berger said coldly, “is an ingenious attempt to distort the facts, but unfortunately for you, the evidence doesn’t corroborate it.”
Mason said, “All right. I’ll go at it from another angle. How about you, Mrs. Tump? You are the one who employed me to represent the interests of Byrl Gailord. You know when you came to me. When was it?”
“I called on you,” she said, “on Tuesday morning. I guess it was around ten o’clock. But you knew that I was going to call on you and that you were going to represent Byrl.”
“How in Heaven’s name did I know that?” Mason asked. “I’m not a mind reader.”
“You knew it through Robert Peltham,” she said. “You’ve been in touch with Robert Peltham ever since this case started. Do you deny that Robert Peltham called on you and employed you to represent his interests Monday night?”
“What makes you think that happened?” Mason asked.
“He told me…”
“Don’t answer that question,” Berger interrupted. “We’re not here to give Mr. Mason an unlimited opportunity to fish for information and then work out a story which will hold water.”
“What is the purpose of this interview?” Mason asked.
“Simply to give you an outline of the circumstances which make me feel that it’s my duty to have a warrant issued for your arrest on a charge of criminal conspiracy and on a charge of being an accessory after the fact.”