“Tragg doesn’t even know I was anywhere within a mile of Hillgrade Avenue.”
Drake said, “Tragg gets around.”
Mason pushed back his chair. “You’ve been up all night, Paul. It gives you a pessimistic outlook.”
Drake regarded him moodily. He said, “You’re always pulling fast ones, and then expecting me to back your plays without telling me what it’s all about. I’m warning you that if Lieutenant Tragg finds out you were out at Hillgrade Avenue last night, or if he finds out the real reason why you didn’t call me back inside of an hour·, you’re going to have trouble.”
“What is the real reason I didn’t call you back inside of an hour?” Mason asked.
Drake regarded the lawyer thoughtfully. “If it’s what I think it is, I hope I’m not right.”
Mason laughed. “Come on. Out with it.”
Drake held up his left hand with the fingers extended. With the forefinger of his right hand, he checked off the points as he made them. “First,” he said, “you aren’t kidding me a bit. The reason you didn’t call me was because something very important did turn up. Two, that something important was of a nature which would interfere with a telephone call. Three, you didn’t discover anything from that contact which was particularly new. Otherwise, you’d have passed along the information, so I’d have something to work on. Four, it was a contact which knew a lot about the housekeeper, but one you had to keep absolutely dark. Five, it put you in such a spot that you don’t dare to confide even in me. You’re trying to kid me out of it. Now then, what’s the answer to those five points?”
Mason said, “I’ll bite, Mr. Bones. What is the answer to those five points?”
“Opal Sunley,” Drake said.