Della Street reached for the dictionary. “Well,” she said, “I’ll put it in code. Only I do wish you wouldn’t do it, Chief.”
Mason said, “Here. Give me the dictionary. I’ll help you... ‘Lawyer.’ That’s in column a on page 569, the seventh word.”
Della Street spelled out the code word. “GHKAI.”
Mason turned through the pages again, said, “Isn’t it nice I have a name that’s listed in the dictionary?”
“You might wish it on Paul Drake,” she said. “We could use ‘Detective Drake’ just as well as ‘Lawyer Mason.’ ”
“No,” Mason said with a grin. “Paul isn’t feeling too friendly right now. He might object to being selected as the victim of a hold-up. At that, it’s a tempting thought. Detective Drake has an alliteration which is lacking in Lawyer Mason.”
“Shall we use it?” Della Street asked eagerly.
“No, absolutely not. Get thee behind me, Satan. Let’s get back to our knitting. Here’s Mason on the a part of page 615, the sixth word from the top.”
Della Street said, “Six-fifteen-A-six. That’ll be HCGAH. What’s next?”
Mason said, “I’ll look up ‘has.’ Let’s see. That’s the second word in column b on page 455.”