Mason let his face show startled surprise. “Why!.. That’s what I’d like to know.”
The officer said, “We’re in a radio car. A man who lives a block down the street telephoned that he heard a couple of crooks planning on cracking a joint.”
Mason looked at Della Street. “A couple,” he said. “Have you seen any couple, Miss...”
“Miss Garland.”
“Do sit down, Miss Garland. I take it you’re covering the entire block. Perhaps you’ve seen...”
“Not a couple,” she said. “But I did see a rather suspicious-looking woman. I thought she was just coming down off the porch. I was ringing the bell at the adjoining house, where there seems to be no one home, and I noticed her come up on this porch, pause for a moment, then turn around and go back down. There was a little old man walking past at the time, and I saw him looking at her as though he’d known her.”
“Up on this porch?” Mason asked.
“That’s right, but I don’t think she rang the bell. She walked up on the porch, stood there for a moment, then turned around and went back down the stairs and walked rapidly down toward the corner.”
“Which direction?” the officer asked.
“Down toward the cable car tracks,” Della Street said.