Mason said, “It will take me fifteen or twenty minutes to get there.”
“That’s all right, only remember to do just as I told you.”
Mason said, “That’s all very well, Mrs. Perlin, but I certainly can’t go chasing around at night simply on the strength of a telephone conversation with a woman who says she has something confidential to tell me.”
“You understand who this is talking, don’t you?”
“Mr. Hocksley’s housekeeper?”
“Yes. I’m going to tell you the truth. I want someone in whom I can confide.”
Mason, trying to draw her out, said, “That’s all rather vague, Mrs. Perlin.”
She hesitated, then said slowly, “I shot him. I had a right to shoot him. I destroyed the body so it can never be found. And then I wondered if that was the wise thing to do. That made it look as though I were a criminal. That’s what I have to ask you about, whether I shouldn’t tell the whole truth. I was absolutely justified in what I did. No jury would ever convict me — not ever. Now, do you want to see me, or do I have to call some other lawyer?”
“I want to see you,” Mason said. “You’re at that address on Hillgrade Avenue?”
“I’ll meet you there — if you play fair. Otherwise you’ll never see me. Be sure you do just as I told you. Don’t come in as soon as you get there — and when you do come, come in through the back door. I have to do it that way so I can be certain you’re playing fair with me. You probably think I’m hard to get along with, but you’ll understand after I tell you the circumstances.”