“Well, then,” Mason said, “why not simply come out and say so? Why not announce your engagement?”
“Because,” she said, “people would think it was something Jimmy, Rosalind and I had cooked up to keep Walter from getting anywhere with his case.”
Mason’s eyes narrowed. “So you’ve thought of that, have you?”
“Why,” she said, “it seems to me the logical thing for Walter’s lawyer to claim. So I thought perhaps you could investigate this accident, and if the man in the coupe was in the wrong, fix it so he didn’t sue, and if the driver of the van was responsible, see that they made a prompt settlement so there wouldn’t be any lawsuit. Then it wouldn’t come out that it was Jimmy who was there in the house.”
“How seriously was the man injured?” Mason asked.
“I don’t know. He was unconscious when Jimmy helped load him in the van.”
“Do you know who owned the van?”
“Yes, there was a sign. It’s ‘Trader’s Transfer Company.’ ”
“How about the coupe?”
“It’s still out in front,” she said, “pretty badly smashed. The license number is 6T2993, and the registration certificate wrapped around the steering post shows that it’s registered in the name of Carl Packard, who lives at 1836 Robinson Avenue, Altaville, California.”