“She still wanted to go,” Della Street said; “so then I told her that the minute she walked out of that door, you were finished with her, you wouldn’t protect her in any way; that she was going to have to obey your orders, and stay there, until I could get in touch with you. She wanted to know when I could get in touch with you, and I told her I didn’t know, not until after you got to the office at around nine-thirty; that I could get Paul Drake to give you a message. She wanted me to call your apartment directly, and I told her absolutely nothing doing, because I was afraid the police would be plugged in on your line, and because I thought you didn’t want to know where she was, or have anything to do with her disappearance.
“Well, she thought that over for a while and decided it was reasonable. She said that was all right, she’d wait until nine-thirty, but made me promise, solemnly, that I’d try and get in touch with you then. She undressed and went back to bed, and said she was sorry she’d made such a scene. It took me about half an hour to get composed enough to drop off to sleep again... And I woke up, and she was gone... She’d deliberately planned that business about giving in just so she could double-cross me.”
“She’d taken the key out of your purse?” Mason asked.
“Of course not,” Della Street said. “I had that purse tucked under my pillow slip. She couldn’t have possibly got that key without waking me up. She went down the fire escape. The window was open.”
“You don’t know what time she went?” Mason asked.
“No.”
“What time did you wake up?”
“Not until after eight o’clock,” she said. “I was pretty tired, and I figured we wouldn’t have anything to do except be waiting, so I sort of set my mental alarm clock for around eight o’clock. I woke up and lay there for a while, thinking she was over on the other bed, and being grateful that she’d calmed down. I slipped out quietly from between the covers, so as not to awaken her, and started to tiptoe to the bathroom, and then looked over my shoulder, and saw that her bed looked rather strange. I went over for another look. She’d pulled the old stunt of wadding up some blankets and a pillow, and putting them under the covers, to make it look as though someone was asleep in the bed... Well, Chief, that’s all there is to it.”
Mason held her close to him. “Don’t worry, Della,” he said. “You certainly did all anyone could have done... Where did she go, do you know?”
“I think she was headed back for San Molinas.”