“I have it.”
“Get it.”
“If I do, what do I get?”
Mason said, “Are you holding an auction?”
She said, “Don’t think I’m going to take the rap on this. Alden Leeds has dough. He can see me through. He’s the only one who can.”
“What’s the proposition?” Mason asked.
“I give Alden Leeds the papers if he agrees to stand by me.”
Mason thought for a moment, then said, “Suppose it should appear that Alden Leeds was in that apartment just before you were?”
She thought that over silently, then shook her head, and said, “No.”
“I think he was,” Mason said. “That puts you both on a spot. The natural way for you to get out is to try to pin the murder on him. The natural way for him to get out is to try to pin it on you.”