“Shove it under the door,” Mason said, “and I’ll push a dollar bill back. I’m Mason.”
A moment later, a blue envelope slid under the door. Mason slid a dollar bill through the crack.
“Okay,” Mason said. “I’ll let you know if there’s an answer.”
He ripped open the telegram envelope and read a message sent by Della Street:
OUR OFFICE TELEPHONE LINE AND MY APARTMENT LINE HAVE BEEN TAPPED STOP YOUR CONVERSATION WITH MILTON STIVE OVERHEARD DISTRICT ATTORNEY SERVED SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM DEMANDING ALL PAPERS STOP MY CONVERSATION WITH YOU ABOUT GOING SEATTLE PLANE RESERVATIONS AND LOCATION OF ALDEN LEEDS ALSO APPARENTLY OVERHEARD DELLA STREET
Mason folded the message, and pushed it down into his coat pocket. He turned back to face the two in the room.
“All right,” he said quietly, “we’re going to have company. You two do exactly as I say. Miss Milicant, here’s a key to a room in the hotel. You’re registered in that room as Mrs. George L. Manchester. Go to that room. Lock yourself in. Stay there until after the police think you’ve slipped through their fingers, and have quit watching the place. Then get out, keep under cover, and write me at my office where you are and what name you’re using.
“Leeds, I could help you escape. I don’t think it’s wise. When you’re arrested, waive extradition, but don’t be in a hurry to do it. Tell the police that you’re in love with Emily Milicant, that you hope she does you the honor of marrying you, that you had no idea the man you knew as John Milicant was going under the name of Louie Conway until yesterday afternoon. Admit that you called on him, claim that you don’t know what time it was; that you had a business matter to discuss; that you left him alive and well; that you won’t discuss anything else until after you’ve talked with Emily. Don’t tell the police what you were talking about, what the check was for, or how you found out Conway and Milicant were one and the same.
“Now then, after you left the sanitarium, you wrote out another twenty thousand dollar check also payable to Conway, but endorsed so as to make it payable to bearer. The description of the woman who cashed that check makes me think it was Emily Milicant. How about it?”
They exchanged glances. “It was I,” Emily admitted.