Drake said, “Following your tip-off, Della had me check on the tenants above the sixth floor in that apartment house. We drew blanks until we looked up the occupant of 881. She’s Inez Colton — has a secretarial job in a hardware store. She’s been seen two or three times with a young man who drove a red convertible. Jason Carrel has a red convertible. Descriptions on the cars check absolutely. What’s more, Inez Colton took a powder right after the murder. We can’t locate her anywhere. She simply walked out and disappeared. She told a friend she was going on a week-end trip.”
Mason said, “Jason Carrel, eh? It sounds as though we’ve struck pay dirt, Paul.”
“Struck it,” Drake said, “but can’t do anything with it. We’ve got men covering Jason Carrel. He may lead us to her, but I think he’s too wise.
“The officers slapped a subpoena duces tecum on your handwriting expert. That meant either that Della had been shadowed when she went to him, or that the telephone line was tapped. I did a little investigating and found out your telephone line to the office and hers at her apartment were tapped.”
“How about this waitress at the Home Kitchen Café?” Mason asked.
“I don’t think there’s anything to that,” Drake said. “She left before the murder was committed. Evidently, it’s just a coincidence.”
“What time did she leave?”
“Around nine o’clock. Someone saw her leaving her room. She was carrying two heavy suitcases. I tried to cover taxicabs, but can’t find anything as yet. Her room rent was paid up. She had wages coming. Oscar Baker is the waiter at the Blue and White Restaurant who took the dinner up. He’s positive on the time element. He doesn’t know Hazel Stickland, the waitress at the Home Kitchen Café — says he doesn’t, and I’m inclined to believe him, but I’m checking back on him. He’s just a punk kid who’s drifted around, flunky in a lumber camp, waiter, dishwasher — plays what money he can get on the horses — a colorless chap who’s never found himself because there isn’t anything to find. I’ve planted an operative who’s become friendly with him, posing as a waiter out of a job. Baker says he’ll try and get him on at the Blue and White as soon as there’s a vacancy.”
Mason said, “You can’t tell about kids these days, Paul. A lot of the most puzzling crimes and the most vicious crimes are committed by persons under twenty-five.”
“I know,” Drake said, “and, of course, there’s a possible motivation. John Milicant was quite a ladies’ man. He played the races. Hazel played the races, and Oscar Baker played them. But that doesn’t mean anything. A lot of people play the ponies these days.