“All right,” Mason said, “let’s have it.”
“Jason Carrel, one of the relatives, has put Uncle Alden in a sanitarium and won’t tell me where it is.”
“How did that happen?” Mason asked.
“He called early this morning to take Uncle Alden for an automobile ride. When they didn’t come back within an hour, I got worried. Uncle Alden doesn’t like long rides, and I don’t think he likes to ride with Jason anyway. I went around to Jason’s house. Sure enough, his car was in the garage. I asked him where Uncle Alden was, and he said that Uncle Alden had been taken very sick while they were riding and that he’d rushed him to a sanitarium and called a doctor, that the doctor had insisted upon absolute rest and quiet for at least two days. He said he was just coming to tell me about it when I arrived.”
Mason said, “All right, I’ll fix that in short order. Now listen, this is more important than it sounds. Does your uncle love to gamble?”
“Why, no, not particularly.”
“Does he ever shoot craps for large stakes?”
“Why, no... well, wait a minute. He was in a little game a few days ago — oh, maybe a week ago.”
“With whom was he playing?”
“John Milicant.”