“How did you ever locate her?” Mason asked.
“Simple,” Drake said. “Like all other good gags, it’s been used before, but it’s one of the things people seldom think of. I figured she’d try to change her appearance. Walking out on her job that way indicated it. I managed to find out who her favorite hairdresser was, and an operative, posing as a friend and doing a lot of talking, got the information out of the hairdresser — at least that much information.Women hate to have strange hairdressers do a dye job.”
Mason pushed his hands down deep into his pockets. “I wish we had a little more on her before we make the contact,” he said.
Drake said, “I can help on that too, Perry. You can prove that Jason Carrel is her boy friend all right.”
Mason’s eyes lit up. “That smug liar,” he said. “He had the crust to get on the witness stand and swear absolutely that there had never been any conversation among the relatives about what it would mean to them financially if they could keep Alden Leeds from marrying or making a will. He adopted the position that he was radiating sweetness and light. He just wanted to help his poor, dear uncle, and that was all he thought about.”
“What did he say about Inez Colton?” Drake asked.
“Swore he didn’t know her.”
Drake grinned and produced a photostatic copy of a traffic ticket.
“All right,” he said. “Let him try this on his piano. Here’s a traffic ticket showing a violation of the parking law — car parked between the hours of two A.M. and four A.M. The license number is that of Jason Carrel’s automobile, and after the citation was issued, a cute little trick showed up at the traffic department and paid the fine. Her name was Inez Colton. She wanted a receipt showing that the fine had been paid in cash. That’s rather unusual. The bail clerk made a notation on the traffic ticket. When I had him look it up, he found the receipt stub showing payment by this Colton baby.”
“This was the night of the murder?” Mason asked, excitedly.