Mason upset his chair, jumped to his feet and made for the door.
Inez Colton screamed.
Mason jerked the door open, said to the figure which was sprinting down the corridor, “Come back here, Harold, and face the music. Running away isn’t going to do you any good.” Harold Leeds paused uncertainly, turned a wan, frightened face toward Perry Mason. “The house is watched, you fool,” Mason said. “Come back here and face the music.”
A door in one of the apartments opened. A fat, blonde woman with startled eyes stared wordlessly from Mason to Harold Leeds.
“Come back,” Mason said. “Don’t leave Inez to face the music alone.”
Harold Leeds turned and walked slowly back toward Mason.
“Come on,” Mason said. “Hurry up. Don’t act so much like a dog coming to take a licking. You’ve played a man’s game. Now face the results like a man.”
Harold Leeds glanced appealingly at the blonde woman in the doorway who was regarding them with startled, curious eyes. It was as though he hoped someone would come to his rescue, that he might wake up and find it was all a horrible nightmare.
As Leeds came closer, Mason took his arm, escorted him to the door of Inez Colton’s apartment. Drake was sitting very much as Mason had left him. Inez Colton was in the chair, sobbing quietly. Della Street had changed her position slightly so that her raised knee partially concealed the shorthand notebook.
Drake said conversationally, “Figured you could handle the situation out there, Perry. Thought I’d better keep an eye on the one here.”