“Not right away, I don’t think,” Barkler said.
“Why?”
“You’ll have to ask Alden about that.”
“If I don’t know where he is, I can’t ask him,” Mason said, with a smile.
“That’s right,” Barkler agreed seriously. “You can’t.”
He got to his feet, crossed over to the cuspidor, tapped ashes out of his pipe, and said, “Well, I’ll be getting on. Tell Miss Phyllis I’m checking out for a while.”
“You mean you won’t be back for several days?”
Barkler said, “Uh-huh,” and walked across to the exit door.
Mason said, “Just a minute, Barkler, before you leave. If I’m not going to see Alden Leeds, there are some papers which he’ll have to sign. They’re in the outer office. Wait here a minute, and I’ll get them for you.”
Mason strode quickly to the door leading to the outer office. Barkler said, “Don’t be long,” walked back to the leather chair, and sat down.