“Wait a minute,” Marjory Trenton said as Mason strode toward the telephone. “ I certainly don’t want my picture in the papers.”
Mason hesitated, one hand on the telephone.
“The watch I have was given to me,” Marjory Trenton said, her eyes puckered in thought. “Wait a minute and let me make a telephone call. I think perhaps we can straighten this all out.”
“Whom are you going to call?” Mason asked.
“The man who gave me the wrist watch,” she said.
Mason pushed the telephone away from her and said, “Oh, no, you’re not.”
“Why not? That’s the way to settle this.”
Mason said, “He may be the chap who lifted the wrist watch. Now, you look like a lady. We’re willing to give you all the breaks, but you’re not going to tip off the bird who gave you the wrist watch and give him a chance to skip out. Come on, sister, we’ll go down to headquarters and they can handle it from there.”
“But I’m absolutely, positively certain,” she said, “that a mistake has been made. If this is a stolen wrist watch, the thief sold it to some reputable jewelry store, which sold it to the man who gave it to me. That man has plenty of money. He’s an executive in a big company and would no more steal a wrist watch than...”
“Tell you what we’ll do,” Mason interrupted. “You can ring him up and tell him to come over here right away on a matter of the greatest importance, but don’t tell him what it is, and don’t tell him anyone else is here. Now, is that understood?”