Mrs. Newberry gripped his hand in thanks. After a moment she said, “I’ll go now. It’ll be better if I’m not seen with you too frequently. If you’re not going to have any contact with Carl... Well, I wouldn’t want Belle to suspect that I was consulting you professionally.”
Mason said, “It’ll probably take my office two or three days to get anything definite. In the meantime, you sit tight and don’t worry.”
He left her, to circle the deck. Celinda Dail, clad in a sun suit which showed her long, sun-browned limbs to advantage, was playing ping-pong with Roy Hungerford.
Chapter 3
The ship was scheduled to arrive in San Francisco late Sunday night, docking early Monday morning. On Saturday, Mason received a wireless from his office lawyer which read:
C. DENTON ROONEY HEAD AUDITOR OF PRODUCTS REFINING COMPANY IN CHARGE OF LOS ANGELES OFFICE HAS AGREED TO CABLE PRESIDENT NOW IN HONOLULU. ROONEY TEN DEGREES COLDER THAN FREEZING. OUTLOOK DISTINCTLY UNFAVORABLE. WILL KEEP YOU POSTED.
“Isn’t that rather an unusual attitude, Chief?” Della Street asked, when Mason had finished reading the message.
“I’ll say it is,” Mason said. “It’s the first time I ever knew a corporation to snub twenty thousand dollars.”
“But still. Chief, there’s the question of ethics. Perhaps they don’t want to establish a precedent—”
Mason laughed. “Don’t worry, Della. They usually hook the embezzler in the long run. But when he offers to make restitution they unhesitatingly make glittering promises. Even the police do it. Let them arrest an embezzler who has a few thousand dollars cached away and they’ll promise him probation, or a light sentence, or a chance to escape, or even that the charges will be dropped, if he’ll only show that he’s properly repentant by disclosing the hiding place of the money. Then, after they once get their hands on the money, they sing a different tune. It seems that the officer the crook was talking with had no authority to make the promises, or the judge refuses to cooperate, or something of that sort.”