“Well,” Drake said, “I’d hate to see you go to jail as soon as you get off the ship.”
Mason said, “We’re fighting a combination that stacks the cards against us, Paul. Newberry, who was murdered on that ship, is really Carl Moar. His stepdaughter is in love with the son of a millionaire. And in addition to that, she’s a dam nice kid. The newspapers will be on the street with her picture this afternoon. By night, the district attorney will know that her stepfather was C. Waker Moar instead of Carl Newberry. When Rooney finds that out, he’s going to cover up his bookkeeping mistakes by heaping disgrace on a dead man. And if there’s been any juggling of funds in order to avoid income tax they’ll push a lot more dirty linen in Moar’s coffin. I’m going to beat them to the punch.”
Della Street smiled across at the detective. “It’s no use, Paul, unless that chartered airplane falls down and goes boom, Margie Trenton is going to have a disagreeable afternoon.”
Drake groaned and said, “And to think that fifteen minutes ago I was actually glad to see you.”
Chapter 8
Drake slid his car to a stop, regarded the imposing facade of the apartment house and said, “This is the place — 3618 Pinerow Drive.”
“It costs something to keep up these apartments, ” Mason observed. “What have you found out about her past, Paul?”
“Not a darn thing,” Drake said. “She passes for twenty-five, is probably around thirty, wears her clothes well and has plenty of clothes to wear. Somewhere she had some sort of a past, but so far we can’t find it. She popped up here as Marjory Trenton.”
“Jewelry?”
“Quite a bit.”