Read The Case of the Counterfeit Eye for Free Online Page B

The lips of a sensitive, well-formed mouth were clamped into a firm line. Mason extended his hand easily.
    "Basset," he said, "I'm glad to know you."
    Basset hesitated a moment, regarded Mason's outstretched hand, shifted something from his right hand to his left, and stepped forward.
    A small object dropped to the floor. He grabbed Mason's hand, shook it, and said, "Are you representing Mother?"
    Mason nodded.
    "She's been through hell," the boy said. "I've kept out of it long enough. Tonight I…"
    He stopped as he saw Perry Mason's eyes come to rest on the thing which had dropped to the carpet.
    "Cartridge?" Mason asked.
    The boy stooped to recover it, but Mason was first. He picked up a.38 cartridge and stared at it speculatively as he held it in his outstretched hand.
    "Why the munitions?" he asked.
    "That's my business," Basset said.

    Mason reached out, grabbed the boy's left hand, pushed the fingers open before young Basset could define his intentions, disclosed several more.38 caliber shells. One cartridge was empty.
    "Where's the gun?" he asked.
    "Don't try any of that stuff!" Basset flared. "You can't…"
    Perry Mason grabbed the young man's shoulder, jerked him forward, spun him around, and, at the same time, slipped an exploring right hand beneath the back of the coat.
    Dick Basset tried to struggle, braced himself, and jerked free, but not before Perry Mason had pulled the.38 caliber revolver from the right hip pocket.
    Mason broke the gun open. The cylinder was unloaded. He smelled of the muzzle.
    "Smells as though it had been fired," he said.
    Dick Basset stared at him in white-faced silence. Mrs. Basset jumped forward, wrapped her hands around the gun.
    "Oh, please,', she said to Perry Mason. "I wondered where that was. Please give it to me."
    Mason kept his hold on the gun.
    "What's the idea?" he asked.
    "I want it."
    "Whose is it?"
    "I don't know."
    Mason looked at young Basset and said, "Where did you get it?"
    Basset remained silent.
    Mason shook his head at Mrs. Basset and gently disengaged her hands.
    "I think," he said, "it will be safer with me for a while. Now, what's happened?"
    She released her hold on the gun reluctantly, and said to the boy, "You show him, Dick."
    Dick Basset pulled aside a Japanese screen, disclosing a corner of the room which had been concealed from the lawyer's gaze.
    A broad-hipped woman with faded red hair was bending over someone who lay on a dilapidated couch. She didn't look up as the screen was moved, but said over her shoulder, "I think she's going to be all right in a few minutes. Is this the doctor?"
    The lawyer walked to one side so that he could look past the red-headed woman, to see the figure which lay on the couch.
    She was a brunette in the middle twenties, attired in a dark suit. The blouse had been opened at the neck to disclose the white curve of a throat and breast. Wet towels lay on the couch near her head. A bottle of smelling salts and a small bottle of brandy were nestled in among the wet towels. The red-headed woman was chafing the girl's wrists.
    "Who is she?" asked Perry Mason.
    Mrs. Basset said slowly, "My daughter-in-law – Dick's wife. But no one knows it yet. She's going under her maiden name."
    Dick Basset swung around as though about to say something, but remained silent.
    Perry Mason indicated a bruise on the side of the young woman's head.
    "What happened?"
    "My husband struck her."
    "Why?"
    "I don't know why."
    "What with?"
    "I don't know. He struck her and then ran out of the house."
    "Where did he go?"
    "His car was in front. He jumped in it and drove away, going like mad."
    "Was the chauffeur with him?"
    "No, he was alone in the car."
    "Did you see him?"
    "Yes."
    "Where were you?"
    "I saw him from a window in the upper story."
    "You know it was his car?"
    "Yes. It was his Packard."
    "Did he have any bags with him?"
    "No, no bags."
    The young woman on the couch stirred and moaned.
    "She's coming to," the red-headed woman said.
    Perry Mason