Read The Case of the Singing Skirt for Free Online Page B

that's all."
    "But you appeal to him?"
    "Apparently," she said. And then added, "And to about ninety per cent of the other customers. Otherwise I wouldn't have lasted for the five months I've been there.
    "I'm sorry for Helly. I've given him some sisterly advice. I'd like to talk to her. I-"
    The phone rang.
    Della Street answered it, then cupped her hand over the mouthpiece and said, "It's for you personally, Mr. Mason."
    Mason raised his eyebrows.
    "Want to take it in the law library?"
    "I'll take it here," Mason said. "Who is it?"
    "An attorney," Della Street said.
    Mason, suddenly warned by something in her manner, hesitated. "It is…?"
    She nodded.
    Mason said, "Oh, well, I may as well take it here anyway. Let's find out what it is he wants."
    Mason picked up his own phone, and Della Street threw a switch which connected both phones.
    "Hello," Mason said.
    "Perry Mason?" a man's voice asked.
    "That's right."
    "I'm Darwin C. Gowrie, Mr. Mason."
    "Oh, yes, Mr. Gowrie."
    "I'm calling you on behalf of Mrs. Helman Ellis-that is, it's in relation to a matter you discussed with Mrs. Ellis yesterday."
    "What can I do for you?" Mason asked.
    "That's a most interesting case you gave Mrs. Ellis yesterday," Gowrie said. "I feel rather guilty going before a women's club and stealing your thunder. Wouldn't you like to appear with me and take the credit for having ferreted out this decision?"
    "Not me," Mason said. "If that's all that's worrying you, you have a complete clearance and a free hand. Go ahead and tell them about it. You don't need to mention my name."
    "I've looked up the case," Gowrie said. "It's certainly a very interesting and yet a very logical application of the law. But do you realize what it's going to mean if this case is publicized? It's going to put the gamblers out of business. They just can't afford to buck a situation like that."
    Mason said, "I spread it on a little thick for the benefit of George Anclitas. Actually, it's an appellate decision. The State Supreme Court or the United States Supreme Court may not go that far."
    "I understand," Gowrie said, "but right now that decision is on the law books in California. The gamblers are going to have quite a time over that. What do you suppose would be the effect if some married man went to Las Vegas and got in a really big game where he lost perhaps eighty or a hundred or a hundred and fifty thousand dollars of community property?"
    Mason said rather impatiently, "I don't know. You can cross that bridge when you come to it. As a matter of fact, Gowrie, I have a file of a lot of unusual decisions, feeling that the time may come when I can use them. But I don't go out of my way looking for an opportunity to use them.
    "Take, for instance, the case of a person shooting another person, inflicting a mortal wound, but before the wound actually proves fatal, while the victim is lying there mortally wounded, another person comes along and fires a second shot into the victim, and the victim dies as the result of that second shot-who's guilty of the murder?"
    Gowrie thought for a minute, then said, "Both of them."
    "That's wrong," Mason said. "There are quite a few well-reasoned decisions that hold to the contrary. There's a case in Arkansas-the case of Dempsey versus State, where one man stabbed a victim in the heart. Another man inflicted a fatal blow on the head. The last one was held to be guilty of the homicide."
    "What!" Gowrie exclaimed incredulously.
    "That's right," Mason said. "In fact, in California we have an early case holding somewhat the same thing."
    Gowrie became very much excited. "Look, Mason, I don't want to poach on your private preserves-but now that you've given me the clue, I could pick up the citations at the law library. Would you mind giving me the citations, if you have them?"
    Mason nodded to Della Street, said, "Just a minute, Gowrie."
    Della Street opened a small card file, ran through the cards, picked out a card, handed it to Mason.
    "Here