cbr18 bingo Steal
So Perry Mason, well known lawyer, just happens to be paddling a rented canoe, late at night, past the well-fortified retreat of a very wealthy local businessman. And since Della isn’t with him, it’s not a romantic moonlit cruise. Suddenly, a young woman, naked except for a pack attached to her back, swims past him and hops up on the shore. Casually, she pulls out a towel from her pack, dries herself and slips on a slinky evening dress from her pack, and adjusts her makeup. Thus prepared, she nonchalantly enters the wealthy man’s home, where a party is in progress. Before too long, a ruckus breaks out in the house, and the girl dashes out, pursued by a large dog and a number of security goons. Diving back in the water, she is soon being hunted down by men in motorboats with spotlights. Ever the gentleman, Mason helps her escape and picks up a new client, a decision he comes to regret. She is accused of making off with a bag of jewels, but Mason, who watched her climb aboard his canoe in her wet slinky gown, knows that’s a crock. He’s got eyes, doesn’t he?
And so it begins. Dorothy Fenner is the type of client Mason gets all too often. She doesn’t tell him all the facts, doesn’t do what he tells her to, thinking he isn’t going to find out, and very nearly gets Mason in the pokey along with her. He is not pleased.
One of the bits about the evidence bugged me though. There is a newspaper clipping that is critical that ends up in a ladies’ purse. Said purse is found under about six feet of water next to a dock and has been there for several hours. I just can’t imagine it has any value any longer, because wouldn’t it just be a soggy mess of pulp by now? Purses aren’t especially watertight, and Ziploc bags weren’t a thing in 1950. Hmmm.
