Virginia reached a sudden decision. «Where is the nearest telephone?» she asked.

«Well, one of the neighbors has one and he's real accommodating,» Julian said. «He lives about two miles down the road.»

«I want to make a long distance call,» she said, «and… I guess it's better not to let anyone hear what I'm saying. I'll go on in to Bakersfield and put in the call from a booth there. I'll be back after a while with some big cartons. I'm going to put those papers in the cartons and then we'll keep them someplace where they're safe.»

«Okay,» he said, «I'll give you a hand when it comes to putting them in. Do you think I should stack them up now and-«

«No,» she said, «there's still some semblance of order. A good many of the classifications are still segregated. Somewhere there's a master book which gives the numbers and an index. That is, it was here.

«If you don't mind, I'd like to stop at one of the supermarkets and get some big cartons; then come back and try and put this stuff together again so it makes some sort of sense.»

«Well, now,» he said, «if you want to do it, that's fine with me, but it's a lot of work to go through and it's pretty dusty in here. You're all dressed up neat as a pin and-«

«Don't worry,» she said, «I'm going to get some blue jeans and a blouse in town. If you don't mind, I'll change my clothes when I get back and get to work.»

«Sure thing,» he said, «we'll give you a place to change in the house, and a chance to take a bath when you're finished. This is going to be pretty dusty.»

«I know it is,» she said, laughing, «but us ranchers have to get used to a little dust now and then.»

He grinned at her, thrust out his hand and shook hands.

«You're all right,» he announced.

Virginia returned to her car, drove to Bakersfield and called Perry Mason, just as the lawyer was reaching his office.

«You wanted me to tell you if anything unusual happened,» she said, «and this is unusual enough, but I just can't understand the significance.»

«Go ahead,» Mason said, «tell me what it is.»

«You'll probably laugh and think my imagination is working overtime. There's probably no way on earth it can be connected with anything but-Well, here's what happened.»

She told him about Bannock, the papers, about the man who had called on her, his description and a general but somewhat vague description of the automobile in which he had driven away. «A model about two to four years old, I would guess. I think it was an Oldsmobile,» she said. «The first figure of the license number was a zero. I tried to get it but he drove away very fast.»

«Where was he parked?» Mason asked. «Could you see the parking place from which he drove his car? That might tell us how long he'd been waiting. I presume parking places right in front of your apartment house are hard to find.»

«I'll say they are!» she exclaimed. «But this man didn't have any trouble. He parked right in front of the fireplug.»

«Then he hadn't been there very long,» Mason said. «That means he must have followed you home rather than been there waiting. I would think the police would check that fireplug space rather often.»

«They do! I had a friend who parked just long enough to leave a parcel, yet she got a parking ticket. It wasn't over a minute.»

«You think the first number on the license plate was a zero?» Mason asked.

«Yes, I'm quite certain of that, and I think the last number was a two, but I'm not at all certain of that.»

«You're in Bakersfield now?» Mason asked.

«Yes. I went out to Mr. Bannock's brother's place to check with him and found that someone had been out there; gone through all the files.»

«What do you mean by 'going through them'?» Mason asked.

She described the files.

Mason's voice became crisp with authority.

«Now, this is important, Virginia. You say the files were all cut open?»

«Yes.»

«Every single bundle?»

«Yes.»

«And their contents spread out?»

«Yes.»

«No single bundle was intact?»

«No.»

«You're sure of that?»

«Why, yes. Why is it important, Mr. Mason?»

«Because,» Mason said, «it indicates a strong probability that the person who is searching didn't find what he was looking for.

«In other words, if you're looking for a particular paper and you're in a hurry, you cut open bundle after bundle of papers until you find the one you want; then you shove it in your pocket and get away from there fast. That would leave some bundles that hadn't been cut open.

«But if, on the other hand, all of the bundles are cut open, it's a pretty good indication that the person didn't find what he was looking for.»

«I never thought of that,» she said.

«You're going back to Julian Bannock's?»

«Yes, I'm taking some cardboard cartons and am going back and I'll try to make some semblance of order out of those files.»

«All right,» Mason said, «by the time you get back there, we'll find out something about your man who is interested in the files… Now, tell me, Virginia, what about wills?»

«What do you mean?»

«When Bannock would prepare a will it would usually be executed there in the office?»

«Yes.»

«Who would be the subscribing witnesses?»

«Oh, I see what you mean. He would usually sign as one of the subscribing witnesses and I would sign as the other witness.»

«And you had a classification of various wills? In other words, you had a file number designating wills that you had executed in the office?»

«Oh, yes, I see what you mean now. Files numbered five thousand to six thousand were wills.»

«All right,» Mason said, «when you go back take a look at the five to six thousand 'will' file. See how intact it is. Tie that file up and bring it here just as fast as you can make it.»

«Why that file in particular?» she asked.

Mason said, «Bannock has been dead for a few years. Most of the agreements and things that he had drawn would no longer be important, but if some relative wanted to find out what was in a certain will-«

«I get you,» she interrupted excitedly. «Why didn't I think of that. Of course, that's what it is.»

«Don't jump to conclusions,» Mason warned. «This is just a thought, but I think we'd better take precautions.»

«I'm going right back,» she promised, «and I'll keep that file of wills with me. I'll leave the other papers for a later trip.»

Mason said, «If anything else happens that is in any way out of the ordinary, give me a ring. In the meantime, I'm going to find out something about this visitor of yours.»

Virginia promised to report anything new that happened; hung up the telephone; went to a supermarket, secured two cartons and then returned to Julian Bannock's place.

She found Bannock apprehensive.

«What's the matter?» she asked. «Did something else happen about those files?»

«You hadn't been gone five minutes,» he said, «when a fellow showed up here who fitted the description you had given me of the man you thought was here. He was in his late forties or early fifties, had a mustache and eyes that were so dark you couldn't see any expression in them. It was like looking at a pair of black, polished stones.»

«That was the man all right,» she said. «What did he want?»

«Said his name was Smith, and he asked about my brother's files.»

«What did you do?»

«I told him that we weren't letting people look at those files. He said it was important and I told him that he could sit right here and wait; that my brother's secretary was going to be here in an hour or so and that he could wait for her.»

«What happened?»

«That gave him a jolt-knowing that you were coming here. He said he couldn't wait.»

«Were you able to get his license number?» she asked eagerly.

«No, I wasn't,» Julian said, «because he'd plastered mud all over it. There's a place up here where irrigating water sometimes runs over the road and there was quite a puddle up there that he'd gone through, but it wasn't mud that would cover a license number. I think he'd got out and deliberately plastered mud on the license.»