«Well, something like that.»

Mason regarded her steadily. «Is that the way you want to feel?»

«I… I just wanted to gouge her eyes out. I wanted to hurt her in every way I could.»

Mason shook his head. «There's no percentage in that, Virginia. Ring him up and tell him that you've decided to let him have a divorce, that you'll file the divorce action-there's nothing in your religion against it, is there?»

«No.»

«No children?»

«No.»

Mason spread his hands in a little gesture. «There you are,» he said. «You have a future, too, you know.» 

«I… I-» 

«Meaning you've met someone in whom you're interested?» Mason asked.

«I… I have met lots of people and, for the most part, I have been plenty sour on men.»

«But lately you've met one who seems to be different?»

She laughed nervously. «Must you cross-examine me now?» she asked.

Mason said, «Whenever you've made a mistake in life, the best thing to do is to wipe the slate clean and put that mistake behind you.

«However, what I wanted to talk to you about was the fact that someone is trying to put you in a position where you'll be discredited.

«I don't know who it is, but it's some person who has a certain amount of ingenuity and, apparently, some underworld connections.

«That person has struck once. You've avoided the trap, but other traps can be set and that person can strike again. I don't like it and if there's any possibility it's your husband, I'd like to eliminate him from the picture.

«There is, of course, the woman with whom your husband was in love and with whom, I presume, he is now living.

«Do you know her? Do you know anything about her background?»

«Not a thing. I know her name and that's just about all. My husband was very careful that I didn't learn too much about her.»

«All right,» Mason said, «here's my suggestion. File for a divorce on the ground of desertion or cruelty. Leave her name out of it, get it over with and get your freedom; and if there is anything out of the ordinary that happens within the next few days, anything suspicious, any anonymous telephone calls, anything that seems strange, call me immediately.»

Mason patted her shoulder and said, «You're free now.»

«But what do I do about your fee, Mr. Mason?»

Mason said, «Send me a check for a hundred dollars when you get around to it and find it convenient, but don't worry about it.»

There had been a dearth of news the night before and as a result the story about «weighing» the evidence had been given considerable prominence.

Virginia Baxter read the papers with a growing sense of relief. The reporters had sensed that she had been framed and had done their best to see that her vindication was featured as top news.

The newspaper photographers, thoroughgoing professionals, had done an excellent job with their cameras, while Judge Albert, leaning over the scales, had placed a steadying and paternal hand on Virginia's shoulder.

It has been truthfully said that one picture tells more than ten thousand words, and in this case, the jurist's attitude left no doubt of his faith in Virginia Baxter's innocence.

The headlines in one of the newspapers read, FORMER LEGAL SECRETARY VINDICATED IN DOPE CASE.

One article made much of the fact that she had formerly been employed in a law office. While that office had in reality done little trial work, specializing in estate matters, the reporter had taken poetic license and had written that while Virginia Baxter had been working on criminal cases which Delano Bannock was defending, it probably had never occurred to her in even her wildest dreams that the time would come when she herself would stand before the bar of justice accused of a serious crime.

It was from an article in another evening paper that Virginia received a shock.

The reporter had done some background investigation and the article stated that Colton Baxter, estranged husband of Virginia Baxter, was, by coincidence, an employee of the very airline which had checked the suitcase to its destination. He was not immediately available for comment.

Virginia read that twice, then impulsively reached for the telephone and called Mason's office. Suddenly, realizing the hour, she was about to hang up when, 'to her surprise, she heard Della Street's voice on the line.

«Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize how late it was. This is Virginia Baxter. I read something in the paper that startled me and… I never thought about it being so long after five.»

«Do you want to talk with Mr. Mason?» Della Street asked. «Just a minute and I'll connect you. I think he wants to talk with you, too.»

A moment later, Mason's voice said, «Hello, Virginia. I suppose you've read the papers and learned that your husband was located by one of the reporters.»

«Yes, yes, Mr. Mason. That makes it just as clear as day. Don't you see what happened? Colton planted that stuff in my suitcase and then tipped off the newspapers. If I had been convicted, he could then have had perfect grounds for divorce. He'd claim that I had been a dope fiend all the time we were married; that I had been dealing in dope and that he had left me because of that.»

«So,» Mason said, «what do you want to do?»

«I want to have him arrested.»

«You can't arrest him without proof,» Mason said. «All you have so far is surmise.»

«How much would it cost to get proof?»

«You'd have to employ a private detective and he'd charge you probably a minimum of fifty dollars a day and expenses, and then the chances are he'd be unable to get anything except more grounds for surmise.»

«I have a little money. I'd… I'd spend it in order to catch him-«

«Not through me, you wouldn't,» Mason interrupted. «As a client of mine I wouldn't let you spend that amount of money for that purpose. Even if you got some evidence it would only leave you exactly where you are now, with good grounds for divorce.

«Why don't you just wash your hands of that man; get rid of him, dissolve the marriage and begin all over again.

«If you had religious reasons for not getting a divorce, I would probably handle it in another way, but you're going to get a divorce sooner or later and-«

«I don't want to give him that satisfaction.»

«Why?»

«That's what he's wanted all along, a divorce.»

Mason said, «You're not doing yourself a particle of good. All you're doing is some real or fancied harm to your husband. For all you know you may be playing into his hands right now.»

«What do you mean?»

«He's playing around with this other woman,» Mason said. «He keeps telling her that if he could ever get a divorce he'd marry her, but you won't give him a divorce. The woman knows all this is true.

«But suppose you give him a divorce, then he's in a position where he is not only free to marry this woman, but he has to do it to make good on his promises. He may not really want to marry her.

«It may be that your husband is in exactly the position he wants to be in.»

«I had never thought of it that way,» she said, slowly, but then added quickly, «Then why did he plant the dope in my suitcase?»

«If he did, it was probably because he wanted to have you thoroughly discredited,» Mason said. «Yours was one of those marriages that has been dissolved in hatred. You'd better quit looking back over your shoulder, turn around and face the future.»

«Well, I-I'll sleep on it and let you know in the morning.»

«Do that,» Mason said.

«I'm sorry I disturbed you at this hour.»

«Not at all. We were working on some briefs here in the office, and after I read that statement in the paper, I thought you might be calling, so I told Della to plug in an outside line.