The Case of the Horrified Heirs by Erle Stanley Gardner

picked up the envelope, started for the door.
    "How are you fixed for provisions in your apartment?" Mason asked.
    "Why, I… I have butter, bread, canned goods and some meat…"
    "Enough to last you for twenty-four hours if necessary?"
    "Yes, indeed!"
    Mason said, "Mail that letter, go back to your apartment, stay there, keep the safety chain on the door. Don't admit anyone. If anyone calls to see you, tell him that you're entertaining a visitor and can't be disturbed. Then get his name and telephone me."
    "Why?" she asked. "Do you think I'm in.. in any danger?"
    "I don't know," Mason said. "All I know is that there's a possibility. Someone tried to frame you and discredit you. I don't want that to happen again."
    "Neither do I," she said vehemently.
    "All right," Mason told her, "on your way to the post office. Then go back to your apartment and stay there."
    When she had left, Della Street looked at Mason with raised eyebrows. "Why should she be in any danger?"
    Mason said, "Figure it out for yourself. A will is made. There are two subscribing witnesses. One of them is dead. An attempt was made to put the other in a position where her testimony would have been discredited. Now, a new plan is in operation."
    "But those spurious wills; they can't mean anything."
    "How do you know?" Mason asked. "Suppose two more people die, then what happens?"
    "What two people?" she asked.
    "Lauretta Trent and Virginia Baxter. Perhaps a fire destroys the home of Lauretta Trent. Presumably the will has been destroyed in the conflagration.
    "People look for the carbon copies of the wills prepared by Bannock to establish the contents of the burnt will. They find two wills. The effect of those wills is to indicate that Lauretta Trent was suspicious of her relatives and the people who surrounded her.
    "Now then, Delano Bannock is dead. Suppose Virginia Baxter should also die."
    Della Street blinked her eyes rapidly. "Good heavens… are you going to notify the police?"
    "Not yet," Mason said, "but probably within a matter of hours. However, there are a lot of factors involved, and an attorney can't go around making accusations of this sort unless he has something more definite on which to base them."
    "But it won't take much more?" Della Street asked.
    "It will take very little more," Mason said.

CHAPTER TWELVE
    It was just before Mason was closing the office that Dr. Alton telephoned.
    "Is it all right if I come up for just a few minutes?" Dr. Alton asked. "I've had a terrific work load this afternoon with an office full of patients and I'm just this minute getting free."
    "I'll wait," Mason said.
    "I'll be there within ten minutes," Dr. Alton promised.
    Mason hung up the phone, turned to Della Street, "Any particular plans for this evening, Della? Can you wait with me for Dr. Alton?"
    "I'll be glad to," she said.
    "After that," Mason told her, "we can go out for dinner."
    "Now, those words are music to a secretary's ears," she told him, "but may I remind you, you don't as yet have any retainer in this case which would cover expenses."
    "We're casting bread on the waters," Mason said, "and don't let the matter of expense cramp your style. Just don't look at the right side of the menu."
    "My figure," she sighed.
    "Perfect," Mason said.
    She smiled. "I'll go out in the outer office and wait for Dr. Alton."
    "Bring him right in, as soon as he comes," Mason told her.
    Della Street went to the outer office and a few minutes later returned, opening the door and saying, "Dr. Ferris Alton."
    Dr. Alton came bustling forward, radiating intense nervous energy.
    He grasped Mason's hand, said, "I'm very pleased indeed to meet you, Mr. Mason. I have to discuss this case with you, personally, which is the reason I'm bothering you.
    "Incidentally, I have here two sterile phials containing the material you wanted, some clippings from the fingernails and some hair that has been pulled out by the roots.
    "Now, I can either have this processed or you