The Case of the Lazy Lover by Erle Stanley Gardner

closed the door. It was a typical tourist cabin in the medium-price range. Mason, looking swiftly around the room, kept up a running fire of comment to Paul Drake.
    "Bed has been sat on, but not slept in. Tobacco smoke pretty fresh. Cigarette butts with lipstick on them. Oh, oh, Paul, here's something."
    "What?"
    Mason indicated a couple of glasses, leaned over to smell them.
    "They had some drinks in these glasses," Mason said, "and not very long ago. You can see the ice isn't entirely melted. There's still a spot of ice in the bottom of this glass."
    Drake started to reach for the glass. Mason grabbed his wrist, pulled it away, said, "Don't touch anything right now, Paul, but remember there's a speck of ice in one of these glasses. You can smell the odor of whisky."
    "There's another room here," Drake said in a low voice. "I still think we're going to run into something, Perry."
    Mason opened a door which disclosed a rather dispirited looking kitchen, with a gas stove, a small electric icebox and a cupboard containing a few dishes, virtually the irreducible minimum of flying pan, coffee pot, stewpan, four plates, four cups and saucers.
    The lawyer opened a door, which led to a bathroom. There was also a door at the other end of the bathroom, which was closed.
    "This goes to the other cabin," Drake said. "Perry, I wish you'd keep out of this until after we've…"
    The lawyer knocked gently on the closed door from the bathroom.
    When there was no answer, he opened the door, stepped into the other room and groped for a light.
    "They haven't been in here at all," he said. "This place is cold."
    Drake surveyed the empty room, said, "Well, I guess that's it, Perry."
    Mason gave a quick look around the room, then closed the door. They walked back to the front cabin, switching out lights as they walked.
    Mason said, "Two people. They sat around here for a while, had a couple of drinks, smoked, had the gas wall heater turned on… must have been here for quite a little while, Paul. Look at the number of cigarette stubs."
    "Suppose they got a tip we were coming?" Drake asked.
    Mason shrugged.
    "Of course," Drake pointed out, "they could have gone someplace planning to come back."
    Mason shook his head. "Not a scrap of baggage anywhere. Let's take a look in the icebox."
    Mason returned to the kitchen, opened the door of the icebox, pulled out the tray reserved for ice cubes, said, "Every ice cube taken out, Paul."
    He pressed his finger down on the surface of the water in the ice tray. Its thin coating of ice cracked under the pressure of his finger.
    "I don't get it," Drake said.
    "It means there was more than one highball," Mason explained. "Probably two or three."
    Drake said nervously, "I hate to be prowling around in here, Perry. If we get caught…"
    Mason replaced the tray in the icebox, snapped the door shut, clicked off the lights in the kitchen and said, "I feel the same way, Paul. We're getting out."
    "Then what?"
    "We're going back. You're going to bed. I'm going to drop you in Las Olitas. You can take a taxicab back to the city. I'm going to talk with Patricia. I think I've been on the receiving end of a fast one."

Chapter 10
    The night garage man at the Westwick Hotel Apartments regarded the ten dollar bill which Mason handed him with eager appraisal.
    "Who do you want killed, buddy?" he asked.
    "Know anything about Maurine Milford?"
    The man grinned. "Why?"
    "Just wondering."
    "Not much."
    "Perhaps whatever it is will help."
    "Shucks," the night man said. "I hate to take the money for what little I know, because it isn't worth the ten bucks."
    Nevertheless, he folded Mason's bill and pushed it down deep in his pocket.
    "You can't ever tell," Mason said. "What is it?"
    "The day man told me she slipped him a five buck tip to keep her car shined up and polished. The day man doesn't have anything to do with that stuff. I do the work. The day man offered to split the tip with me, but I told him I thought I could get another