Chapter 2 Chapter two

The next morning, Paul Derek's slender frame eased into Mason's office and sat in the large, bulging, leather-upholstered chair, his favorite seat.He smiled at Mason. "Pelli, why are you suddenly interested in Karaku wool?" "I don't know, maybe I'm going to buy a wool coat. Paul, what have you found?" “The Karaku Wool Company is like a rabbit in a magician’s hat — it’s not there, it’s elusive,” Derek said. “And it’s bought a lot of land around Skinner Hill.” "What is it for?" "Raising Karakul sheep." "Why the area of ​​Skinner Hill?" asked Mason.

"A couple of articulate, glib real estate brokers said that the place just got enough sunlight, just the right amount of rainfall, and the mineral content of the soil was highly usable." "Who's the boss behind these glib salesmen?" Mason asked. "A guy named Fred Milfy seems to be the main character, and he lives at 2291 Cenarion Avenue--that's a flat. He's married, his wife is Delphine Milfy, they're all from the Las Vegas, Nevada area." "Any other salesmen?" Mason asked. "A man named Harry Van Nuys, thirty-five years old, slender, thin-waisted, fair-skinned, dark-eyed, rather disrespectful and arrogant, also from Las Vegas, Nevada, now living in Cologne Room 618, Ni Hotel. So far, my people have not been able to find him."

"And what about Milfie?" "We haven't had direct contact with him yet, only some side knowledge: this man is about forty-five years old, seems to be quite conceited, with a big belly, blond hair, and big blue eyes that seem to be a little protruding, making him seem to have a confession , Sincere personalities. They looked and browsed around the Skinner Hill area, as if they were in a hurry." "Are they looking to buy, or lease?" "Acquisition and contract." "Paul, why do you say the company is like a rabbit in a magician's hat?"

"Because you can't smell who the mysterious figure behind it is, it's a person that no one has seen, and no one knows." "how do you know?" "It is observed from all kinds of subtle little things." "That's who I'm looking for," Mason said. "It's probably going to be hard to find him, that's all I can tell you. Milfy negotiated a business that needed a lot of cash, and he and the other party went to a bank in Bakersfield. Milfy took a bag out of his pocket. A blank check, filled with the amount he wanted, and stuffed in the window. There was a little argument between the two of them, and the business couldn't be settled for a while, when the cashier went to the manager's office to talk to him in secret, and that time was almost enough for a phone call. Went to Los Angeles. Milfy signed the check in a very weird vertical lettering, and the guy waiting to get the money couldn't make out what his name was, but he said it was Burbank, and this Does the last name mean anything to you?"

"Not at all," Mason said. "But Burbank may well be the man I'm looking for." "Pelli, what kind of contact do you want to make with him?" "To be clear, I'm going to sell his eighty acres of sheep land for about a hundred thousand dollars." "Why would you do that?" Derek asked. "Paul, did you 'smell' anything when you were investigating this?" "What do you mean by that?" Mason sniffed the air and said, "I can smell it." "Smell what?" "oil." Derek whistled. "What are they currently paying for the land?" Mason asked.

"Anyway, it's much less than what they should have paid. Paley, it's Saturday noon, and I've only been investigating this matter for more than 24 hours; even if I put all the people I can dispatch into the investigation, I It can't be easy, because I'm so tired that I must try to regain my mental and physical strength immediately. Judging from the current situation, you really can't..." "I know," Mason said sympathetically. "I myself seem to be in a race against time. Once they do a good job of making up the land, they won't be so humble and complacent. While they're making it up, anyone who can go in and prophesy Whoever comes up with the results can write his own subpoena; I'm going to write my own subpoena--on behalf of a woman named Adlai Kimmon who is lying in a San Francisco hospital with a broken leg , and feel that I am alone and penniless."

"Well," Derek said. "You can find Milfy or Van Nuys..." "I don't want them," Mason said. "I'm looking for the person behind the whole thing, this mysterious man who entered the office at ten o'clock yesterday morning and found a man named Bickler who had copied the license plate number of one of his trucks, and he was distraught. I called his lawyer and told him to settle with Bickler as soon as possible at any cost. I just want to negotiate with this mysterious person." "Can't you get any clues from the truck's license plate number?" Derek asked.

Mason smiled and said, "Not likely. They could have returned the notebook and pencil to Bickler, yes, but it was a loose-leaf notebook and one of the pages was missing, so we can't prove anything. It's just one of many doubts." It's just one item... well, they're moving very fast, and I have to act fast myself." Derek said, "Well! That's all I know so far, Paley. My people are still investigating this, but the only indicators we have right now are Milfy and Van Nuys , and we couldn't find any of them at all." Mason looked at his watch, tapped his finger on the corner of the desk, and asked, "Are they paying for the sheep farm now?"

"Based on the record, that's exactly what they're paying," Derek said. "But those cunning guys who are hiding have obviously got a very considerable amount of cash, but you can't tell it from all the collected information, and you can't prove it, you can only guess. It doesn't matter, Paley, give me For a while, Monday afternoon I'll give you the full results of my investigation, and then..." "Monday afternoon is probably too late," Mason said. "I'm going to see Delphine Milfield now. Have your men found out anything about her?"

"Nothing to gain," Derek said. "All that is known is that she is Fred Milfield's wife and lives in the apartment house on Sennarion Avenue." Mason nodded to Della, and then said: "Wait for half an hour first, this trip may fail, but it is always a chance anyway."