Chapter 6 Chapter Six

In the evening, the phone on Della's desk rang routinely, and Della picked up the receiver and said, "What's the matter, Gertie." In an instant, her jaw drooped, her eyes opened wide and she said, "Why—— Just a second on the line, Gertie." Della turned to Mason and said, "There is a man who claims to be Christ Ghidon waiting outside the office." "Things are unpredictable," Mason said. "We must admit that Mr. Keaton is a very clever man, and at any rate, Della, call him in." "But Boss, he—God, he must know..." "what do you know?"

"Know everything." Mason said: "If he entrusted 47,000 yuan to Luo Na for safekeeping, of course he would know her whereabouts. If he didn't entrust the money to her, but still regarded her as a loyal employee, he would most likely Still keeping an eye on her latest situation, which complicates things." "But how can you tell?" Della asked. "When he appeared here..." "Since he's here," Mason said. "Which means he's got a bigger stake, and he's coming to show us. I'm getting more and more interested in Christ Keaton, please let him in, Della, and tell Gertie to call Paul. Tell him to set up a stalker to catch Gidon the moment he steps out of my office."

Della said to the microphone: "I'll be right out, Gertie." After hanging up the phone, Della disappeared outside the door.After a while, she brought in a man who was nearly forty years old, in good shape, well-dressed and smiling. "This is Mr. Mason." Gidon did not extend his hand for a handshake. "Hello, Mr. Mason," he said. "I don't know how much you know about me, but I'm sure you know a lot. May I sit down?" "What makes you think I know about you?" Mason asked. "An inference made from the facts." "Can you tell me on what facts?"

"I'm sorry I can't tell you." Gidon said, moved his body towards the back of the chair and sat down, and quickly scanned around the office with his sharp eyes trained by the environment. "Mr. Mason," he said quietly. "You know I'm a liar." "Indeed." Mason said. Gidon added: "It was the government that branded me a liar, and my good jury agreed with the government." "And then?" Mason asked. "For me to serve time in federal prison with minimal vacation time." Mason shook his head in a gesture of so-called sympathy.

"In the course of my business, I fought what the government called 'justice' when there was a beautiful woman named Margaret Neely working for me." "As far as I know, she is not involved in the case." Mason said. Gidon laughed: "The government originally planned to convict her, but the evidence was inconclusive. The jury acquitted her, but convicted me. The government may have charged us both out of malice, because they felt that the jury Where the evidence is weak, one will be acquitted and the other convicted for the comfort of one's own conscience."

"You don't seem to be bothered about this matter," Mason said. "I certainly don't look like I care," Gidon said. "That doesn't do me any good, and I've learned many lessons in the past few years, Mr. Mason. One of them is never do anything that won't do you any good." "Indeed." Mason said. "Among many things, I learned that the world is still dominated by the principle of the survival of the fittest under the cloak of civilization. In the battlefield of survival, the ruthless and cold-blooded people have an absolute advantage in survival than those who act according to the golden rule .”

"I see," Mason said. "But you haven't let me know the purpose of your coming here." "It's useful to read a lot of newspapers," Gidon said. "Especially the society pages. I noticed an article in the evening papers about Horace Warren, an established and successful businessman, throwing an informal social gathering, attended by Impeli. Couldn't be more excited to have Mason and his beautiful secretary, Miss Della Streeter." Gidon bowed to Della in passing. "The papers also mention it," continued Gitton. "I think this news may have been missed by you: this famous lawyer is usually busy with legal affairs and has little time to attend social gatherings, so he is even more flattered by guests."

"Indeed," Mason said. "I didn't see the message." "That's a very interesting piece of news," Gidon said. "First, considering the fact that Margaret Neely is the current Mrs. Warren, and considering that you rarely attend social gatherings, but you attended this dinner with your secretary, you can know that there must be some formality in your attendance. Furthermore, from a more personal point of view, I speculate that your attendance at the party may have something to do with my release from prison. If Mrs. Warren wants to ask you, she can come to your office to find you. Mr. Lun wanted to talk to you, and he was supposed to call you. But you showed up at the Warrens as a guest, which obviously means they paid you to come and spy."

"In our business," Mason said. "I have often observed that inferences from presuppositions are extremely prone to fallacies and almost always lead to wrong conclusions." "Of course!" exclaimed Gidon. "You know, I've been betrayed by mistakes like this before, so I avoid making the same mistakes. Anyway, let's get back to business, Mr. Mason." "How to proceed?" Mason asked. "The authorities are desperate to find out what happened to Margaret Neely. They seem to think I have the answers. Of course, all my correspondence has been closely checked over the past few years and I am not afraid to write to anyone, nor am I Mind if someone writes to me. But I've buried some information in my head so that the inquisitive government officials can't dig up a little bit of information. Can you believe it? Mr. Mason, not long before my arrest, the government authorities hinted that I Forty-seven thousand dollars in cash has been stashed somewhere so that they can get it when I get out of prison. They also speculate that the other defendant, Margaret Neely, may have been instructed to hold all or half of the cash for me. With your socioeconomic status and easy life, I don't think you can imagine how disrespectful and arrogant the government investigators are."

"I never noticed it," Mason said. “You may not be able to appreciate that investigators from government authorities are using different tactics on you than they are on someone convicted of mail fraud, of course.” "Is it fraud?" Mason asked. "That was just one of the counts, they charged five counts and acquitted three of them so they could appear impartial and then convicted me of two counts. Fraud constituted my main charge because the authorities I want to drag my secretary into the water, so as to slander her reputation in public. Fortunately, she can disappear without a trace afterwards."

"She must be very smart to be able to do that," Mason said. "She's very smart." "Or she has a very bright friend," Mason said bluntly. "Maybe," Gidon agreed. "Do you mind if I smoke?" "It doesn't matter." Gidon declined the cigarettes that Mason handed over with gestures, took out a slender cigar from his pocket, lit it, sat back on his back, and returned Mason with a gentle smile.The aroma shows that the cigar is a high-end product. "Think with your legal mind," Gidon said. "You know, no doubt, what I am here for." "I'd rather you tell me," Mason said. "Isn't that too explicit?" "Miss Della and I have often had that happen." "I know, but it's not artistic enough to be explicit." "At least so far, the way you've used it has been quite artistic," Mason said. "So we can even out each other." Gidon sighed: "Okay, now that I've gotten to the point of the matter, I'll say it. As you know, the authorities did everything they could to keep me in prison and not release me until the last moment." Mason looked at the man in front of him silently. "After I was convicted, the authorities told me that if I paid 47,000 yuan, the sentence could be reduced. After I was sentenced, they said that if I paid 47,000 yuan, it would increase my chances of bail. " "Did you accept none of these conditions?" Mason asked. "Never accepted." "why?" "Because," Gidon said. "I have no idea of ​​the whereabouts of the 47,000 yuan. Even if I wanted to pay, I couldn't." "Now that you're free," Mason said. "I don't think the government is interested in asking about the money anymore?" "Are you kidding?" Gidon asked. "After I was released, the operatives of the authorities still pestered me, hoping to follow my footprints to find the money, and then pounced on me and let out a triumphant laugh. In fact, they would say to me: 'Gee! Don, you can't beat the law. You thought that after serving a long time in prison, you can come out and enjoy the 47,000 yuan. Now, the money is in our hands, but you have served your sentence, hahaha!' Of course, They will also let all the prisoners in prison know the news, exaggerate the fact that the law cannot be confronted, and treat me as a gloating object of ridicule." "So, they're following you," Mason asked. "Oh yes." "Did they follow you here?" "certainly." "I see." Mason said with a frown. "I deduce that you have grasped the point," Gidon laughed. "Mr. Mason, I've tried to explain it to you as skillfully as possible, though I've started it too blatantly. When the government deals with villains, they think they're imbeciles. So they're often naive when they send people on the trail. . Take my example, where they blatantly placed a stalker to haunt my path." "Blazing stalking?" Mason asked. "It is certain that with your rich criminal law literacy, you must understand the function of clear tracking." Giton said. "Blind stalking is what it sounds like, it makes the stalker invisible. If you ask your secretary to open the door in the aisle, I bet the stalker is standing in the corner of the aisle. He will show an embarrassed expression when the door is suddenly opened, and then he will walk along the aisle to look at the name and number plate on the door, pretending to be looking for someone." "Is this what you call a blind stalker?" Mason asked. "yes." "I think it will be difficult for the government to achieve any results with such rough methods." "The government expects a lot," Gidon said. "Although blind tracking is very obvious, it is very clumsy. It is extremely easy for a smart person to get rid of their surveillance. Usually, they can get rid of their tracking by running through a traffic light." Gidon stopped talking, looked at Mason through the curling smoke of the cigar, and looked at the lawyer thoughtfully with half-opened eyes. After a while, he went on talking again. "Of course, this is where the untraceable stalkers come into play. They're behind the scenes, and I can't see them, at least in theory. After getting rid of the blind stalkers, I feel confident and start looking for a hotel. , check in under a fake name, stay up until midnight, and move on to another hotel or rental apartment until I'm sure the authorities are clueless. At that point, I'll go get the 47,000 stash .At least the government thinks so." "And they got you?" "Yes, they jumped on me. That invisible stalker was watching me all the time." "Can't you get rid of them?" Mason asked. "Well, that can be done," Gidon said. "There's always a cure, it's just that it's not an easy job, and it usually takes time, and a certain amount of money. Quite frankly, Mr. Mason, I have plenty of time but no money." "That's right." Mason said. "I think you can improve on that." "In what way?" "I think Mr. Warren should be willing to contribute some money to help me resettle myself." "You suppose Mr. Warren is my client?" "I suppose he's a friend of yours, or you wouldn't have been at his house last night. Of course, I suppose there must be something special about your presence at that little party. I get the feeling that you were in formal contact with one of them, but In the present precarious circumstances, I see no reason why it would be worth my while to ponder this. But the point is that Mr. Warren, in order to prevent his wife's past history from being your advice." "You're threatening to..." Giton raised his hand and said, "No, no, Mr. Mason, please don't say that." "Then, I must have misunderstood you." Mason said. "Of course you are mistaken. Mr. Mason, I want to emphasize that every action I take will be reported to the government authorities. My presence here this afternoon must have aroused a lot of speculation. For example, why did I come here? Between you and me Is there any possible connection between them? My communications have been censored for many years, but I have never had contact with you, nor have we ever exchanged letters. Therefore, the authorities will assume that you may represent the person who holds 47,000 Yuan, and I came here just to negotiate this deal." "I see." Mason said. "So, the authorities will start an investigation of your clients, especially the people who have approached you in the past few days, or who you have contacted, or who you will contact after I am gone. You will be amazed at the As for the efficiency of government authorities, they can quickly infer from the facts as I do. Undoubtedly, they should have read or will soon read the society page of the evening paper." "So what?" Mason asked. "They're going to be surprised that you're going out of your way to go to a purely social gathering. They're going to run background checks on the guests, and sooner or later they'll get to the hostess. That's unfortunate, Mr. Mason." Lawyers remain silent. "And now," Gidon said. "Assuming Mr. Warren is willing to help me with my finances, I have enough money to deal with and get rid of the stalker, and then disappear completely and fend for myself." "Otherwise?" Mason asked. "Otherwise," Ghidon said, "I'd be in financial trouble. When they sent me to jail, they left me penniless, and when they released me, all I had left was the original 'entrance fee.' That's all." Mason looked at this person's clothes and cigars and said, "You seem to have managed to do well in a very short period of time." Giton smiled and said, "Let's put it this way, I have a wide range of goods, and I'm very smart." "So you came to see me?" "Yes, that's why I came to you." Giton said. "What if your request is not accepted?" "Then I will take the trouble to come to you," Gidon said. "An extra visit would add to the authorities' suspicions. If you had contacted Mr. or Mrs. Warren after my visit, it would have sparked an investigation by the authorities, which would have been detrimental to your client's well-being. Disaster is coming." "This is a very interesting way to blackmail." Mason said. "Mr. Mason, please don't, please don't use words like that! This is not blackmail. I have a lot of respect for Mr. Warren, and I like his wife very much. I really want them to be happy. I am trying to make them permanent by this arrangement." Happy. Certainly, if I remain financially distressed, sooner or later I will betray my heart. At that time, the clues that show up may be identified by the authorities as Lorna Warren. No specific charges, but they'll call her in for questioning. It won't be long before it turns out that Mrs. Warren is Margaret Neely, who was charged with mail fraud and then released on bail. Mr. Mason, for sure , you don't want that to happen, and with Mr. Warren's current socioeconomic status, you don't want it to happen. I don't want any consideration of money for me to keep silent, which would be tantamount to Blackmailed. All I wanted to do was disappear, and to get out of the shadows of the authorities, I needed money to buy a car." "Why a car?" Mason asked. "Because of the car, I can escape my stalkers and disappear invisibly." "But," Mason said. "The authorities must be able to track the car as well." "Oh, of course, it's the easiest thing in the world, especially in today's electronic tracking devices. Just put a tracker on my car, and the police can use the device to beep. Follow me with a car. They don't have to get close to me, they just keep three or four blocks away from me and they have no trouble keeping an eye on me." "Then you'd better explain why you want a car," Mason said. "I'm going to do it my way. They cheat me, and I'll do it back. In other words, they want me to be overconfident, and I'm going to make them overconfident. Mr. Mason, if As you can see, I can't afford a new car, so I can only buy it on a loan. Having a car gives me an advantage, and my past experience tells me that whoever gets the first chance wins. Of course, the authorities will Pointing to my car payment for some clues, so the best denominations I use for payments are some old five, ten and one dollar bills, so that it looks like I'm forcing someone to take out of his deposit." "Go on, please," Mason said. "Then I took the car so that the authorities would think I had no knowledge of the shadowy stalker, and I just shrugged off the blind stalker. Like I said, it wasn't a difficult thing to do." "Go ahead, please," Mason said. "Then the stalkers would think I didn't know anything about the stalking, and they would be smug and take it easy. They might deploy as many as five vehicles, and even send helicopter crews with binoculars." "To keep an eye on you." Gidon grinned and said, "Of course." "They're very clever," Gidon said. "And they have all the trump cards. I'll do a lot of elusive moves to convince the cops that I've got rid of a blind stalker. Then I'll find a restaurant and park the car outside. While I'm eating Sometimes, government operatives would try to put an electronic tracker on my car so they could follow me two or three blocks away." "So how do you handle this situation?" Mason asked. Giton smiled and said: "You have to let me keep some cards in my hand, right? Mr. Mason, I will deal with it. At that time, government agents will never see me again. When they are complacent about winning, I Hit them by escaping." "Are you sure you can do it?" Mason asked. "I am sure." "The government has some highly trained cadres," Mason said. Gidon's solemnity is moving. "In other words," Mason said. "After you get the money, I will never see you again?" "good." "Suppose you don't get the money?" "I will keep in touch with you every day, hauntingly." "After this interview, you should recognize the fact that I will not be meeting with you again," Mason said. "I'll let you sit on the bench outside the office until you get tired of it." "No," Gidon said, puffing on the cigar and taking it off to watch the burning butt. "I rather think you would like to see me, Mr. Mason, and you'd better be advised to see me." "What are you meeting for?" "Give me the money." "How much?" Giton made a very exaggerated gesture and said: "Of course you want me to handle things well. You don't want to see me fall into the hands of the authorities, and you also have to confirm that I will not come back to you, because the authorities found that I dumped you. After you get rid of the stalkers, they'll set up another stake near your office." "And they might think I paid you for that car." "It's possible." "And they might question me." "Hey, I know you're thinking of that," Gidon said. "They will definitely question you. When they wake up from the fact that they have been lied to, they will be very angry and ask only you. They may speculate that this deception strategy was your idea, and they will see you as a Accomplices of felony criminals, treat you very harshly. I guess your reaction is just to sit back and smile enigmatically and say to them, if they think you have committed any wrongdoing, go ahead and sue, otherwise Just get out of your office and stop bothering you." "This whole thing is really entertaining," Mason said. "But it just occurred to me, Gidon, that I don't know anyone who would pay you that." "You know, the Warrens." "I haven't gotten to know them well enough that I can go to them directly and suggest that they pay the extortion money..." Gidon raised his hand again and said, "Mr. Mason, please don't use that word. It has a bad connotation, and it bothers me. That's too explicit." "And what do you think you've done?" Mason asked. "I'm just showing you the cards in my hand." "You are extorting money for your silence." "No, I'm not. I'm just suggesting to you, maybe you will be willing to mediate for me to communicate, and they will also be happy to see that I have money to move to another place." "If you don't get the money, you keep making threats." "No, no! It's not a threat," Gidon said. "Mr. Mason, after all, I haven't threatened you yet." "You said just now that you will always come back to me." "I always start and finish things," Gidon said. "Besides, there's nothing in the law that prohibits me from visiting your office at will, it's a public place, and I'm assuming you'll advise your clients or friends to hand over some money so I don't hang around, or the group will instruct You give me enough money to get me out of here. Well, I shouldn't take too long of your time, Mr. Mason, you're a busy man." Gidon stood up. "Stop trying to put pressure on me, Gidon," Mason said. "I've dealt with too many blackmailers in this business. Just make me feel you're blackmailing, and I'll fuck you." "What are you going to do?" Gidon stood at the door and asked with a malicious smile. "We have all kinds of ways to deal with blackmailers," Mason said. "I believe so," Gidon said. "At the same time, I don't want you to put me in that category. Anyway, out of my curiosity, I'd love to know how you deal with blackmailers." "I have three options," Mason said. "real?" "First," Mason raised his right index finger. "Spend money to eliminate disasters." "Very sensible," Gidon said. "Second," Mason held up another finger. "Report the case to the police, the police will strictly keep the secret, and I will catch the blackmailer on the spot, and he will be imprisoned." "It would be nice if it worked," Gidon said. "Then what is the third method?" Mason's eyes met Giton's, and he raised his third finger and said, "The third way is to kill this scumbag." Gidon stepped back and said, "You can't go to the police. It's hard for me to think of you as a murderer, Mr. Mason." "Guess again," Mason said. "You just said it yourself that all the good things in the world are enjoyed by the most ruthless." "Okay," Gidon said. "Since I am not a blackmailer, our discussions will be limited to academic conversations. I will keep in touch with you frequently, Mr. Mason. I am sure you will be very interested in my future resettlement." He Bend down and bow deeply. "Thank you for meeting me, Mr. Mason." Then he turned to Della and bowed, "Thank you, Miss Streeter." His eyes and tone of voice seemed to express gratitude. Then he opened the door and walked down the aisle without looking back. Della looked at Mason in frustration and said, "Why did you mention killing him?" "I want him to think about it," Mason said. "Shall I go to Mr. Warren?" she asked. "God, don't do it," Mason said. "You remember Warren telling us that all the calls go through the switchboard? So it's not easy to find him. Don't let anyone know about our conversation." "You mean you're not going to let him know anything of the conversation?" "Good," Mason said. "He paid me to handle it, so I will."