The first woman wouldn’t even give her name. But the clear, feminine voice faltered considerably over the question of what Perry Mason’s charges would be for a day in court - a day doing nothing but listening.

The second woman gave a good deal more - but the question was, what did she expect to get? Dorla Balfour, lethally lovely and dangerously rich, forced a $1,000 retainer on Mason to deal with a case already tried and decided.

The offense involved appeared to be manslaughter, hit-and-run, but it soon became murder … with the corpse killed twice.