“But,” Hamilton Burger said, “you can’t detect anything in the appearance of the gun, People’s Exhibit G, which was in any way different from the gun that the man you refer to as Felting Grimes handed you at that time?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Very well. Then what happened?”

  “My instructions were that I was to stop the person driving the car, that no matter what expedient I had to use I was to get in the car with her and drive with her for a ways until she made a phone call.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “Mr. Grimes said that he would drive down the road and park where he could keep out of sight. Then he looked down the road and couldn’t seem to find a place. I suggested that it might be possible for him to drive just inside of the George Belding Baxter estate, turn his car around and be in a position where he could emerge from the estate as soon as Miss Elston had driven by.”

  “And what did Mr. Grimes do?”

  “He accepted my suggestion, drove into the Baxter estate and waited just inside the gates.”

  “And what happened after that?”

  “Within a matter of minutes I saw headlights coming down the street. I stepped out into the highway and waved my arms and held the beam of my flashlight on the windshield.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “The car was driven by the defendant. She came to a stop, but the windows were up and the doors were locked. She rolled down the right-hand window a matter of about three inches, but she wouldn’t lower it any more, or unlock the car door.”

  “So what did you do?”

  “I walked to the side of the car. She put the window down about an inch so she could hear my voice and asked me what I wanted. So I flashed a badge and told her I was an officer working on a very important case; that I had tire trouble, and my spare was flat so I couldn’t put it on the wheel in that condition; that I didn’t have a jack, that it was necessary for me to go to the nearest service station in order to get assistance, that I wished to ride with her.”

  “And what happened?”

  “She hesitated, so I then told her that she had nothing to fear, that not only was I an officer, but that I would give her my gun, that she could hold it in her lap and that in the event I made any attempt to molest her in any way she could use the gun.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “She fell for that approach. I had turned on all the charm I could and I think she rather liked it. She opened the door, I got in the car, put the gun on her lap.”

  “And what happened after that?”

  “She seemed glad to have me for company. When she drove to this first little town, Vista del Mesa, I looked the service stations over. I saw one that had a phone booth and I asked her to stop there. I said I wanted to get the attendant to go back to fix my tire.”

  “And she stopped?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I went to the attendant and asked him where the rest rooms were, then I circled the station and slipped up behind the phone booth before she even got out of the car.”

  “Then what did you do?”

  “I crouched down at the back of the booth. I watched her dial a number I have since learned was that of the Drake Detective Agency, and ask for Perry Mason. I then watched her hang up and dial another number which I have since learned was that of the Hollywood Brown Derby. Again she asked for Perry Mason.”

  “Was there a conversation?”

  “There was.”

  “Did you hear her words?”

  “Very distinctly.”

  “What did you hear her say?”

  “I heard her say Felting Grimes was a heel and that someone should kill him. She was silent while the party at the other end of the line said something, and then she said she really meant it, that if someone killed him it would be good riddance.”

  “Anything else?”

  “She made an appointment over the phone with this person with whom she was talking for a ten-thirty appointment the next morning.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “My client had been following us. He had parked his car on a side street. I saw that she was getting ready to hang up and leave the phone booth, so I backed away from it, sprinted over to my client’s car, and I was there by the time she came out of the phone booth.”

  “You told him of the conversation?”

  “All of it.”

  “What effect did that have on him?”

  “It disturbed him greatly. He told me to get in his car. He drove me back to the Baxter estate where I’d left my car. He said the fat was in the fire.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “My client told me that there was nothing further for me to do, that my assignment was finished for the evening, that he would call me the next day if he needed me any more. He asked me to return the gun, and I explained I’d left it in the car with Miss Elston, and that annoyed him. He berated me for that, and I told him it was his fault, that I’d have had the gun back and probably could have had a date with the subject if he hadn’t ordered me to get in his car and driven me off.”

  “And what did he say?”

  “He said the woman wasn’t kidding in what she’d said over the phone, that she’d kill him, and that now she had a gun—”

  “Move to strike this out as hearsay,” Mason said.

  “It shows the state of mind of the deceased,” Hamilton Burger said.

  The judge nodded. “I’m going to let it stay in. I think it’s all inseparably linked together anyway. It’s res gestae.”

  “And then what did you do?” Burger asked the witness.

  “I closed the lid of the trunk on my car, turned on the ignition and the headlights, and drove off.”

  “And where was your client at that time?”

  “He was standing out in the rain by his car.”

  “And where was his car?”

  “By the gates of the George Belding Baxter estate.”

  “And were those gates open or closed?”

  “At that time the gates were open.”

  “Do you know what time it was?”

  “I do.”

  “What time was it?”

  “Ten minutes before ten o’clock.”

  “How do you know the time?”

  “I looked at my watch and made a note of it because I was signing off for the day.”

  “Now, when you left the defendant at the service station, you left her in possession of that gun which your client had given you?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I will ask you one more question,” Hamilton Burger said. “At the time your client gave you the gun, did you make any examination of it?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What did you do? What was the examination?”

  “I asked Mr. Grimes if the gun was loaded. He said it certainly was.

  However, as is my custom with firearms, I swung open the cylinder and looked at it.”

  “You mean you looked at the cylinder?”

  “Yes.”

  “At the cartridges in the cylinder?”

  “Yes.”

  “What can you say, with reference to the gun being loaded?”

  “There were six fully loaded thirty-eight-caliber cartridges in the cylinder.”

  “Not one of the cartridges in the gun had been discharged at that time?”

  “Not at that time, no.”

  “You’re positive?”

  “Yes.”

  Hamilton Burger turned to Perry Mason. “Go ahead and cross-examine,” he said, and the way he made the statement, it was more of a challenge than an invitation.

  Mason got to his feet, studied the witness thoughtfully for a moment.

  “The gun, People’s Exhibit G, is a rather popular make, is it not, particularly with peace officers and detectives?”

  “It is. It is particularly popular with plain-clothes operators, chiefs of police and persons of that sort who need to have a weapon handy at all times but don’t care about having one that is as heavy or as conspicuous as the weapon carried by a uniformed officer.”

  Mason walked over to the exhibit table, picked up the gun which was People’s Exhibit G, walked over to the witness. “Now,” he said, “is there any way by which you can identify this gun or differentiate it from any other gun of the same make, except for the fact that People’s Exhibit G has a tag attached to the trigger guard identifying it as an exhibit in this case?”

  The witness studied the gun as Mason held it out for his inspection.

  “No,” he said.

  Mason returned Exhibit G to the clerk’s desk, walked back to confront the witness. “You can’t swear on your oath that this gun, People’s Exhibit G, is the gun you gave to the defendant?”

  “No, sir, I can’t swear to it. All I can swear is that it is a gun that is similar in appearance.”

  “You were hired to worm your way into the confidence of the defendant?”

  “To find out whom she called on the phone, and what her plans were.”

  “And you turned on all your charm when you talked with her?”

  “I wanted to get her to take me into her confidence.”

  “So you could betray that confidence?”

  “So I could report to my client.”

  “And you were prepared to make love to the defendant, to lie to her, or to do anything else that might be necessary to accomplish your purpose?”

  “I had a job to do. In my line of work we can’t always choose the means by which we can do a job.”

  “Answer the question, you were prepared to make love to the defendant?”

  “Yes.”

  “To lie to her?”

  “Yes.”

  “You feel that your job requires you to lie from time to time?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you are willing to lie for money?”

  “Not for money.”

  “What, then?”

  “To get the information I have to get.”

  “And that’s the way you make your living?”

  “I have a profession.”

  “You make money from it?”

  “A living, yes.”

  “Answer the question, you make money from it?”

  “Yes.”

  “And lie in order to make that money?”

  “Oh, all right, if you want to put it that way.” Mason said, “That’s all.”

  “That concludes the People’s case,” Hamilton Burger said. “It now becomes very apparent what happened, Your Honor. The decedent was alive and well at the time this witness left him at ten minutes to ten. Thereafter the defendant had possession of the murder weapon. We know that Gillett’s death must have occurred before ten o’clock, because the gates of the George Belding Baxter estate were closed and locked at that time. We know that the defendant had the murder weapon in her possession the next morning. We know that she was at home at the hou;e on Mandala Drive, where she lived, all night, because Nell Arlington, known to the defendant as Nell Grimes, the wife of Felting Grimes, would have known if the defendant had gone out during the night. The next morning, when she showed the gun to the witness, Nell Arlington, there was an empty shell under the hammer.

  “This is, therefore, one of the most perfect cases of circumstantial evidence we have ever had in our office. The circumstances speak louder than words and more emphatically than any words or any denial. The defendant found out the decedent had been following her. She must have followed him back to the Baxter estate. The minute the witness Jasper drove away, this defendant followed Gillett into the grounds, murdered him, and drove out of the grounds—all before ten o’clock when the gates were closed and locked.

  “Those gates were kept closed and locked all night. The murder took place on the night of the tenth. There was only one ten-minute period when it could have taken place, and the defendant had the murder weapon in her possession during that time.

  “These facts can’t be questioned or explained away. They are physical facts which shout the guilt of this defendant.”

  “Are you attempting to argue the case at this time?” Mason asked.

  “Call it argument if you want to,” Hamilton Burger said. “I was simply summing up the testimony for the benefit of the Court.”

  “Well, let’s keep the procedure in an orderly pattern,” Judge Laporte said. “You have rested your case, Mr. District Attorney. Does the defense have any evidence?

  “After all, at this time the Court is only concerned in finding out whether a crime has actually been committed, and there’s no question about that, and finding out whether there are reasonable grounds to connect the defendant with the crime. There seems to be no question that the evidence certainly does this.”

  Hamilton Burger, grinning triumphantly, sat down, leaving Mason to argue with the judge.

  “If the Court please,” Mason said, his manner showing he was thinking fast and trying to orient himself with the new developments in the case, “the Court has stated a correct rule of law. If the district attorney had never put this last witness on the stand, he would certainly have been entitled to an order binding the defendant over for trial, but the district attorney took one step too far. He has now introduced evidence which conclusively establishes the innocence of the defendant. He can’t now ask to have the defendant bound over, despite the fact that up to this last point there was evidence tending to connect the defendant with the commission of the crime.”

  “Is it counsel’s contention that the last witness conclusively proves the defendant innocent?” Burger demanded incredulously.

  “It is,” Mason said.

  “Proceed with your argument,” Burger said with exaggerated politeness. “I would like very, very much indeed to hear how counsel can justify such a preposterous position at this time.”

  “The answer is quite simple,” Mason said. “It now appears that the last witness, Carl Freeman Jasper, had the murder weapon in his possession, that he was the last person to see the decedent alive, that while he has told a story which endeavors to explain away those facts, the situation remains that this witness had the murder weapon in his possession, was with the decedent a few minutes before the time of the decedent’s death.

  “Under the evidence, the finger of suspicion points more damningly to this last witness than it does to the defendant. He admits that the gun was in his possession. He admits that he was the last person to see the decedent alive. And the Court will notice particularly that all of the time that the district attorney had him on the stand, all of the time the district attorney was asking him questions about that gun, the district attorney never once dared to ask him the simple question, quote, Did you kill the man you knew as Felting Grimes or did you have anything to do with his death, unquote. The district attorney didn’t dare to ask him that question.” Mason sat down.

  Hamilton Burger, his face flaming, jumped to his feet. “Why, Your Honor,” he shouted, “that’s the most preposterous argument I have ever heard in my life! That is … why, that is sheer poppycock. At this time the prosecution asks leave to reopen the case, to put the witness once more on the stand and ask him that question which counsel has said we didn’t dare to ask him. We’ll show counsel what we dare to do!”

  Mason smiled. “The defense has no objection, Your Honor. Let the prosecution reopen the case.”

  Hamilton Burger turned to face the courtroom. “Carl Jasper,” he shouted, “resume the witness stand, please.”

  Jasper came forward.

  “Did you kill Felting Grimes?”

  “No.”

  “That’s all,” Hamilton Burger said. “You may leave the stand.”

  “Just a minute,” Mason said, “I would like to cross-examine the witness. Mr. Jasper, when did Mr. Grimes first employ you?”

  “Objected to,” Hamilton Burger said, “as being already asked and answered.”

  Judge Laporte said, “I think that’s correct, Mr. Mason. I think the evidence shows that he was employed on the ninth.”

  “This question,” Mason said, “is when Mr. Grimes first employed Mr. Jasper.”

  “And the question has been asked and answered,” Hamilton Burger said, raising his voice.

  “I think that’s correct,” Judge Laporte said.

  Mason, who had been studying the witness’ face, said, “Very well, I’ll reframe the question. Had you been employed by Mr. Grimes prior to the ninth day of this month?”

  “Objected to,” Hamilton Burger said. “Incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial, not proper cross-examination and not proper recross-examination. My question on redirect examination was limited to the question of whether or not he had been guilty of a murder.”

  “And my question on recross-examination,” Mason said, “is for the purpose of showing bias on the part of the witness or interest in the outcome of this case.”

  “I’m going to permit that last question,” Judge Laporte said.

  “If the Court please,” Hamilton Burger said, “I don’t like to continue to argue with the Court, but it would certainly seem that this is going far afield, that it is not proper cross-examination and, in particular, is not proper recross-examination at this time.”

  “I think counsel is entitled to go into it on a question of bias or interest,” Judge Laporte said. “The Court confesses that it was wondering just how it happened that Mr. Grimes called this witness to act as a private detective, one might say, out of a clear sky.

  “Answer the question, Mr. Witness.”

  Jasper said, “I was first employed by Mr. Grimes about two and one half or three years ago.”

  “What!” Hamilton Burger said, his voice and face showing his surprise.

  “I haven’t the exact date,” Jasper said. “It was about two and one half or three years ago.”

  Mason said, “You were employed by Mr. Grimes in connection with some fingerprint evidence, were you not?”

  “Yes, sir. He gave me some latent fingerprints and a set of ten fingerprints and asked me if I could determine whether the latent fingerprints were the same as any of the fingerprints shown in the set of printed fingerprints.”

  “Were they?”

 

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