Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece

“No, Mr. Mason, she went out to the hotel you told her to go to. I have the telephone number here.”

“Give it to me,” Mason said. He made a note of the number, called the Lafitte Hotel, asked for Miss Street in 609, and shortly afterward heard Della Street’s voice on the line. “Holcomb been in the office, Della?” he asked.

“No, why?”

“He pumped Peasley about that knife business.”

“He did! What did Peasley tell him?”

“Spilled the whole business.”

“How did Sergeant Holcomb know about it in the first place?”

“That’s what I’d like to find out.”

“Edna Hammer certainly wouldn’t have told him.”

“One wouldn’t think so,” Mason agreed.

“Will you be in trouble on account of it, Chief?”

“I don’t know. I’ve done whatever I could to counteract it. That is, I’ve managed to mix the case all up.”

“By doing what?”

“Ordering more of the same article. How are things looking down there?”

“Everything’s coming fine.”

“Met the woman yet?”

“Yes. Had a nice conversation with her. Very sweet and formal. You know, the nice soft paw covering the sharp claws.”

“Swell,” he told her. “Met the man yet?”

“No, but I’m going to.”

“Stay with it,” he said, “I’ll give you a ring, if anything new turns up.”

The clerk swore the jury. Judge Markham, shrewdeyed student of human nature, settled back behind the massive mahogany bench. Hamilton Burger, the district attorney, broadshouldered, thicknecked, with the powerful muscles of virile maturity, sat in watchful attention, studying Perry Mason as a catcher observes a runner who is taking a long lead off first base. Beside him sat Sam Blaine, young, tall, slender, and trying to look impressive, fingering the black ribbon which dangled from his glasses. At the opposite counsel table, Perry Mason sat alone. A few feet behind him, Peter Kent, with white, drawn features, kept twisting his fingers. Slightly back of him, Lucille Mays watched proceedings with apprehensive eyes. At times she tried to smile reassuringly at Peter Kent. The effort was a pathetic failure. Judge Markham said, “Permit me to congratulate Counsel for both sides upon the expediency with which jurors have been selected. Do you wish to make an opening speech, Mr. District Attorney?”

District Attorney Burger moved up in front of the bar which separated the twelve curious jurors from the portion of the courtroom reserved for Counsel. Back of the bar, the crowded courtroom was tense with hushed expectancy. Burger said, “Gentlemen, I am not going to indulge in oratory. I shall at this time tell you briefly what the Prosecution expects to prove. On the thirteenth of this month the defendant, Peter Kent, was living in his residence in Hollywood. There were in that residence, besides the servants, Edna Hammer, a niece; P. L. Rease, a halfbrother; John J. Duncan, an attorney from Chicago; Frank B. Maddox, a business associate of the defendant; Helen Warrington, the defendant’s secretary. We expect to show that on the morning of the fourteenth the defendant entered the bedroom of P. L. Rease and stabbed him to death. We expect to show that P. L. Rease, without the knowledge of the defendant, had exchanged bedrooms with Frank B. Maddox, that between Maddox and the defendant was bad blood; that the defendant labored under the impression, either founded or unfounded, that Maddox was swindling him and trying to hold him up in a business deal.

“As nearly as can be ascertained, the decedent met his death from a stabbing wound inflicted by a carving knife at approximately three o’clock in the morning. Death was instantaneous. We expect to show that at the hour of three o’clock in the morning Peter Kent, the defendant, having this same carving knife in his hand, was moving stealthily, in bare feet, across the patio which separated the wing containing his bedroom from that containing the bedroom of Frank B. Maddox, which was then occupied by the decedent, P. L. Rease. We expect to show that the fatal weapon was subsequently found under the pillow of the bed occupied that night by the defendant; that the blade of the knife shows unmistakably that it was the weapon used to kill P. L. Rease. We expect to show that subsequent to his arrest, the defendant voluntarily admitted that he was an habitual sleepwalker; that he had every reason to believe that while walking in his sleep he had homicidal tendencies.

“The Court will instruct you gentlemen that once the killing by the defendant has been established, the burden of proving circumstances that mitigate, justify or excuse it shifts to the defendant. So far as the Prosecution is concerned, it will show the death of Rease; that the death was due to a stabbing wound inflicted with a carving knife; that the carving knife was in the possession of the defendant at approximately the time of the murder; that the defendant was actually seen leaving the wing of the house containing the bedroom of the decedent at approximately the time of the murder. We expect to show that the defendant thought Maddox occupied the bed in which Rease was sleeping, that the defendant had every motive for murdering Maddox. As you gentlemen have been made aware by questions asked you by the Defense when you were selected as jurors, the Defense will reply, at least in part, upon a theory of sleepwalking. We expect to show that upon a prior occasion, approximately one year before the commission of the crime, the defendant secured a carving knife and…”

Perry Mason slowly raised himself from his seat and said, “Your Honor, I object to the district attorney incorporating in his statement anything which took place a year before the commission of the crime; object to his seeking to anticipate our defense, and move that the jurors be instructed to disregard his statements.”

“The evidence is perfectly proper,” Burger retorted, “in that it shows that at a prior time the defendant had knowledge of his homicidal tendencies while walking in his sleep; that he made no effort to curb those tendencies when he realized he was once more walking in his sleep. I am predicating this part of my argument on the theory which the Defense itself has outlined.”

Judge Markham rapped with his gavel and said, “It is not incumbent upon the Prosecution to anticipate the Defense. Whether evidence in rebuttal can include incidents taking place prior to the crime and separated from it by a period of twelve months is something which will be determined when the question arises. In the meantime, the objection of the Defense is well taken, the Court will order that that portion of the opening speech be withdrawn from the jury, and the jurors are specifically instructed to disregard it. The jurors are also instructed that the opening statement made by the district attorney merely outlines what he expects to prove and is made for the purpose of clarifying the issues in the minds of the jurors. The statements made by the district attorney are not to be considered as evidence. Go on, Mr. District Attorney.”

“We expect to show,” Hamilton Burger resumed, “by the defendant’s own niece, that prior to the commission of the crime, in fact two days before, she had found the same weapon with which the murder was subsequently committed under the pillow of the defendant’s bed. Upon this evidence, Gentlemen, and upon such other evidence as may be introduced in rebuttal, the Prosecution will ask at your hands a conviction of first degree murder.”

Hamilton Burger sat down. Judge Markham asked Perry Mason, “Do you desire to make an opening statement, Counselor?”

“I will withhold my statement until just before I start to put on my case,” Mason said.

“Very well, the Prosecution will call its first witness.”