Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece

“No… Yes, I guess I did. I think I must have.”

“Why did you put them on?”

“To see with, of course.”

Once more there was a titter which ran around the courtroom, but this time, something in the tense attitude of Perry Mason caused the titter to subside even before the bailiff could rap for order. “In other words, then,” Mason said, “when you were aroused by a marauder prowling about your room in the dead of night, the very first thing you did after wakening was to put on your glasses so that you could see to better advantage, is that right?”

“Well, what’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing is wrong with it, Mr. Duncan, I am asking you if that is what happened.”

“Yes, I guess so.”

“In other words, you knew that your eyes would be virtually valueless without the glasses.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No,” Mason said, smiling, “you didn’t say it, but your actions said it more plainly than words. You put on your glasses because you knew you couldn’t see without them. Isn’t that right?”

“I knew they’d help me to see.”

“You knew that you couldn’t see clearly any great distance without them, didn’t you?”

“Well, my eyesight’s a lot better with them on than with them off.”

“And with your glasses your eyesight was quite good?” Mason asked.

“Oh, yes.”

“Would you say it was perfect?”

“I’d say that it was normal.”

“Perfectly normal?”

“If you want to express it that way, yes.”

“Then,” Mason said, pointing his forefinger at Duncan, “why was it that, immediately after you had reported to the district attorney what you had seen, you were sent to an oculist to have new glasses fitted?”

Burger shouted, “He wasn’t instructed to do any such thing! I resent that insinuation!”

“Why did you do it?” Mason asked Duncan.

“I didn’t say that I did it.”

Mason, pounding his fist on the counsel table, said, “I say you did it, then. Why did you do it?”

Duncan squirmed uncomfortably. “Well,” he said, “I wanted to, that’s all.”

“Why did you want to?”

“I’d been wanting to for some time and hadn’t had a chance to do it. I’d been too busy. You understand I’m a very busy attorney.”

“Oh,” Mason said, “you’d been putting it off, then, for some time.”

“Yes.”

“You’re quite busy?”

“Yes.”

“How long have you been quite busy?”

“For years.”

“And did you put off getting these glasses during the time you’d been busy?”

“During much of it, yes.”

“You’d put off getting these glasses for years, then, is that right?”

“Yes… No, that isn’t what I meant.”

“Never mind what you meant. What are the facts of the case? How long had you put off getting new glasses?”

“I don’t know.”

“When were you last fitted for glasses before the fourteenth of this month?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“As much as five years ago?”

“I don’t know.”

“As much as ten years ago?”

“I don’t think so.”

“And the very first thing you did after telling the district attorney what you saw was to go out and consult an oculist and get glasses. Isn’t that right?”

“It wasn’t the first thing I did.”

“It was just about the first thing you did, wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know.”

“It was that evening, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was that evening.”

“And did you find an oculist in his office on that evening?”

“Yes.”

Mason’s smile was fiendish. “You found him there, Mr. Duncan, because you had previously telephoned and made an appointment with him, isn’t that right?”

Duncan hesitated a minute and then said, “No, I didn’t telephone to him.”

Mason frowned for a moment, then triumphantly asked, “Who did telephone to him?”

Blaine jumped to his feet. “Your Honor,” he said, “that’s objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial. It makes no difference who telephoned to the oculist.”

“It does, in view of the answers the witness has been giving to these questions,” Perry Mason said. “This is a witness who is an attorney. I have a right to impeach his testimony by showing the condition of his eyesight at the time in question. This witness has admitted that he needed glasses and has also admitted that the glasses he put on were insufficient and had been insufficient for years. I also have a right to show his bias and interest, as developed by his evasive answers.”

“I think,” Judge Markham said, “I’ll permit him to answer the question. Who telephoned the oculist, Mr. Duncan, if you know.” Duncan hesitated.

“Go on,” Mason said, “answer the question.”

In a voice which was barely audible, Duncan said, “Mr. Blaine.”

“The deputy district attorney,” Mason inquired, “who has just finished making such a vociferous objection that my question was incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”

A roar of laughter swept the courtroom. Judge Markham frowned, then permitted himself a halfsmile. “That will do, Counselor,” he said sternly, then, looking at the clock, “It has approached the hour of adjournment. I think we have made very good progress for today. Court will adjourn until tomorrow. The Court is going to remand the jury to the custody of the sheriff, who will keep them in his charge and permit no person to approach them or address them, nor will he address them himself, except upon matters not connected in any way with the case. Court is adjourned until ten o’clock tomorrow morning.”

MASON, pacing back and forth across his office, looked frowningly at Della Street. The indirect lights failed to soften the scowl lines which were furrowed across the lawyer’s forehead. “Damn it, Della,” he said, “the thing doesn’t click.”

“Why doesn’t it click?”

“I can’t understand what’s wrong with Mrs. Kent.”

“You haven’t heard anything from her?”

“Not a thing. You’re certain that Pritchard met her?”

“Absolutely. He was making a rush play for me, but he dropped me like a hot potato when I told him about Mrs. Kent’s money.”

“Good looking?”

“I’ll say.”

“Make your heart go pittypat?” he asked.

“Not mine, but he’s a swell looker. He looks like a Venus de Hollywood.”

“Hair?”

“Wonderful, dark rich brown, beautifully marcelled. Lights in it. And they match his eyes. Boyish face, without a line in it. A little trick mustache. He wears his clothes nicely and his lips are fascinating, particularly when he talks. You can see them forming every word so distinctly. And when he dances, he makes you feel like thistledown.”

“She seemed to be falling?”

“Falling is right. She was looking at him with her heart in her eyes.”

“How the devil can a woman get her heart in her eyes?”

“Want me to show you?” she challenged. He took a quick step toward her. Her eyes studied his face appraisingly, “Strictly for the sake of the business?” she added.

His arm was reaching for her when knuckles made a gentle tapping motion on the corridor door. Mason froze into rigid immobility. The knock was repeated. “Bet you five bucks that’s Doris Sully Kent,” he said.

Della Street started for the law library. “I knew something would happen,” she remarked, jerking the door open. “Be sure to switch on the loud speaker, Chief. I’ve got pencils and notebook in there.” She closed the door behind her with a slam.

Mason stepped to the corridor door. Doris Sully Kent smiled up at him. “I knew I’d find you here, Mr. Mason.”