Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece

He escorted her to the door. She turned in the corridor and said, “You won’t tell Hettley and Hettley about the trick I’ve pulled on them, will you?”

“Not me,” Mason told her. “All I want is to have the releases and dismissals in proper form and you’ll get your twentyfive thousand dollars. You’ll also be subpoenaed as a witness for the defense.”

“Swell,” she told him.

“And don’t make the mistake of trying to change your story after I get you on the stand,” he told her.

“Don’t worry,” she said, “I know enough about men to know when I’m monkeying with a buzz saw. I’ll play ball with you, Mr. Mason.”

He bowed, smiled and closed the door. Della Street emerged from the law library, carrying a notebook and pencils. “The damn little doublecrosser,” she said. “I could snatch her hair out. What a little tramp she is!”

Mason chuckled and said, “Anyone who can slip one over on Hettley and Hettley is entitled to it. It was a case of diamond cut diamond. They thought they were going to stick her plenty. She just beat them to it.”

“I hated to see you give her twentyfive thousand dollars,” Della Street said. “I’ll bet she’d have dismissed her case anyway. She’s crazy over Pritchard.”

“Don’t worry,” Mason told her; “your friend, George Pritchard will get most of it. And he needs the money to pay off Myrna Duchene. You might get Myrna on the telephone and suggest that now would be a good time to drop into Pritchard’s hotel and threaten to have him arrested unless he kicks through with the money by tomorrow morning.”

Della Street reached for the telephone. “And will that give me pleasure,” she exclaimed.

Judge Markham, settling himself in the massive swivel chair behind the bench, glanced at the jury box and said, “May it be stipulated, gentlemen, that the jurors are all present and the defendant is in court?”

“So stipulated,” Mason said.

“And so stipulated for the Prosecution,” Hamilton Burger announced.

“I believe Mr. Duncan was on the stand for further crossexamination,” Judge Markham said. “Come forward, Mr. Duncan.”

Duncan strutted to the witness stand, his manner radiating importance. “I think I have just one more question,” Mason said, when the witness had taken his seat. “I believe you stated, Mr. Duncan, that you talked with your client, Mr. Maddox, until approximately eleven o’clock and then went to bed?”

“Yes, around eleven.”

“Then you were in your client’s bedroom until approximately eleven o’clock?”

“Yes.”

“You went in there following the termination of the conference to which you testified yesterday?”

“Yes.”

“And remained there all during that time?”

“Yes.”

“Are you certain you didn’t leave the premises?”

“No, I…” his voice trailed away into silence.

“Go on,” Mason said.

“I don’t see that it makes any difference,” Duncan snapped, flashing a swift glance at the district attorney.

Blaine jumped to his feet. “Your Honor,” he said, “it’s objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial, and not proper crossexamination.”

“Overruled,” Judge Markham snapped.

“Come to think of it,” Duncan said, “I did go out for a few moments.”

“Did Mr. Maddox accompany you?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you go?”

“We went to a drug store a couple of blocks from the house.”

“How long were you there?”

“About ten minutes.”

“And during that tenminute period, what did you do?”

“That’s objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial and not proper crossexamination. The direct examination of this witness related to the fixing of time and to the time when he went to bed. The witness fixed that by testifying what he did during the evening. When the defense shows that the witness went out, it makes no difference where he went or what he did. It is only a question of determining how long he was gone.”

“I think I’ll sustain the objection,” Judge Markham announced.

“Did you put in a telephone call?” Mason asked.

“Same objection.”

“Same ruling,” Judge Markham snapped.

“Isn’t it true that at exactly eleven o’clock in the evening you were putting in a telephone call to Mrs. Doris Sully Kent in Santa Barbara, and therefore couldn’t have been in the residence of Peter Kent?”

“Same objection,” Burger snapped.

“If Counsel will amend that question so that witness is asked whether he wasn’t putting in a long distance telephone call at some other place at the time when the witness has previously stated he had returned to the house, I will permit the question,” Judge Markham ruled. “But I do not think it is necessarily relevant, pertinent or proper crossexamination to include in that question the name of the person to whom the telephone call was being made.”

“Very well,” Mason said, “didn’t you put in a telephone call at exactly eleven o’clock from the drug store, Mr. Duncan?”

“It was before eleven. Five minutes to eleven. We were back in the house by eleven o’clock.”

Mason smiled and said, “That’s all.”

Burger and Blaine held a whispered conversation, then Burger announced, “No further questions, Your Honor. Our next witness is Edna Hammer. I think the Court will realize that this young woman, who is a niece of the defendant, is a hostile witness. It may be necessary for me to interrogate her by leading questions…”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Judge Markham interrupted. “Miss Hammer, take the stand.”

Edna Hammer came forward, was sworn, and seated herself in the witness stand. Her face was pale and drawn. “Your name is Edna Hammer, you’re a niece of the defendant, and you resided with him at his house at 3824 Lakeview Terrace, Hollywood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And were so residing there on the night of the thirteenth and the morning of the fourteenth of this month?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Are you familiar with the appearance of a certain carving knife which was customarily kept in the top drawer of the sideboard in the defendant’s residence?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you see that knife on the morning of the thirteenth?”

She lowered her eyes, bit her lip and said nothing.

“Answer the question,” Judge Markham ordered.

“I saw a knife which resembled it.”

“Where was that knife?”

“Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial,” Mason said.

“We propose to show, Your Honor, that it was in the possession of the defendant,” Burger stated.

“Upon that assumption, the objection is overruled.”

“Answer the question,” Burger said.

“A carving knife, similar in appearance to the one customarily kept in the sideboard drawer, was in my uncle’s bedroom, under the pillow of his bed.”

“That was on the morning of the thirteenth?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do with the carving knife?”

“I replaced it in the sideboard drawer.”

“Did you mention finding it to your uncle?”

“No.”

“Did you take precautions of any sort to see that this carving knife did not come into the possession of your uncle after you had so replaced it in the sideboard drawer?”

“I locked the sideboard drawer on the evening of the thirteenth.”

“And when did you next see the carving knife?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I saw a carving knife, but I am not certain that it was the same one.”

“I call your attention to the knife introduced as People’s Exhibit Number Two. Did you see that knife on the morning of the fourteenth?”