Erle Gardner - The Case of the Substitute Face

Drake said, “The more I hear, the less I know. I wish you two would come down to earth and tell me what the devil you’re talking about.”

Mason said, “Don’t you see, Paul, she’s the...”

There was a commotion on the outside of the cabin. One of Drake’s operatives said, “Beat it, you,” and a man’s voice answered, “Take a look at this, smart guy. ” Then two men pushed into the room.

Mason whirled to face them. “What the devil, ” he asked, “are you two trying to do?”

“Take it easy. Mason,” one of the men told him, flashing a badge. “We’re taking this young woman into custody as a material witness in the case of The People of the State of California versus Anna Moar.”

Consternation showed on Mason’s face. One of the men took Della Street’s arm and said, “Come on, sister, you’re going places. ” The other, huskier of the two, stood with his arms swinging free. “Don’t start anything, boys, ” he warned.

Mason said, “You can’t get away with that stuff.”

“The hell we can’t,” the other man said. “You just think we can’t. This is a material witness. She ducked out when we were trying to serve a subpoena on her and she’s been a fugitive ever since, living under an assumed name. We’re taking her into custody right now, as a material witness on an indorsed subpoena and as an accessory after the fact. If you have any kick to make, go get a writ, and if you want to talk with her, you’ll talk with her on the witness stand in San Francisco.”

Mason stepped forward, ominous purpose in his face. Della Street said, “Please don’t. Chief! It’s bad enough, the way it is...”

The men hurried her through the door. Drake, looking at Mason, said, “What do you say, Perry? Do we take her away from them?”

Mason slowly shook his head. “This is the pay-off, Paul. Let her go.”

The two officers hustled Della Street to an automobile which roared into speed. Mason sat dejectedly down in the chair which Della Street had just occupied. He stared about him, at the furnishings of the shabby cottage, the new suitcase, the underwear drying on a clothes line which had been stretched from the shower bath to one end of the bed.

“That wasn’t a prowl car,” Drake said bitterly. “They were tagging us. And like a fool, I played it wide open.”

Mason said gloomily, “I could kick myself all over the lot for not understanding. Why the devil didn’t I have confidence in her?”

“What do you suppose she knows. Perry?” Drake asked.

Mason put his chin on his hands, propped his elbows on his knees, stared at the floor and said, “Hell, she’s the one who telephoned the bridge. I should have known it all along.”

“What can we do?” Drake asked. “Nothing ‘

“Well, she can’t hurt your case much,” Drake said. “They can’t drag anything out of her. She...”

“She’s going to tell the truth,” Mason said. He got to his feet and stared at Drake. “She’s going to tell the truth,” he repeated, “because I’m going to make her tell the truth . If my client’s guilty of murder, she’s guilty of murder. No client is going to make Della Street get on the witness stand and take a chance on a perjury rap in order to give me a break. Do you get that?”

Drake said soothingly, “Okay, Perry. I’m not arguing with you. I was just asking, that’s all.”

Mason said, “All right, then, you know the answer.”

He got to his feet, crossed the cabin, hoisted the suitcase on the bed and started packing it. “Go down to the office, Paul,” he ordered in a husky voice. “Find out what her bill is, and pay it. We’re checking out of here.”

“Will you have a chance to talk with her before she goes on the witness stand?” Drake asked.

Mason shook his head. “I don’t want to, Paul.”

“We could have taken her away from them,” one of the men said.

“And what a sweet mess that would have been,” Mason said. “Played up right in the newspapers, it would have made her testimony sound ten times as bad as it’s really going to be. My only remaining chance is to show she was hiding from me as well as from the DA.”

“How bad do you think it’ll be, Perry?” Drake asked.

“It’ll knock my technical defense into a cocked hat,” Mason said grimly. “What the hell do you think she ducked out for? She actually saw Carl Newberry go overboard. God knows what else she saw. Get busy and pay that bill. I want to get out of here.”

A crowd jammed the courtroom when Judge Romley reconvened court at three o’clock. Word had been passed through the courthouse of what was to happen. Telephone wires had buzzed with the news, and, by two-thirty, every seat was taken. By three o’clock, people, standing elbow to elbow, were flattened against the walls. The crowd overflowed into the corridor.

Judge Romley, apparently unaware of the cause for the sudden interest, glanced curiously at the crowd, then said to Scudder, “Have you any further evidence to prove the corpus delicti? ”

Scudder arose, his manner triumphant. “I have,” he said, “evidence which will not only prove the corpus delicti, if the Court please, but which I expect will connect the defendant directly with the crime. Before placing that witness on the stand, however, I would ask permission to call one witness slightly out of order. It is for the purpose of laying a foundation.”

“Foundation for what?” Judge Romley asked.

Scudder said dramatically, “The witness whom I expect to place on the stand, your Honor, is Miss Della Street, the secretary to Perry Mason. She has refused to make any statement whatever as to what her testimony will be. It is, therefore, necessary for me to treat her as a hostile witness, and in order to do this, I wish to lay a foundation for the questions which it will be necessary to ask...”

“Put on your witness,” Judge Romley interrupted.

“Miss Adele Adams,” Scudder said.

A trim-figured young woman walked forward, held up a gloved hand, was sworn, and took the witness stand.

“Your name is Adele Adams? You are a telephone operator. and on the evening of the sixth you were employed as telephone operator and were, at that time, in the discharge of your duties, sailing on the ship of which Captain Joe Hanson is the captain, and on which there were traveling as passengers one Carl Newberry and wife?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I will call your attention to the defendant and ask you if you have ever seen her before.”

“Yes, sir, she was on the ship as Mrs. Newberry.”

“Now, directing your attention to the evening of the sixth, at approximately the hour of nine o’clock in evening, did anything unusual happen at that time?”

“Yes, sir, a woman called in on the line from the social hall and said...”

“Just a moment,” Mason interrupted, “we object to anything which was said over the telephone as hearsay.”

“I don’t wish to ask for any conversation which took place over the telephone outside of the presence of this defendant,” the deputy district attorney said, “which will be binding upon the defendant. I am only asking now, if the Court please, to show the identity of the person placing the telephone call.”

“The Court will not permit the witness to testify as to what was said,” Judge Romley ruled.

“Would you recognize the voice of that person who placed the telephone call which you have characterized as unusual if you heard it again?”

“I would.”

“Have you heard that voice again?”

“I have.”

“Whose voice is it?”

“Objected to,” Mason said. “Incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial. Apparently this entire procedure is either for the purpose of intimidating the witness the Prosecutor is about to call, or else for the purpose of impeaching his own witness.”