Erle Gardner - The Case of the Substitute Face

The witness consulted his notebook, took a finely marked scale from his pocket, then looked up at the judge and nodded. “These two,” he said, indicating two photographs, “are both photographs of prints made by the right index finger of the man I assume was Roger P. Cartman, since I found his fingerprints on the wheel chair.”

Mason said, “Will you mark these right on the photographs, so there can be no mistake, with a cross in pen and ink?”

The witness, looking bored and contemptuous, took a pen from his pocket, made a cross on each of the photographs.

Mason triumphantly removed the paper and said, “Now, then, Mr. Borge, since you’ve qualified as an expert, and since you’ve said that any high school pupil knows that it’s impossible to confuse the fingerprints of two different people, will you kindly tell me how it happens that you have just identified a fingerprint made from the right index finger of Carl Moar, deceased, as being identical with a print of the right index finger of the man whom you have stated was Roger P. Cartman?”

Borge stared with incredulous eyes at the annotations on the two photographs. Scudder, jumping to his feet, hurried to the side of the witness.

Judge Romley regarded Mason with a puzzled frown. “Do I understand, Mr. Mason, that it is your contention the witness has confused two photographs?”

“No,” Mason said with a grin, “what your Honor should understand is that when my learned friend, the deputy district attorney, discovers the true significance of the testimony of this witness, the case against Anna Moar will be dismissed. Otherwise, the Prosecution will find itself confronted with the necessity of explaining to a jury in this case just how it happens the man the witnesses have sworn this defendant murdered on the night of the sixth instantly left fingerprints in a San Francisco flat on the afternoon of the seventh.”

“There’s trickery here someplace, your Honor,” Scudder said.

Mason smiled. “If Counsel is interested in discovering just where the trickery lies, I can give him two clues. One is that when Della Street stepped out on deck on the evening of the sixth, she inadvertently took a position almost exactly where Aileen Fell had been standing before she ran up to the boat deck. The second one is that at the time when the decedent, Moar, was about to sail from Honolulu, someone opened Moar’s locked suitcase and substituted a picture of Winnie Joyce, whom Miss Newberry greatly resembles, for a photograph of Belle Newberry. As for the rest, Counsel will have to figure it out for himself.”

Scudder bent forward to engage in a whispered conversation with Borge. Then, in a voice which showed all too plainly his bewilderment, said, “May I ask the Court for a brief recess? I wish to correlate certain facts.”

Judge Romley said, “Under the circumstances, I am quite certain there will be no objection to a brief continuance, Mr. Mason?”

Mason said, “I will not object to a continuance on only one condition, your Honor. The deputy district attorney has accused me of concealing witnesses. However, I have reason to believe that the deputy district attorney may have in custody a witness who has heretofore been subpoenaed by me as a witness for the Defense. I refer to an Evelyn Whiting, who acted as nurse for Roger Cartman.”

Judge Romley glanced at Scudder. “Do you have such a witness in custody?” he asked.

Scudder was visibly embarrassed.

“Why, your Honor,” he said, “I have been searching for Miss Whiting. She was apprehended by officers something over an hour ago. She is in my office. I have been interrogating her, but so far have had little success. I had no idea that she was a witness for Mr. Mason.”

“You will find that she has been regularly served with a subpoena,” Mason said, “and a return of service has been made and is on file with the clerk of this court. Under the circumstances, I demand an opportunity to examine her before this case is continued.”

“Is there any objection?” Judge Romley asked Scudder.

“Why, no, your Honor. I can only repeat I had no idea this woman was a witness.”

“How long will it take to get her here?” Judge Romley asked.

“Just a moment or two. She is at present held in the witness room. I think the bailiff can bring her here almost at once.”

While the bailiff was summoning Evelyn Whiting, Judge Romley regarded Perry Mason in puzzled scrutiny.

“Do I understand, Mr. Mason,” he asked, “that it is your contention that the body which I understand was found yesterday, and which has been identified as Carl Moar is not really the body of Carl Moar?”

“No, your Honor,” Mason said. “I gave an interview to the press last night in which I asserted that the body could not be that of Carl Moar. I did this solely because I wanted to force the Prosecution to use every means possible to get Moar’s fingerprints.”

“Then, if that was Moar’s body, how do you account for the fact that Moar’s fingerprints also appear on the wheel chair in this flat — and, I take it, upon other objects in the flat?”

“Unless this witness can explain matters,” Mason said, “I think I will leave it to my learned friend, the deputy district attorney, to do the explaining. After all, it’s his case.”

Scudder said testily, “I think counsel understands that the district attorney’s office will welcome any information which will throw light upon this mysterious affair.”

Judge Romley was about to say something when the bailiff brought Evelyn Whiting into the courtroom. She was sworn by the clerk and took the witness stand, her face showing plainly that she was laboring under a nervous strain.

Mason glanced up at Judge Romley and said, “I think if Court and Counsel will bear with me in what may perhaps be a somewhat unusual form of examination, we can clear this matter up. Miss Whiting, you understand that you have taken an oath to tell the truth; that any failure to do so may subject you to a perjury prosecution?”

“Yes.”

Mason said, “You have been keeping company with a man whom you knew as Morgan Eves for some time?”

“Yes.”

“Did you know that he had a criminal record?”

She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Yes.”

“And you had previously known Carl Moar for some considerable period of time?”

“Yes.”

“He had, on at least one occasion, asked you to marry him?”

“Yes.”

“Now, Morgan Eves was arrested in Los Angeles and tried on a murder charge?”

“Yes, he was,” she said quickly, “and he was acquitted.”

“Yes,” Mason said, “and Carl Moar was on that jury, wasn’t he?”

“Why... yes, he was.”

“And when you saw that Carl Moar was on the jury, you thought that you could do the man you loved a good turn by approaching Carl Moar and asking him to do everything he could to get a verdict of acquittal?”

She hesitated.

“And,” Mason asked, “didn’t you offer Moar a bribe? Come now, Miss Whiting, the facts are all available. Your part in this matter has been rather culpable. You had better tell the truth.”

“No,” she said, “I did not.”

“Now,” Mason went on calmly, “after Moar discharged his duties on this jury and after Morgan Eves had been acquitted, Mr. Moar found himself in the possession of some twenty-five thousand dollars. He went to the Hawaiian Islands and was enjoying a vacation in Honolulu. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Moar was rather naive in some respects and had made no effort to conceal his sudden acquisition of wealth, or to account for it. He merely changed his name and proceeded to take up a new life.

“Now, Mr. Van Densie, the attorney who represented Morgan Eves, found himself under investigation on a charge of jury bribing. The district attorney launched a sweeping investigation. It became important to Mr. Van Densie, as well as Mr. Eves, to keep the grand jury from calling on Mr. Moar as a witness. Mr. Moar’s attempts to take a new identity were sufficient, so far as a mere neighborly interest was concerned, but would hardly have withstood the investigation of trained detectives. Therefore, you were selected to go to Honolulu and arrange with Mr. Moar for a more effective disappearance. In order to explain the trip you were making to your sister, you told her you were going on your honeymoon. Mr. Eves, whom you secretly married, found himself very busy at the moment, assisting Mr. Van Densie conceal matters from the investigators. He actually sailed on the ship with you, but after it had left the dock, climbed over the side on a rope ladder and returned on a speed launch. You went to Honolulu, explained that situation to Mr. Moar, and arranged with him for a complete disappearance.