Erle Gardner - The Case of the Phantom Fortune

Hamilton Burger said, "Thereyou are. That covers the situation. The testimony of this eyewitness has beenruined as far as any successful prosecution is concerned.

"When we get the real culpritand this witness is confronted with the man who really committed the crime, hewill have to admit on cross-examination that he has previously made statementsthat would detract from his identification due to improper inducements made byPerry Mason and by persons in the employ of Mr Perry Mason."

Mason said, "In just aboutevery prosecution that you have, the witnesses first give contradictorydescriptions to the police. Then they have to back up and when they finallymake an identification it's very likely to have been the second identificationthey have made. That's why the police refer to identifications from line-ups somany times as 'tentative' identifications."

"That's neither here northere," Hamilton Burger said. "The gist of the offense, as I see it,is that the testimony of this witness has been tampered with."

"The testimony hasn't beentampered with," Mason said. "What you're trying to state is that themind of the witness has been tampered with."

"It's the same thing,"Hamilton Burger said.

"Take it into court and see ifit's the same thing," Mason said.

Hamilton Burger said, "I don'tcare to prolong this examination or add to the record."

Mason said, "The police usuallyshow a witness composite sketches and mug shots, and after they've given him anopportunity to look at a photograph of a suspect under all kinds ofcircumstances they then let him look at a line-up containing the suspect."

"That will do," HamiltonBurger said. "We're not here to discuss police methods."

"I am," Mason said.

"I am not," HamiltonBurger said, "and the hearing is terminated. As far as this office isconcerned, I think I will lodge a complaint with the authorities concerning theimproper activities of a private detective and lodge a complaint with thedisciplinary section of the Bar Association about your activities."

Mason said, "You've beenbrandishing a couple of sections of the Penal Code around, Mr DistrictAttorney. Now, if you think you've got any violation of the Penal Code you justgo ahead and issue a warrant for my arrest and bring me to trial before a jury.Then I'll cross-examine these witnesses, and you can't ask them all theseleading questions. Then we'll see how much of a case you've got."

Hamilton Burger said, "I amgoing to do that very thing."

"Go right ahead," Masoninvited.

Mason got up and stalked out of theroom.

Perry Mason sat in the living-roomat the residence at 2420 Bridamoore Avenue.

Mrs Horace Warren sat facing him.She was dry-eyed but crushed.

Mason said, "We may not havemuch time. I want you to tell me exactly what happened. I want you to tell meyour connection with Collister Gideon and tell me what happened when you wentto that abandoned storeroom. Don't leave out anything, don't spareyourself."

"This is going to killme," she said. "I can't face Horace after this comes out."

"Don't be silly," Masonsaid. "Horace has faith in you."

"He won't after this."

"He has," Mason said."He knew all about it before he married you."

Her eyes widened. "Knew aboutwhat?"

"About your trial andacquittal, about your connection with Collister Gideon."

"He knew about that?"

"Yes."

"For heaven's sake, how?"

"Judson Olney backtracked youand found out all about your past. When Horace knew that he was falling in lovewith you, he knew that you were concealing something in your past and he wantedto find out what it was."

"And he never told me?"

"He thought you would feelbetter if you felt the whole thing was a secret."

"You're not trying to makethings easier for me, Mr Mason?"

"I'm telling you thetruth," Mason said.

"Oh, that wonderful, wonderfulman," she said, and tears came to her eyes.

"Hold it," Mason said."You haven't time to cry, you haven't time to sympathize withyourself."

"I'm not sympathizing withmyself, I'm thinking of Horace, how wonderful he has been."

"All right," Mason said,"he's been wonderful. Now tell me the facts. That's the best way you cancooperate with him at present."

She said, "I always feltmorally obligated to Collister Gideon for forty-seven thousand dollars."

"Did you keep the money forhim?"

"Heavens, no."

"What did happen?"

"He had an inkling that theauthorities might be coming down on him in a surprise raid. There wasforty-seven thousand dollars in the bank. He drew it out and put it in thesafe. He wanted me to keep it for him. I was afraid to do so. I knew that therewere certain irregularities but I looked up to Mr Gideon. I thought he was themost wonderful, wide-awake businessman, with a dynamic personality and …well, it just never occurred to me he could be crooked.

"He put the forty-seventhousand dollars in the safe and told me to take it out and hide it. I didn'tdo it. That night the office was broken into, the thieves found the combinationof the safe, and took the forty-seven thousand dollars."

"If he'd had it," Masonsaid, "the authorities would have confiscated it as being obtained byfraudulent use of the mails."

"They might have had somedifficulty proving it, but anyway I didn't follow the instructions he gave me.I was afraid to, and as a result he lost all chance of holding onto any part ofthe forty-seven thousand dollars."

"So when you knew he wasgetting out," Mason said, "you thought you would makerestitution?"

She said, "My husband has beenvery, very successful in business, and I have been saving money here and therein securities and looking forward to the day when Collister Gideon would bereleased. I wanted to go to him and say, 'I violated your instructions andbecause of that you lost any opportunity to have operating capital when you gotout. I'm going to stake you to forty-seven thousand dollars. I know that withyour talents for making money you will run this up into quite a fortune withina short time. Then you can pay me back the forty-seven thousand dollars and myhusband will never know anything about it.'"

"Go on," Mason said,"what happened?"

"I put the money in a suitcasein my closet and the money was stolen. One of the servants, probably. But Iwasn't in a position to make a complaint because that would have brought outthe whole scandal and that would have – Well, I felt Horace simply couldn'tstand to be connected with a scandal of that sort. He likes his social positionand his social life."

"All right," Mason said,"the money you had in the suitcase was stolen. Then what did you do?"

"I got together what I couldraise hastily, which amounted to only five thousand dollars."

"You heard from Gideon?"

"Yes. He telephoned me and gaveme the address of the store and told me to drive down there.

"I told him that I had somemoney for him and he said the neighbourhood was pretty rough. He asked me if Ihad a revolver and I told him I did that is, I told him my husband kept one inthe house and he said if I was bringing any large sum of money I had betterbring the gun to protect myself."

"Go on," Mason said.

"I went down there and foundthe place without any trouble. I had the gun in my handbag. I went into theabandoned store and saw Collister Gideon, f was startled at the change in him.

"I took off my right glove,opened my purse to give him the money, put the gun on the table, and – Well, Idon't know, Mr Mason, whether he had changed or whether had begun to grow up.

"While I was working for him Isaw him as a dynamic, magnetic businessman with a chain-lighting mind. But as Italked with him there in the store I saw him as brazen, glib-tongued confidenceman. There wasn't an ounce of sincerity in him, and – well, he sought tocapitalize on the relationship."