Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Fenced-In Woman

“I don’t know,” Mason said, “but the way I look at law an attorney has a right to cross-examine a witness in order to find out if that witness is telling the truth. If the witness isn’t, he doesn’t need to lay a trap simply by asking questions. He has a reasonable amount of leeway.”

Drake said, “I don’t like this, Perry. You could get into trouble, particularly when you start mixing fingerprints.”

Mason looked at him somberly. “Hell, I’m in trouble already, Paul. My clients are mixed in this thing up to their eyebrows and I don’t know just where to strike. Anything I do may be the wrong thing.”

“Well, this certainly looks wrong,” Drake said. “It’s no crime to take anyone’s fingerprints but once you start mixing up the fingerprints of two people to deceive someone, you... Suppose they catch you, Perry?”

“That’s the point,” Mason said. “I don’t want them to catch me.”

“Quit worrying about it, Paul,” Della Street said. “Let’s hurry through lunch and get going.”

Drake sighed. “The things a private detective has to go through when he’s working for Perry Mason,” he said lugubriously. “All of a sudden I’ve lost my appetite.”

At one-fifteen when court reconvened, Judge Fisk said, “Mrs. Nadine Palmer was on the stand. Will you return to the stand, please, Mrs. Palmer?

“Go ahead with your cross-examination, Mr. Mason.”

Mason waited until Nadine Palmer had seated herself and was glaring at him defiantly as though daring him to do his worst.

“This woman that you saw in the swimming pool,” Mason said, “you glimpsed very briefly?”

“I saw her for some period of time, but she was moving very rapidly.”

“The only time you saw her face was when she was running toward the swimming pool, is that right?”

“That’s the only time I would have had a good look at her face.”

“You say you would have had a good look at her face — meaning that you would have had a good look at her face if you could have kept your eyes focused on it?”

“Well, she was moving very rapidly and I had a little trouble getting the binoculars... Well, I saw her.”

“And then you saw her jump in the water, swim across to the other side of the pool, bend over the hidden receptacle, and all that time she had her back to you.”

“From the time she got out of the pool, yes.”

“And while she was in the pool her face was under water.”

“Yes.”

“Now,” Mason said, “when I called on you, your hair was wet.”

“I had been in a shower.”

“Do you usually wet your hair when you’re taking a shower?”

“Sometimes. I intended to have my hair done the next day so I was careless about it.”

“You remember that I asked you for a cigarette and you told me to help myself out of your purse or handbag?”

“Yes.”

“Then when I opened it to take out a cigarette you came dashing out of the bedroom with a negligee wide open and trailing behind you. You were careless of the amount of exposure because of your haste.”

“I wanted to help you. I was being hospitable and I thought you were a gentleman.”

“And you whipped out a package of cigarettes and handed them to me?” Mason asked.

“Yes.”

“Now, you’re under oath,” Mason said. “Did you get those cigarettes from your handbag or did you have them in your hand when you came running out of the bedroom?”

“I had them in my hand, actually.”

“And the reason you were so anxious to get a cigarette into my hands before I reached one out of the bag is because you realized that the cigarettes in your bag were soaking wet, due to the fact that you had been in the swimming pool in your panties and bra and had taken your underthings off while they were wet and put them in the bag?”

“I object,” Ormsby said. “This is not proper cross-examination. It assumes facts not in evidence and covers matters which were not covered on direct examination.”

“I think I have the right to ask the question,” Mason said. “I think it goes to the bias of the witness.”

Judge Fisk regarded the witness thoughtfully. “I’m going to let the witness answer that question,” he said. “I’m interested in the answer myself.”

She said, “I suddenly decided that I didn’t care to have you prowling around among my personal belongings, Mr. Mason. I thought I would bring you a cigarette so you wouldn’t have to get one out of my bag.”

“You’re not answering the question,” Mason said. “Were your actions due to the fact you knew the cigarettes in the bag were wet because you had put your wet underthings in there?”

She hesitated a moment, then looked at him defiantly. “No!” she said, spitting out the word with dramatic vehemence.

Mason said, “I talked with you for a while and you accepted a ride with me, did you not?”

“Yes.”

“And while we were riding I mentioned the fact that Loring Carson was supposed to have had a girlfriend in Las Vegas?”

“Yes.”

“And you immediately asked me to let you out of the car at the first available opportunity. You wanted to be where you could get a cab just as soon as possible. Is that right?”

“That’s right.”

“And I let you out?”

“Yes.”

“And you took a cab?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you go in that cab?”

“Objected to as not proper cross-examination, calling for evidence which was not adduced on direct examination,” Ormsby said.

“I’m overruling the objection,” Judge Fisk said, “on the theory that this entire line of examination goes to possible bias on the part of the witness.”

“I had it take me to the airport.”

“Very well,” Mason said. “Now, let me ask you something else. When you went to Las Vegas did you take with you a quantity of negotiable securities made out in the name of A. B. L. Seymour and endorsed in blank by Mr. Seymour?”

“No.”

“Did you notice when you got to the Eden house that the receptacle was open?”

“Yes.”

“Did you go to that receptacle?”

“No.”

“Did you touch the receptacle?”

“No.”

“Did you take any securities from that receptacle?”

“No.”

“I submit,” Mason said, “that you were the woman who dashed out of the house and into the swimming pool and swam across to the receptacle. I submit that you were not in the nude but that you were wearing your panties and bra; that you looted the receptacle of its securities, then swam back to get your clothes, taking off your wet underthings, wringing what water you could from them and putting them in your handbag.”

“I did nothing of the sort.”

“Did you,” Mason asked, “take any securities of any sort to Las Vegas with you?”

“No.”

Mason said, “I am going to show you a briefcase marked ‘P. MASON’ in gilt letters, and previously introduced in evidence as one of the People’s Exhibits, and ask you if you ever saw that briefcase before this trial started.”

“No.”

“Did you take it to Las Vegas with you?”

“No.”

“Did you arrange to have it surreptitiously put in my room in Las Vegas?”

“Oh, Your Honor,” Ormsby said, “this certainly has gone far enough afield. This is not proper cross-examination, and I resent the making of an accusation of this sort where there is absolutely no evidence to support it.”

Judge Fisk paused to give the matter thoughtful consideration. Then he said, “It is nevertheless a vital question as far as the defense is concerned. It would certainly go to the bias or motivation of the witness and I am going to permit it on that ground. Answer the question.”