Erie Gardner - The Case of the Lazy Lover

“Cross-examine,” Danvers said to Perry Mason.

Mason said to Danvers, “I suppose you have a map prepared showing the place where the car was parked and all that. You’re going to introduce it eventually. Why not bring it into evidence now, and give me a chance to cross-examine this witness in connection with the map.”

“Very well,” Danvers said, and handed Mason a map which was similar to the diagram Bert Humphreys had drawn for Paul Drake.

“We’ll identify this right now, if you want, with the testimony of the surveyor who made the...”

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Mason said. “You can put the surveyor on later, but we have Fleetwood on the stand now and we may just as well finish with him.”

“Very well. And here are some photos of the tracks.”

“I’ll call your attention to this map,” Mason said, “and ask you if this seems to be a correct map or diagram showing the vicinity of Overbrook’s house?”

“Yes, sir. That is.”

“And where did you leave the car?”

“At this point.”

“And where was the luggage compartment of the car located?”

“Right about here. Right where you see the footprints of this woman — the dots marked here as ‘Woman’s Footprints Returning.’ You see they start here. That’s where the luggage compartment was located. They run down to the road.”

“And then you see a series of dots marked ‘Woman’s Footprints Returning’?”

“That’s right.”

“And what are those?”

“Well, of course, I don’t know what they are. I think that’s where Mrs. Allred and...”

“Never mind what you think,” Danvers interrupted. “Just confine your answers to what you know, and I’ll make Mr. Mason confine his questions to the issues. I object, Your Honor, to Counsel’s question on the ground that it calls for a conclusion of the witness and...”

“The objection would have been sustained, but the question was already asked and answered.”

“Not completely answered, Your Honor.”

“Very well, the objection is sustained. The answer of the witness will be stricken from the record. Go ahead, Mr. Mason.”

“Why,” Mason asked, “didn’t you complain to the police?”

“I didn’t have an opportunity.”

“You had an opportunity to get to a telephone and call Donnybrook 6981, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“The number of someone in whom you are interested?”

“Yes.”

“And you wanted to appeal to this person for help?”

“Well, I wanted to get away from the predicament in which I found myself.”

“And did you, or did you not, talk with this person at Donnybrook 6981?”

“I did not. That was the number of Miss Bernice Archer, a friend of mine.”

“A close friend?”

“Yes.”

“And you wanted to advise her of what was happening?”

“Yes. I didn’t intend to ask her for help or to notify the police, but I didn’t want her to think I skipped out with a married woman.”

“You placed a call to her from a service station telephone, while Mrs. Allred was in the women’s rest room at the service station?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And then didn’t wait for the call to be answered?”

“No, sir. There was some delay. Then Mrs. Allred came out and I didn’t want her to see me at the telephone.”

“That was the first opportunity you’d had to use a telephone?”

“Well, just about the first opportunity, yes.”

“You were in a motel all day Sunday?”

“Yes.”

“And Monday morning?”

“Yes.”

“There was no phone there?”

“No, sir.”

“Did you try to find a phone?”

“Yes.”

“Was Mrs. Allred there all that time?”

“Not all the time, no. But she was right close. I don’t think she was ever away from me over, well, over ten or fifteen minutes at a time.”

“You could have got up and walked out any time you wanted to?”

“Well, I guess I could have. Yes.”

“You didn’t want to?”

“Well, I wanted to see how the situation was going to adjust itself.”

“Yet you realized that Allred might show up at any moment?”

“To tell you the truth, Mr. Mason, I didn’t want to do anything that would make a scene, because I didn’t want to be put in a position of having to explain my actions.”

“Why not?”

“Because I thought that if I could fool everyone, and if Allred thought that I thought Patricia’s car had struck the blow that knocked me out, I might turn the situation somewhat to my advantage.”

“In what way?”

“I could lull Allred into a feeling of false security and have a chance to communicate with Mr. Jerome and explain matters to him.”

“Had you made any attempt to communicate, with Jerome?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“While we were there at the motel at Springfield.”

“And what did you do?”

“I called Mr. Jerome on the phone.”

“Oh you did, eh?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what did you tell him?”

“I didn’t talk with him. I left a message for him. He was out.”

“What did you say in this message?”

“Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and hearsay,” Danvers said. “Not proper cross-examination.”

“Sustained,” Judge Colton snapped.

“Now just a moment,” Mason said. “Your attitude toward the defendant in this case, Mrs. Allred, is influenced in some way by your business connections?”

“Well, only in a way.”

“You know that as the surviving partner, Mr. Jerome will be in charge of winding up the partnership business?”

“Well, generally, yes.”

“And you expect to be employed by Mr. Jerome?”

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

“I beg your pardon,” Mason snapped. “This is going to the motivation of the witness, his bias, his interest in the testimony which he is giving. I am entitled to show that on cross-examination.”

“You’re right,” Judge Colton said. “The objection is overruled.”

“Well,” Fleetwood said, and hesitated. “I guess I’d thought of that.”

“And the real reason, the underlying reason that you didn’t simply get up and walk out on Mrs. Allred there at that motel, was because you felt that at some time in the future you’d be able to turn the tables on Bertrand C. Allred and kill him, and that George Jerome with his money and his connections would stand back of you. Isn’t that right?”

“No.”

“Not even generally?”

“No.”

“Then why didn’t you simply wait until a propitious moment, smile at Mrs. Allred and say, ‘I’m sorry, Mrs. Allred, but this is all an act on my part. I’m going to leave you now’?”

“Well... because of certain complications. I wanted to stall along until Jerome could have a chance to catch Allred red-handed. The message I left for Jerome would tell him what to do. I wanted to keep Allred occupied with me until Jerome had the evidence sewed up.”

“You were then working hand-in-glove with Jerome?”

“In a way. I expected to co-operate with him, and have him co-operate with me.”

“That’s all,” Mason said.

“No further questions. Call P. E. Overbrook.”

Overbrook, attired in overalls and jumper, strode up to the stand, a big, good-natured giant, embarrassed by the crowd in the courtroom and his strange surroundings.

He took the oath, gave his name and address to the clerk, and turned uneasily to face Danvers.

“You’re the P. E. Overbrook who has the property described as the Overbrook ranch? You have seen this diagram and can identify this as marking the location of your house on that diagram?”