Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Stepdaughter’s Secret

“Suppose the... Well, suppose the action of the tides or something has caused the purse and the gun to drift away?”

“I don’t think that’ll happen,” Mason said. “This is in a pretty sequestered part of the bay. The tide action is relatively gentle. We haven’t had any winds and—”

“You’re taking an awful chance,” Bancroft said.

“ We’re taking an awful chance,” Mason agreed gravely, “but we’re going to have to play the cards the way they’re dealt to us and we’ve got to play them to the best advantage.”

Bancroft said, “All right, Mason, I’ll rely on your judgment. There’s nothing else I can do.”

“That’s right,” Mason told him. “There’s nothing else you can do.”

Judge Cole S Hobart called the court to order.

“The case of the People versus Phyllis Bancroft,” he said. “The People are represented by Robley Hastings, district attorney, and Turner Garfield, deputy district attorney; the defendant is represented by Mr Perry Mason. Gentlemen, are you ready to proceed with the preliminary hearing?”

“The People are ready,” Hastings said.

“The defendant is ready,” Mason said.

“Very well, proceed,” Judge Hobart said. “Now, I notice that this trial has attracted a lot of attention in the public press. I warn the spectators that I want quiet in the courtroom. There will be no demonstrations. People will be permitted to leave the courtroom during the progress of the trial provided they do so in an orderly manner.

“Proceed with your case, Mr District Attorney.”

Turner Garfield took over the preliminaries. He called a surveyor and introduced a map of the harbour, aerial photographs of the bay and the yacht club, and a road map of the county showing distances between various points.

“Cross-examine,” Garfield said to Mason.

Mason said to the surveyor, “You have introduced these various maps but I noticed there is one map which you have failed to introduce.”

“What is that?”

“A coast geodetic chart of the harbour.”

“I didn’t consider that was necessary because the various maps which I have introduced are accurate and the aerial photograph gives a picture of the coast line and the boundaries of the harbour. The chart, on the other hand, is marked with various figures showing the depth of the water in feet and fathoms and I felt these might be confusing.”

“Why?”

“There are figures on charts which have nothing to do with the case or the indentation of the shore line and I thought they might be confusing.”

“But you do have a geodetic survey chart with you?”

“Not with me, no.”

“Then I show you one,” Mason said, “and ask you if you are familiar with it.”

“Yes, certainly.”

“That is an official chart, made by the government?”

“Yes.”

“And is used in navigation and is accurate?”

“I believe it is very accurate.”

“I would like to have that introduced as defendant’s exhibit Number One,” Mason said.

“We have no objection on earth,” Turner Garfield said. “Anything in the line of statistical information that the defence wants introduced in this case may be introduced.”

The next witness was the sheriff of Los Angeles County.

Garfield said, “Sheriff, I show you a photograph, one of the People’s exhibits, showing a body which has been identified as the body of a man found shot to death on the yacht, Jinesa , and ask you if you recognize the photograph.”

“I do.”

“Have you seen the person shown in that photograph?”

“Several times.”

“Dead or alive?”

“Both.”

“You have seen him alive?”

“Several times.”

“And you saw him dead?”

“Yes, I went to the morgue here and looked at the body.”

“Did you make any further attempt to identify the body?”

“I did.”

“What?”

“I took fingerprints.”

“Are you prepared to identify that body?”

“I am.”

“Whose body is it?”

“That of Willmer Gilly.”

“Cross-examine,” Garfield said.

“What were your standards of comparison as far as fingerprints are concerned, Sheriff?” Mason asked.

“FBI records.”

“Gilly, then, had a criminal record?”

“Objected to as being incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial,” Robley Hastings, the district attorney, said.

“Overruled,” Judge Hobart said. “The sheriff was asked about fingerprints and I think counsel is entitled to interrogate him on the authenticity of the fingerprints and how he happened to have them and all matters in connection with them. The Court is going to give the defendant the greatest latitude in the field of cross-examination. Answer the question, Sheriff.”

“He had a criminal record, yes.”

“For what?”

“Stealing an automobile and forgery.”

“Any other record?”

“No other convictions, no.”

“Had he, to your knowledge, been arrested in cases where there were no convictions?”

“Again I have to interpose an objection,” the district attorney said.

“Overruled,” Judge Hobart snapped. “The sheriff stated he saw the decedent several times when he was alive and counsel certainly has a right to interrogate as to any such occasion.”

“But, if the Court please,” Hobart persisted, “a witness can only be impeached by showing that he has been convicted of a felony, not that he has been arrested and charged with crime and then either acquitted or the proceedings dismissed.”

“Counsel is not trying to impeach a dead man,” Judge Hobart said. “He is trying to test the recollection of a witness. However, since counsel can quite readily reframe the question I will sustain the objection.”

“To save any question,” Mason said, “I’ll reframe the question to show exactly what I am getting at.

“Sheriff, on some of the occasions when you saw the decedent, Willmer Gilly, he was under arrest?”

“Yes.”

“And you saw him in your official capacity?”

“Yes.”

“Did you make any of those arrests?”

“One.”

“On what charge?”

“Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial and not proper cross-examination,” Hastings said.

“The objection is sustained,” Judge Hobart ruled.

“No further questions,” Mason said.

Robley Hastings, with something of a dramatic gesture, said, “I call Drew Kirby to the stand.”

Kirby proved to be a slow-moving, grizzled individual in his fifties, with watery blue eyes, an habitual squint and a leather-skinned face — the skin weather beaten to a deep, permanent tan.

“Where are you employed?” Hastings asked.

“At the Blue Sky Yacht Club.”

“Where is that?”

“That’s down on the bay.”

“Now, by the bay you mean what bay?”

“Well, Newport-Balboa Bay.”

“And how long have you been employed there?”

“For four years.”

“Consistently?”

“That’s right.”

“What are your duties?”

“I’m a general roustabout and caretaker. I sort of keep things running, keep track of things for the members, occasionally row them back and forth to yachts — them and their friends.”

“Were you so employed on the tenth of this month?”

“I was.”

“On the evening of the tenth?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m going to show you a picture of Willmer Gilly, one of the People’s exhibits, and ask you if you have ever seen him before.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alive or dead?”

“Both.”

“To the best of your recollection, when did you see him first?”