Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Stepdaughter’s Secret

“It was around seven o’clock, I guess, on the tenth.”

“Where was he?”

“Down at the yacht club.”

“Who was he with, or who was with him?”

“Mrs Bancroft was with him.”

“Now, by Mrs Bancroft you mean Phyllis Bancroft, the defendant in this action, the woman sitting to the left of Perry Mason?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And where was she?”

“She was out on the landing — the float.”

“And what was she doing?”

“Well, she was getting in a dinghy that belonged to the Bancroft yacht, the Jinesa .”

“Did you see her talking to Gilly?”

“Oh, yes, she was talking to him.”

“And what happened?”

“She rowed him out to the yacht.”

“She rowed him, or he did the rowing?”

“Well, she rowed him out and put him aboard the yacht.”

“Then what?”

“They were aboard the yacht for about ten or fifteen minutes, I guess, I don’t know. I didn’t see them after they got aboard the yacht. Then I saw her rowing back.”

“Alone?”

“Yes, sir. Alone.”

“Then what?”

“Well, she left the dinghy tied up at the float and went off somewhere and I saw her come back after a while, I guess it was maybe an hour.”

“And what was she doing then?”

“Well, she had some packages in a shopping bag.”

“And what did she do?”

“Got in the dinghy and rowed out to the yacht.”

“And then what happened?”

“Well, now there I don’t know what happened, sir. I was busy for a while and a thick fog had come in, one of those real heavy, pea-soup fogs. You couldn’t see a darn thing — that is, I mean you couldn’t see out in the bay, at all.”

“Could you see as far as the yacht, the Jinesa ?”

“No, sir.”

“And what did you do?”

“Well, I was busy around the place.”

“When did the fog lift?”

“It didn’t lift. It just settled down heavy.”

“Well, it must have lifted sometime,” Hastings said, his manner showing annoyance.

“Oh, sure, it cleared up the next afternoon.”

“And when did you next see the Bancroft yacht, the Jinesa?”

“I didn’t see it. It was gone.”

“But you did see it again?”

“Oh, sure. About... I don’t know, I guess it was about four-thirty or so the next afternoon they came bringing it in.”

“What do you mean, they?”

“The sheriff and some deputies.”

“How did they bring it in?”

“They were towing it with another boat.”

“What other boat?”

“A Coast Guard boat.”

“And what was done then?”

“Well, they cleared off a place at the float and tied the boat up and roped off the float, and then a lot of photographers and police officers came aboard.”

“Now, did you see Willmer Gilly after his death?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where?”

“At the county morgue.”

“You were taken there to look at the body?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And was that the same body, that is, the body of the same man that you had seen on the evening of the tenth with the defendant, Mrs Bancroft?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re positive?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Is there any slightest shadow of doubt in your mind?”

“No, sir.”

“You may cross-examine,” Hastings said to Perry Mason.

Mason arose from his chair at the counsel table, walked over to stand in front of the witness, whom he regarded with a kindly air and said conversationally, “You’ve identified this photograph of Wilmer Gilly.”

“That’s right.”

“When did you first see a photograph of Gilly?”

“I saw Gilly himself.”

“I know,” Mason said, “but when was the first time you saw a photograph of Gilly?”

“Well, that was when they came looking around... Let me see, that was... Why, yes, that was about nine o’clock, I guess, on the night of the eleventh.”

“How long after the yacht had been brought in to the float?”

“Oh, I don’t know, four or five hours, I guess.”

“Who showed you the picture?”

“The sheriff.”

“Ask you if you’d ever seen him before?”

“Something like that.”

“Actually, didn’t the sheriff ask you if that wasn’t a photograph of a man that had been with Mrs Bancroft the night before, and ask you if you hadn’t seen her row him out to the boat?”

“Something like that, I guess.”

“Do you remember the sheriff’s exact words?”

“Well, no. He showed me the photograph. He said he thought I probably had seen the man.”

“Did you agree with him?”

“I told him I might have, yes.”

“Did he ask you to study the photograph carefully?”

“Yes.”

“Did you?”

“Yes.”

“That was before you went to the morgue to look at the body?”

“Yes.”

“When did you go to the morgue?”

“On the evening of the twelfth.”

“How many times had you seen Gilly’s picture before you went to the morgue?”

“Oh, several times.”

“How many?”

“Quite a few.”

“Did you have a copy of the picture in your possession?”

“I had a print, yes.”

“Where did you get it?”

“The sheriff gave it to me.”

“Told you to study it carefully?”

“Yes.”

“Told you he wanted you to identify the man in the photograph?”

“Oh, I don’t think he said it that way. He asked me if that wasn’t the man that had been down there on the float with Mrs Bancroft the night before and I told him it sure looked like it.”

“And he left you the photograph and told you to study it?”

“Not right away. That was the next morning.”

“The morning of the twelfth?”

“Yes.”

“And you studied that picture off and on during the day?”

“Yes.”

“And then after you’d studied the picture you were taken to the morgue.”

“That’s right.”

Mason regarded the man thoughtfully. “Did you have your glasses on when you looked at the picture?”

“Sure.”

“Where are your glasses now?”

The witness reached automatically for his breast pocket, then took his hand away and said, “I left them down in my room.”

“But on the eleventh and twelfth when you looked at the picture you had your glasses on, is that right?”

“Yes.”

“You can see better with your glasses on?”

“Naturally.”

“Could you have identified the picture without your glasses?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“But you identified the picture here in the courtroom without glasses.”

“I knew whose picture it was.”

“How did you know whose picture it was?”

“Well, it had to be the picture of this dead man.”

“What do you mean, it had to be?”

“Well, it was, wasn’t it?”

“I’m asking you,” Mason said. “Do you know whose picture it was?”

“Yes. I swore to it, didn’t I?”

“And you can see it without your glasses?”

“Yes.”

Mason walked over to the exhibit, picked it up, took another photograph from his pocket, compared them for a moment, then approached the witness and said, “Now look at this photograph. Are you positive that’s the man that was with the defendant on the night of the tenth?”

“I told you I’m positive.”

“That’s the man?”

“Yes.”

“No question of doubt in your mind?”

“Just a moment, just a moment,” Hastings shouted, jumping to his feet. “Counsel has two photographs there, one that he’s taken from his pocket while we couldn’t see what he was doing.”

“All right,” Mason said, “I’ll show the witness both photographs. These are both photographs of the same person?”