Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Long-Legged Models

“The kid went into this used car dealing and, believe me, he works it fast. He believes in quantity turnover and he’ll take small profits if he can’t make big profits. But he wants turnover and he gets turnover. He has evidently made quite a bit of money out of the car business, and he’s plunging in real estate, taking options on various bits of property, and there again he makes quick turnovers. He managed to find out where some property was going to be condemned by the State. No one knows exactly how he found it out, but he showed up with a string of options, and naturally the State was anxious to do business with one man who had control of a big percentage of the property, and who was willing to make a fast buck and let it go at that.”

“What did you find out about the Acme Electric and Plumbing Repair Company?”

“Both the Acme outfit and the Eureka Associated Renovators received mail at 1397 Chatham Street, a rooming house. Some man rented a room there and received all the mail. He seldom slept there, but kept his rent paid and dropped in from time to time.”

“Description?” Mason asked.

“General,” Drake said. “Fits almost anyone. Because he kept the rent paid in advance, no one paid much attention to him.

“I can give you one tip on this murder trial, Perry. Hamilton Burger is going to leave Dawn Joyce out of it just as much as he can. His idea is that you made a switch in murder weapons, and he thinks he can prove it. He thinks he’s got the deadwood on Stephanie Falkner.

“Of course, you can try to bring in the idea that Dawn Joyce could have been the killer by introducing evidence about that gun, but the minute you do that, Burger is going to go all out with the contention that you went down there with the murder gun, that you pulled a fake accident in order to divert attention, and switched guns simply to drag in Dawn Joyce as a red herring.”

“Well,” Mason said, “I guess we’ll give him all the chance he wants to make that claim. He can’t prove I switched guns.”

“Apparently he can’t prove it,” Drake said, “and that’s burning him up. He can surmise and that’s about all... You’re representing Stephanie Falkner?”

“I’m going to represent her.”

“Look, Perry, just off the record, what does she say? What happened?”

“There,” Mason said, “is the thing that bothers me. She won’t say a word, except to assure me that she didn’t shoot Casselman. She says she’s innocent of any crime. She won’t amplify that statement. She says that there is something she would have to disclose if I started cross-examining her that no one knows and she doesn’t intend ever to let it come out.”

“Something in her past?” Drake asked.

“I assume so,” Mason said. “She’ll break down her reserve and tell me her story eventually but right at the moment she’s sitting tight.

“She says they are going to have to prove her guilty before they can convict her and she says they simply can’t do anything more than direct suspicion toward her way with some very inconsequential circumstantial evidence... And she may be right at that.”

“Well,” Drake said, “I wish you luck.”

“There’s just a chance I could need it,” Mason told him grinning.

“What about the place where those billheads were printed? Can you get any line on that?”

“Not so far. We’re telephoning like mad, and we’re covering all the more likely job-printing establishments with personal investigators. So far no luck.”

“Keep after it,” Mason said.

Drake lurched up out of the chair. “We’ll sure do that, Perry, and we’ll let you know anything that turns up.”

Hamilton Burger arose to make his opening address to the jury.

“In this case,” he said, “I am going to be brief and factual. It is the intention of the prosecution to avoid all dramatics and to present the case with such mathematical certainty that there can be but one inescapable conclusion.

“On the seventh day of October of this year, George Casselman met his death. Medical evidence will show you ladies and gentlemen of the jury that a revolver was placed against Casselman’s body just below the heart and slightly to the left of the median line. The trigger was pulled. The shot was what is known as a con-tact wound. That is, the muzzle of the revolver was firmly held directly against the body of the victim. In this way, the gases from the exploding shell as well as the bullet went into the victim’s body. Under those circumstances, the sound of the report would have been greatly muffled.

“The prosecution intends to show that the defendant, Stephanie Falkner, had an appointment with George Casselman. She went to keep that appointment by entering the front door of Casselman’s apartment. Sometime later she was seen surreptitiously leaving the apartment by way of the back door.

“We expect to show you that she stepped in the blood of her victim, that she went to the bathroom and tried to wash the blood from her shoe. She left a footprint etched in blood on the floor, and she left towels in the bathroom that bore traces of human blood and bits of material which came from her shoe.

“Her friend, Homer Garvin, tried to cover up the traces of her crime and did obliterate much of the evidence. For that he will in due time be tried, but enough evidence remains to convict this defendant.

“We expect to prove with mathematical certainty that the gun with which the murder was committed was in the possession of the defendant. An ingenious device was used by her attorney, Perry Mason, to confuse the issues on that point, but bear well in mind that the fatal weapon was found in her possession. Let her explain how that came about if she can.

“Mr. Perry Mason, the attorney who is representing both this defendant and Homer Garvin, has not been indicted as an accessory or an accomplice at this time. However, he has not been granted any immunity. We will ask you, ladies and gentlemen, to weigh the evidence and bring in a verdict of first-degree murder against this defendant. After that verdict is in, you may leave it to us to take such additional steps as will deal with the persons responsible for juggling evidence and obstructing the administration of justice. You are not to concern yourselves with that aspect of the case except as it shows certain things which explain the physical facts. Your sole concern is as to whether this defendant murdered George Casselman.

“We shall expect a just verdict and a fair verdict at your hands.”

Hamilton Burger turned with dignity and walked back to his seat at the counsel table.

Judge Hilton Decker looked at Perry Mason.

“Does the defense wish to make an opening statement now, or wait until later?”

“We will wait,” Mason said.

“Call your first witness, Mr. Prosecutor,” Judge Decker said.

Hamilton Burger’s chief trial assistant, Guy Hendrie, took charge and called as the prosecution’s first witness one of the radio officers who had entered the Casselman apartment and who described briefly the body on the floor, the pool of blood, and the fact that the Homicide Squad had been promptly notified.

There was no cross-examination.

The prosecution’s next witness was Sgt. Holcomb, who took the stand with an air of importance, testified to his connection with the Homicide Squad, the fact that he had arrived at the scene, had been in charge, had directed the taking of photographs, and eventually the removal of the body, that thereafter fingerprint men had been instructed to try to develop latent fingerprints.

Again there was no cross-examination.

The photographer who had taken the pictures was sworn and the various pictures were introduced in evidence, including a color picture of the bloodied footprint on the floor.