Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom

“Did he mention the name of this man?”

“No, sir, I don’t think he did. If he did, I don’t remember that. Just the man she had been playing around with in Nevada.”

“And then what did he say, if anything?”

“He said: ‘You’d better come to Oceanside. I’ll meet you on the lot we used to own there, the place where we were going to build our house. I’ll drive up there and meet you. I’ll be there with my car, and I’ll leave the lights on so you’ll know it’s me.’ ”

“And then what else did he say?”

“Nothing. He just said he was glad she was being sensible and hung up.”

“And then what?” Covington asked.

“And then the man walked out of the booth.”

“Cross-examine,” Covington snapped at Perry Mason.

Mason looked at the clock. It was eleven-thirty-two, too early to ask the court to take a noon adjournment. Too late to suggest that the court might give him a few minutes by way of recess.

Mason managed a smile which masked his feelings, said casually, and in a voice which was so low as to be hardly audible, “Rather keen of hearing, Mr. Scanlon?”

“Yes, sir, I am,” Scanlon said, “I always have been. I could hear things pretty well.”

“Now when you repeated what this man said,” Mason said, “you quoted his exact words.”

“Well, I can’t say they’re his exact words, but that’s about what he said.”

“You’ve talked with Mr. Covington, the district attorney, before you came to court?”

“Yes, sir, I have.”

“And did you discuss your testimony with Mr. Covington?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Several times?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Was that the way you repeated the conversation when you first talked with him — the way you’re telling it now?”

“Well, he told me I had to say what the man said. He said I couldn’t just say the general effect of what he said, that I had to use the man’s exact words as nearly as I could remember what they were. So that’s what I tried to do.”

Mason said, “You were spending the night at the Hotel Vista de la Mesa?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How long had you been there?”

“Two days.”

“In other words this conversation took place on the second night that you stayed there?... Or was it the third?”

“It was the second.”

“Now you had been trying to get your wife earlier in the evening?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Was there any particular reason why you hadn’t called her earlier during the day?”

“Yes, sir, there was. I had work in San Ysidro but I couldn’t find a place to live. I simply couldn’t find a house either to buy or rent. Then I found out that I might be able to live across the border in Tijuana and commute back and forth.

“I went across the border and stayed at this hotel while I was looking around for a place that I could rent. I had to get permission from the Mexican authorities and I finally had things all fixed up, so I wanted to telephone my wife and tell her to bring our things down. Naturally I wanted her to get started just as soon as possible, because I couldn’t maintain two homes and I wanted to be reunited with my family.”

“I see,” Mason said. “So you went in there to the booth to telephone her?”

“That’s right.”

“Now, did you hear the clock chime?”

“Yes, sir, there was a clock that chimed.”

“Did you hear the clock chime at ten o’clock?”

“I did, yes, sir.”

“Where were you at that time?”

“I was just coming down the hall to the telephone booth. I’d called my wife earlier in the evening — oh, three or four times, and no one had answered. I felt certain she would be back by ten o’clock, so as it approached the hour of ten I decided to go telephone once more.”

“Now the lights were burning brightly in the lobby at that time?” Mason asked conversationally.

“No, sir, they were not.”

“They weren’t?” Mason asked, apparently surprised.

“No, sir, those lights were turned off sometime shortly before ten o’clock when the woman who runs the hotel rented the last room.”

Mason said with a smile, “Just what you know, please. Don’t testify to what she subsequently told you. You don’t know of your own knowledge why the lights were turned off.”

“Yes, sir, as it happens I do. I was in the lobby when the last room was rented. A young woman traveling by herself rented the room and I heard t he conversation at the time when the Mexican woman who runs the place told her that this was the last room in the house, and she was going to close up the place and turn off the lights. I actually saw her turn out the lights.”

“What time was that?”

“It was just — well, I don’t know. It was a few minutes before ten o’clock. Oh, perhaps ten or fifteen minutes, something like that. I can’t be certain of the time. I was sort of killing time waiting for ten o’clock to come. I made up my mind that I’d try to put through my call again at ten o’clock.”

“Well,” Mason said, as though Scanlon’s testimony had ruined his last chance of cross-examination, “apparently you had every occasion to remember everything about the events of that evening.”

“I did, yes, sir.”

“So the lights were turned out sometime before ten?”

“That’s right.”

“No lights at all in the lobby?”

“Oh, yes, there was a night light. It was rather dim.”

“I see,” Mason said casually. “Then you saw this man who had put in the telephone call from the booth next to you as he left the booth. Is that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You remained in the telephone booth?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Opened the door and looked out?”

“Yes, sir, that’s right.”

“Didn’t open it all the way?”

“No, sir, just a crack.”

“Now, do you mean just a crack or do you mean several inches?”

“Just a crack.”

Mason smiled and said, “You’re certain of that?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now if the door was only opened a crack,” Mason said, “it would have been possible for you to have seen through that crack with only one eye, whereas if it had been opened several inches you could have seen with two eyes. Now think very carefully. Was it merely a crack, or was the door open several inches?”

“Just a crack.”

“Then you only saw this figure leaving the telephone booth with one eye. Is that right?”

“Well, I guess so, yes. I hadn’t stopped to consider it before, but I remember I had the door opened just a crack. I guess I only did see him with one eye.”

“And this man left the booth and then went down the corridor toward the rooms?”

“No, sir, he didn’t. He went out of the front door.”

“What door?”

“The exit door, out to where the cars were parked, and drove away.”

“How do you know he drove away?” Mason asked.

“Well, I... I guess I don’t actually know that he drove away but I saw him walk out, and just a few seconds after that I heard a car being started out there in the driveway. Then headlights came on and shone in the lobby for a second or two and furnished a bright illumination. Then the car swung around and the beam of light from the headlights swept across the lobby and disappeared.”

“And you didn’t see that man again until you entered this courtroom today to testify?”

“Yes, sir, I did.”

“Where did you see him?”

“The officers arranged to put him in a place where I could see him.”

“After he was arrested?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Anyone else with him?” Mason asked. “Did the officers use a line-up so that there were several men in your line of vision and then ask you to pick out the man you had seen?”