Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Duplicate Daughter

“I still insist that it’s incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial,” Mason said, “until the district attorney first proves that the keys came from this defendant and that the document which Glamis Barlow was seeking was jointly incriminating.”

“I am inclined to think, in view of the manner in which the evidence is now developing,” Judge Alvord said, “that this may be permissible as tending to prove motivation. However, I will state to the prosecution, as I have stated several times before, that the prosecution has already made out a prima-facie case. If it intends to go ahead and try to prove a lot of details, such as motivation, it is going to open the door to a showing by the defense on those same matters.

“I would also like to point out that if these matters which would properly be a part of the case in the Superior Court are brought into the case at this time, and if it should then appear that the defendant is able to undermine the theory of the prosecution on any one of these matters, that weakens the case of the prosecution.

“Attempting to prove too much and failing in part of it may be just as fatal as attempting to prove too little.”

“I think I know what I am doing,” Hamilton Burger said. “I want to get this matter before the Court. I want to get these witnesses on the stand. I want to get their testimony in his case. I am willing to take my chances in the event any one of these factors in the case are discredited.”

“Very well,” Judge Alvord said. “I think, however, I would like to have a statement from you first as to what you expect to prove by this witness.”

“We expect to prove that this witness is acquainted with Glamis Barlow, that he has seen her several times in Las Vegas, that he has positively identified Glamis Barlow as the young woman he saw surreptitiously leaving the office of Vera Martel.

“The office of Vera Martel in Las Vegas is not in an office building but is on the second floor of a building which has a gambling establishment on the lower floor. Some of the upstairs rooms are devoted to apartments and there are a few offices. It happens that the office of Vera Martel is directly opposite the apartment occupied by this witness, an apartment which is given to him as part of his compensation as a card dealer in the casino downstairs.

“We expect to show that this witness saw Glamis Barlow surreptitiously leave the office of Vera Martel. We expect to show that the next morning the office of Vera Martel was found to have been burglarized and that files had been looted, papers strewn over the floor and that there was every evidence of a hasty search for some document, a search which presumably was successful.”

“May I ask the precise time that this took place?” Mason asked.

“The time was precisely nine fifteen in the evening,” Hamilton Burger said. “The witness can fix the time by reason of a radio program that had just given the time. And, if the Court please, we also expect to show the fingerprints of the defendant, Carter Gilman, were found in that office.”

“We renew our objection,” Mason said. “This is all by way of inference. Let the prosecution first prove that the defendant in this case turned over a key to Glamis Barlow.”

“I think we can sufficiently establish that fact by inference at this stage of the case,” Hamilton Burger said.

“Moreover,” Mason said, “a witness can’t testify as to a person’s manner in leaving a room as to that manner being surreptitious. That is sheer conclusion.”

“Not in this case,” Hamilton Burger snapped. “There are a dozen things that show a consciousness of guilt: the tiptoe exit, the look up and down the corridor, the glance back over the shoulder, the quiet closing of the door.”

“Then let him testify to those dozen things,” Mason said, “and I’ll cross-examine him on each one. But he can’t give his conclusion.”

Judge Alvord thought for a few moments, then reached a sudden decision. “The Court is going to take this matter under advisement,” he said. “I’m going to look up some authorities this afternoon and this evening, and tomorrow morning at ten o’clock I’ll make a ruling.

“Does the defense have any objection to a continuation of the case until ten o’clock tomorrow morning?”

“We have none,” Mason said.

“Very well,” Judge Alvord said, “the case is continued until ten o’clock tomorrow morning. The Court will take its ruling under advisement and announce its decision on this point at ten o’clock tomorrow morning. In the meantime, the defendant is remanded to the custody of the sheriff. Court is adjourned until ten a.m. tomorrow. All witnesses under subpoena will return at that time.”

As soon as court had adjourned, Mason, his eyes tense with concentration, said to Paul Drake, “All right, Paul, I want some action and I want it fast. Who’s the best polygraph operator in this area? I want to give some of my people a lie-detector test. Let’s find out who’s lying.”

“For my money, Cartman Jasper is about the best — but who’s going to take a lie-detector test? Carter Gilman is in custody and you can’t give him a lie-detector test without the consent of the police and the prosecutors. Glamis Barlow is being held as a material witness and...”

“Primarily I’m thinking of Nancy Gilman,” Mason said. “There’s a woman who is something of an enigma. She has too much poise, too much polish, too much sex, in a nice sort of a way. She’s dynamite and you’re never going to be able to tell what she’s thinking unless you can break below the surface.”

“All right, what do you want me to do?”

“Get Cartman Jasper in one of your offices. Get him to set up his equipment all ready for a lie-detector test.”

“And you’re going to run Nancy Gilman?”

“That’s right,” Mason said.

He turned to Della Street. “Della, will you get Nancy Gilman and tell her that I want her in my office, that I want to talk with her?”

Della Street nodded.

“Stay with her,” Mason said. “Take her right up to the office and wait for me.”

As Della left, Mason turned to Paul Drake and said, “You get on the telephone and get Cartman Jasper up there and I may want to give you a lie-detector test, too.”

“Me?” Drake exclaimed in surprise.

“Exactly,” Mason said. “You might become a key witness in this case.”

“How come?”

“This man McCoy may be the key to the whole thing. He’ll swear that he saw Glamis Barlow leaving the office of Vera Martel at nine fifteen. Now, your notes show that Glamis Barlow was playing the slot machines in a casino up to nine eleven. She wouldn’t have had time to get to Vera’s place, have gone in, ransacked it and left by nine fifteen.”

“Remember,” Drake said, “that after she broke away and dashed out into a taxi, I don’t know where she went.”

“But,” Mason said, “you called me and I sent you out to see Steve Barlow and you found her there.”

“That, of course, was some time later.”

“How much later?”

“Well, that was... well, she’d been gone three quarters of an hour.”

“But up to nine eleven she was playing the slot machines?”

“Up to nine eleven she was playing the slot machines.”

“Any chance you could be wrong on the time?”

“None whatever. Not unless I misread my wristwatch.”

“Well, you’re a hell of a detective if you can’t tell the time from your wristwatch,” Mason said. “Don’t start introducing a negative element when you get on the witness stand. You were watching her at nine fifteen?”

“I was watching her play slot machines from forty minutes past eight until nine eleven,” Drake said, “and then I didn’t lose sight of the cab she was in until nine twelve.”