Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Careless Kitten

“I will overrule the objection,” Judge Lankershim said, “but will later limit the purposes for which the answer may be considered by the jury.”

“What did your uncle say?”

“He asked me if I knew who was speaking. I told him that I didn’t. He then told me his name and went on to prove his identity.”

“That’s a conclusion,” Hamilton Burger said hastily. “That may go out. What did he say?”

“Well, he called my attention to certain things that only my uncle would have known about.”

“What I am after particularly,” Hamilton Burger said, “is what he told you to do.”

“He told me to go to Mr. Perry Mason, the attorney, and then to go to the Castle Gate Hotel and ask for a Mr. Henry Leech, who, he said, would take us to him. He told me that I wasn’t to take anyone else into my confidence; that, particularly, I wasn’t to let my Aunt Matilda know anything about it.”

“Your Aunt Matilda is the wife of Franklin Shore?”

“Yes.”

“And later on that evening, in company with Mr. Mason, did you make any effort to get in touch with Mr. Leech?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do?”

“We went to the Castle Gate Hotel. We were advised that Mr. Leech wasn’t there. A note was delivered telling us where we could...”

“Just a moment,” Hamilton Burger said. “I’ll produce that note and ask you if this is the note.”

“Yes.”

Burger said, “I’ll ask that it be received in evidence as People’s Exhibit A, and I will then read it to the jury.”

The document was duly stamped, and Burger read it to the jury.

“Now,” he asked Helen Kendal, “what did you do with reference to that. In other words, what was your next step after you received that document?”

“We went to the place mentioned.”

“There was a map with it?”

“Yes.”

“I will show you this map and ask if this is the one.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I ask that this be received in evidence as People’s Exhibit B.”

“No objection,” Mason said.

“So ordered,” Judge Lankershim announced.

“And you went to the place indicated on that map?” Burger asked the witness.

“Yes.”

“What did you find there?”

“It was up in the hills back of Hollywood. There was a reservoir. A car was parked near the reservoir. A man was sitting in the car, sort of slumped over the wheel. He was dead. He... he had been killed.”

“That man was a stranger to you?”

“Yes.”

“Who was with you at that time?”

“My uncle, Gerald Shore, Mr. Perry Mason and Miss Street.”

“By Miss Street you mean Miss Della Street, the defendant in this action?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what happened next? What was done immediately after that?”

“We three remained near our car while Mr. Mason went to telephone the police.”

“Then what happened?”

“The police came and asked questions and then my Uncle Gerald drove us home. After that, we went to a hospital to call on Aunt Matilda, and then Uncle Gerald drove me home again.”

“By home, you mean to the Shore residence?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then what happened?”

“They let me out at the residence. The others went to...”

“Never mind stating where they went, because you don’t know — only what they told you. But the others left, did they?”

“Yes.”

“Then what happened?”

“A friend came to call on me.”

“What was his name?”

“Jerry Templar.”

“He was a man with whom you had been quite friendly?”

“In a way, yes.”

“And who was in the house at that time?”

“Komo, the servant, was sleeping in the basement. Mrs. Parker, a cook and housekeeper, was in her room over the garage. Mr. Templar and myself were in the living room.”

“What happened?”

“We heard a peculiar sound coming from my Aunt Matilda’s bedroom, a sound as though something had been tipped over. Then we heard the chatter of her caged lovebirds. Then, after a moment, we heard a peculiar noise which sounded like my aunt walking.”

“Is there anything peculiar about her walk?”

“Yes, sir. She drags her right foot when she walks, and uses a cane. The thump of the cane, and the peculiar dragging noise of the right foot are very distinctive.”

“And this walk sounded like your aunt’s walk?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then what happened?”

“I knew that my aunt wasn’t in the house. I told that to Jerry. He immediately walked down the corridor and opened the door of the bedroom. Jerry had always been so big and strong that I guess I considered him invincible. I never realized the danger in which I was placing him. I...”

“What happened?” Burger asked.

“Someone in the room shot twice. The first bullet just missed my head. The second one... hit Jerry.”

“What did you do after that?”

“I don’t know. I dragged Jerry away from the door, and then he recovered consciousness. He was unconscious for some little time. I don’t know just how long. When he opened his eyes, I told him I must get an ambulance and a doctor. He said we could get a taxicab quicker, and I telephoned for a taxicab. We rushed him to the hospital, and an hour or two later on, Dr. Everett Rosllyn operated on him.”

“You remained at the hospital?”

“Yes, sir, until after the operation, and until after — after I’d seen he was going to be all right.”

“Cross-examine,” Burger snapped.

Mason said, “You don’t know how long Jerry Templar was unconscious?”

“No. It was all a nightmare to me.”

“You don’t know how long it was after the shot was fired before you got to the hospital?”

“No, sir. I can’t tell you the time.”

“And you don’t know exactly how long it was after we left you at the house that last time before the shooting took place?”

“Well... it might have been... it might have been an hour. It might not have been more than half an hour. It was perhaps somewhere between half an hour and an hour.”

“You can’t fix it any closer than that?”

“No.”

“You were about fourteen years of age when your uncle disappeared?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Can you fix exactly the time when the kitten was first taken sick — that is, with reference to the time of that telephone conversation with your Uncle Franklin?”

“It was immediately after I had hung up the telephone that I noticed the kitten was sick.”

“Did you notice that?”

“My attention was first called to it by my aunt.”

“By your aunt you mean Matilda Shore?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What did you do with the kitten?”

“I took it to the veterinary.”

Burger said, “Just a moment, Your Honor, one important question I forgot to ask. I would like to interrupt to get it in the record.”

“No objection,” Mason said affably.

“After dinner that night, did you go back to see the veterinary?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what was the condition of the kitten at that time?”

“The kitten seemed to be well, but weak.”

“What did you do with him?”

“I took him with me. The veterinary suggested that...”

“Never mind what the veterinary suggested.”

Mason said affably, “Oh, go ahead, let her tell it. I take it, Miss Kendal, the veterinary suggested that if some person were trying to poison the kitten around the house, that it would be better to take it away from the house, and so you took it down and left it with Thomas Lunk, the gardener, did you not?”

“Yes, sir.”

Mason said, “That’s all.” And Burger nodded.

Hamilton Burger called Lieutenant Tragg to the stand. Tragg testified in the close-clipped, efficient manner of the police officer who has been on the witness stand on numerous occasions. He testified to receiving a telephone call, to going to the hills back of Hollywood, finding the body, identified the articles which were tied up in a handkerchief near the body, and testified as to the identity of the body.