Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Careless Kitten

Tragg then stated positively that he had advised Mr. Mason that night, while the lawyer was at the Shore residence, that he desired the presence of Franklin B. Shore as a witness to appear before the grand jury, and that he stated to Mason the importance to the police of finding and examining Franklin Shore.

Tragg then went on to state his experiences at the Shore home later on that night when he had been summoned to investigate the shooting of Jerry Templar. He testified what he had found, calling particular attention to a writing desk on which a lock had been forced open. He identified photographs showing the condition of the bedroom when he had arrived on the scene. Burger introduced these photographs in evidence.

On cross-examination, Mason adopted a manner of good-natured affability.

“Lieutenant, referring to this handkerchief, I call your attention to a laundry mark. Have you made any effort to trace that laundry mark?”

“Well, yes.”

“And you found, did you not, that it was a mark given to Franklin Shore by a laundry in Miami, Florida, and that the laundry had been out of business for some six years?”

“That is right.”

“You’ll remember that when you first showed me the watch up in the hills back of Hollywood, I pointed out to you that, according to the indicator, the watch must have been wound at approximately four-thirty or five o’clock the day of the murder?”

“Yes.”

“Now, have you examined the fountain pen?”

“Yes.”

“And what was the condition of that fountain pen?”

Tragg said, “It was dry.”

“According to your observations at the scene of the shooting of Jerry Templar, the assailant had entered through a ground-floor window on the north side of the house. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“And, in entering the room, had knocked over a night stand or taboret which was by the side of Mrs. Shore’s bed?”

“Yes.”

“Then had picked up a cane which apparently was in the room, and had imitated the steps of Mrs. Shore?”

“I think that’s a fair deduction from the evidence. Of course, I don’t know that of my own knowledge.”

“But you did find a cane which was lying on the floor near the corner from which the shots had been fired?”

“Yes.”

“By the way, Lieutenant, you stated, I believe, that you took Thomas Lunk into custody at a downtown hotel where he was registered under the name of Thomas Trimmer?”

“Yes.”

“How did you happen to go to that hotel to make the arrest?”

Tragg smiled. “I am not going to divulge that.”

“It’s not proper cross-examination,” Hamilton Burger objected. “The witness certainly is entitled to protect the source of his information.”

Mason said, “I will withdraw that question and ask this in its place. Isn’t it a fact, Lieutenant, that you went to that hotel because you received an anonymous telephone tip from some person who told you where Lunk was, the name under which he was registered, and the number of his room?”

“Same objection,” Burger said.

Judge Lankershim deliberated the matter thoughtfully, then asked Mason, “What is the reason for asking this question, Mr. Mason?”

“It simply goes to show the entire res gestae, ” he said, “As a matter of fact, Your Honor, it may be quite material. Suppose, for instance, that I had been the one who had given Lieutenant Tragg that telephone tip?”

“You don’t claim that you were?” Judge Lankershim asked.

“Not at present, Your Honor. But I think it’s only fair to the defendant that the witness should answer that one question.”

“I’ll overrule the objection,” Judge Lankershim said. “I doubt that it’s entirely pertinent, but I am going to give the defense the benefit of the widest latitude in cross-examination. The question doesn’t call upon the lieutenant to divulge in any way the source of his information. Answer the question.”

Tragg picked his words cautiously. “I received an anonymous telephone communication, giving me approximately that information.”

Mason smiled. “That’s all.”

“I call Matilda Shore as my next witness,” Burger said.

Matilda Shore, who was sitting next to the aisle, raised herself from the seat by clinging to her cane with one hand, the back of the seat in front of her with the other, and walked to the witness chair, where the clerk administered the oath. While she was walking, the jurors, as well as the spectators, had an opportunity to listen to the peculiarly distinctive sound of her steps.

When she had given her name and address, Burger lost no time in getting to the point.

“You are the wife of Franklin B. Shore?”

“I am.”

“And where is Mr. Shore now?”

“I don’t know.”

“When did you see him last?”

“Approximately ten years ago.”

“Can you give us the exact date?”

“January 23, 1932.”

“And what happened on that date?”

“He disappeared. Someone was talking with him in his study, someone who wanted money. The voices were raised for a while in angry altercation. Then they quieted down. I went to bed. I never saw my husband after that. He disappeared. I knew, however, that he wasn’t dead. I knew that some day he would show up...”

“Never mind what you felt or surmised,” Burger interrupted hastily. “I just want to establish certain things to prove a possible motivation for the entering of your house by a person who was interrupted before he could achieve the purpose for which he had come. For that purpose only, I’ll ask you if there were some checks which were cashed just before and after your husband’s disappearance?”

“Yes.”

“One of those checks was for ten thousand dollars?”

“Yes, sir.”

“To whom was it payable?”

“A man named Rodney French.”

“There were several other checks?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now, where were those checks when you saw them last?”

“They were in my bedroom in a pigeonhole in a desk which was pushed back against the wall.”

“That was a roll-top desk?”

“Yes, sir.”

“An old one?”

“Yes, sir. It had been in my husband’s study. It was his desk.”

“You mean he had used it continuously up to the time of his disappearance as his desk?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you were using it on the thirteenth of this month?”

“That’s right.”

“And these checks which I have mentioned were in there?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How many of them?”

“There were about a dozen of them in an envelope, checks which had been put through the account within the last few days prior to his disappearance, or checks which had been written immediately before his disappearance and were cashed afterwards.”

“Why were those checks segregated in that manner?”

“Because I thought they might prove to be evidence. I put them in an envelope and kept them in this drawer.”

“When did you leave your house on the night of the thirteenth?”

“I don’t know exactly what time it was. I was getting ready for bed. It was probably around ten o’clock. I followed my usual custom of drinking a bottle of stout and shortly afterwards became violently ill. Remembering that the kitten had been poisoned, I took an emetic and went at once to the hospital.”

“Where were the checks which you have mentioned when you went to the hospital?”

“In that pigeonhole in the desk.”

“How do you know?”

“I had been looking at them shortly before, and I hadn’t left the bedroom except to go to the icebox and get a bottle of stout and a glass.”

“When did you next enter your bedroom?”

“The next morning about nine o’clock when I was discharged from the hospital.”