Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Careless Kitten

“You lit a gas heater after we arrived?”

“That’s right.”

“When you first left the house, you had left the door between the front bedroom and the bathroom closed?”

“Yes.”

“And when we arrived there, that door was open.”

“Yes.”

“And the contents of the dresser drawers had been dumped out and clothes taken from the closet?”

“That’s right.”

“Was anything missing?”

“Yes. Some money had been taken from where I’d been keeping it hid — in a pocket of my best suit.”

“That suit had been left hanging in the closet?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How much was missing?”

“Objected to,” Burger said, “as incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial. It’s not proper cross-examination. It has nothing whatever to do with the facts of this case.”

“Overruled,” the Judge said. “The defendant is entitled to show the condition of the premises and anything which would reasonably make it appear the departure of Franklin Shore might have been prior to the time the prosecution claims that departure took place.”

“Around three hundred dollars was missing,” Lunk said.

“The door to the pantry was closed?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now, when you had been cooking, you had taken flour from a can in the pantry?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And some of that flour had been spilled on the floor around the can?”

“Yes, sir.”

“When we arrived, there was a kitten in the house?”

“That’s right.”

“This was a kitten which had previously been left with you by Helen Kendal?”

“Yes.”

“And, I believe, I called your attention to the fact that the kitten had evidently run through this sprinkling of flour which surrounded the can, and then had run across the kitchen, through the door of the kitchen, and into the back bedroom?”

“That’s right.”

“There were tracks showing that this had happened?”

“Yes. It ain’t far from the pantry to the door of the back bedroom, only three or four feet, I guess.”

“And not more than four or five feet from the bedroom door to the back bed?”

“Yes.”

“And by the side of that bed I called your attention to a place where the tracks showed the kitten’s paws had been bunched together as though it had jumped up on the bed?”

“Yes.”

“The kitten was curled up in a little ball in the center of the bed in the front room when we got there? Is that right?”

“That’s right.”

“But you remember distinctly that the pantry door was closed?”

“Yes.”

“On a table in the sitting room was an ash tray, and a visiting card bearing the name George Alber, some writing on this card, and an ash tray which held the stub of a cold cigar?”

“Yes. The cigar was left by Franklin Shore. I found the card stuck in the door when I went out.”

“When you went out? ”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t hear any knocking at the door or ringing of the doorbell while you were there?”

“No. That’s why the card bothered me. Alber must have tried to ring the bell, and it didn’t work. Sometimes it gets out of order.”

The district attorney said to Mason, “May I withdraw this witness temporarily to put on two other witnesses who are anxious to get away? Then this witness can return to the stand.”

Mason bowed grave assent. “No objection.”

Burger called in rapid succession the taxi driver who told of taking Della Street to the neighborhood, of the length of time she was absent from his cab, and of then driving her to her apartment. Tragg, recalled to the stand, testified as to finding the kitten in Della Street’s apartment, and Helen Kendal, recalled, identified the kitten as the one which had been poisoned and which she had left with Thomas Lunk on the evening of the thirteenth.

Mason apparently paid not the slightest attention to any of these other witnesses. He did not bother with interposing any objections, nor did he use his right of cross-examination.

Then Lunk was recalled for further cross-examination.

Mason studied the witness for several seconds until the silence focused the attention of everyone in the courtroom upon the importance of what he was about to say.

“When was the last time you remember opening that can of flour in the pantry?”

“The morning of the thirteenth. I made some pancakes for breakfast.”

“And, since I called your attention to the rather large amount of flour which was sprinkled around the base of the can, you haven’t taken the lid off the flour container?”

“No, sir. I haven’t had any chance. The police took me from the hotel and have held me ever since.”

“As a material witness,” Hamilton Burger hastened to explain.

Lunk turned to him with some show of temper and said, “I don’t care why you did it, but you sure did it!”

Judge Lankershim said, “The witness will confine himself to answering questions.”

Mason looked up at Judge Lankershim. “If Your Honor will take a recess for half an hour, I don’t think it will be necessary to ask any more questions.”

“Just what is the object of such a continuance?”

Mason was smiling now. “I couldn’t help observing, Your Honor, that the moment I began this last phase of the cross-examination, Lieutenant Tragg rather hurriedly left the courtroom. I think that thirty minutes will give him ample opportunity to get out to the house, search the flour can, and return.”

“It is your contention that the cover was removed from that flour can sometime during the evening of the thirteenth, or the morning of the fourteenth by some person other than the witness Thomas Lunk?” Judge Lankershim asked.

Mason’s smile broadened. “I think, Your Honor, Lieutenant Tragg will make a very interesting discovery. Your Honor appreciates my position. I am only interested in establishing the innocence of this defendant. Therefore, I don’t care to make any statement as to what may be discovered, nor as to its evidentiary value.”

Judge Lankershim said, “Very well, the Court will take a thirty-minute recess.”

As the people shuffled out of the courtroom to congregate in the hallways, George Alber came pushing forward, a somewhat sheepish grin on his face.

“Sorry if that card mixed things up any,” he said. “As it happens, I was driving by Lunk’s place after the theater. Thought I’d stop and see if a light was on. One was, so I went up and pushed the bell. No one answered, so I left the card — thought Helen might appreciate my thinking of the kitten — and I was a bit worried.

“To tell you the truth, it never occurred to me the bell might be out of order.”

“A light was on?” Mason asked.

“Yes. I could see a light through the shades. I just didn’t knock, because I thought the bell was ringing.”

“What time was this?”

“Oh, right around midnight.”

Mason pursed his lips, said, “You might casually mention it to the district attorney.”

“I have. He says he knows the bell was out of order, so it’s unimportant.”

Mason said, “I guess it is, then.”

When court reconvened, Hamilton Burger showed very plainly that he was laboring under great excitement.

“If the Court please,” he said, “a very startling situation has developed in this case. I ask permission to withdraw the witness Lunk from the stand and recall Lieutenant Tragg.”

“No objection,” Mason said.

“Very well,” Judge Lankershim ruled. “Lieutenant Tragg will once more take the stand. You have already been sworn, Lieutenant.”

Tragg nodded and walked to the witness stand.