Erle Gardner - The Case of the Borrowed Brunette

“None, Your Honor. I merely want to follow the movements of the witness from lunch until the time of the murder. I believe that this is a sufficiently narrow field to be reasonable cross-examination of a witness who has stated she did not see the decedent on that day.”

“What was the time of the murder?”

“I believe the prosecution fixes it at two o’clock.”

“At between one-fifty-five and two-fifteen, Your Honor.”

“Very well,” said Judge Lindale. “That is a period of twenty minutes during which it is claimed that the murder was committed. I believe that an examination of this witness as to her whereabouts from twelve-thirty on is permissible in view of the fact that she has stated she did not see the decedent during the entire day of the third.”

“You finished lunch at approximately one-thirty?” Mason asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“And where did you go?”

She looked helplessly at Gulling.

“Incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial,” Gulling said mechanically. “Not proper cross-examination.”

“Overruled.”

“I... I went to... to a certain restaurant.”

“You had already had lunch,” Mason said. “You went to this restaurant for the purpose of seeing someone?”

“Well, yes.”

“And that person was Robert Hines?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see him?”

“No.”

“Did you talk with him on the telephone?”

“Earlier in the day I had talked with him on the telephone.”

“After one-thirty did you talk with him on the phone?”

“No.”

“Did you try to?”

“Yes.”

“You called him at a number he had given you?”

“Yes.”

“The number of a telephone in an apartment in the Siglet Manor Apartments — another apartment, that is?”

“I believe it is — yes.”

“An apartment rented by Carlotta Tipton?”

“I–I believe so, yes.”

“Had you ever met Carlotta Tipton?”

“Not to speak to. I had seen her once or twice. I think I had ridden up in the elevator with her.”

“By the elevator, you mean the elevator of the Siglet Manor Apartments?”

“Yes.”

“And when you went to this restaurant on the day of the murder looking for Robert Hines, you had reason to believe he would be at this restaurant for lunch?”

“Yes.”

“Yet you made no attempt to get in touch with him until after one-thirty?”

“That’s right.”

“Rather late for lunch, isn’t it?”

“Well... I was hoping that perhaps he would be there.”

“Taking a chance on it?”

“If you want to put it that way, yes.”

“But had you gone there earlier, you would have been sure to catch him, wouldn’t you?”

“I... I suppose so.”

Mason said, “Is it a fair inference that the thing that made you so anxious to get in touch with Mr. Hines was something that happened during your own luncheon engagement. Is that right?”

“Your Honor, I object,” Gulling exclaimed. “That’s purely a conclusion.”

“Not a conclusion of the witness, but a conclusion of counsel,” Mason said smiling.

“And,” Judge Lindale remarked dryly, “one that is quite obvious to the Court. Mr. Gulling, can’t we proceed with the hearing without quite so many objections from counsel? After all, this is not a matter before a jury, and it would seem that we might dispense with some of the more technical objections.”

“I’ll withdraw the question,” Mason said. “And I have only one or two more questions to ask. Mrs. Reedley, you gave Mr. Hines some money at the time of this conversation, did you not?”

“Yes.”

“In hundred-dollar bills?”

“Hundreds and fifties.”

“How much?”

“Five hundred dollars.”

“Had you previously received some of that money from your husband?”

Gulling said sullenly, “Your Honor, I dislike to seem over-technical in the face of the Court’s admonition, but it is obvious what Mr. Mason is doing. He has trapped me into making technical objections until the court has requested—”

“I think counsel is right,” Judge Lindale said. “Mr. Mason, you will appreciate, of course, the necessity of cooperation by counsel on both sides. The Court has asked for fewer technical objections. That certainly means that counsel asking the questions should lean over backwards to keep his examination within the rules of evidence, not take advantage of the condition.”

“Your Honor, I appreciate that,” Mason said, “and because the situation may reflect somewhat on my professional integrity, may I explain the purpose of the question?”

“Very well.”

“As I understand it,” Mason said, “it is the contention of the prosecution that at the time Hines was killed he had a wallet in his possession containing some three thousand dollars in currency. I understand further that the numbers on some of those bills have been traced to the husband of this witness. It therefore becomes vitally important to ascertain whether those bills found their way into that (wallet as a consequence of this transaction with Mrs. Reedley, or whether they reached the wallet from some other source.”

Judge Lindale’s eyes showed his interest. He turned to Gulling. “Is that approximately correct, Mr. Deputy District Attorney?”

“Your Honor, I respectfully submit that this is an attempt to force the prosecution to put on its case out of order.”

“Mr. Mason has made a statement explaining the reason for a question,” Judge Lindale said. “I am asking if Mr. Mason’s statement is approximately correct.”

“The statement is approximately correct — but that certainly does not mean that the door can be opened so wide on cross-examination.”

“Well,” Judge Lindale said, “if we are going to get technical, this cross-examination may not be on any subject brought out in the direct examination; but it going to be technical, gentlemen, we’ll be technical on may go to show the bias of the witness. And if we’re both sides. The objection is overruled. Answer the question.”

“No,” Helen Reedley said. “There was not a single dollar of the money I gave Mr. Hines that I had received from my husband. I have not had any money from my husband for some six months.”

“Thank you,” Mason said. “That is all.”

“No redirect,” Gulling snapped.

“Your next witness?” Lindale asked.

“Your Honor, it becomes necessary for me to present one phase of my case slightly out of order. I wish to call one witness for just a question or two.”

“Very well.”

“Mr. Thomas Folsom,” Gulling said, “will you come forward and be sworn?”

Tom Folsom proved to be a tall, loose-jointed man. He was sworn, took the witness stand, crossed long legs, and settled back like a person to whom the witness chair is a familiar seat.

“Your name is Thomas Folsom, and you’re a private detective employed by the Interstate Investigators, and you were so employed on the third of this month and had been for some time prior to that date?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I will direct your attention to the defendant Adelle Winters, and ask if you saw her on the third of the month at approximately two-twenty in the afternoon?”

“I did.”

“Where?”

“At the Lorenzo Hotel.”

“What was she doing?”

“At that particular time?”

“At that particular time.”

“She was there with the other defendant, Eva Martell. They arrived at the hotel around a quarter past two in the afternoon. At about two-twenty, while Eva Martell was telephoning, the defendant Winters, whom I had been instructed to shadow, started to walk rather aimlessly around the hotel lobby. Then she went through a door marked ‘Baggage Room,’ and through another door that led to an alley, and finally turned down a side passageway back of the hotel dining room.”