Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Reluctant Model

“Very well,” Judge Madison said. “Miss Street to the stand.”

Della Street stepped forward, held up her right hand, was sworn and took her position on the witness stand.

“You are acquainted with the defendant, Maxine Lindsay?”

“Yes.”

“Did you know her on the evening of the thirteenth of this month?”

“I did.”

“Did you see her at that time?”

“I did.”

“Did you have a conversation with her?”

“I did.”

“What time was this?”

“It was about nine o’clock in the evening.”

“Who was present?”

“Mr. Mason and myself, in addition to Maxine Lindsay.”

“What did she say? What was that conversation?”

“Just a moment,” Mason said. “May I ask a question on voir dire ?”

“Certainly,” Judge Madison said.

“At the time of that conversation,” Mason said, “what was your occupation, Miss Street?”

“I was your secretary.”

“And what is my occupation?”

“An attorney at law.”

Mason smiled at Judge Madison and said, “Now, Your Honor, I wish to object to the question on the ground that it calls for a privileged communication, a confidential communication made to an attorney.”

“Just a moment,” Dexter said angrily. “I have one more question. Miss Street, at the time of this conversation, was Maxine Lindsay a client of Perry Mason?”

Della Street hesitated. “I don’t know,” she said.

“Let me put it this way,” Dexter said. “Had she paid any retainer?”

“She had not paid a retainer,” Della Street said.

Dexter smiled triumphantly. “There you are, Your Honor. It was not an attorney-and-client relationship.”

“I’d like to ask a question,” Mason said. “Is Miss Lindsay my client now, Miss Street?”

“That’s self-evident,” Judge Madison interrupted. “I don’t see what that has to do with the situation. You’re appearing now as attorney of record for her.”

“Then,” Mason said, “since it is thoroughly understood that she is now my client and that I am appearing as attorney of record for her, I will ask Miss Street this question. Has she ever paid me a retainer?”

“No,” Della Street said, “she hasn’t.”

Judge Madison smiled. “Pardon me, Counselor. I didn’t appreciate the drift of your cross-examination.”

Dexter said, “I would like to ask one more question, Miss Street. Did Mr. Mason tell you that he was going to represent Maxine Lindsay?”

“Yes.”

“And when did he make that statement?”

“Sometime on the fourteenth.”

“Then he hadn’t told you she was his client on the thirteenth?”

“He hadn’t told me at that time, no.”

Judge Madison ran his hand over his head. “I think we had better have a clearer understanding of the facts in this case,” he said, “before the Court rules on the objection.”

Mason said, “Permit me to ask one more question. Miss Street, was there any relationship of friendship, that is, personal friendship, between Miss Lindsay and myself, that you know of?”

“None.”

“Was there anything in this conversation to indicate that she was consulting me as a friend, rather than an attorney?”

“No. She was consulting you because she had been in your office earlier.”

“She made that statement?”

“That was the effect of the conversation, yes.”

Mason said, “I renew the objection, if the Court please.”

“I’m going to sustain the objection for the moment,” Judge Madison said. “Let’s let the evidence develop in the case. If it turns out there’s enough evidence to bind the defendant over without ruling on this objection, then the prosecution can withdraw these questions because it won’t be necessary to have them asked and answered.

“The Court feels there’s a close point here. The Court feels that we should have some authorities on the matter, but the Court is inclined to sustain the objection.”

“Very well,” Dexter said, with poor grace. “I’ll look the matter up. I had anticipated that there would be no objection to Tragg’s stating what Della Street told him. I think it’s part of the res gestae. ”

“What she told him about discovering the body might be part of the res gestae, ” Judge Madison said, “but what she told him as part of the conversation about what the defendant had stated the day before, or rather, the evening before, is not a part of the res gestae. ”

“Very well, recall Lieutenant Tragg,” Dexter said. Della Street returned to her seat.

“Lieutenant, on the afternoon of the fourteenth, did you have occasion to see Maxine Lindsay, the defendant in this case?”

“I did.”

“Where?”

“At Redding, California.”

“And who was with her at that time, if anyone?”

“Mr. Perry Mason.”

“You made some statement to her at that time in the presence of Mr. Perry Mason?”

“Yes, sir. I told her that I wanted to question her concerning the murder of Collin Max Durant.”

“And did she make any statement to you at that time?”

“Not at that time. Mr. Perry Mason told her not to make any statement.”

“You returned to Los Angeles?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Who returned with you?”

“Mr. Perry Mason and Maxine Lindsay, the defendant.”

“Subsequently Maxine Lindsay was interrogated without Perry Mason being present?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did she make any statement?”

“At first she refused to make any statement. Then I explained to her that we didn’t want to work any injustice but that there was evidence pointing to her, that if she would explain just what had happened we would investigate and if the evidence bore out her story she would be released. I then went on to tell her that the evidence of her flight was evidence which could be received as evidence of guilt in this state, and she told me that she wasn’t fleeing. She said that she had decided to visit her sister, a Mrs. Homer H. Stigler, who resides in Eugene, Oregon. I then asked her how long she had been on the road and learned that she had left Los Angeles at approximately nine-forty; that she was in Bakersfield a little after midnight; that she had very limited funds and that she looked around for a while getting the cheapest motel she could find.”

“You learned all this from the defendant?”

“Yes, sir.”

“She had been advised of her constitutional rights?”

“She had.”

“Then what else did she tell you?”

“That she had sent a wire to her sister asking for funds and that she had received those funds transferred by telegraph to Redding.”

“Incidentally, Lieutenant, did you talk with the sister?”

“Subsequently I talked with the sister.”

“And did the sister verify—”

“Just a minute,” Mason interposed. “The question as now being asked is leading. Furthermore it is incompetent, irrelevant and hearsay. The statement by the sister cannot in any way be binding on this defendant, and—”

“Withdraw the question,” Dexter said wearily. “I was trying to save time.”

“And I was trying to preserve the constitutional rights of the defendant,” Mason said.

“Now then, subsequently did the defendant make any other statements to you?”

“Yes, she did. I suggested to her that she had arranged with Perry Mason to meet her along the road and she denied this. I then questioned her concerning the time at which she had met Perry Mason and she advised me that she had last seen Perry Mason at about nine-thirty on the evening of the thirteenth; that she had then decided to visit her sister; that she had given Miss Street the key to her apartment. I asked her how well she knew Collin Durant, the dead man, and she said at first that she barely knew him. Later on she changed her story and admitted that she had been friendly with him at one time, and that since she had been in Los Angeles she had seen him from time to time.”