Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Shapely Shadow

“That is right,” she said savagely, “and I knew my husband — I knew him very well indeed. If he had met me in Las Vegas, I would have given that little strumpet a dose of her own medicine. I—”

“Now, just a minute,” Judge Seymour interrupted. “We won’t have any name calling here, Mrs. Theilman.”

“I was simply trying to answer the question,” she said, “I... I’m sorry, Your Honor.”

“I understand exactly how you feel,” Mason said, bowing. “That’s all, Mrs. Theilman. Thank you.”

Judge Seymour said, “It is past the hour of the afternoon adjournment, gentlemen. I didn’t want to interrupt the cross-examination of this witness. Court will adjourn until nine-thirty tomorrow morning. The jurors will not permit themselves to form or express any opinion as to the merits of the case, nor will they discuss the matter among themselves or permit it to be discussed in their presence. The defendant is remanded to custody. Court will recess until nine-thirty tomorrow morning.”

Mason turned to the officer and said, “I want to talk with my client briefly before she is returned.”

The officer nodded.

Mason waited until the courtroom had cleared, then turned to Janice Wainwright.

“You see what I’m getting at, Janice,” he said. “Your story is going to be that you talked with Morley Theilman after you talked with me on the morning of the fourth. According to the testimony of the prosecution, Theilman had been dead for some four hours at the time you say you talked with him. I simply had to try to demolish their theory of the time element, although perhaps some of the jurors feel that I was unnecessarily savage with the doctor.”

“I understand,” she said.

“That, however,” Mason said, “doesn’t mean that you were telling the truth.”

“Mr. Mason, I am telling the truth.”

“I believe you,” Mason said, “because it is my duty to believe you. As your attorney I am obligated to accept your story and to see that you have your day in court. But the evidence is very much against you, and some of that circumstantial evidence is damning.”

“Nevertheless, Mr. Mason, I am going to tell you again. I did not go out to that subdivision. I did not see Mr. Theilman from the time he left the office early on the afternoon of the third.”

Mason said, “I have the uneasy feeling that you’re lying to me, Janice, and if you are, it means you have a one-way ticket to the gas chamber.”

“I... I can’t help it. I’ve told you the truth.”

“Now then,” Mason said, “remember this. They subpoenaed the records from our office. They have the numbers of those twenty-dollar bills that were in that suitcase. If they can ever connect you with any of those bills, even one of them, you’re finished. You’re completely sunk.”

“I certainly understand that, Mr. Mason. They can never connect me with that money. I never touched a dime of it. I did exactly what I told you I did. I put that money in the locker and mailed the key in accordance with Mr. Theilman’s instructions. I never went near the locker again. I— Well, you know that I couldn’t have because you kept the key to the suitcase.”

“I kept a key to the suitcase,” Mason said. “There was nothing to have prevented you stopping at a locksmith before you came to the office and having a dozen duplicate keys to that suitcase made.”

“But I didn’t do it.”

“You say you didn’t do it.”

“I’ve told you the truth,” she said defiantly.

“Your car certainly was driven out to that subdivision,” Mason said. “The moulage of the tires can’t be coincidental. Your car went out there.”

“My car did not go out there, Mr. Mason. I tell you I never went out there.”

“All right, then,” Mason said. “Somebody had to frame you. Somebody took your car out, and that’s pretty unlikely.”

“I can’t help it. I didn’t take my car out there.”

“Let’s go back to the fourth,” Mason said. “Now, Mr. Theilman was reported to have disappeared. There was a detective at your office. Where was your car during that time?”

“In the parking lot at the office.”

“Then you got frightened and went to your apartment — at least when you telephoned you said you were at your apartment.”

“Yes.”

“And then what?”

“Then Mr. Theilman telephoned me.”

“And told you to do what?”

“To take some money from the petty cash drawer in the safe, to take the first available evening plane for Las Vegas and meet his first wife when she arrived there on the train. Carlotta doesn’t like to fly.”

“And then what did you do?”

“I got the money from the petty cash in the office safe.”

“How much?”

“He told me to take two hundred and fifty dollars.”

“How much was in there?”

“He tries to keep five hundred dollars there.”

“And you took two hundred and fifty dollars for your expenses on the trip?”

“Yes. I was simply following his instructions.”

“But you also gave me two hundred and fifty dollars as a fee when I saw you in Las Vegas.”

She hesitated a moment, then said, “That also was in accordance with instructions. He told me to give you two hundred and fifty dollars.”

“In cash?”

“He said to give you two hundred and fifty dollars.”

“So you went to the safe where Mr. Theilman keeps five hundred dollars for emergencies. You took two hundred and fifty dollars for your own use as expenses and you took two hundred and fifty dollars to pay me. That’s a total of five hundred dollars. Was there any money left in the cash drawer?”

“No.”

“You took it all?”

“Yes.”

“As the prosecution will point out,” Mason said, “immediately after Mr. Theilman’s death you went to the safe and looted the emergency cash drawer of every cent that was in it.”

She was close to tears. “I did only what he told me to do.”

“And what did you do after that — immediately after you emptied the cash drawer?”

“I went to the beauty shop.”

“And were there how long?”

“About five hours.”

“Did you drive to the beauty shop?”

“It’s in the neighborhood of my apartment.”

“Where was your car?”

“Parked on a side street around from the apartment house.”

“When did you actually see your car after you went to the beauty shop?”

“You mean on the fourth?”

“Yes.”

“Not until about five-thirty when I got in it and drove to the airport.”

Mason said, “You’ve got to get on the witness stand and tell that story and when you tell it, you’re hooked... Now look here, Janice, if you were having an affair with Mr. Theilman, I want you to tell me about it and tell me about it now. If you went out there to meet him at that subdivision...”

“Mr. Mason, I tell you, I didn’t. And I know that Mr. Theilman wasn’t there at the time he phoned me. There isn’t a telephone in that office. It was taken out. The nearest telephone is some two miles down the road.”

“Is there any chance, any chance whatever,” Mason asked, “that you could have been deceived by someone who was impersonating Mr. Theilman, someone who told you—”

“Not a chance in the world,” she interrupted. “I know Mr. Theilman’s voice. As a secretary I’m trained to listen to voices on the telephone.”

Mason shook his head. “Janice,” he said, “it’s an impossible combination of circumstances, and the minute you get on the stand and try to make that story stand up they’ll tear you to pieces.”

“It’s the truth.”

“Well,” Mason said, “if that’s your story, that’s your story, but I have a feeling that you’re still holding out on me. I have a feeling that you’re still trying to deceive me and — well, if you are, it’s going to be your funeral, and when I say it’s going to be your funeral I mean it literally.”