Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Shapely Shadow

Mason smiled at the jury.

Hamilton Burger and Ruskin had a quick, whispered conference. Then abruptly Burger said, “That’s all.”

“That’s all,” Mason said. “I have no further questions.”

Judge Seymour looked at the clock. “Well, gentlemen, we only have fifteen minutes before noon. Does the defense wish to start with its case?”

“We’re quite ready,” Mason said.

“Well, now just a minute,” Hamilton Burger said, and again had a whispered conference with Ruskin. Then he said, “Very well, go ahead. We’ll put on the rest of our evidence by way of rebuttal.”

“Very well,” Judge Seymour said. “Proceed, Mr. Mason.”

Mason smiled at the judge and said, “We have no evidence on the part of the defense, Your Honor. The defense rests. Let’s proceed with the argument.”

“What!” Hamilton Burger shouted.

“The defense rests,” Mason said. “Let us proceed with the argument.”

“Very well, Mr. District Attorney, you may open the argument,” Judge Seymour said.

“We don’t want to argue it at this time, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said. “This move by the defense has taken us completely by surprise.” He looked at the clock. “It lacks only a few minutes of the noon hour of adjournment and... I would suggest that we adjourn until two o’clock. We may wish to move to reopen the case.”

Mason said, “This is the same district attorney who was so concerned about the delay, about stalling the case along and wanting to save the taxpayers’ money. I’m quite ready to go ahead right now. Why not start the arguments?”

Judge Seymour smiled, said, “Well, I think in view of the manner in which this case has been expedited a difference of ten minutes isn’t going to affect the schedule of court or the tax rate in this county. Court will take a recess until two o’clock. The defendant is remanded to custody, the jurors are warned to remember the admonition of the Court not to discuss the matter among yourselves, permit it to be discussed in your presence, or to form or express any opinion. Court will recess until two o’clock.”

Hamilton Burger glared angrily at Mason, got up and pushed his way through the crowd out of the courtroom.

Ruskin paused for a moment, looked at Mason with a half-smile, and left.

“What happened?” Janice Wainwright asked.

“I’m gambling,” Mason said. “I’m gambling with your life and with your liberty, but it’s the only thing to do. I didn’t have time to confer with you and I didn’t want to confer with you. If I had engaged in a whispered conversation as though we had any doubt about the matter, it would have been fatal. The jurors would have seen that conference and would have felt that I had some doubt. The only thing for me to do was to act as though I had every assurance in the world that this jury was going to acquit you, and leave the matter in their hands.”

“I think you did just right,” she said. “That means that I don’t have to get on the stand, doesn’t it?”

“It means you don’t have to get on the stand,” Mason said.

“Thank heavens for that.”

Mason smiled and said, “Chin up, Janice.”

The officer who came forward to take Janice into custody had a reassuring smile.

Mason, Della Street and Paul Drake moved over to one corner of the courtroom, waiting until the spectators had left.

“That was a daring gamble,” Paul Drake said.

“Every once in a while an attorney has to make them,” Mason said. “You have to rely on your own judgment.”

“Those tire tracks still crucify you,” Drake said.

Mason merely grinned, said, “Hamilton Burger’s bombshell turned out to be something of a dud, Paul.”

“The man’s going to have a stroke if you keep on deviling him,” Della Street said.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Mason told them. “Wait until court reconvenes. I have a plan. If it works, Burger will be chewing nails.”

When court reconvened at two o’clock, Hamilton Burger said, “If the Court please, at this time the prosecution would like to reopen its case.”

Judge Seymour shook his head. “I think not, Mr. Prosecutor,” he said. “The prosecution had that opportunity and elected not to take it. You stated that you would reserve the evidence which you had for rebuttal. Now that the defense has rested there can be no rebuttal. The Court sees no reason for permitting a prosecutor to gamble on what is going to take place and then, in the event he loses, to reshuffle the cards so there will be a new deal. The evidence in the case is closed. Are you ready to proceed with the argument?”

“Under those circumstances,” Hamilton Burger said, “we ask that the Court recess until tomorrow morning in order to give us an opportunity to prepare for argument and we can then put in a full day in argument to the jurors.”

Judge Seymour glanced at Perry Mason. “Does the defense have any objection?”

“The defense wants to proceed,” Mason said. “The district attorney is an officer of the people and paid by the taxpayers. He has expressed himself as being very much concerned at the cost to the taxpayers of undue delay in these matters so we’re quite willing to give the taxpayers a break by proceeding right now.”

“Very well,” Judge Seymour said, “the motion is denied. Proceed with your opening argument, Mr. District Attorney.”

“We waive our opening argument,” Hamilton Burger said.

“Very well, Mr. Mason, proceed for the defense,” Judge Seymour said.

Perry Mason arose, walked over to face the jury, smiled at them and said, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this is going to be a very brief argument.

“The Court will instruct you that in a case depending upon circumstantial evidence if there is any reasonable hypothesis, other than that of guilt, upon which the circumstantial evidence can be explained, it is your duty to acquit the defendant.

“That is a part of the doctrine of reasonable doubt, which is a part of our law and a part of our basic system of the administration of justice.

“Now then, you people can very readily see what happened in this case. It depends entirely upon circumstantial evidence. You have the story of the defendant through the lips of the police witnesses who told you about her story of the suitcase and the letter which had been composed of headlines clipped from newspapers.

“It now becomes apparent that that letter was not sent through the mail but was prepared by Mr. Theilman himself. He sent his secretary out to get newspapers and scissors and prepared those letters.

“Why did he do it?

“He did it because he was engaged in a fight for control of one of his companies. His former wife, Carlotta Theilman, had the controlling interest in that stock. Theilman wanted it and other people wanted it.

“Carlotta Theilman was still in love with her husband. She felt that his affections had been stolen by an attractive young woman who had made it her business to be attractive and to cultivate her physical charms.

“So what did Carlotta Theilman do? She took herself in hand. She started dieting. She took off forty or fifty pounds. She regained much of her lost beauty. She wanted her husband to see her in her new personality. You can’t blame her for that. She wanted revenge on the woman who had stolen her husband. That’s human nature. You can only sympathize with her for that.

“In the meantime her husband wanted her stock. He felt that she wouldn’t sell it to him if he approached her directly and so he used a dummy. He instructed that dummy to give a fictitious name.

“What fictitious name would the dummy naturally give? He would give whatever name Mr. Theilman had told him he wanted on the stock ledger.