Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Shapely Shadow

“And what name did Theilman want on the stock ledger?

“He wanted to put the stock in his wife’s name. His wife’s maiden name had been Agnes Bernice Vidal; so he had a dummy telephone his former wife. This dummy was instructed to give his name as A. B. Vidal and to offer Carlotta a cash deal for her stock.

“Why did Theilman want it to be a cash deal?

“Because he didn’t want the mysterious opponent to know what he was doing. He wanted to have this person left in the dark as to the identity of A. B. Vidal.

“When Theilman realized that he had withdrawn so much money that it might attract suspicion, he sent his secretary down to get some newspapers and from the newspapers he clipped out a threatening message — apparently a blackmail message. Then he was careful to tear that message and put it in the wastebasket where his secretary would be sure to see it and, later on, if there should be any question of the cash withdrawals, any person spying on Theilman’s operations would think the cash had been withdrawn to pay a blackmailer, A. B. Vidal. It would never occur to such a spy that A. B. Vidal was Mr. Theilman’s wife and therefore his alter ego.

“However, he was afraid that his secretary might be too ethical to prowl in the wastebaskets so he sent her back down for another set of papers, prepared another message, folded it and put it in his inside coat pocket.

“Then he sent his secretary down to put a suitcase full of money in a locker and to send the key to A. B. Vidal at General Delivery. However, Theilman had a duplicate key to that locker and as soon as his secretary had deposited the suitcase he opened the locker and took out the suitcase. He then had the money necessary to pay Carlotta Theilman in cash for the stock. He wanted to have his dummy, A. B. Vidal, do that, but Mrs. Carlotta Theilman had other ideas. She wanted to sell that stock to Morley Theilman personally so that Morley Theilman could see her new radiant beauty, her svelte figure. That was what any one of you women on the jury would have done. You would have planned an opportunity to revenge yourself on the vampire who had broken up your home.

“The twenty-dollar bill that the cabdriver had was one that he got from Mrs. Carlotta Theilman. She got it from the man who gave the name of A. B. Vidal, the man who was acting as a dummy for her ex-husband, Morley Theilman.

“Now then, we come to the question of the murder.

“If you will note all of the evidence concerning that murder, all of the evidence which implicates the defendant, you will find that it hinges entirely upon one thing: The defendant made a statement to the officers in which she said Morley Theilman had telephoned her, giving her instructions to go to Las Vegas; that the telephone call had been received a little before nine o’clock on the morning of the fourth.

“The theory of the prosecution is that Theilman was dead at that time.

“How do they fix the time of death?

“By rigor mortis which means nothing and post-mortem lividity which means even less.

“The only reason they fix the time of death at that time is because a thundershower was supposed to have moistened the soil, and the tracks of the defendant’s automobile were in that soil.

“Now then, there are photographs in evidence in this case — photographs of the place where the body was found. I ask you to look at those photographs. You will note that this was a real estate development which had gone into disrepair. Evidently there was a lawn in front of the building at one time, the little real estate office where the body was found.

“The theory of the prosecution was that the defendant and the decedent had an amorous interlude at that house; that she killed him and left after the thundershower. The only evidence that she was there is due to the fact that her automobile left tracks through that soft ground, going in one direction.

“The evidence shows that immediately after talking with Mr. Theilman on the fourth, the defendant went to a beauty shop and was there for some five hours. Her car had been parked near her apartment, which was also near the beauty parlor. It was only necessary for someone to take this car, drive it up to the real estate office where that person had arranged to meet Mr. Theilman, shoot him, and then return the defendant’s car to its parking place at the beauty parlor.

“All this murderer needed to do to frame a case against the defendant and to confuse the time of death was to see that the ground was softened in front of the real estate office.

“And how did the murderer do that?

“Notice this photograph, ladies and gentlemen.”

Mason walked over to the clerk’s table, picked up one of the photographs that had been introduced in evidence and returned to face the jury.

“You will notice that there is a hose, neatly coiled, attached to the faucet in front of this house. All anyone needed to do was to drive the defendant’s car up to this house, sprinkle the soil with water from the hose until the soil became muddy, then coil up the hose, drive the defendant’s car through the soft ground, and every bit of circumstantial evidence that has been introduced in this case would be accounted for, and every bit of it would, in the opinion of the murderer, point to the defendant.

“That, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is a reasonable hypothesis. I think you will agree with me that it is reasonable.

“The Court is going to instruct you that if there is any reasonable explanation of the circumstantial evidence in this case which is consistent with the innocence of the defendant, you are duty bound under your oath to accept that explanation and acquit the defendant.

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. We shall expect a verdict of acquittal at your hands.”

Mason turned, walked back and sat down.

“Proceed, Mr. District Attorney,” Judge Seymour said.

Hamilton Burger got to his feet. “Why, Your Honor, we’re not prepared. We— Why, we anticipated counsel’s argument would take all afternoon.”

“Well, counsel’s argument didn’t take all afternoon,” Judge Seymour said. “You may proceed with your argument now.”

Hamilton Burger engaged in a whispered conference, then lumbered forward. “This is all poppycock, ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “This is the sheerest nonsense. The defendant in this case, a shrewd, scheming woman, arranged to fake blackmail letters in the name of A. B. Vidal.

“Heaven knows what it was she had on Morley Theilman but it was something that made him get money.

“I want you to see her as I see her — a shrewd, scheming, hypocritical young woman, at times disguising her beauty beneath a mask of ugliness and frumpiness; then at times emerging as a radiant beauty to have an affair with her employer.

“And this theory of the defendant’s about that hose — why, that’s preposterous. That— Why, that’s an abandoned real estate office! That water was shut off when the real estate firm went into bankruptcy. It hasn’t been turned on for months. It—”

“Just a moment, Your Honor,” Perry Mason said. “I assign the remarks of the district attorney as prejudicial misconduct, as stating facts which are not in evidence and facts which are so prejudicial that they cannot be removed by even an admonition of the Court. I ask the Court to declare a mistrial in this case.”

Judge Seymour said, “Mr. District Attorney, is there any evidence in this case, any evidence whatever, about that water being shut off?”

“No, Your Honor, we intended to put it in evidence. It would have been part of our rebuttal.”

“And, Your Honor,” Mason said, “since he couldn’t get it in evidence legitimately, he has deliberately committed misconduct. This is a flagrant instance of deliberate misconduct.”