Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Shapely Shadow

Judge Seymour smiled and said, “I now appreciate the strategy of the defense — and it certainly seems to be quite a strategic victory for the defense.

“Very well, Mr. District Attorney, call your witness.”

Hamilton Burger, with poor grace, said, “Your Honor, this is forcing my hand. I had not intended to put this witness on the stand at the present time.”

Judge Seymour said, “You entered into a stipulation with defense counsel, Mr. Prosecutor. I admit that at the time the Court failed to appreciate the subtle strategy back of the stipulation. The Court sees it now.

“The defense stipulated that the motion for a mistrial would be withdrawn to give the prosecution an opportunity to put on a witness testifying to the condition of the water in the water pipes at the scene of the crime.

“The prosecution entered into that stipulation. Now then, you put on your witness to show the conditions, whatever they were, or else dismiss the case — one or the other.”

Burger leaned over, whispered a few words to Ruskin, then strode from the courtroom. Ruskin arose and said, “Call Otto L. Nelson.”

Nelson came forward, was sworn, testified that he was in charge of the records of the Palmdale Mountain Subdivision Mutual Water Company; that water had been shut off at the real estate office of the subdivision for a period of about two years but that service had been reopened on the fourth at nine a.m.

“That’s all. You may cross-examine,” Ruskin said.

Mason smiled. “And who was the one who reopened the service, Mr. Nelson?”

“Cole B. Troy, one of the joint owners of the subdivision.”

“And when was water turned on?”

“Immediately. He asked to have immediate service.”

“Thank you,” Mason said, smiling. “That’s all.”

“That’s our case,” Ruskin said.

“Very well. Proceed with the argument,” Judge Seymour said.

“We waive our opening argument,” Ruskin said.

“And I waive my argument,” Mason said.

“What!” Ruskin shouted. “Why you can’t. The stipulation was that—”

“The stipulation was that the case would be resubmitted,” Judge Seymour interrupted dryly. “You have waived your opening argument. The defense has waived its argument and therefore there is nothing for you to reply to. Therefore you have no closing argument.”

“But the effect of that is to give Perry Mason the opportunity to have argued his case to this jury and then put a muzzle on us.”

“You made the stipulation,” Judge Seymour said. “The stipulation was very plain. The case was to be reopened for evidence and resubmitted to the jury.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the Court is now called upon to give you instructions as to the law of the case. After you have received those instructions, you will retire to deliberate. You will first select a foreman.

“The Court will read the instructions very briefly.”

For fifteen minutes Judge Seymour read the instructions of the Court. Then he swore a bailiff to keep charge of the jury, and the jury retired.

Ruskin stalked out of the courtroom without a word to Perry Mason.

“Well, Perry,” Paul Drake said, “you did it. And the interesting thing is you did it by a damn clever piece of courtroom strategy... How the devil did you know that there was water in those pipes?”

“I knew that the real estate office hadn’t been used for years and the photograph showed a hose coiled up and connected to a water outlet. From there on I had everything to gain and nothing to lose.”

Della Street said admiringly, “You did, as long as you could think at chain-lightning speed.”

“You’re still two paragraphs ahead of me,” Drake admitted.

Mason, Paul Drake, Della Street and Janice Wainwright sat in Mason’s office having coffee. Janice Wainwright was tearfully happy. Drake from time to time looked at Mason in puzzled bewilderment. Della Street was starry-eyed with pride.

On the desk in front of Mason was a paper fresh from the press with headlines reading, shortest deliberation in courtroom history, mason’s client acquitted in minutes.

“Will you kindly tell me what happened?” Paul Drake asked.

Mason said, “I don’t know what happened. No one will know for sure what happened until Troy is apprehended. I understand he’s now a fugitive from justice.

“Here’s what I think must have happened. Troy and Theilman were partners in certain activities. Theilman trusted Troy but knew someone was giving him a double-cross.

“Troy, working through dummies, was trying to get control of Theilman’s corporation. There was a neck-and-neck race on for stock proxies, and Carlotta Theilman had the controlling interest and was smart enough to know it.”

“All right, so what happened?” Drake asked.

“Theilman didn’t want to deal by check because he wanted to keep the transaction absolutely secret. So he arranged to withdraw large sums of cash so he could make a cash deal with his ex-wife.

“Then he became afraid his present wife would find out about what was going on and think he was going back to Carlotta. So Theilman made up this blackmail plot and planned to use a mysterious Vidal as the villain as far as his secretary was concerned. The Vidal envelope didn’t contain the blackmail letter. It couldn’t have. It was merely the report of one of his dummies who was buying stock in the name of A. B. Vidal. Theilman chose that name because it would mean nothing to his business rivals, yet would be the same as having the stock in his name. And the Vidal envelope in Theilman’s suit pocket was simply coincidental. It had contained a report from his broker who had been instructed to use the name A. B. Vidal.

“One of the blackmail letters Theilman conveniently put in the wastebasket where Janice would find it. The other one he put in the pocket of his suit knowing that his wife would find it.

“At that time Theilman had no idea it was Cole Troy who was behind the attempt to wrest control of the corporation from him. He went over to Bakersfield to talk with Troy about it. He telephoned his wife that he would be home about eleven o’clock or eleven-thirty. Then he had another conference with Troy about the necessity of getting Carlotta’s stock and had Troy call Carlotta, give the name of Vidal and try to get the stock. When Carlotta said she would go to Las Vegas to meet the principal, then Theilman, from Carlotta’s manner and her proposal to meet the principal in Las Vegas, realized that Carlotta knew with whom she was dealing, and that he would have to go to Las Vegas to close the deal.

“So then Theilman told Troy he was sure Carlotta knew he was the one who was trying to get the stock; that he had decided to go to Las Vegas and try to make a deal with her — and the minute Theilman said that he sealed his death warrant because Troy knew then that Carlotta was still in love with Theilman and wouldn’t part with her stock if it meant Theilman’s ruin.

“So Troy promised Theilman that he would telephone Theilman’s house and tell his wife Theilman had to be away for two or three days on a business deal, and suggested that Theilman drive on ahead to Palmdale and that Troy would meet him there the next morning.

“Troy intended to murder Theilman but he didn’t know just how to go about it in order to divert suspicion from himself.

“However, he met Theilman at Palmdale. As they were driving up to the subdivision, Theilman stopped at a telephone booth to phone Janice and gave her her instructions. That gave Troy his heaven-sent opportunity. He knew that Janice was going to spend much of the day at a beauty parlor. He knew it had been raining at the Palmdale subdivision. He felt that he could kill Theilman and blame the crime on Janice. As soon as he and Theilman got to the Palmdale subdivision, Troy shot him. Then Troy remembered the water had been shut off so he had to hurry to get it reconnected. Then he drove to Los Angeles, stole Janice’s car, drove it up to the real estate office, thoroughly wet the ground in front of the building so it would take and hold tracks, and then drove Janice’s car back over the wet ground, feeling certain that by the time the body was discovered everyone would conclude the ground had been dampened by the thundershower.