Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Lonely Heiress

“Ready for the Defense,” Mason said.

“Ready for the Prosecution,” Hanover announced. “It gives me pleasure to inform the Court that the additional witnesses whom I wanted to secure are now in court, so that I can authenticate the copy of that letter.

“I believe that Lieutenant Tragg was on the stand, but if it is agreeable to the Court, I would like now to withdraw Lieutenant Tragg once more so that I can call Ralph Endicott.”

“No objection,” Mason said. “I want it understood, however, that Lieutenant Tragg will be returned to the stand because I wish to cross-examine him on some of the matters concerning which he has already testified.”

“You will have ample opportunity to cross-examine the witness,” Judge Osborn said.

“I will now call Ralph Endicott to the stand,” Hanover announced.

Ralph Endicott nodded somewhat acidly to Mason, took the witness stand and answered preliminary questions, stating that he was the brother of George P. Endicott, deceased, that he had been acquainted with Rose Keeling during her lifetime.

“Now, on the sixteenth of this month,” Hanover said suavely, “did you receive any communication in the United States mail purporting to be in the handwriting of Rose Keeling, or to come from her?”

“I did, yes.”

“What was that?”

“I received through the mail a carbon copy of a letter which was in her handwriting.”

“To whom was that letter addressed?”

“To Marilyn Marlow.”

“The defendant in this case?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll show you what purports to be a carbon copy of that letter addressed to Marilyn Marlow and ask you whether you have ever seen that letter before.”

“I have. Yes, sir. That was delivered to me in an envelope which came through the United States mails and was received by me on the sixteenth of this month.”

“And that letter is in the handwriting of the decedent, Rose Keeling?”

“Yes, sir, it is. I have seen her handwriting. I’ve studied her signature very carefully. Her signature is appended to the purported will of my dead brother, as a witness.”

“And is that the only way you know that letter is in the handwriting of Rose Keeling?”

“No, sir. I discussed the matter with Rose Keeling. She told me that letter was in her handwriting.”

“Cross-examine,” Hanover said to Perry Mason.

“When did she tell you that the letter was written by her?” Mason asked.

“That was on the following day, on the seventeenth.”

“The day she was killed?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And where did this conversation take place?”

“In her flat, in the living room.”

“And what time was it?”

“Around eight o’clock in the morning.”

“And how did you happen to be there at that hour?”

“She telephoned me and asked me to come there.”

“You had a conversation with her at that time?”

“I did. Yes, sir.”

“And what did she tell you during that conversation?”

“Oh, Your Honor,” Hanover said, “if the Court please, this is going far afield. The only questions I have asked this witness pertain to the letter. Now then, if Counsel goes on a fishing expedition, inquiring about everything they talked about... well, Your Honor, I object on the ground that it’s not proper cross-examination.”

Mason said, “I believe, Your Honor, it is an elemental rule of evidence that when Counsel inquires concerning a conversation on direct examination, on cross-examination opposing counsel has the right to bring out the entire conversation.”

“I didn’t inquire about this conversation,” Hanover said.

Mason smiled and said, “You asked him how he knew it was her handwriting and he said he was familiar with her handwriting, and, moreover, she had acknowledged that it was her handwriting. I then asked him about the conversation, and it appears that the acknowledgment took place in her flat. I am now asking for the entire conversation.”

“The objection is overruled,” Judge Osborn said.

“Well,” Endicott said, “she called me up and asked me to come up there. She wanted to know if I’d received the carbon copy of the letter she’d sent Marilyn Marlow.”

“That was over the telephone?”

“Yes.”

“So you went to her apartment, or flat, and had a conversation with her?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what did she say?”

“She said that Eleanore Marlow had promised her money to witness a false and fraudulent will, that she had been given one thousand dollars on account, that she knew the will was improperly obtained, that my brother had not known the terms of the will, and she doubted very much whether he had actually signed it; that she had not been in the room when the instrument was executed. Under those circumstances, she felt the thousand dollars which had been received by her from Eleanore Marlow, and which she knew was money raised from the sale of jewelry that also had been fraudulently obtained, should be refunded to me. Therefore, she gave me a check for a thousand dollars to ease her conscience.”

“That was the conversation you had in her flat?”

“That’s right. Yes, sir.”

“On the morning of the seventeenth?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And at that time she gave you a check, which also carries the signature of Rose Keeling, does it not?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And when you said that in passing upon the genuineness of the signature of Rose Keeling to this letter you knew that it was her handwriting, I presume you’re being guided in part by a comparison of the signature which you had seen on that check?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And how do you know that was genuine?"

“Because I saw her sign it, for one thing, and because the bank accepted it and okayed it, for another.”

“You have that check with you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I want it marked for identification,” Mason said. “I want to take a look at it.”

“Oh, if the Court please,” Hanover said, “that certainly is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”

“It’s one of the documents relied upon by the witness in stating that this letter was signed by the decedent,” Mason said.

“But she told him with her own mouth that she had written that letter,” Hanover said.

“That’s what this witness states,” Mason said. “Unfortunately, Rose Keeling is not here to confirm or deny that testimony. This witness has now stated, if the Court please, that in testifying that a certain signature is genuine, he relied upon a comparison with the signature upon another document which he has in his possession. Certainly under the circumstances, on cross-examination, I’m entitled to inspect that document.”

“I guess that’s right,” Hanover said with poor grace. “If you want to keep this thing running indefinitely, I suppose you have the right to prolong it by one excuse or another. Show him the check, Mr. Endicott.”

Ralph Endicott opened his purse, took out the certified check he had previously shown Mason, said, “Be careful with this check. I don’t want anything to happen to it. It’s evidence.”

“Indeed it is!” Mason said. “We’ll have the clerk stamp it for identification right now.”

The clerk made a stamp of identification on the check.

“What time did you leave Rose Keeling’s flat?”

“I’ve already gone into that with you and Lieutenant Tragg. I left there around eight-thirty. I can account for every minute of my whereabouts during the day.”

Mason said, “That’s all for the moment. I may want to ask you a question or two later on. Your Honor, I would like to have this check photographed.”

“Very well,” Judge Osborn said.