Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Daring Divorcee

“Yes.”

“Show me the closet.”

Beason walked over to the closet, opened the door, said, “The key hangs on this nail here.”

“It’s not there now,” Burger said.

“No, sir,” Beason said. “The police took it from me this morning.”

“It was generally known where that key was kept?” Burger asked.

“I would assume so.”

“All right, now what happened to that gun after you put it in the golf bag?”

“I was summoned to Mr. Mason’s office.”

“By whom?”

“By Perry Mason.”

“And what happened there?”

“He accused me of taking the gun. I admitted it.”

“Then what happened?”

“I telephoned Rosalie Blackburn, my secretary, and asked her to bring it to Mr. Mason’s office.”

“Which one is Rosalie Blackburn?” Burger asked.

“I am,” the secretary said, stepping forward.

“All right, what did you do?”

“I got the key to the locker, took out the golf clubs, turned the golf bag upside down, took out the package and delivered it to Mr. Mason’s office.”

“What was the condition of the package when you first saw it?” Burger asked.

“It had been cut open with a very sharp knife.”

“And what did you do about that?”

“Nothing. I could see there was a gun inside the paper. It fell out of the package to the floor when I turned the golf bag upside down.”

“What did you do then?”

“I picked up the gun, wrapped it back in the paper and took the package to Mr. Beason at Mr. Mason’s office.”

“All right,” Burger said wearily, “now I want to know who cut open that package?... Come on, speak up.”

There was silence.

Burger said, “Very well, I’m going to tell all of you something. This is a murder case. We’re not playing games here. This is a very serious matter. I want you all to understand something about the law, as well as the facts.

“Garvin Hastings was killed in his bed while he was asleep. When you kill a sleeping man it isn’t manslaughter, it isn’t second-degree murder. It’s not done in the heat of passion, it’s done as the result of cold-blooded, deliberate planning. It’s first-degree murder and the penalty for first-degree murder is either death or life imprisonment.

“Any person who conceals evidence or tries to aid and abet the murderer becomes an accessory. Any person who tries to tamper with evidence is guilty of a crime.

“It is quite evident that someone has been tampering with evidence. We know that Simley Beason did. I am going to hold him strictly accountable. It also appears that after he had tampered with the evidence, some person opened that package. Now, I want to know who did it and why it was done and whether there was any substitution of weapons or any tampering with evidence.

“While you’re all here some person who has significant information may not care to come forward and disclose it, but I want you to realize that you have a duty to disclose everything you know, and I feel sure that in an office this size evidence couldn’t have been tampered with without someone knowing something, at least some suspicious circumstance.

“Now then, my office is going to be wide open for any incoming telephone calls and Lieutenant Tragg here, at Homicide at police headquarters, is going to be anxious to find out what happened.

“If any one of you people have any knowledge, I want you to get to a telephone sometime before the close of business this afternoon and give us that information.

“I want to impress upon you that this is a murder case and that we’re not going to have any fooling around with— Who’s this?”

The people near the door were thrust aside.

A thick-set individual with an aggressive manner pushed his way forward.

“I’m Huntley L. Banner, Mr. Burger,” he said. “I haven’t met you but I’ve seen you in court several times.”

“And who are you?” Burger asked.

“I’m an attorney. I represented Garvin Hastings in his lifetime and I am representing his widow at the moment.”

“I thought Mason was representing his widow,” Burger said.

Banner said, “Mr. Mason is representing Adelle Hastings. I am representing the widow, Minerva Hastings.”

“Wasn’t there a divorce?”

“I think I’ll let Mrs. Hastings answer that question,” Banner said, and again turned toward the door.

The people nearest the door fell back, and a woman in her early thirties entered the room.

She was a striking brunette. Her chin was up, her eyes were flashing.

Banner took her arm and said, “This is Garvin Hastings’ widow. This is Minerva Shelton Hastings. She owns all this business.”

“Didn’t you get a divorce in Nevada?” Burger asked her.

“I did not,” she said. “I went to Nevada and established a residence. I filed a divorce suit. I did not carry it through to completion.”

“What!” Simley Beason exclaimed.

She smiled at him triumphantly and said, “I did not carry it through to completion.”

“But,” Beason exclaimed, “you wrote Garvin Hastings that everything was taken care of, that—!”

“Certainly I did,” she said. “That little strumpet in the office was trying to twist him around her finger, trying to feather her nest financially, and I decided that I would fight fire with fire.”

Hamilton Burger said, “You knew that your husband was planning to marry his secretary?”

“Of course I did. That’s why he virtually booted me out. I was to go to Nevada and get a divorce.”

“And you filed suit for divorce?” Burger asked.

“Yes, I did,” she said defiantly.

“Where?”

“In Carson City.”

“Carson City?”

“That’s right. I had some friends there and I felt I could accomplish what I wanted to accomplish better in Carson City than anywhere else.”

“Then you wrote your husband that you had secured a divorce?”

“I did not. I wrote him that everything had been completed according to plan.”

Simley Beason said, “It’s all a lie. She sent him a copy of the divorce decree.”

Minerva Hastings smiled at him. “I sent him what purported to be a copy of a decree,” she said. “It wasn’t a certified copy.”

“It was a copy of a decree,” Beason insisted.

“Go look up the records,” she challenged, then whirled to Hamilton Burger. “Simley Beason here has always been sweet on Adelle and would love to give her a sympathetic shoulder, then marry her and step into control of the business.

“For your information, Mr. Simley Beason, I am going to be the one who controls the business. I am the widow. Adelle Hastings has no more status than any other mistress.”

“I think it’s only fair to advise everyone,” Huntley Banner said, “that I am filing a petition for the probate of a will and having Minerva Hastings appointed executrix of the estate.”

“A will!” Hamilton Burger said. “He left a will?”

“That’s right. It’s a will leaving everything to Minerva Hastings. Garvin Hastings had no relatives.”

Mason said, “Wasn’t there also a later will leaving the property to Adelle Hastings after he went through a marriage ceremony with her?”

“That ceremony wasn’t worth that!” Minerva said, snapping her fingers.

Mason kept his eyes on Banner. “I’m talking about a will,” he said.

Banner said, “If, of course, a later will should be found, that will be another question. However, I think that you will find any later will was torn up by Garvin Hastings when Adelle and he separated. I don’t care to discuss the Legal points now. I am simply trying to clarify the situation so that the authorities will know exactly where we stand, and with whom to deal.”