Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Spurious Spinster

“I did.”

“What did you find?”

“I found where a car had been driven over a rather faint roadway leading into the place where the body was found. I carefully traced the tracks of that car and made a moulage showing the tracks. I was able to get good tracks of all four of the tires on the car. They had rather distinctive treads.”

“Were the tires all the same?”

“No, sir. The tires consisted of two different makes, two different types of tread. Those on the front were one make, those on the back were another make; and there was, moreover, a distinctive gouge on the tire on the right front which left a very distinct individual track.”

“Did you subsequently find an automobile equipped with tires which matched the moulage?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What automobile was it?”

“Automobile Number 19, owned by the We Rent M Car Company. I found this automobile parked in the parking lot of Mr. Mason’s office building and Mr. Mason admitted to me that the car had been placed there by him, that he had rented it the night before from the car-rental company.”

“You may inquire,” Flanders said.

Mason’s eyes narrowed. “Lieutenant, when did you find these tracks?”

“The night we discovered the body.”

“How long after you discovered the body?”

“Only a few minutes, while you, I believe, were waiting at the service station.”

“You said nothing to me about finding these tracks.”

“No, sir.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t realize I was under any duty to report to you as to what the police found, Mr. Mason.”

“That’s a ll,” Mason said.

Flanders called Sophia Elliott to the stand. Sophia Elliott testified that she was the sister of Miss Corning, that she had traveled from South America, that she had gone to the suite of her sister at the Arthenium Hotel and that when she reached the suite she found the door open and found it occupied by Perry Mason and his secretary; that after some talk she had suggested that the door be closed and that Mr. Mason and his secretary leave and they would be notified in the event Miss Corning wanted to see them.

The man who operated the freight elevator testified to receiving twenty-five dollars for the purpose of smuggling Miss Corning out of the building.

Then came Harrison Flanders’ surprise witness.

“I will call Carlotta Ames Jackson.”

Mrs. Jackson proved to be a rather snippy, needle-nosed, nervous individual who was evidently enjoying the attention she had attracted.

“Where were you on the night of Sunday, the fourth of this month?” Flanders inquired.

“I was in the alley, back of the freight entrance of the Arthenium Hotel.”

“How did you happen to be there?”

“I work in the hotel. I am a chambermaid. I come out of the back entrance and walk down the alley every night when I get off work.”

“You were walking down there this night?”

“Yes.”

“Did you notice anything unusual?”

“Yes.”

“Describe it, please.”

“I saw a woman in a wheelchair there in the alley. There is no sidewalk in the alley and this woman had her wheelchair right against the wall. It was an unusual place for a woman in a wheelchair and I started forward to speak to her.”

“Did you speak to her?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because a car turned into the alley, drove on past me and stopped right beside this woman. The driver of the car got out, helped the woman into the car, the wheelchair was folded up and put in the car and the car drove away.”

“Did you see the driver of the car?”

“Yes.”

“Was it a man or a woman?”

“It was a woman.”

“Can you describe her?”

“She was wearing a raincoat, a sweater, slacks, and a man’s hat which was pulled down over the eyes.”

“Did you at any time see this woman’s face?”

“Yes.”

“How close were you to the woman at the time you saw her face?”

“I guess about twenty feet.”

“Had you ever seen that woman before?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“Did you ever see her again?”

“Yes.”

“When did you see her again?”

“At the police station.”

“Who showed her to you?”

“There was a line-up of five women. I picked this woman out of the line-up.”

“And who was this woman, if you know?”

“The defendant, the woman sitting there, Susan Fisher.”

Susan Fisher gasped with horrified dismay.

“Did you have an opportunity to observe the make of the automobile?”

“Indeed I did.”

“Have you seen that automobile since?”

“Yes. I subsequently identified it at the We Rent M Car Company. It had a number 19 painted on it to designate it.”

“You may inquire,” Flanders said with exaggerated courtesy, to Perry Mason.

Mason arose to face the witness. “Did you get the license number of this automobile at the time you first saw it?”

“I thought I did.”

“You thought you did?”

“Yes, I’m quite sure I did.”

“Did you write it down on anything?”

“No.”

“You trusted to memory?”

“Yes, and I forgot it. By the time I was told that what I had seen might be of great importance in a murder case, I found I couldn’t recall the license number.”

“Did you see the number 19 on this car at the time it drove in the alley?”

“No.”

“It was dark at the time?”

“It was dark.”

“Were you standing near the car?”

“Within about twenty feet.”

“You kept on walking?”

“No, I stood still.”

“Why?”

“So I could see better.”

“Couldn’t you have seen better if you had been nearer?”

“Perhaps.”

“Then why didn’t you keep on walking?”

“I... Well, I just wanted to see what was going on, that’s all.”

“You are inclined to be curious as to things that go on around you, Mrs. Jackson?”

“I am not !”

“Then this was a new departure for you?”

“I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“Ordinarily you are not interested in things that go on around you?”

“Ordinarily I am interested in what I see.”

“And try to remember those things?”

“Sometimes.”

“You say that you identified the defendant in a line-up.”

“Yes.”

“Had you ever seen her before the line-up?”

“That time in the alley.”

“Never before that?”

“Well, I had a glimpse of her when she was being escorted into the show-up room.”

“Had you seen her picture prior to that time?”

“Yes. Police had shown me her picture and asked if that was the young woman I saw.”

“And you told them it was?”

“I told them I... Well, I told them I thought it was.”

“Did you first tell them that you couldn’t be sure?”

“Well, of course. A body can’t take a look at a picture and—”

“I’m asking you,” Mason said, “if you first told them you couldn’t be sure.”

“Yes.”

“Did you first tell them you didn’t think that was the girl?”

“Well, I may have.”

“But after you saw her in the line-up after the police had first let you get what you call a glimpse of her, you were positive?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see the number 19 painted on the car at the time you saw it in the alley?”

“No, that was later.”

“And how did you identify the car?”

“By its general appearance.”

“That car was one of a popular make of automobile?”

“Yes.”

“There are thousands and thousands of those cars of that same make and model, identical in appearance in every way, on the streets of Los Angeles?”