Erle Gardner - The Case of the Haunted Husband

“You looked in the trunk of the car?”

“Yes, of course.”

“There was no baggage there?”

“No baggage.”

“The ignition on the car was locked?”

The officer lowered his eyes. “I don’t know,” he said. “It was locked when the car got to the garage. You see, it was moved with a wrecking outfit. There was no reason to start the motor. I looked the car over for liquor and baggage, but I didn’t notice the ignition until yesterday when it was called to my attention.”

“The ignition was locked?”

“That is right.”

“Did you look for fingerprints on the steering wheel of the automobile?”

“No, sir, I didn’t. When we see a car go off the road into the ditch and find a person unconscious at the steering wheel with his fingers wrapped around the wheel and no one else in the car, we don’t match fingerprints to see who was driving it.”

A titter rustled around the courtroom. The judge looked inquiringly at Mason. “You wish a motion to strike out that last statement, Mr. Mason?”

“Oh, let it stay in,” Mason said, and turned once more to face the witness.

“Now, the car doors were closed?”

“Yes.”

“Both doors?”

“Yes.”

“It was rather a cold night, was it not?”

“What is that got to do with it?”

“I am just asking.”

“Well, it was cold up there.”

“The wind was blowing?”

“Yes.”

“And do you know whether the car in which the defendant was seated had a heater?”

“I believe it did. I can remember now... Yes, it did.”

“And the heater was on?”

“Yes, the fan was running.”

“Now, you say that you lifted the defendant out through the window.”

“That is right. The window in the car door.”

“On what side?”

“On the right-hand side. The car was lying on its left side.”

“I see. And you lifted the defendant through the right window?”

“That is what I said.”

“Now, it was impossible for you to lower the glass in the window from the outside, wasn’t it?”

“Naturally.”

“And you didn’t open the door?”

“Not then. I told you we lifted her out through the window. The door was jammed. How many more times do I have to tell you?”

Judge Cortright said sternly, “The witness will confine himself to answering questions. However, counsel should bear in mind that the calendar is crowded with other matters, and this question has been asked and answered in one form or another several different times.”

“Exactly,” Mason said. “In a moment, I think Your Honor will appreciate the importance of the question. You couldn’t roll this window down from the outside of the car, could you, Mr. Corvis?”

“No. I didn’t say I rolled the window down. The window was open.”

“Rolled all the way down?”

“I... Yes.”

“This car was a four-passenger coupe?”

“Yes.”

“There were only two doors?”

“That is right.”

“And the windows were rather large — large enough to lift the defendant through?”

“We couldn’t have lifted her through,” Corvis said, “if they hadn’t been big enough to lift her through.”

The deputy district attorney let the spectators see his broad grin.

“Then,” Mason said, “another person could have made his escape from this car through this window?”

Corvis thought for a moment. “I don’t know.”

“But if the defendant got through, a man could have crawled through, couldn’t he?”

“I don’t know.”

“That question is argumentative,” Hanley said.

Mason smiled. “I shall withdraw it. The facts speak for themselves. Now, Mr. Corvis, you have been a traffic officer for some time?”

“Five years.”

“You have had an opportunity to observe quite a bit about the operation of motor cars?”

“Naturally.”

“Did you ever,” Mason asked, smilingly, “observe a car being operated at night on a mountain road with a cold wind blowing and the window in the door on the right-hand side rolled all the way down — the night being cold enough to necessitate the use of a heater in the car?”

Hanley jumped to his feet. “Your Honor, that is not proper cross-examination. We didn’t qualify this man as an expert. It calls for a conclusion of the witness, a matter of opinion, it is argumentative, and...”

“Objection sustained,” Judge Cortright said. “You didn’t qualify him. It isn’t proper cross-examination.”

Mason, having made his point, contented himself with a smile. “That’s all.”

Corvis left the stand. Other witnesses told of the collision of the four-passenger coupe being operated at a high rate of speed, swerving around a car on a three-lane pavement to find another car already occupying the third lane of the collision of the zigzag course taken by the car. With one exception, none of the witnesses had seen the driver of the car. It had, they explained, happened too quickly.

Edith Lions, however, who had been riding in the car which the four-passenger coupe had tried to pass, told a different story. She was about twenty-two, a red-haired girl with turned-up nose, freckles, and rapid-fire speech. She said, “I was riding with my mother and father in the car. We were sitting three in the front seat. This car was coming along behind us at a terrific rate of speed. All of a sudden it swerved out to pass us, but at that time a car coming from the other direction was passing another car which was also coming toward us.”

“What happened?” Hanley asked.

“Just like the other witnesses have said.”

“Never mind that. Just tell it in your own words, Miss Lions.”

“Well, the person driving the car tried to cut in and scraped our fender. That caused the car to swerve back across the pavement right in front of another car that was coming toward us.”

“Then what?”

“Then this other car tried to dodge, and bit a car behind us head-on.”

“And what happened to the four-passenger coupe? Could you see?”

“It kept shooting right across the road, and went down the bank. Then I think it rolled over. It sounded like it.”

“And what did you do?”

“As soon as my father stopped the car, I jumped out.”

“Did you run back toward the cars that had collided?”

“No. I was busy dodging cars for a few minutes. Then I ran over toward the bank where this four-passenger coupe had gone over.”

“What did you see?”

“It took me a little while to locate it. Then I looked down and saw the car lying on its side down at the bottom of this steep embankment.”

“Did you see anyone — any person?”

“Not then.”

“Later on, did you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Who?”

“That woman sitting there,” pointing to Stephane Claire.

“Where was she, and how were you able to see her?”

“They turned a flashlight into the car. She was sitting in the driver’s seat.”

“Now, did you at any time see any other person in the four-passenger coupe?”

“No, sir.”

“And could you see who was driving it when the car went past?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Who?”

“Well, it was a woman. I could see that, and she was wearing the same kind of a hat the defendant was wearing.”

“Cross-examine,” Hanley said triumphantly.

“Your father was driving your car?” Mason asked the witness.

“Yes, sir.”

“And you were sitting next to your mother?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Your mother was in the middle?”

“That’s right.”

“Then you were on the extreme right-hand side of the car?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And this four-passenger coupe passed on your left?”