Erle Gardner - Case of the Beautiful Beggar

Mason looked at his watch. “I have planes waiting,” he said.

Horace Shelby sighed, took a new suitcase from under the bed, started packing clothes.

“Okay,” he said, “it’ll take me ten minutes to be ready.”

Court reconvened at nine thirty. Judge Kyle said, “People versus Daphne Shelby.”

Marvin Mosher was on his feet. “If the Court please,” he said, “I wish to recall Lieutenant Tragg for further direct examination.”

Lieutenant Tragg returned to the stand.

Mosher said, “There was some question yesterday about the evidence of tool marks on the pipe in the motel. You stated that you had not taken that pipe as evidence. I will ask you, Lieutenant, if there has been any change in the situation since yesterday.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What is the present situation?”

“I went to that unit in the motel this morning and removed the section of the connecting pipe. I have it here.”

Lieutenant Tragg handed the deputy prosecutor a section of pipe.

“We object, if the Court please,” Mason said, “on the ground that no proper foundation has been laid.”

“Just what do you mean by that, Mr. Mason?” the judge asked. “It was, I believe, your suggestion that because the police had not removed this pipe, they had not preserved the evidence.”

“That is true.” Mason said, “but the police can’t prove that this is now the same pipe that was in the unit at the time they discovered the body.”

“Oh, I think that’s a technicality,” Judge Kyle said. He turned to Lieutenant Tragg. “Was there any evidence that the pipe had been tampered with from the time you first saw it until you secured this section of pipe, Lieutenant?”

“None whatever.”

“Were the tool marks which appear on this pipe the same as the ones which were on the pipe when you first saw it?”

“They seem to be entirely similar.”

“Very well, I’ll admit the pipe in evidence,” Judge Kyle said.

“Cross-examine,” Mosher snapped to Mason.

Mason arise and approached Lieutenant Tragg. “Have you,” he asked, “examined these tool marks on the pipe through a magnifying glass?”

“No, sir, I haven’t. I just secured the evidence before coming to court. I thought if you wanted it, we’d have it.”

Lieutenant Tragg’s smile was almost a smirk.

Mason produced a magnifying glass from his pocket, studied the tool marks on the pipe, handed the glass and the pipe back to Lieutenant Tragg.

“I invite you to study the tool marks now,” he said. “Study them carefully.”

Lieutenant Tragg adjusted the magnifying glass, rotated the pipe in his hand. Suddenly he seemed to stiffen.

“See anything?” Mason asked.

“I believe,” Lieutenant Tragg said cautiously, “that there is evidence here that one of the tool marks is distinctive. One of the sharp edges on the jaws of the pipe wrench seems to have a flaw in it, a break.”

“So that the tool with which this pipe was disconnected can be identified?”

“Possibly so,” Lieutenant Tragg said.

“Then you admit that you overlooked a material piece of evidence?”

Tragg fidgeted uneasily, said, “Well, the evidence is now before the Court.”

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

“That concludes our case.” Mosher said.

“Is there any defense?” Judge Kyle asked. “It would certainly seem that there is at least a prima facie case against this defendant.”

“There will be a defense,” Mason said. “And I call as my first witness, Horace Shelby.”

“What!” Mosher exclaimed.

“My first witness will be Horace Shelby,” Mason repeated.

“If the Court please, this comes as a very great surprise to the prosecution,” Mosher said. “May I ask a fifteen-minute recess? I would like to report to the district attorney, personally.”

“I will give you fifteen minutes,” Judge Kyle said. “The case seems to be taking an unexpected turn.”

When the judge had left the bench, Mason turned to Daphne.

“Daphne,” he said, “you’re going to have to prepare yourself for a shock. I don’t want to tell you anything that’s coming. I want it to be a surprise to you. They’re going to be watching your reactions. I want them to see your surprise.”

“You actually have Uncle Horace where you can call him as a witness?” she asked.

Mason nodded.

“Oh, don’t do that!”

“Why not?”

“Because they’ll take him and put him back in the sanitarium. They’ll—”

“You must think I’m an amateur, Daphne,” Mason interrupted. “I’ve had three expert psychiatrists examine your uncle — one of them late last night, two of them this morning. Your uncle has had a good night’s sleep. He feels fine. He’s been pronounced absolutely sane and bright as a new silver dollar. You’ve no idea how that makes him feel.

“These doctors are experts. They’re the tops in their profession. The most that Borden Finchley could use to support his contentions was the testimony of general practitioners and this man who runs the rest home or so-called sanitarium. The men who say your uncle is normal are experts.”

“Oh, I’m so glad, so terribly glad!”

“You like him, don’t you?”

“I don’t know why, Mr. Mason, but I just respect and admire that man so much.”

“Well,” the lawyer said, “we’ll wait a few minutes and I think things will start working out for the better.

“You sit here, Daphne, and don’t talk with anybody. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Mason sauntered over to the place where Paul Drake was waiting. “Got your men shadowing all the subjects, Paul?”

Drake nodded.

Mason stretched, yawned.

“You must know what you’re doing,” Drake said.

Mason laughed. “Do I look confident, Paul?”

“You look as though you were holding four aces.”

“That’s fine,” Mason said. “Actually, all I have is a pair of deuces, and I’m shoving a stack of blues into the middle of the table.”

Drake said, “Somehow I have an idea you’re going to get away with it, too!”

“Let’s hope,” Mason said.

Suddenly Hamilton Burger, the district attorney, came striding into the courtroom, and Mosher promptly collared him for a conference.

“See what I mean?” Mason said. “They’ve telephoned the big boy himself to come down and see what this is all about.”

Judge Kyle returned from chambers, took the bench, called court to order and said, “I see the district attorney himself is here in court. You are interested in this case, Mr. Burger?”

“Very much so, Your Honor. I’m going to watch the developments with the greatest interest.”

“May I ask why?”

“Because,” Hamilton Burger said, “in the event the defendant did not murder Ralph Exeter, Horace Shelby did and I want to see that every bit of legal procedure is handled in such a manner that we can’t be jockeyed into a position of not being able to prosecute Horace Shelby.”

“Very well,” Judge Kyle said. “Proceed, Mr. Mason.”

“Call Horace Shelby to the stand,” Mason said.

Shelby took the oath and took his position on the witness stand, after smiling reassuringly at Daphne.

“Now, just a moment,” Hamilton Burger said. “First, Your Honor, I want this witness warned that he is suspect in a murder case, either acting alone or as an accessory with the defendant, Daphne Shelby. I want him warned that anything he may say may be used against him at a later date.”

Mason, on his feet, said, “Your Honor, I object to this as a flagrant contempt of Court as an attempt to browbeat a defense witness and frighten him so that he cannot give testimony.”