“And what did you do?” Hamilton Burger asked.
“I entered the office.”
“For what purpose?”
“For the sole purpose of finding the letters I had written.”
“You had reason to believe those letters were in the office?”
“Yes. He told me they were in his desk and that I could come and get them at any time after I had complied with his terms.”
“What happened?”
“I couldn’t find the letters. I looked and I looked, and I pulled open the drawers of the desk and then—”
“Go on,” Hamilton Burger said.
“And the door opened,” she said.
“And who was in the doorway?”
“The defendant, Duane Jefferson.”
“Alone?”
“No. His associate, Walter Irving, was with him.”
“What happened?”
“The defendant used vile language. He called me names that I have never been called before.”
“And then what?”
“He made a grab for me and—”
“And what did you do?”
“I backed up and tipped over a chair and fell over. Then Mr. Irving grabbed my ankles and held me. The defendant accused me of snooping and I told him I was there only to get my letters.”
“Then what?”
“Then he stood for a moment looking at me in apparent surprise, and then said to Mr. Irving, ‘Damned if I don’t believe she’s right!’”
“Then what?”
“Then the phone rang and Irving picked up the receiver, listened for a minute and said, ‘Good God! The police!’”
“Go on,” Hamilton Burger said.
“So the defendant ran over to a filing cabinet, jerked it open, pulled out a whole package of my letters tied up with string and said, ‘Here, you little fool! Here are your letters. Take them and get out! The police are looking for you. Someone saw you break into the place, and the police have been notified. Now, see what a damn fool you are!’”
“What happened?”
“He started pushing me toward the door. Then Mr. Irving pushed something into my hand and said, ‘Here, take these. They’ll be a reward for keeping your big mouth shut.’”
“And what did you do?”
“As soon as they pushed me out of the door, I made a dash for the women’s restroom.”
“Go on,” Hamilton Burger said.
“And just as I opened the door of the restroom, I saw the defendant and Walter Irving run out of their office and dash to the men’s room.”
“Then what?”
“I didn’t wait to see any more. I dashed into the restroom and unfastened the string on the package of letters I had been given, looked through the contents to see that they were mine, and destroyed them.”
“How did you destroy them?”
“I put them in the wastepaper receptacle with the used towels, where they would be picked up and incinerated.”
“And then what did you do?”
“Then,” she said, “I was trapped. I knew the police were coming. I—”
“Go ahead,” Hamilton Burger said.
“I had to do something to get out of there.”
“And what did you do?” Hamilton Burger said, a smile on his face.
“I felt that perhaps the exits might be watched, that I must have been seen by someone who had given the police a good description, so I … I looked around for someplace to go, and I saw a door which had the sign on it saying, ‘Perry Mason, Attorney at Law, Enter.’ I’d heard of Perry Mason, of course, and I thought perhaps I could hand him a line, telling him I wanted a divorce or something of that sort, or that I’d been in an automobile accident … just make up a good story, anything to hold his interest. That would enable me to be in his office when the police arrived. I felt I could hold his interest long enough to avoid the police. I wanted to stay there just long enough so I could get out after the police had given up the search. I realize now that it was a crazy idea, but it was the only available avenue of escape. As it happened, Fate played into my hands.”
“In what way?”
“It seemed Mr. Mason’s secretaries were expecting a typist. They’d telephoned some agency and a typist was supposed to be on her way up. I stood, hesitating, in the doorway for a moment, and the receptionist took me for the typist. She asked me if I was the typist, so of course I told her yes and went to work.”
“And,” Hamilton Burger said smugly, “you worked in the office of Perry Mason that afternoon?”
“I worked there for some little time, yes.”
“And then what?”
“When the coast was clear I made my escape.” “When was that?”
“Well, I was working on a document. I was afraid that if it was finished, Mr. Mason would ring up the secretarial agency to find out what the bill was. I just didn’t know what to do. So when there was a good break, I slipped down to the restroom, then to the elevator and went home.”
“You have mentioned something that was pushed into your hand. Do you know what that consisted of?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Diamonds. Two diamonds.”
“When did you find out about them?”
“After I’d been working for a few minutes. I’d slipped what had been given me into my handbag. So when I had a good chance I looked. I found two small packets of tissue paper. I removed the paper and found two diamonds.
“I got in a panic. I suddenly realized that if these men should claim the intruder had stolen diamonds from their office, I’d be framed. I wouldn’t have any possible defense anyone would believe. So I just had to get rid of these diamonds. I realized right away I’d walked into a trap.”
“What did you do?”
“I stuck the diamonds to the underside of the desk, where I was working in Mr. Mason’s office.”
“How did you stick them to this desk?”
“With chewing gum.”
“How much chewing gum?”
“A perfectly terrific amount. I had about twelve sticks in my purse, and I chewed them all up and got a big wad of gum. Then I put the diamonds in the gum and pushed them up against the underside of the desk.”
“Where are those diamonds now?”
“As far as I know, they’re still there.”
“Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said, “if the Court please, I suggest that an officer of this court be dispatched to the office of Perry Mason, with instructions to look at the place described by this witness and bring back the wad of chewing gum containing those two diamonds.”
Judge Hartley looked at Mason questioningly.
Mason smiled at the judge. “I certainly would have no objection, Your Honor.”
“Very well,” Judge Hartley ruled. “It will be the order of the Court that an officer of this court proceed to take those diamonds and impound them.”
“And may they be sent for immediately, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger asked, “before … well, before something happens to them?”
“And what would happen to them?” Judge Hartley asked.
“Well, now that it is known,” Hamilton Burger said, “now that the testimony has come out … I … well, I would dislike to have anything happen to the evidence.”
“So would I,” Mason said heartily. “I join the prosecutor’s request. I suggest that one of the deputy district attorneys instruct an officer to proceed at once to my office.”
“Can you designate the desk that was used by this young lady?” Hamilton Burger asked.
“The desk in question was one that was placed in the law library. It can be found there.”
“Very well,” the judge ruled. “You may take care of that matter, Mr. District Attorney. Now, go on with your questioning.”
Hamilton Burger walked over to the clerk’s desk, picked up the knife which had been marked for identification. “I show you a dagger with an eight-inch blade, one side of the hilt being
engraved with the word ‘Duane,’ the other side with the initials ‘M. J.’ I will ask you if you are familiar with that knife.”
“I am. It is a knife which I sent the defendant at his South African address as a Christmas present last Christmas. I told him he could use it to protect … protect my honor.”
The witness began to cry.
“I think,” Hamilton Burger said suavely, “that those are all of the questions I have of this witness. You may cross-examine, Mr. Mason.”
Mason waited patiently until Mae Jordan had dried her eyes and looked up at him. “You are, I believe, a very fast and accurate typist?”
“I try to be competent.”
“And you worked in my office on the afternoon in question?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know anything about gems?”
“Not particularly.”
“Do you know the difference between a real diamond and an imitation diamond?”
“It didn’t take an expert to tell those stones. Those were very high-grade stones. I recognized what they were as soon as I saw them.”
“Had you bought those stones from the defendant?” Mason asked.
“What do you mean, had I bought those stones?”
“Did you pay him anything? Give him any consideration?”
“Certainly not,” she snapped.
“Did you pay Mr. Irving for those stones?”
“No.”
“Then you knew those stones did not belong to you?” Mason asked.
“They were given to me.”
“Oh, then you thought they were yours?”
“I felt certain I’d walked into a trap. I felt those men would say I’d gone to their office and stolen those diamonds. It would be my word against theirs. I knew they hadn’t given me two very valuable diamonds just to keep quiet about having exchanged letters.”
“You say they gave you the diamonds. Did you receive them from Jefferson or from Irving?”
“From Mr. Irving.”
Mason studied the defiant witness for a moment. “You started corresponding with the defendant while he was in South Africa?”
“Yes.”
“And wrote him love letters?”
“They were not love letters.”
“Did they contain matters which you wouldn’t want this jury to see?”
“They were foolish letters, Mr. Mason. Please don’t try to put anything in them that wasn’t in them.”
“I am asking you,” Mason said, “as to the nature of the letters.”
“They were very foolish letters.”
“Would you say they were indiscreet?”
“I would say they were indiscreet.”
“You wanted them back?”
“I felt … well … foolish about the whole thing.” “So you wanted the letters back?”
“Yes, very badly.”
“And, in order to get them back, you were willing to commit a crime?”
“I wanted the letters back.”
“Please answer the question. You were willing to commit a crime in order to get the letters back?”
“I don’t know that it’s a crime to enter an office to get things that belong to me.”
“Did you believe it was illegal to use a skelton key to enter property belonging to another person, so that you could take certain things?”
“I was trying to get possession of property that belonged to me.”
“Did you believe that it was illegal to use a skelton key to open that door?”
“I … I didn’t consult a lawyer to find out about my rights.”
“Where did you get the key which opened the door?”
“I haven’t said I had a key.”
“You’ve admitted you entered the office at a time when you knew both Jefferson and Irving would not be there.”
“What if I did? I went to get my own property.”
“If you had a key which opened the door of that office, where did you get it?”
“Where does one ordinarily get keys?”
“From a locksmith?”
“Perhaps.”
“Did you get a key to that office from a locksmith?”
“I will answer no questions about keys.”
“And suppose the Court should instruct you that you had to answer such questions?”
“I would refuse on the grounds that any testimony from me relating to the manner in which I entered that office would tend to incriminate me, and therefore I would not have to answer the question.”
“I see,” Mason said. “But you have already admitted that you entered the office illegally. Therefore, an attempt to exercise your constitutional prerogative would be too late.”
“Now, if the Court please,” Hamilton Burger said, “I would like to be heard on this point. I have given this question very careful thought. The Court will note that the witness simply stated that she entered the office at a time when the defendant and his associate were absent. She has not stated how she entered the office. As far as her testimony is concerned, the door could well have been unlocked; and, inasmuch as this is a public office, where it is expected the public will enter in order to transact business, there would have been nothing illegal about an entrance made in the event the door had been unlocked. Therefore, the witness is in a position, if she so desires, to refuse to testify as to the manner in which she entered that office, on the ground that it might tend to incriminate her.”
Judge Hartley frowned. “That’s rather an unusual position for a witness called on behalf of the prosecution, Mr. District Attorney.”
“It’s an unusual case, Your Honor.”
“Do you wish to be heard on that point, Mr. Mason?” Judge Hartley asked.
Mason smiled and said, “I would like to ask the witness a few more questions.”
“I object to any more cross-examination on this point,” Hamilton Burger said, his voice showing exasperation and a trace of apprehension. “The witness has made her position plain. Counsel doesn’t dare to cross-examine her about the pertinent facts in the case, so he continually harps upon the one point where this young woman, yielding to her emotions, has put herself in an embarrassing position. He keeps prolonging this moment, as a cat plays with a mouse, hoping thereby to prejudice the jury against this witness. The witness has made her position plain. She refuses to answer questions on this phase of the matter.”
Mason smiled. “I have been accused of prolonging this phase of the examination in an attempt to prejudice the jury.
I don’t want to prejudice the jury. I’d like to get information which the jurors want.
“When the district attorney was prolonging the examination of Mr. Gilly in an attempt to prejudice the jury against the defendant, you didn’t hear me screaming. What’s sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander.”
Judge Hartley smiled. “The objection is overruled. Go ahead with your questions.”
“Will you tell us the name of the person who furnished you with the key that enabled you to get into the office of the South African Gem Importing and Exploration Company?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because, if I answered that question, it would tend to incriminate me, and therefore I shall refuse to answer.”
“You have discussed this phase of your testimony with the district attorney?”
“Oh, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said, “this is the same old gambit so frequently pursued by defense attorneys. I will stipulate that this witness has discussed her testimony with me. I would not have put her on the stand unless I knew that her testimony would be pertinent and relevant. The only way I could know what it was, was to talk with her.”
Mason kept his eyes on the witness. “You have discussed this phase of your testimony with the district attorney?”
“Yes.”
“And have discussed with him what would happen in case you were asked a question concerning the name of the person who furnished yo
u the keys?”
“Yes.”
“And told him you would refuse to testify on the ground that it would incriminate you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you make that statement to the district attorney, or did he suggest to you that you could refuse to answer the question on that ground?”
“Well, I … I … of course I know my rights.”
“But you have just stated,” Mason said, “that you didn’t know that it was a crime for you to enter an office to get property that belonged to you.”
“Well, I … I think there’s a nice legal point there. As I now understand it, a public office … that is, a place that is intended to be open to the public is different from a private residence. And where property belongs to me—”
Mason smiled. “Then you are now taking the position, Miss Jordan, that it was no crime for you to enter that office?”
“No.”
“Oh, you are now taking the position that it was a crime for you to enter that office?”
“I now understand that under the circumstances it—I refuse to answer that question on the ground that the answer may incriminate me.”
“In other words, the district attorney suggested to you that you should consider it was a crime, and therefore you could refuse to answer certain questions when I asked them?”
“We discussed it.”
“And the suggestion came from the district attorney that it would be well under the circumstances for you to refuse to answer certain questions which I might ask on cross-examination. Is that right?”
“There were certain questions I told him I wouldn’t answer.”
“And he suggested that you could avoid answering them by claiming immunity on the ground that you couldn’t be forced to incriminate yourself?”
“Well, in a way, yes.”
“Now then,” Mason said, “you had two diamonds with you when you left that office?”
“Yes.”
“They didn’t belong to you?”
“They were given to me.”
“By whom?”
“By Mr. Irving, who told me to take them.”
“Did he say why you were to take them?”
“He said to take them and keep my big mouth shut.”
“And you took them?”
“Yes.”
“And you kept your mouth shut?”
“I don’t know what you mean by that.”
The Case of the Terrified Typist Page 13
