“Moreover, Dolores was frank enough in talking to me about having gone to see Rose Keeling. But when I told her Rose had been murdered, she thought that over and then decided she wanted no part of the entire affair. That’s when she started lying to Lieutenant Tragg.
“If she changed her statement to me because of the knowledge that Rose Keeling had been murdered, the statement that I made to her was the first intimation she had that Rose was dead. Naturally, then, she couldn’t have been the one who did the killing.”
“How about her husband?”
“Now there,” Mason said, “we have an entirely different situation. There was some cigar ash in the bedroom. Hang it, I wish I knew whether that burn on the wood floor where the cigarette had burnt down had been made by a cigarette Rose dropped when she was struggling with Dolores Caddo or whether it was dropped there by the murderer.
“It could hardly have been dropped there by Rose Keeling after she had taken the bath, and aside from Dolores Caddo’s visit, there was no reason for her to have dropped it before she went into the bathroom.”
“But the murderer could have dropped it,” Della suggested.
Mason said, “Rose Keeling wasn’t smoking a cigar. The cigar ashes indicate the presence of a man. If you have both a cigar and a cigarette present at the time the crime was committed, you’ve complicated the problem a lot. I feel certain that the cigarette must have been dropped by Rose Keeling when Dolores grabbed her, but I don’t know how we’re going to prove it.”
Della Street said, “Somehow I have the feeling that if we could know a little more about what Robert Caddo was doing about noon on the seventeenth we wouldn’t have any trouble getting the thing cleared up.”
Mason said, “He’s not very much of a smoker. He may smoke cigars. I’ve never actually seen him do so and I’ve never seen any cigars in his pocket.”
“That’s right,” Della Street admitted grudgingly.
Mason said, “Oh, well, let’s eat our lunch and well go back and see what happens this afternoon.”
He went ahead with his salad and when he and Della had finished, paid the check and walked back toward the Hall of Justice.
Suddenly Della Street gripped his arm.
“Look, Chief. Do you see what I see?”
Mason stopped, followed the direction of Della Street’s gaze.
Robert Caddo, accompanied by Palmer and Ralph Endicott and Lorraine Endicott Parsons, was walking toward the courthouse, and at the moment Della Street spoke, Palmer Endicott was extending his cigar case. Robert Caddo took a cigar and with the practiced skill of a habitual cigar smoker bit off the end, scraped a match into flame, rotated the cigar as he lit it, to get it burning evenly, and then walked on toward the Hall of Justice, the cigar tilted up a jaunty angle. Caddo’s facial expression was that of a man who has dined well, is prepared to enjoy a good cigar, and finds himself at peace with the world.
20
As court reconvened, Judge Osborn said, “Are you ready to proceed with the case of People versus Marlow, gentlemen?”
“Ready for the Defense,” Mason said.
“Ready for the Prosecution,” Hanover announced. “It gives me pleasure to inform the Court that the additional witnesses whom I wanted to secure are now in court, so that I can authenticate the copy of that letter.
“I believe that Lieutenant Tragg was on the stand, but if it is agreeable to the Court, I would like now to withdraw Lieutenant Tragg once more so that I can call Ralph Endicott.”
“No objection,” Mason said. “I want it understood, however, that Lieutenant Tragg will be returned to the stand because I wish to cross-examine him on some of the matters concerning which he has already testified.”
“You will have ample opportunity to cross-examine the witness,” Judge Osborn said.
“I will now call Ralph Endicott to the stand,” Hanover announced.
Ralph Endicott nodded somewhat acidly to Mason, took the witness stand and answered preliminary questions, stating that he was the brother of George P. Endicott, deceased, that he had been acquainted with Rose Keeling during her lifetime.
“Now, on the seventeenth of this month,” Hanover said suavely, “did you receive from Rose Keeling a carbon copy of a letter she had sent in the mail to this defendant?”
“I did, yes.”
“What was that?”
“I received from Miss Keeling a carbon copy of a letter which was in her handwriting.”
“To whom was that letter addressed?”
“To Marilyn Marlow.”
“The defendant in this case?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll show you what purports to be a carbon copy of that letter addressed to Marilyn Marlow and ask you whether you have ever seen that letter before.”
“I have. Yes, sir. That was delivered to me by Rose Keeling.”
“And that letter is in the handwriting of the decedent, Rose Keeling?”
“Yes, sir, it is. I have seen her handwriting. I’ve studied her signature very carefully. Her signature is appended to the purported will of my dead brother, as a witness.”
“And is that the only way you know that letter is in the handwriting of Rose Keeling?”
“No, sir. I discussed the matter with Rose Keeling. She told me that letter was in her handwriting.”
“Cross-examine,” Hanover said to Perry Mason.
“When did she tell you that the letter was written by her?” Mason asked.
“That was on the seventeenth.”
“The day she was killed?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And where did this conversation take place?”
“In her flat, in the living room.”
“And what time was it?”
“Around eight o’clock in the morning.”
“And how did you happen to be there at that hour?”
“She telephoned me and asked me to come there.”
“You had a conversation with her at that time?”
“I did. Yes, sir.”
“And what did she tell you during that conversation?”
“Oh, Your Honor,” Hanover said, “if the Court please, this is going far afield. The only questions I have asked this witness pertain to the letter. Now then, If Counsel goes on a fishing expedition, inquiring about everything they talked about … well, Your Honor, I object on the ground that it’s not proper cross-examination.”
Mason said, “I believe, Your Honor, it is an elemental rule of evidence that when Counsel inquires concerning a conversation on direct examination, on cross-examination opposing counsel has the right to bring out the entire conversation.”
“I didn’t inquire about this conversation,” Hanover said.
Mason smiled and said, “You asked him how he knew it was her handwriting and he said he was familiar with her handwriting, and, moreover, she had acknowledged that it was her handwriting. I then asked him about the conversation, and it appears that the acknowledgment took place in her flat. I am now asking for the entire conversation.”
“The objection is overruled,” Judge Osborn said.
“Well,” Endicott said, “she called me up and asked me to come up there. She told me that she wanted me to have a carbon copy of the letter she’d sent Marilyn Marlow.”
“That was over the telephone?”
“Yes.”
“So you went to her apartment, or flat, and had a conversation with her?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And what did she say?”
“She said that Eleanore Marlow had promised her money to witness a false and fraudulent will, that she had been given one thousand dollars on account, that she knew the will was improperly obtained, that my brother had not known the terms of the will, and she doubted very much whether he had actually signed it; that she had not been in the room when the instrument was executed. Under those circumstances, she felt the thousand dollars which had been received by her from Eleanore Marlow, and which she
knew was money raised from the sale of jewelry that also had been fraudulently obtained, should be refunded to me. Therefore, she gave me a check for a thousand dollars to ease her conscience.”
“That was the conversation you had in her flat?”
“That’s right. Yes, sir.”
“On the morning of the seventeenth?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And at that time she-gave you a check, which also carries the signature of Rose Keeling, does it not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And when you said that in passing upon the genuineness of the signature of Rose Keeling to this letter you knew that it was her handwriting, I presume you’re being guided in part by a comparison of the signature which you had seen on that check?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And how do you know that was genuine?”
“Because I saw her sign it, for one thing, and because the bank accepted it and okayed it, for another.”
“You have that check with you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I want it marked for identification,” Mason said. “I want to take a look at it.”
“Oh, if the Court please,” Hanover said, “that certainly is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”
“It’s one of the documents relied upon by the witness in stating that this letter was signed by the decedent,” Mason said.
“But she told him with her own mouth that she had written that letter,” Hanover said.
“That’s what this witness states,” Mason said. “Unfortunately, Rose Keeling is not here to confirm or deny that testimony. This witness has now stated, if the Court please, that in testifying that a certain signature is genuine, he relied upon a comparison with the signature upon another document which he has in his possession. Certainly under the circumstances, on cross-examination, I’m entitled to inspect that document.”
“I guess that’s right,” Hanover said with poor grace. “If you want to keep this thing running indefinitely, I suppose you have the right to prolong it by one excuse or another. Show him the check, Mr. Endicott.”
Ralph Endicott opened his purse, took out the certified check’ he had previously shown Mason, said, “Be careful with this check. I don’t want anything to happen to it. It’s evidence.”
“Indeed it is!” Mason said. “We’ll have the clerk stamp it for identification right now.”
The clerk made a stamp of identification on the check.
“What time did you leave Rose Keeling’s flat?”
“I’ve already gone into that with you and Lieutenant Tragg. I left there around eight-thirty. I can account for every minute of my whereabouts during the day.”
Mason said, “That’s all for the moment. I may want to ask you a question or two later on. Your Honor, I would like to have this check photographed.”
“Very well,” Judge Osborn said.
“Well, I’m going to stay right here until I get that check back,” Endicott declared truculently. “I don’t mind you taking a photograph of it, but I want it back.”
“We can have a photostat made at the first recess of the court,” the clerk said. “I can make a photostat within ten minutes.”
“Very well. I think Mr. Endicott wants to remain in court anyway,” the judge said, smiling at Endicott.
“It’s all right. I’ll stay right here,” Endicott said, and marched back to seat himself with his brother and sister in the rear of the courtroom.
“Lieutenant Tragg, back on the stand,” Hanover said.
Tragg resumed the stand.
“Now then, Lieutenant, I show you this carbon copy of a letter to Marilyn Marlow and ask you where you secured that letter.”
“Mr. Ralph Endicott gave it to me.”
“What did you do with it after that?”
“I showed it to the defendant.”
“And what did she say with reference to that letter?”
“She admitted that she had received the original in the mail and had destroyed it.”
“You may cross-examine,” Hanover said.
Mason said, “Lieutenant Tragg, you stated in effect that you had asked the defendant repeatedly whether or not she had placed the tennis things as shown in that photograph near the closet door for the purpose of bolstering her story, but that she had refused to admit it.”
“That’s right.”
“Isn’t that rather a prejudicial way of presenting a fact in the case, Lieutenant?”
“How do you mean?”
“In other words, you didn’t have one scintilla of evidence that would indicate that she had placed those tennis things near the door, did you?”
“Well, I felt pretty certain she had. If Rose Keeling had written her this letter the day before, and was packing her things to get out of town on the seventeenth, and taking a bath, just ready to travel, she certainly didn’t intend to go out and play tennis.”
“But, Lieutenant, how do you know she was packing her things?”
“Because she was packing two suitcases. One of them was fully packed and the other was about half packed.”
“You mean the other one was half unpacked, don’t you?”
“I mean it was packed! She was packing.”
“How do you know she wasn’t unpacking?”
“How do I know anything?” Lieutenant Tragg said. “The evidence was there. You could see it. The woman was packing.”
“Lieutenant, I show you this photograph of the bedroom and call your attention to a pile of clothes which were folded and placed on the bureau.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You saw those clothes?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What were they?”
“Clothes that she’d been folding and getting ready to put in the suitcase.”
“Did you examine that pile of clothes?” Mason asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“You didn’t disturb it but you looked through it?”
“I took a peek here and there to see what was in there.”
“And what was in there?”
Some underwear, a nightgown, some handkerchiefs, stockings, various things.”
“And they were folded to various dimensions, Lieutenant, but the external dimensions of the entire pile were just as shown here in the photograph?”
“That’s right. Some of the things were small, like handkerchiefs and underwear, but the outside dimensions of the whole pile just fitted the suitcase.”
“And, therefore, you assumed that she was getting ready to put them in the suitcase.”
“That’s right. She’d folded them so they’d just fit in the suitcase.”
“Do you think it is possible for a person to do that?”
“Of course it’s possible. The evidence is right there.”
“Isn’t the evidence equally amenable to the interpretation that the things had been packed in the suitcase and then were lifted out of the suitcase and placed on the bureau?”
“No.”
“After all,” Hanover said to the judge, “this is calling for a conclusion from the witness.”
“He’s qualified himself as an expert,” Mason said, “by swearing on his oath that the decedent was packing at the time of her death. I want to prove to him that he’s wrong.”
“Go ahead and try to prove it!” Hanover challenged.
Mason smilingly pushed back his chair, got to his feet, said, “Please give me that package, Della.”
Della Street handed him a large shopping bag.
Mason took a suitcase from beneath the counsel table, walked over to Lieutenant Tragg, said, “Lieutenant Tragg, you say it’s possible for a person to fold garments so they’ll fit into a suitcase without actually fitting them into the suitcase at the time they’re folded. Here are some feminine undergarments and other wearing apparel. Now, go ahead and fold those so they will exactly fit into this suitcase. Do it without putting them into the suitcase itself.”
Lieutenant Tragg sa
id, “That’s easy,” and dove into the bag of garments, emerging with a pair of silk panties, much to his own embarrassment and the amusement of the courtroom.
“After all this isn’t a fair test,” Hanover objected.
“Why isn’t it a fair test?” Mason asked. “The Lieutenant says it can be done. Let’s see him do it.”
“It’s a cinch,” Lieutenant Tragg said. “Just give me a table or something to pile these on, and I’ll show Mr. Mason how it’s done.”
He cocked an eye at the suitcase, then spread the panties on the table. He next pulled a blouse from the shopping bag.
“Of course,” Tragg said, “I haven’t had too much experience in getting these things folded so they don’t wrinkle.”
“I understand,” Mason said. “You’re not supposed to be making a job of expert packing such as a woman would do. You’re simply showing the Court how it’s possible to put these clothes in a pile so that the external dimensions of the pile will exactly fit the suitcase.”
Lieutenant Tragg started folding the blouse, then observed the edges of the fold with a certain amount of disquiet. However, he bravely delved into the shopping bag, brought out more garments and arranged them in the form of a rough square.
“I think this will about do it,” he said.
Mason looked at the pile of garments and lowered them into the suitcase. “You have fully an inch and a half clearance here, Lieutenant.”
“Well, I’ll try it over again and make it bigger,” Tragg said impatiently.
He rearranged the garments.
Once more Mason fitted them and said, “And this is three-quarters of an inch too wide. I’ll have to bend up the edges of this pile in order to get it into the suitcase.”
“Well, look here,” Lieutenant Tragg said, “let me just put one garment down there so I can get the dimensions of the suitcase and then I’ll …”
“But you can’t do it that way,” Mason said, “because the pile must contain several garments. There are only a few garments here that would be big enough to give you an exact pattern.”
The Case of the Lonely Heiress Page 20
