The Case of the Counterfeit Eye (15 page)

"This," he said, "is the time fixed for the preliminary hearing of Peter Brunold and Sylvia Basset, jointly charged with the murder of one Hartley Basset. Gentlemen, are you ready to proceed with the preliminary hearing?"

"Ready," said Perry Mason.

District Attorney Burger nodded.

Newspaper reporters squared themselves over their notebooks and settled down to business. The case was virtually unique, in that the district attorney himself was conducting a preliminary hearing, and every newspaper man in the room knew that there were events in the making.

"James Overton," said District Attorney Burger, "will you please come forward and be sworn."

Overton held up his right hand, stood staring over the courtroom, dark saturnine, sardonic, yet, withal with an air of polished poise about him which seemed in some way, to set him apart from the others.

"Your name is James Overton and you were employed as a chauffeur for Hartley Basset?" Burger asked, as Overton, having been sworn, took the witness stand.

"Yes, sir."

"How long had you been employed by Mr. Basset?"

"Eighteen months."

"You were employed as chauffeur during all that time?"

"Yes, sir."

"What was your occupation before that time?"

Perry Mason pushed his way up from his counsel chair.

"I am aware," he said, "that it is usually poor policy for an attorney for the defense to enter a lot of technical objections at a preliminary examination. It is far better trial tactics to get the district attorney to expose his hand by asking everything that he wishes to. I am also aware that it is customary for a district attorney to put on only enough of a case to bind over the defendants, without giving to the defense any inkling of the case which he has built up. However, I sense there is perhaps something unusual in the present case. Therefore, I am going to ask the Court and Counsel whether any object can be served by going into this man's occupation prior to the time he entered the employ of Hartley Basset."

"I think it can," Burger said.

"Then I won't object," Mason announced smilingly.

"Answer the question," said Judge Winters.

"I was a detective."

"A private detective?" Burger inquired.

"No, sir, I was employed by the United States Government in connection with some of its intelligence work. I left the government and took employment with the municipal police department on the detective bureau. I had been working only a few days when Mr. Basset approached me and asked me to accept employment as his chauffeur."

Perry Mason settled back in his chair. His eyes drifted over to Brunold's face, then to Sylvia Basset.

Brunold, flanked by a deputy, sat with an expressionless face. Sylvia Basset's eyes were wide with surprise.

"During the time you were employed as chauffeur for Hartley Basset, did you have any duties other than driving an automobile?" Burger asked.

"We'll stipulate," Perry Mason said, with a sneer in his voice, "that this man was employed to spy upon the wife of Hartley Basset and that he endeavored to ingratiate himself with his master by reporting facts which made such espionage seem necessary."

Burger was on his feet.

"Your Honor," he thundered, "I object to such tactics on the part of the defense. He is seeking to discredit the testimony of this witness by a slurring offer to stipulate something which can't be stipulated to."

"Why not?" Perry Mason asked.

"Because it isn't a fact," said Burger. "This man is a reputable investigator, and…"

"They're all the same," Mason interrupted.

Judge Winters banged his gavel. "Gentlemen," he said, "I am going to have no more such discussions. And you, Mr. Mason, will make no more interpolations. You will confine your remarks to the Court and the cross-examination of witnesses, subject to your right to make objections in a proper and respectful manner."

Perry Mason nodded, sprawled out in his chair and smiled slightly.

"Your Honor," he said, "I beg the Court's pardon."

"Go on, Mr. Burger," said Judge Winters.

Burger took a deep breath; seemed to control his temper with an effort and said, "Just answer the question, Mr. Overton. What other duties did you have?"

"I was employed by Mr. Basset to keep him advised as to certain things that went on in his household."

"What things?"

"He told me that he wanted me to be his listening post."

"Was 'listening post' the expression he used?"

"Yes."

"Now, then, let me first lay the preliminary foundation. When did you last see Hartley Basset?"

"On the fourteenth."

"Was he alive?"

"He was when I first saw him on that date."

"The last time you saw him, was he alive?"

"No, sir, he was dead."

"Where was he?"

"He was lying in his inner office, sprawled out on the floor, a blanket and a quilt, folded together, lying near one side of his head, his arms outstretched, a.38 Colt Police Positive revolver lying on the floor near his left hand, a.38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver near his right hand. This second gun was concealed under the blanket and quilt."

"And Mr. Basset was dead?"

"Yes, sir."

"You know that of your own knowledge?"

"Yes, sir."

"Who was present in the room at the time you saw Mr. Basset's body?"

"Sergeant Holcomb of the Homicide Squad, two detectives whose names I don't know, and a criminologist who works with the Homicide Squad. I think his name is Shearer."

"Did you notice anything in the left hand of the corpse?"

"Yes, sir."

"What was it?"

"A glass eye."

"Was that glass eye marked at that time and in your presence by any of these gentlemen, so that it could be identified again?"

"Yes, sir."

"By whom was it marked?"

"Mr. Shearer."

"What mark was placed upon it?"

"He took some black substance – ink, or a nitrate of silver compound – I don't know just what it was, and made certain marks on the interior surface of the eye."

"Would you recognize that eye if you saw it again?"

"Yes, sir."

Burger produced a sealed envelope, went through an elaborate formality of cutting open the envelope, shook out a glass eye, and handed it to Overton.

"Is this the eye?"

"Yes, sir, that's it."

"Had you ever seen that eye before?" Burger asked. Overton nodded his head emphatically.

"Yes, sir," he said, "I had seen that eye before."

"Where?"

"In the possession of Mr. Basset."

Perry Mason sat forward in his chair, his eyes slitted In thoughtful concentration.

Burger glanced at him triumphantly. "You mean," he said, "that you saw this eye in the possession of Mr. Basset before the murder?"

"Yes, sir."

"How long before?"

"Twenty-four hours before."

"Was that," asked Burger, spacing the words so as to get the utmost dramatic effect from the question, "the first time you had ever seen that bloodshot glass eye?"

"No, sir," said Overton.

Judge Winters did the witness the honor of leaning forward and cupping his hand back of his ear, so that he might miss no word.

Burger asked impressively, "When did you first see that eye?"

"About one hour before I first saw it in Basset's possession."

"Where was it then?"

"Just a moment," Perry Mason said. "I object to the question on the ground that it is incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial, assumes a fact not in evidence, and no proper foundation has been laid."

"Specifically, what does your objection relate to, Counselor," Judge Winters asked.

"To the fact that it is a conclusion of the witness as to whether the eye which he saw in the hand of the dead man is the same eye that he saw twenty-four hours before or twenty-five hours before, depending upon which occasion he is now about to testify to. Your Honor will remember that there was an identification mark placed upon the eye when it was taken from the hand of the dead man. The witness is able to testify now and identify the bloodshot eye by reason of that identifying mark.

"But, your Honor, prior to the time that identifying mark was on the eye, all that the witness knows is that he saw a bloodshot glass eye, rather than the identical bloodshot glass eye concerning which the question has been asked."

Burger chuckled.

"Very well," he said, "we will concede that the objection is well taken upon the ground that no proper foundation has been laid, and with the permission of Court and Counsel, we will withdraw that last question and proceed to lay the proper foundation.

"Did you see a similar glass eye – that is, one which was similar in appearance to the one which was found in the hand of the dead man?"

"Yes, sir."

"When?"

"I first discovered it about twenty-five hours prior to the murder. I handed it to Mr. Basset and saw it in his possession about twenty-four hours prior to the murder."

"Have you any way of telling whether that was the same eye as the one which you have now identified and which you are holding in your hand?"

"Yes, sir."

"You have a way of making such identification?"

"Yes, sir."

"What is it?"

"At the time I discovered this eye, I was wearing a diamond ring. I knew from my experience as a detective the importance of identifying…"

"Never mind what you knew from your experience as a detective," Burger said. "That may go out by stipulation and consent. Just tell what you did."

"I took my diamond ring and cut a cross on the inner surface of the eye.

"Is that cross readily visible?"

"No, sir, not unless you look at it in just the right light. I didn't cut it deeply enough to be conspicuous."

"Can you tell whether that cross now appears upon the eye which you hold in your hand?"

"Yes, sir, it does."

"We ask," Burger said, "that the eye be received in evidence as the People's Exhibit A."

"No objection," Mason said.

"It will be so received," Judge Winters announced.

"Then that is the same eye which you saw some twenty-five hours before the murder?" Burger went on.

"Yes, sir."

"Where did you find it?"

Overton took a deep breath, then said in a voice which filled the courtroom, "In Mrs. Basset's bedroom."

"How did you happen to find it there? Under what circumstances?"

"I heard a noise in Mrs. Basset's bedroom."

"What kind of a noise?"

"The noise of conversation."

"You mean you heard voices?"

"Yes, sir, and motions."

"And what did you do?"

"I knocked on the door."

"What happened?"

"There was the sound of hurried motion."

"Was the conversation that you heard," Burger asked, "distinguishable?"

"You mean as to words?" the witness asked.

"Yes."

"No, sir, it was not. I could hear the rumble of a man's voice and the sound of a woman's voice, but I couldn't hear the words."

"What happened after you knocked on the door?"

"There was this period of excited motion. Then I heard a window open and close. Then I heard Mrs. Basset's voice saying, 'Who is it?' "

"And what did you say?"

"I said, 'Open the door, please. This is James, the chauffeur.' "

"Then what happened?"

"There was an appreciable interval. Then she said, 'You'll have to wait until I get dressed.' "

"Then what happened?"

"Then I waited for perhaps a minute."

"And then what?"

"Then she unlocked the door and opened it."

"What did you do or say?"

"I said, 'I beg your pardon, Madam, but Mr. Basset thought there was a burglar in the house. He wanted me to make certain that the windows were all fastened.'"

"What did she say?"

"Nothing."

"Did you say anything further?"

"Yes, sir, I told her that I was sorry if I had disturbed her, that I didn't think she had retired."

"What did she say then, if anything?"

"She said that she hadn't retired, that she had been taking a bath."