The Case of the Fenced-In Woman (22 page)

"What were you doing in town together?" Mason asked.

Morley Eden looked questioningly at Vivian. She shook her head.

"I'm sorry," Eden said. "We've answered all the questions we're going to answer, Mason. You've just got to carry on as a lawyer. Just assume that we are guilty. Let's assume that we committed a cold – blooded murder and you're the attorney representing us. As an attorney you'd look for every possible loophole in the evidence. You'd try everything you could. Now you just go ahead and try the case that way. Do the best you can. It's all we can expect."

"Damn it!" Mason said. "Are you trying to force your way into the death cell?"

"We're not trying anything of the sort," Eden said impatiently, "but if we are convicted, that's all there is to it. If we aren't convicted we've got to hold our heads up in society and live normal lives as well as we can. I'll tell you this much: We didn't kill him, and that's all we're going to tell you."

Mason said, "What time did you get to your house out there-that is, if you were in town together?"

Eden shook his head. "We've told you all we're going to tell you."

The deputies standing impatiently waiting for their prisoners moved in a little closer.

Mason shrugged his shoulders. "All right," he said, "take them."

Chapter Fourteen

MASON, Della Street and Paul Drake had lunch near the Hall of Justice at a small Italian restaurant where the proprietor had reserved a private dining room for them.

"I thought you said it was all circumstantial evidence, Perry," Drake said.

"I thought it was," Mason told him. "There's something about this case that simply doesn't make sense."

"Well, we've done all we can," Drake said.

Della Street said reassuringly, "You're doing a wonderful job, Chief. After all, if they expect you to go it blind you've got to just play it by ear. You've taken the sting out of a good deal of their evidence."

"But how am I going to take the sting out of Nadine Palmer's evidence?" Mason asked.

"Do you think she's telling the truth?"

"I don't know."

"Suppose you knew your clients were guilty. What would you do?" Drake asked. "You'd try to discredit Nadine Palmer, wouldn't you?"

"It's my duty to try and discredit her anyway," Mason said. "After all, she's given damaging testimony and it's up to me to use a searching cross – examination in probing for some weak point in her story. There's one thing I wish you'd do, Paul."

"What?"

"Get Della Street's fingerprints."

"Get what?" Della asked.

"Get Della Street's fingerprints," Mason said, his eyes on Paul.

"Well, that's easy," Drake said, grinning. "Provided Della doesn't raise any objection."

"What in the world do you want my fingerprints for?" Della asked.

Mason grinned. "I just thought I'd use them in cross – examination."

"Why?"

"Well, it might have a dramatic effect on the jury."

"When do you want them?"

"Right after lunch," Mason said. "Drake had better take you up to his office where no one will see him. Get her fingerprints, Paul, and mark the sheet of paper on which the fingerprints are made-use one of the standard sheets of fingerprint paper-and come to think of it, Paul, don't use all of Della's fingerprints. Take your secretary's and alternate fingerprints; one of Della's, one of your secretary's. Start with Della's little finger, take your secretary's ring finger. Get Della's middle finger, then your secretary's index finger; then Della Street's thumb."

"What in the world are you planning?" Drake asked.

"I don't know," Mason said, "but the way I look at law an attorney has a right to cross – examine a witness in order to find out if that witness is telling the truth. If the witness isn't, he doesn't need to lay a trap simply by asking questions. He has a reasonable amount of leeway."

Drake said, "I don't like this, Perry. You could get into trouble, particularly when you start mixing fingerprints."

Mason looked at him somberly. "Hell, I'm in trouble already, Paul. My clients are mixed in this thing up to their eyebrows and I don't know just where to strike. Anything I do may be the wrong thing."

"Well, this certainly looks wrong," Drake said. "It's no crime to take anyone's fingerprints but once you start mixing up the fingerprints of two people to deceive someone, you… Suppose they catch you, Perry?"

"That's the point," Mason said. "I don't want them to catch me."

"Quit worrying about it, Paul," Della Street said. "Let's hurry through lunch and get going."

Drake sighed. "The things a private detective has to go through when he's working for Perry Mason," he said lugubriously. "All of a sudden I've lost my appetite."

Chapter Fifteen

AT ONE – FIFTEEN when court reconvened, Judge Fisk said, "Mrs. Nadine Palmer was on the stand. Will you return to the stand, please, Mrs. Palmer? Go ahead with your cross – examination, Mr. Mason."

Mason waited until Nadine Palmer had seated herself and was glaring at him defiantly as though daring him to do his worst.

"This woman that you saw in the swimming pool," Mason said, "you glimpsed very briefly?"

"I saw her for some period of time, but she was moving very rapidly."

"The only time you saw her face was when she was running toward the swimming pool, is that right?"

"That's the only time I would have had a good look at her face."

"You say you would have had a good look at her face- meaning that you would have had a good look at her face if you could have kept your eyes focused on it?"

"Well, she was moving very rapidly and I had a little trouble getting the binoculars… Well, I saw her."

"And then you saw her jump in the water, swim across to the other side of the pool, bend over the hidden receptacle, and all that time she had her back to you."

"From the time she got out of the pool, yes."

"And while she was in the pool her face was under water."

"Yes."

"Now," Mason said, "when I called on you, your hair was wet."

"I had been in a shower."

"Do you usually wet your hair when you're taking a shower?"

"Sometimes. I intended to have my hair done the next day so I was careless about it."

"You remember that I asked you for a cigarette and you told me to help myself out of your purse or handbag?"

"Yes."

"Then when I opened it to take out a cigarette you came dashing out of the bedroom with a negligee wide open and trailing behind you. You were careless of the amount of exposure because of your haste."

"I wanted to help you. I was being hospitable and I thought you were a gentleman."

"And you whipped out a package of cigarettes and handed them to me?" Mason asked.

"Yes."

"Now, you're under oath," Mason said. "Did you get those cigarettes from your handbag or did you have them in your hand when you came running out of the bedroom?"

"I had them in my hand, actually."

"And the reason you were so anxious to get a cigarette into my hands before I reached one out of the bag is because you realized that the cigarettes in your bag were soaking wet, due to the fact that you had been in the swimming pool in your panties and bra and had taken your underthings off while they were wet and put them in the bag?"

"I object," Ormsby said. "This is not proper cross – examination. It assumes facts not in evidence and covers matters which were not covered on direct examination."

"I think I have the right to ask the question," Mason said. "I think it goes to the bias of the witness."

Judge Fisk regarded the witness thoughtfully. "I'm going to let the witness answer that question," he said. "I'm interested in the answer myself."

She said, "I suddenly decided that I didn't care to have you prowling around among my personal belongings, Mr. Mason. I thought I would bring you a cigarette so you wouldn't have to get one out of my bag."

"You're not answering the question," Mason said. "Were your actions due to the fact you knew the cigarettes in the bag were wet because you had put your wet underthings in there?"

She hesitated a moment, then looked at him defiantly. "No!" she said, spitting out the word with dramatic vehemence.

Mason said, "I talked with you for a while and you accepted a ride with me, did you not?"

"Yes."

"And while we were riding I mentioned the fact that Loring Carson was supposed to have had a girl friend in Las Vegas?"

"Yes."

"And you immediately asked me to let you out of the car at the first available opportunity. You wanted to be where you could get a cab just as soon as possible. Is that right?"

"That's right."

"And I let you out?"

"Yes."

"And you took a cab?"

"Yes."

"Where did you go in that cab?"

"Objected to as not proper cross – examination, calling for evidence which was not adduced on direct examination," Ormsby said.

"I'm overruling the objection," Judge Fisk said, "on the theory that this entire line of examination goes to possible bias on the part of the witness."

"I had it take me to the airport."

"Very well," Mason said. "Now, let me ask you something else. When you went to Las Vegas did you take with you a quantity of negotiable securities made out in the name "of A. B. L. Seymour and endorsed in blank by Mr. Seymour?"

"No."

"Did you notice when you got to the Eden house that the receptacle was open?"

"Yes."

"Did you go to that receptacle?"

"No."

"Did you touch the receptacle?"

"No."

"Did you take any securities from that receptacle?"

"No."

"I submit," Mason said, "that you were the woman who dashed out of the house and into the swimming pool and swam across to the receptacle. I submit that you were not in the nude but that you were wearing your panties and bra; that you looted the receptacle of its securities, then swam back to get your clothes, taking off your wet underthings, wringing what water you could from them and putting them in your handbag."

"I did nothing of the sort."

"Did you," Mason asked, "take any securities of any sort to Las Vegas with you?"

"No."

Mason said, "I am going to show you a briefcase marked 'P. MASON' in gilt letters, and previously introduced in evidence as one of the People's Exhibits, and ask you if you ever saw that briefcase before this trial started."

"No."

"Did you take it to Las Vegas with you?"

"No."

"Did you arrange to have it surreptitiously put in my room in Las Vegas?"

"Oh, Your Honor," Ormsby said, "this certainly has gone far enough afield. This is not proper cross – examination, and I resent the making of an accusation of this sort where there is absolutely no evidence to support it."

Judge Fisk paused to give the matter thoughtful consideration. Then he said, "It is nevertheless a vital question as far as the defense is concerned. It would certainly go to the bias or motivation of the witness and I am going to permit it on that ground. Answer the question."

"No," she said.

Mason walked over to the counsel table and extended his hand to Della Street.

She handed him an envelope which Paul Drake had brought to court with him.

Mason approached the witness, dramatically opened the envelope, whipped open a sheet of paper divided into ten printed squares with an inked fingerprint in each square and said, "I am going to ask you whether these are your fingerprints."

"Just a moment, just a moment," Ormsby shouted, jumping to his feet. "I object to this procedure. This is completely irregular. Counsel has no right to make any such insinuation."

"What insinuation?" Mason asked.

"Insinuating that this young woman has had her fingerprints taken. I object to this."

"I will assure the Court, Counsel and the jurors," Mason said, "that there is no intent on my part to insinuate that these fingerprints were taken by any government agency. Quite the contrary. I am simply asking this witness if these are her fingerprints."

"That calls for a conclusion of the witness," Ormsby said, "and it is not proper cross – examination."

"I think it calls for a conclusion of the witness," Judge Fisk said, frowning at Mason.

"It is perfectly permissible to ask a witness if this is her signature," Mason said. "I am simply asking the witness if these are her fingerprints."

"But a witness can appraise a signature simply by looking at it," Judge Fisk said, "whereas in the matter of fingerprints it is something which calls for a somewhat expert conclusion."

Mason said, "I'm simply trying to find out. I have no objection whatever to having the witness take her fingerprints, put them on a sheet of paper and then hand both sheets to the clerk of the court to be marked for identification. Then if it turns out these are not the fingerprints of the witness that is all there is to it."

"But why should we do any such thing as that?" Ormsby asked.

"Because I have a right to ask the witness whether or not certain fingerprints are hers. I can ask her if a certain signature is hers, and I can certainly ask her if certain fingerprints are hers."

"The matter is unique as far as my experience is concerned," Judge Fisk said. "However, I am inclined to suggest that before I rule on the question the witness have her fingerprints taken and the two sheets of paper be marked for identification. Then the Court will call in an impartial fingerprint expert to determine the question."

"That is quite all right with me," Mason said.

"May I ask the reason for this question?" Judge Fisk asked.

"I am trying to establish something which goes to the bias and credibility of this witness, Your Honor. I cannot explain it at this time because if I did it would be disclosing my plan of attack and the witness would promptly proceed to-"

"Very well, very well," Judge Fisk interrupted briskly. "After all, gentlemen, the jurors are present and I suggest that we have no more discussion on the subject. The Court will take a ten – minute recess. During that time the witness can have her fingerprints taken and the two pieces of paper can be marked for identification."

"I certainly see no reason for it," Ormsby said.

"I think we have gone into that sufficiently," Judge Fisk said. "I want to give the defense every latitude in the field of cross – examination. Under the circumstances of this case I feel that the defense is entitled to that much consideration. In fact, it is a part of my basic policy that in every case involving a serious accusation of felony I give the defense attorney every possible latitude in cross – examining the important witnesses.

"This witness is a key witness, Mr. Prosecutor, and I intend to let the defense have every opportunity to probe her story by every legitimate means."

"Very well," Ormsby said, "we're perfectly willing. Let Mason try all of his trickery, all of his ingenuity, all of his dramatics and-"

"That will do, Mr. Prosecutor," Judge Fisk interrupted. "This is no time to argue the case. The Court will take a ten – minute recess. At the end of that time the two documents can be introduced and marked for identification."

The courtroom was in a hubbub as Judge Fisk left the bench. Newspaper reporters crowded around Perry Mason asking him what he was trying to do, what his strategy was, where the fingerprints came from, how he had secured possession of them, what significance could be attached to them.

Mason parried all questions with a smiling, "No comment."

When court was reconvened an indignant deputy prosecutor was on his feet. "Your Honor," he said, "we have had this witness give her fingerprints to an expert from the sheriff's office, an expert who is abundantly qualified. It now appears that there is not the slightest resemblance between the fingerprints on this card presented by Perry Mason and the fingerprints of the witness, and I submit that Perry Mason must have known that at the time. I submit that he is guilty of misconduct in taking advantage of the procedure of the court and attempting to intimidate the witness and create a false impression with the jurors."

Mason said urbanely, "If the expert you quote is prepared to go on the stand and swear that these are not the same fingerprints I will be bound by his testimony. I will withdraw my question to the witness as to whether or not they are her fingerprints. I suggest that this cross – examination be interrupted so the expert can go on the stand."