“When you stop to think of it,” Della Street said, “he did seem to walk into our trap most beautifully. He handled everything so obligingly.” Mason frowned. “I wonder if—My gosh, Della, do you suppose he was smart enough to figure out what I wanted him to do, and all the time was chuckling to himself, thinking about the foundation for a beautiful lawsuit he was building up?”

  “I’m not making any guesses,” Della Street said.

  Mason smiled ruefully. “It does look like we’d used up our allowance of wild ones for the day.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Mason and Della Street, returning from dinner, stopped in at Paul Drake’s office.

  “Well, what’s the bad news by this time?” Mason asked.

  “Lots of it,” Drake said. “We managed to get enough prints from those silver articles to give us a complete classification. We wired the FBI and got a reply. George Belding Baxter is as clean as a hound’s tooth. He’s never had his fingerprints taken. He’s George Belding Baxter, and that’s all.”

  Mason digested that bit of information in thoughtful silence.

  “Moreover,” Drake went on, “the newspapers have made a big thing about the suit he filed against you. Baxter has given a couple of interviews in which he stated that he’ll spend a million dollars, if necessary, in order to show you that you can’t use the subpoena of a court to obtain some personal advantage, that you are trying to inconvenience him, that he has no information that would be of any value in connection with the case against your client, and that he has suffered heavy damages because he can’t leave on his planned business trip. He’s had to cancel appointments and all of that, and he’s holding you personally responsible.”

  “Sounds nice,” Mason said.

  “The way he tells it, it does, Perry—Can he do it?”

  “What?”

  “Hold you personally responsible.”

  “That depends,” Mason said.

  “On what?”

  “On a variety of things—What I can’t understand, Paul, is what’s holding up the case against Gwynn Elston. They haven’t any case.”

  “Now, wait a minute,” Drake said, “that’s the second barrel I was going to give you. This one’s loaded pretty heavy.”

  “All right,” Mason said. “What is it?”

  “They have a report from ballistics,” Drake said. “Frankline Gillett was killed by a shot from the gun that was thrown into the shrubbery. The fatal bullet came from that gun, there’s no question about it.”

  “That still doesn’t connect anything up with Gwynn Elston,” Mason said. “Yes, it does. Your client talked.”

  “What did she say?”

  “Sobbed out the whole story.”

  Mason’s eyes narrowed. “About the man with the broken-down car, the badge he showed her, the gun?”

  “That’s right.”

  “I was hoping she’d sit tight,” Mason said, his voice showing his disappointment.

  “They pulled the usual stunt,” Drake said. “She got pretty fed up with jail, and they told her that the only reason she was being held was because she wouldn’t talk, that if she’d tell the truth about what had happened and they could investigate her story and find out it was true, they’d let her go.”

  “So she told her story, and they said they couldn’t go for it, is that it?”

  “That’s the funny part of it, Perry. They aren’t issuing any press releases about her story, but they have made moulages of the tire tracks and footprints where the body was found. They find the treads match the tires on the car driven by Gwynn Elston. They find her footprints around the corpse. They find no other tire marks that can be identified, no other footprints.”

  Mason said, “All right, Paul. We’ve got to find the man who gave her the gun.”

  “They’ve already done that,” Drake said.

  “They’ve found the officer, Paul?”

  “Officer, hell! It was Frankline Gillett who gave her that gun.”

  “How do they figure that, Paul?”

  “Mrs. Gillett found the gun in her husband’s suitcase about a week ago. She was worried. Gillett told her he’d found the gun in the street about four blocks from the house. He wanted to keep it. She didn’t want him to have a gun around the kid.”

  “Can she identify it?”

  “Yes. She wrote down the number, just in case. Then when Gillett said he was leaving on a trip and would be gone about a week, she told him to take the gun with him. She didn’t want it left in the house. So he took the gun with him.”

  “Go on,” Mason said.

  “The day Gillett left his home coincided with the day Felting Grimes returned home from a business trip. He moved back into the Grimes household as Felting Grimes. He must have had the gun in his suitcase at the time. It was less than an hour from the time Gillett left that Grimes showed up at the house where your client was living.” Mason gave the information the benefit of long, thoughtful contemplation. “What does Nell Grimes say about the gun, Paul?”

  “She never saw it,” Drake said. “Not until Gwynn showed up with it and told the story about the officer who handed her the gun.

  “Now, here’s something else, Perry. The police aren’t making the slightest effort to try to find any motorist who was stranded out there by Baxter’s gates. They haven’t called on any of the service stations to try to find if any of them sent out a service car. My men are the only ones who have been running down those leads.

  “I can’t understand it. Ordinarily they’d be trying to canvass all the garages and service stations just to prove Gwynn Elston’s story was false and that there wasn’t any car with a flat tire.” Mason frowned.

  “That,” Drake went on, “shows that they don’t think enough of her story to waste time trying to disprove it.”

  Mason suddenly jumped to his feet.

  “The hell it does!” he exclaimed. “It means they’ve found the guy! That’s why they’re not worried about him.”

  “If they’ve found him,” Drake said, “and if his story substantiates hers, they’d turn her loose. No, Perry, you’re barking up a wrong tree this time. They’re going to let her tell her story and then show it’s false by showing there wasn’t any truth in her story.”

  “And how are they going to show that?” Mason asked.

  “I don’t know,” Drake said. “I can’t qualify as a mind reader, but there’s something in the case that’s going to crucify your client, Perry.”

  Mason said, “I tell you, Paul, they’ve found the fellow! Something in his story gives the prosecution ammunition—but I’ll promise you one thing, if they ever produce a witness who will swear he rode in with Gwynn Elston, but swears he didn’t give her any gun, I’ll tear the guy apart. Now, they’ve found that fellow, Paul. I want you to find him. We have to know who he is.”

  Drake shook his head. “There wasn’t anyone. The police are prepared to prove it. Remember, Perry, you have only the story of your client.”

  “And,” Mason said, “they’ll have only the story of this witness. If they want to slug it out in that corner, it’ll be quite a session.”

  Drake said, “Don’t forget that time element, Perry. The gates were closed and locked at ten. Gillett couldn’t have got in after that time. His car must necessarily have been driven in through the gates.

  “That leaves you a forty-five minute period for a murder. It had to be committed within that time. It was during that time your client would have had to secure possession of the gun. It’s during that time that she can’t account for her movements and during that time she’s invented this story of the mysterious officer who gave her the gun.

  “She left the Gillett house at nine-fifteen. Mrs. Gillett is certain about the time. She ran into Gillett. He was probably waiting for her. He put it right up to her. She’d found out he was a bigamist and what was she going to do about it?

  “If she’d tell the truth and say she had to kill him in self-defense, she’d stand a chance. But remember, it was Gillett who had the gun. Remember, she called me shortly after nine-thirty and called you right afterwards.

  “You can figure out what happened. Gillett stopped her. He wanted to talk. He had the gun. He wanted to go someplace where they wouldn’t be disturbed, so they stopped near the Baxter estate. She reassured him in some way, may have let him make a little love to her—then she grabbed the gun, shot him, drove into the Baxter estate long enough to dump the body, and then fixed up this story about the officer.” Mason was thoughtful. “She’d have thought up a more convincing lie than that, Paul. She’d never have produced the gun. She’d have thrown it away in the first place.”

  “You can’t say that,” Drake told him, “until you know just what she was up against. Something happened and she was stuck with that gun. So she had to think up a story that would justify her having it in her possession.”

  Mason said, “Don’t forget, Hamilton Burger, the district attorney, occasionally overlooks a point, He may not realize it, but he hasn’t any way of proving that particular murder gun was in the defendant’s possession. She had a Smith 8c Wesson thirty-eight-caliber revolver. There are thousands of Smith & Wesson thirty-eight-caliber revolvers.”

  “And, of course,” Drake said, “there’s your action in tossing a cigarette case and a lighter over the fence.”

  “Sure,” Mason said, “I was throwing out the first ball in the World Series, that’s all. I wanted the police to get busy and search the premises, so I did something that would start them doing it. I just had an idea the murderer might have left the gun on the premises.”

  “And what gave you that idea?”

  “Just good investigative technique,” Mason said. “I wanted them to search the premises, and I’ll bet you one thing, Paul. They’ve now combed every inch of that ground. That’s one thing they’ll have to give me credit for.”

  “Yes, I suppose they have,” Drake said. And then added, “Now.”

  “That’s all I wanted,” Mason told him. “You be there in court tomorrow, Paul, and it may not be as one-sided as you and Hamilton Burger think it’s going to be. And there’s one other thing I want you to do.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Check the whereabouts of George Belding Baxter on the night of the murder.”

  “He was in Bakersfield,” Drake said.

  “He says he was in Bakersfield.”

  “He was, “ Drake said. “My men checked his story, He was in the motel there. After all, Perry, we don’t overlook the obvious.”

  “What do you mean, you checked his story?”

  “Well,” Drake said, “he registered in at six-thirty in the evening, said he was tired, was going to eat and go to bed. The motel has a restaurant connected with it. He ate there and signed the check—it’s one of those high-class motels where you have hotel service. You sign checks, have a phone in your room and all that, and you check out in the morning.”

  Mason’s eyes narrowed. “No one stood watch over him while he was in bed,” he said. “What was to prevent him leaving the motel at seven o’clock, driving down and killing Frankline Gillett, then going back to the motel and checking out in the morning?”

  Drake thought that over. “Nothing,” he said.

  Mason grinned.

  After a moment, Drake said, “Got any proof that he did?”

  “You got any proof that he didn’t?” Mason asked.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Judge Harlan Laporte took the bench and announced, “This is the time previously fixed for the preliminary hearing in the case of the People of the State of California versus Miss Gwynn Elston.”

  “The People are ready,” Farley Nelson, the trial deputy in the district attorney’s office announced.

  “Ready for the defendant,” Mason said.

  Judge Laporte looked down at Hamilton Burger, who was seated beside the deputy district attorney. “Do I understand the district attorney is also going to participate personally in the case?” he asked.

  “The district attorney is personally going to participate in the case,” Hamilton Burger said.

  “Very well. Call your first witness.”

  Hamilton Burger arose and said, “If the Court please, there is one matter which I feel should take precedence; that is a motion on behalf of the attorneys representing George Belding Baxter to quash a subpoena which has been served upon him to appear as a witness for the defense.”

  “On what grounds?” Judge Laporte asked.

  “Mr. Baxter’s attorneys are here in court, but generally I will state that the grounds are that service of the subpoena constituted a misuse of the process of the court, that a deliberate attempt has been made to inconvenience Mr. Baxter, who is an exceedingly busy man; that the defendant hopes to obtain some advantage therefrom.”

  Judge Laporte looked down at Mason. “Is Mr. Baxter a necessary witness, Mr. Mason?”

  “I consider him so, Your Honor. At least I feel there is a strong possibility he will be an important and necessary witness.” Hamilton Burger said, “If the Court please, this is a cut-and-dried case. The defendant will not put on any testimony at all, and we feel that if there is any reason for Mr. Baxter’s presence here, counsel should now state to the Court what that reason is.”

  “I’ve stated,” Mason said. “I want Mr. Baxter as a witness.”

  “A witness to what?”

  “I’ll disclose that at the proper time.”

  “If the Court please,” Hamilton Burger said, “the prosecution at this time offers to stipulate any testimony defense counsel will state in good faith he expects Mr. Baxter to give.”

  Mason turned to the Court. “If the Court please,” he said, “we submit that offer of stipulation is made simply for the purpose of embarrassing counsel; first, in getting the defense to disclose its case in advance; second, because Mr. George Belding Baxter has filed a suit against me, asking one hundred thousand dollars’ damages for interfering with his business by abusing the process of the court and serving a subpoena on him.”

  “There is such a civil suit?” Judge Laporte asked Hamilton Burger.

  “I believe there is, Your Honor.”

  “In that case,” Judge Laporte said, “Mr. Baxter has elected his remedy. He can’t eat his cake and have it, too. If he’s going to sue Mr. Mason for damages, he can’t ask to be excused as a witness on the strength of a stipulation. In view of the motion, I suggest that he elect which he wants to do, whether he wants to ask to quash the subpoena or whether he wants to proceed with his suit for damages.”

  Hamilton Burger turned to where George Belding Baxter was seated in the courtroom.

  “I stand on my rights,” Baxter said with cold savagery. “I also demand to be excused.”

  “Motion is denied,” Judge Laporte snapped. “Proceed with your case, Mr. Burger.”

  Perry Mason walked over to where Paul Drake was seated just inside the bar and whispered, “That’s the whole secret of the thing, Paul. Hamilton Burger is going to handle this very adroitly so that he’ll help Baxter build up his damage suit against me. That’s why he’s here.”

  “The grapevine is, he’s got a terrific surprise,” Drake whispered back.

  Mason grinned. “Well, we’ll ride along and see what happens.”

  Farley Nelson called as his first witness a surveyor who introduced in evidence a map of the grounds of the Baxter estate and the house, all drawn according to scale.

  Mason declined to cross-examine.

  The next witness was Lt. Tragg, who testified to receiving a telephone call from Perry Mason advising him that there was a body at the Baxter estate; the witness had instructed radio officers to go to the place and preserve all evidence; the witness himself had made all possible speed to Perry Mason’s office, hoping to catch the person who had been Perry Mason’s source of information; Tragg stated that they had arrived too late; that they had, however, taken steps to intercept all taxis which had picked up passengers from stands near Mason’s office building; that, in addition, they had instructed parking lots near the building to delay getting cars for all persons who had parked within an hour; that, as a result of these instructions, they had picked up the defendant, Gwynn Elston; that subsequently they had taken her to Mr. Mason’s office; that he had advised her to say nothing; that she had in her purse a checkbook showing the stub of a check payable to Mason for five dollars; that subsequently they had arranged with the bank to photostat the check when it cleared, and that he had a photostat of that check, which had been duly endorsed by Perry Mason and cashed.

  Lt. Tragg then went on to state that, after questioning Miss Elston briefly, he had gone to the Baxter estate and had personally investigated the case. He described the position of the body, what he had found; thereafter, upon being advised by the watchman at the gate that Perry Mason had appeared and had done certain things, Tragg had instituted a search of the premises and had uncovered a gun. The gun was offered for identification, a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver which bore Tragg’s mark etched on the handle.

  “Cross-examine,” Nelson said.

  Mason said, “What were the certain things that I did?”

  “I only know them by hearsay,” Tragg said.

  “Let’s not be technical,” Mason said. “Let’s get on with the case. What were the things I did?”

  “According to the officer at the gate,” Tragg said, “you appeared at the gates and when you found the officer wouldn’t let you inside, you opened a silver cigarette case, took out a cigarette, then tossed the cigarette case over the fence to within a very few feet of the place where the gun was found. Thereafter, you tossed a cigarette lighter in the same general direction.”

  “You recovered those?” Mason asked.

  “I did.”

  “You placed your initials on them?”

  “I scratched my initials on them, yes.”

  “You have those objects with you?”

  “I do.”

  “Produce them, please.”

  Tragg produced them.

  “I ask that they be marked for identification,” Farley Nelson said.

 

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