The Case of the Long-Legged Models

Chapter Eighteen

Hamilton Burger saved his surprise witness for the morning.

“Call Homer Garvin, Jr.,” he said as soon as Court had reconvened and it was stipulated the defendant was in Court and the jurors were all present.

Junior Garvin came forward, his lips a tight line of determination.

He was sworn, gave his name and address, and established his relationship as the son of the witness, Homer Garvin, who had previously testified.

“Now,” Hamilton Burger said, holding an extended finger in front of the witness, “I am going to ask you to listen very carefully to my questions and to answer those questions, and not to volunteer any information. It has been established that your father purchased three guns, identical in appearance, caliber and make. For convenience in the testimony we have designated the gun which he gave you as the ‘Junior Gun,’ the one which he had in his holster early in the evening of October Seventh of this year as the ‘Holster Gun,’ and the one which he had in his locked safe as the ‘Safe Gun.’ Do you understand these designations?”

“Yes, sir.”

“It now appears without contradiction that during the evening of October Seventh your father gave the defendant Stephanie Falkner the gun we have described as the Holster Gun, that he later on went to the safe and put the gun we have referred to as the Safe Gun in his holster.

“It also appears that one of these three guns was the murder weapon and it is now in Court as Exhibit Number 30. You understand these facts?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very well. I now want to ask you about the weapon your father gave you which we will refer to as the Junior Gun. I am going to ask you whether on the 8th day of October of this year you gave Mr. Perry Mason this gun?”

“I did.”

“Did Mr. Mason have it in his hands?”

“He did. Yes, sir.”

“Did Mr. Mason do anything with that gun?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial,” Mason said.

“I propose to connect it up,” Hamilton Burger said.

“I think we should have something more than the District Attorney’s statement that he proposes to connect it up,” Mason said. “I would like to ask the witness a question simply on that phase of the case.”

“Very well,” Judge Decker said.

“Was that gun,” Mason asked, “the one we are referring to as the Junior Gun, the same gun which I now show you and which has been introduced in evidence as People’s Exhibit Number 30?”

The witness looked at the gun, said, “Definitely not. It was a gun exactly like this, in appearance, but it wasn’t this gun.”

“In that case, if the Court please,” Mason said, “anything that the witness might have done with any other gun is certainly not binding on this defendant, and is entirely outside the issues of this case.”

“I think that is correct,” Judge Decker said. “The objection is sustained.”

Hamilton Burger said angrily, “Well, I’ll get at it in another way. You see this gun People’s Exhibit Number 30?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have you ever seen that gun before?”

“Yes, sir.”

“When?”

“Perry Mason handed it to me.”

“When?”

“On the eighth day of October of this year.”

“And what did you do with that gun?”

“Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial,” Mason said. “Whatever I did is not binding on the defendant.”

“The Court is inclined to overrule that objection,” Judge Decker said. “It now appears that the witness has identified the gun positively, the gun which is Exhibit Number 30.”

“What did you do with that gun?” Hamilton Burger asked.

“I took it to the apartment of Stephanie Falkner.”

“The defendant in this case?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And then what did you do?”

“I didn’t do very much. I stood there like a bump on a log, while Mr. Mason recited some rigmarole to the effect that the defendant was in danger of some sort and that I was bringing her a gun that she could use for defense.”

“Now you say that Mr. Mason handed you this gun?” Hamilton Burger asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“When?”

“On the eighth day of October of this year.”

“Where?”

“Out at my place of business.”

“Prior to that time had you handed Mr. Mason a gun?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what gun was that?”

“It was the gun we are referring to as the Junior Gun. It was identical in appearance with the one that I am now holding, which is the murder weapon, and which is marked People’s Exhibit Number 30.”

“You gave Mr. Mason that gun which we are calling the Junior Gun?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what did Mr. Mason do with that gun?”

“He discharged that gun.”

“You mean he fired it?”

“Yes, sir. The bullet ploughed into my desk.”

“I show you a photograph which purports to be a picture of a desk with a long furrow stretching along it, and ask you if you know what that picture represents?”

“That is the desk in my office approximately as it exists today. It is a picture of the desk immediately after Perry Mason had fired this shot into it.”

“And then what happened?”

“Then during the confusion incident to firing that shot, Mr. Mason substituted this gun, which I hold in my hand, and which is People’s Exhibit Number 30, in place of the gun I had handed him which we are calling the Junior Gun. He handed the murder gun back to me under such circumstances that I would think it was the Junior Gun and suggested that I give it to Stephanie Falkner.”

“And by so doing apparently accounted for the discharged shell in the cylinder of the gun, and also at the same time sought to establish the fact that the murder gun, Exhibit 30, had been in your possession during the time the murder had been committed? Is that right?”

“Objected to as argumentative,” Mason said, “and I assign the asking of the question as misconduct.”

“The objection is well taken,” Judge Decker said, “and the District Attorney is admonished to refrain from such questions. That is purely argumentative and calls for a conclusion of the witness as to what happened. The jurors will disregard the question and will not draw any inference from it. Now proceed, Mr. District Attorney, and please ask questions which are within the scope of the issues and are proper.”

Hamilton Burger flushed at the rebuke of the Court, turned to Perry Mason and said, “Cross-examine.”

Mason said, “You have testified that I substituted this murder gun, Exhibit 30, for the Junior Gun which you had given me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you see me do that?”

“Certainly not. You did it when you had created so much excitement through the discharge of the Junior Gun that you were able to do it without anyone seeing you.”

“Then how do you know I did it if you didn’t see me do it?”

“It is a matter of simply putting two and two together.”

“In other words, you have reached a conclusion in your own mind as to what must have happened?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then you are testifying not as to any fact concerning which you know, but only as to a conclusion which you have drawn from certain facts?”

“From certain inescapable facts,” Garvin said.

“But nevertheless your testimony concerning the substitution of the gun is a conclusion?”

“A conclusion based on inescapable facts.”

Mason smiled at the frowning Judge and said, “Your Honor, I move to strike out the evidence of this witness in regard to the substitution of the guns on the ground that it is a conclusion.”

“The motion is granted,” Judge Decker snapped. “It should be quite apparent that the District Attorney must have been familiar with the testimony of this witness and must have known that the witness’s testimony was based on a conclusion.”

“Just a moment, if the Court please,” Hamilton Burger said. “I think the Court is being unduly harsh with the prosecution on this matter. If the Court will permit me, I will again examine this witness and establish facts which, as the witness has stated, are irrefutable. They lead to an inescapable conclusion.”

“Let the jurors draw that conclusion then,” Judge Decker said. “Don’t put on witnesses who will testify as an absolute fact to conclusions which they have drawn.”

Hamilton Burger, his face flushed, turned to the witness. “You have stated that you gave Mr. Mason a gun?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You have stated that it was not this gun, the murder weapon, Exhibit Number 30, but the gun we are referring to as the Junior Gun, is that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How do you know the Junior Gun which you gave him was not the murder weapon, Exhibit 30?”

“I know it was not because the evidence shows that this gun which I am holding in my hand was used to kill George Casselman on the evening of October seventh of this year. It was absolutely impossible for the Junior Gun which I gave Mr. Mason to have been so used.”

“Why was it impossible?”

“Objected to,” Mason said, “as being an attempt to cross-examine the prosecution’s own witness. I move to strike out the statement that it was impossible that the gun he handed me could have been the murder weapon on the ground that that is a conclusion of the witness and is not responsive to the question.”

“The motion is granted,” Judge Decker snapped.

“But Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger protested, “I certainly am entitled to show...”

“You are entitled to show facts, and nothing but facts.”

“Very well,” Hamilton Burger said. “You gave Mr. Mason a gun?”

“Yes, sir. I gave him the weapon we are designating as the Junior Gun.”

“Where did you get that gun?”

“From a drawer in my desk.”

“Where did you get the gun before that?”

“From my father. He gave it to me.”

“When?”

“Sometime around last Christmas. I think it was a Christmas present.”

“Where was that gun on October seventh?”

“In my possession.”

“During all of the time on October seventh?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What did you do with that gun?”

“I gave it to Perry Mason.”

“And what did Perry Mason do with it?”

“He discharged it.”

“And then what happened?”

“Then Mr. Mason handed me a gun and suggested I take that to Stephanie Falkner.”

“Was that the same gun you handed Mr. Mason?”

“No.”

“Now just a moment,” Judge Decker said. “You have drawn the conclusion that it could not have been the gun? Isn’t that correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“The answer will be stricken. The prosecution will kindly refrain from leading this witness into a position where an opinion or a conclusion is offered as evidence. Now just state the facts.”

“Very well, I had this gun in my possession. I gave it to Mr. Mason. Mr. Mason fired the gun. Then he handed me back a gun, and asked me to deliver that gun to Stephanie Falkner. I did.”

“What did she do with the gun?”

“She placed it on a table in the living room in her apartment.”

“Then what did you do?”

“Then Mr. Mason and I left the apartment.”

“Then what happened?”

“As we started across the lobby, we saw two officers entering the apartment house.”

“Do you know those officers?”

“I do now. I didn’t then.”

“What were their names?”

“Sgt. Holcomb and Lt. Tragg.”

“Now the gun that you gave Mr. Mason had been in your possession, you say, all during the 7th of October of this year?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Cross-examine,” Hamilton Burger said triumphantly to Perry Mason.

Mason arose to his feet, faced the witness. “You say that the gun you gave me had been in your possession all of the seventh of October?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You had been out to lunch?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you take the gun with you?”

“No, sir.”

“Where was it?”

“In my desk drawer.”

“Was the desk locked?”

“No, sir.”

“You consider that that was being in your possession?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where were you on the evening of October seventh?”

“I was calling on a customer about a car deal.”

“Did you have the gun with you?”

“The gun was in my desk.”

“When did you take it out of your desk?”

“After the conference was over. I returned to my office, took some cash out of the safe, and slipped the gun into my pocket.”

“And then took it home?”

“Yes.”

“What time was it that you took it home?”

“About nine-thirty or ten o’clock, as nearly as I can judge.”

“You had recently been married?”

“Yes.”

“Did you keep the gun in your pocket after you got home?”

“No, sir. I took it upstairs and put it on the dresser.”

“What time did you go to bed that night?”

“About half an hour after I got home.”

“What did you do with the gun?”

“I left it on the dresser.”

“Was your office locked on the evening of the 7th of October?”

“Yes.”

“Who has a key to that office?”

“I have a key. My father has a key, my secretary has a key, and the janitor has a key.”

“Did your wife have a key?”

The witness hesitated, then said in a surly voice, “Yes, my wife had a key.”

“And what did you do when you got up the next morning?”

“I dressed and had breakfast, I shaved, I cleaned my teeth,” the witness all but shouted in his anger.

“And then what?”

“Then I went to my office.”

“And did you take the gun with you?”

The witness started to say something, then suddenly stopped, checked himself, thought for a moment, said, “I— As a matter of fact, I did not.”

“What did you do with that gun, the one we have been referring to as the Junior Gun?”

“I left it on the dresser in my house.”

“And then?” Mason asked.

“Then my wife telephoned and I asked her to bring the gun to me.”

“So,” Mason said, “you assume that the gun which you handed me was the same gun which you took home on the night of October seventh. Is that right?”

“There was only one gun. My wife took it off the dresser.”

“How do you know she took it off the dresser?”

“Well, why... of course, I wasn’t there.”

“Exactly,” Mason said. “So for all you know you may have handed me the murder weapon which could have been given you by your wife.”

The witness jumped from the stand.

“That’s a lie! I resent that!!!”

“Sit down,” Judge Decker said. “The witness will sit down and remain in order.”

Hamilton Burger said, “If the Court please, that last question was argumentative, it was not proper cross-examination, it contained a dastardly insinuation, it...”

“And as far as this witness knows,” Judge Decker said, “it is true. The witness may resent it if he likes, but Mr. Mason is representing a defendant in a murder case. The objection is overruled.”

“Now then, if the Court please,” Mason said, “I again move to strike out all of the evidence in this case concerning the identity of the gun which was handed me by the defendant because it is now apparent that the entire testimony was based on hearsay testimony.”

“I’ll connect it up! I’ll connect it up,” Hamilton Burger shouted.

“How will you connect it up?” Judge Decker asked.

“By putting the wife of this witness on the stand.”

Judge Decker shook his head. “The jurors will be permitted to consider the testimony of this witness insofar as it relates to what the witness did. But as far as the identity of the weapon which was handed Mr. Mason is concerned, it now appears that all testimony along that line was founded upon hearsay evidence and it will go out.”

Judge Decker turned to the discomfited District Attorney. “Now, Mr. Prosecutor,” he said, “if the Court might make a suggestion, it would seem that a bullet was fired from whatever weapon Mr. Mason had in his hand. That bullet certainly didn’t fade into thin air. You have a ballistic expert here who has testified, and test bullets have been fired from this gun which is Exhibit 30. It would certainly seem to the Court that there would be no great difficulty in demonstrating whether the weapon which was discharged either accidentally or otherwise by Mr. Perry Mason at that time was Exhibit 30, or was some other weapon.”

“We can’t prove it, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said.

“Why not?” Judge Decker asked.

“Because someone took that bullet as a souvenir.”

“Didn’t the police take it?” Judge Decker asked sharply.

“No, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said.

“Very well,” Judge Decker snapped, “you can’t penalize the defendant in this case because of the negligence of the police. The ruling of the Court will stand.”

“I have no further questions of this witness,” Mason said affably.

“You may leave the witness stand,” Judge Decker said. “That’s all, Mr. Garvin.”

Garvin, his face livid, passed close to Perry Mason on his way from the courtroom. “I’ll kill you for this,” he said under his breath as he walked past the lawyer.

“Just a moment, Your Honor,” Mason said. “I do have one more question of this witness. Will you please return to the stand, Mr. Garvin?”

Garvin hesitated.

“Return to the stand,” Judge Decker ordered.

Garvin retraced his steps to the stand.

“As you were just about to leave the courtroom, and as you walked past me just now,” Mason said, “you said something to me. What was it?”

“Oh, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said. “I object. This is not part of the case. Whatever the witness’s personal feelings toward Perry Mason may have been, they certainly can’t affect the prosecution. I will confess that I have been and am very exasperated over the manner in which this entire hocus-pocus was handled.”

“Your feelings don’t enter into it,” Judge Decker said. “You’re not on the stand. The defense has every right to prove any bias on the part of the witness.”

“What did you say?” Mason asked.

Garvin shouted, “I said I’ll kill you for this and, by God, I will!”

“That’s a threat?” Mason asked.

“That’s a promise,” Garvin shouted. “I’ll...”

“You will spend twenty-four hours in jail for contempt of Court,” Judge Decker snapped. “The courtroom is no place for threats such as you have just made. This witness has been repeatedly warned. I can realize that the witness is under an emotional strain, but the witness will spend twenty-four hours in jail for contempt of this Court. Mr. Bailiff, will you please take the witness into custody.”

The bailiff stepped forward, touched Garvin on the arm.

Garvin straightened, and for a moment it looked as though he would completely lose control of himself. Then with poor grace, he followed the bailiff from the courtroom.

“Call Eva Elliott,” Hamilton Burger said.

Eva Elliott was obviously prepared to take full advantage of the dramatic aspects of the occasion. She had the appearance of a woman who had spent hours at a beauty salon as she walked with slow, deliberate grace to the witness stand.

“What is your occupation?” Hamilton Burger asked.

“I am a model and an actress.”

“What was your occupation on October seventh of this year?”

“I was employed as a secretary by Homer Garvin, Sr.”

“How long had you been so employed?”

“Nearly a year.”

“Referring to the seventh of October, I will ask you if anything unusual happened in your office on that day?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What?”

“Now just a minute,” Judge Decker said. “There seems to be no objection by defense counsel, but it would seem that there should be some connection here. Anything which happened on the seventh of October outside of the presence of this defendant would have no bearing upon the case unless there is some evidence indicating that the defendant consented, acquiesced, or in some way profited therefrom or that it is part of the res gestae.”

Hamilton Burger said, “We want to show exactly what Mr. Garvin did on that day. We want to show that he knew of certain things and was in a position to communicate them to the defendant.”

Judge Decker looked at Perry Mason. “Is there any objection from the defense?”

“No objection,” Mason said smiling.

“Very well. Go ahead and answer the question,” Judge Decker said, but his eyes, sharply accusing, regarded Perry Mason’s bland countenance.

“Well, what happened?” Hamilton Burger asked.

“Mr. Garvin telephoned me from Las Vegas. He told me to wait at the office until he arrived.”

“What time did he arrive at the office?”

“Around eight forty-five, almost an hour prior to the time he said he would arrive. He was highly nervous and he refused to talk with me until after he vanished into his bathroom and took a shower.”

“Now just a moment,” Judge Decker said. “Mr. Garvin was called as a witness by the prosecution. Are you now attempting to impeach your own witness, Mr. Prosecutor?”

“The witness was a hostile witness,” Hamilton Burger said. “He is quite definitely affiliated with the defendant, as was disclosed by his testimony.”

“Nevertheless he was a witness called by the prosecution.”

“There is no objection on the part of the defense,” Mason said.

“Well, there should be,” Judge Decker snapped.

Mason merely inclined his head out of deference to the Court, and continued to sit there saying nothing.

“Very well,” Judge Decker said, controlling himself with a visible effort, “under the circumstances, there being no objection, the witness will be permitted to answer the question.”

“You’re certain of the time element?” Hamilton Burger asked.

“Absolutely certain,” she said. “I resented being treated as a chattel. I felt that anything Mr. Garvin wanted to say to me could have been said before he—”

“Just a minute,” Judge Decker interrupted. “Your thoughts are not important as far as this case is concerned. You are simply asked if you were sure of the time.”

“I am sure of the time.”

“Now did Mr. Garvin say anything to you about Mr. Casselman?” Hamilton Burger asked.

“Yes.”

“Who was present?”

“Just Mr. Garvin and myself.”

“What did he say?”

“He said, ‘I have just talked with the man who I am certain killed Stephanie Falkner’s father. I have made an appointment to see him at eleven o’clock tonight.’ ”

“Then what did he do, if anything?”

“He took off his coat. I noticed the revolver which was in his shoulder holster. He took off this shoulder holster and placed it on his desk, and then went into the shower room to take a bath.”

“Can you identify the gun which was in that shoulder holster at that time?” Hamilton Burger asked.

“No, sir. I cannot. I am afraid of guns. I didn’t go near it. However, it looked exactly like the gun marked People’s Exhibit 30.”

“You may inquire,” Hamilton Burger said, turning to Perry Mason.

“Now what time was this?” Mason asked.

“When he arrived at the office, it was about a quarter to nine.”

“He told you he had already seen Casselman?”

“His exact words were ‘I have just talked with the man who I am certain killed Stephanie Falkner’s father. I have made an appointment to see him at eleven o’clock tonight.’ ”

“You remember his exact words?”

“I do.”

“But he didn’t mention Casselman by name?”

“He meant Casselman all right. He said...”

“I am not asking whom he meant. I am asking if he used Casselman’s name.”

“He did not use Casselman’s name.”

Mason said, “I have no further questions.”

Burger said, “I’ll call Mrs. Garvin, Jr., to the witness stand.”

Mrs. Garvin, a long-legged redhead, strode to the witness stand with every appearance of perfect composure. She smiled at the jurors, crossed her knees so as to display just the right amount of nylon, turned courteously and expectantly to the District Attorney.

Hamilton Burger said, “You are the wife of the witness Homer Garvin, Jr., who has just testified in this case. I show you a weapon marked People’s Exhibit Number 30, and ask you if you have ever seen that weapon before?”

“I can’t say,” she said smiling. “I have seen a gun which looked very much like that, but I am not an expert on firearms.”

“Where did you see that gun?”

“My husband left it on the dresser.”

“When?”

“On the night of the seventh of October.”

“At what time?”

“At approximately ten-thirty o’clock.”

“Did you see that gun on the eighth of October?”

“I did. Yes, sir.”

“And what did you do with reference to it, if anything?”

“I telephoned my husband at his office that he had left a gun on the dresser.”

“When did you telephone him?”

“When I got up and saw the gun there.”

“That was after your husband had gone to his office?”

She smiled and said, “I am a newlywed, Mr. Burger. I am trying to train my husband right. I let him get his own breakfast, and I sleep until about nine-thirty.”

The audience laughed. Judge Decker smiled, and the jurors grinned. The good nature of the witness and her complete poise were making a terrific impression.

“What did you do with reference to that gun?”

“Following my husband’s instructions, I took the gun to him at his office.”

“When?”

“At about ten-thirty on the morning of the eighth of October of this year.”

“Do you know whether that was the weapon we are referring to as the Junior Gun, or whether it was People’s Exhibit Number 30?”

“No, sir. I do not know. All I know is that I took the gun from the dresser to my husband. I can’t even swear that there was no discharged cartridge in the gun at that time. I do know that my husband took a gun from his pocket when he was undressing at about ten-thirty on the night of October seventh. I do know that a gun similar in every way to that gun was still on the dresser at ten o’clock in the morning. I am quite certain no one entered the bedroom after we retired. I do know I took the gun which was on the dresser to my husband at his office on the morning of October eighth at about ten-thirty o’clock. I know nothing more than that.”

“Cross-examine,” Hamilton Burger said.

Mason said, “Mrs. Garvin, were you home all during the evening of October seventh?”

“Yes.”

“Did you know your husband rang twice on the phone and received no answer?”

“He told me such was the case.”

“You want the jury to believe you were there but didn’t answer the phone?”

“I was sound asleep for about an hour, Mr. Mason.”

“Did you tell your husband that?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“It was our honeymoon. My husband went chasing off on a business deal. He didn’t come home for dinner. I wanted him to realize I didn’t like such conduct. I let him know I was hurt and a little angry. If he had known I had gone to sleep while I was waiting for him to return he wouldn’t have been quite so concerned. I wanted him to be concerned. So I didn’t tell him I was asleep. I think I convinced him he must have dialed the wrong number.”

“Twice?”

“Twice.”

“Didn’t he require a lot of convincing?”

“Yes. A bride is in a position to convince her husband a little more easily than at any other time in her married life.”

“Did you lie to him?”

“Heavens, no! I suggested he had dialed the wrong number. H didn’t ask me if I had been asleep, so I didn’t tell him.”

Mason said, “Getting back to this gun, Mrs. Garvin. For all you know that gun may have had one discharged shell in it when you took it to your husband’s office.”

She smiled sweetly and said, “Then, after you fired a shell into my husband’s desk, there would have been two discharged shells, Mr. Mason.”

“Assuming,” Mason said, “that the gun which your husband gave me was the same gun which you had taken to his office.”

“A bride must always assume that her husband is truthful, Mr. Mason.”

“That’s all,” Mason said.

Burger’s next witness was Lorraine Kettle, a spare-framed widow of fifty-six who testified that she lived in an apartment on the ground floor of the Ambrose Apartments. At about eight forty-five on the evening of the seventh of October, she had seen a woman descending the service stairs leading from the back door of George Casselman’s apartment.

She had, she said, felt the woman might have been a burglar, so she had left her own apartment by the back entrance and had followed this woman at what she referred to as “a discreet distance.”

“Were you close enough to recognize her?” Burger asked.

“I was.”

“Who was she?”

“That woman sitting right there, the defendant, Stephanie Falkner.”

“What did she do?”

“She walked across to the sidewalk and then a man stopped his automobile and called to her. She got in that car. They drove away.”

“Who was that man, if you know?”

“Mr. Perry Mason, the lawyer, sitting right there.”

“Cross-examine,” Burger snapped.

“How did you happen to be looking at the back stairs of the Casselman apartment?” Mason asked.

“I had seen young women go in there before. This time I was determined to complain.”

“You mean you had seen this defendant go in there before?”

“I can’t swear it was her.”

“You mean prior to October seventh?”

“Yes.”

“And had seen women leave by the back door?”

“I can’t swear I’d seen more than one woman.”

“You followed this woman who left on October seventh?”

“I followed the defendant, yes.”

“Why did you follow her?”

“I wanted to see who she was.”

“That was the only reason?”

“Yes.”

“You intended to follow her only far enough to get a good look at her?”

“Yes.”

“And then you were going to turn back?”

“Yes.”

“You were still following her when she got into this automobile?”

“Yes.”

“Then by your own testimony you hadn’t got a good look at her by that time. Is that right?”

“I saw her all right.”

“But you said you were going to turn back as soon as you had a good look at her, and you hadn’t turned back at that time.”

“Well... I’d like to have had a closer look but I’m pretty certain in my own mind.”

“Pretty certain?”

“Yes.”

“And if it hadn’t been for her getting in the automobile, you’d have followed her farther?”

“Yes, I guess so.”

“That’s all,” Mason said, smiling.

“That’s our case, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said.

Judge Decker frowned.

“The defense moves that the Court instruct the jury to return a verdict of not guilty,” Mason said. “The evidence at this time shows merely an inference, a suspicion.”

Judge Decker said, “The Court does not wish to comment on the evidence other than to say that at this time the motion is denied. After the defense has put on its case, the question of proof will be in the hands of the jury. At the present time and for the purpose of this motion, the Court must accept all of the evidence in its strongest possible light as far as the prosecution is concerned. The Court makes no comment on that evidence other than to state that the motion is denied.

“The Court notices that it is approaching the hour of noon adjournment. The Court will take a recess until two o’clock, at which time the defense can put on its case.

“During that time, the jurors will remember the admonition of the Court not to converse about the case or permit anyone to converse about it in your presence, and not to form or express any opinion until the case is finally submitted to you.

“Court is adjourned.”

Mason turned to Stephanie Falkner. “Stephanie,” he said, “You’ve got to go on the stand. You’ve got to deny that you killed George Casselman.”

She shook her head. “I am not going on the witness stand.”

“You have to,” Mason said. “They’ll convict you of murder if you don’t. In view of the testimony we have managed to bring in about your father’s death, the jurors won’t bring in a death penalty, but they will find you guilty. The fact that your shoe had blood on it, the fact that there was an imprint made by a heel plate similar to yours—”

“I am sorry, Mr. Mason, I am not going on the witness stand.”

“Why?” Mason asked. “Is there something in your past you’re afraid they’ll bring out? Have you been convicted of felony?”

She shook her head. “Have you?” Mason asked.

“I am not going to make any statement to you, Mr. Mason, other than the fact that I am not going on the witness stand. They can do whatever they want, but they are not going to put me on that witness stand.”

Mason said, “Stephanie, you can’t do this. I’m going to call you to the stand as a witness.”

“If you do,” she said, “I will simply refuse to budge from my chair.”

“All right,” Mason told her, “that’s better than nothing. It will at least give me something to argue about.”

“Time for you to go now, Miss Falkner,” the bailiff said.