Case of the Beautiful Beggar

Chapter 9

Promptly at two o’clock. Judge Ballinger took his place on the bench.

“This is the time heretofore fixed for a continued hearing in the matter of a conservator for the estate of Horace Shelby.

“I see that Dr. Grantland Alma, the physician appointed by the Court to examine Horace Shelby, is in court. Dr. Alma is the Court’s own witness, and the Court would like to have you come forward and be sworn, Doctor.”

Darwin Melrose was on his feet.

“If the Court please,” he said, “before Dr. Alma is examined, I would like to make a statement to the court.”

“What is it?” Judge Ballinger asked.

“Mr. Perry Mason, attorney for Daphne Shelby, has used a device to circumvent the Court’s order appointing a conservator for the estate and preventing Horace Shelby from being imposed upon by shrewd and designing persons.

“He has so manipulated things that fifty thousand dollars of the money in the estate has been turned over to Daphne Shelby, no blood relative of Horace Shelby and the very person from whom Horace Shelby was supposed to be protected by Court order.”

“How did he do that?” Judge Ballinger asked. “Didn’t you serve a copy of the Court’s order on the bank?”

“If the Court will remember,” Melrose said, “I had special orders made for the bank — orders which turned every penny of the account in Shelby’s name to Borden Finchley, as conservator.”

“Didn’t the bank do it?” Judge Ballinger asked.

“The bank did it.”

“Then how did Mason get possession of fifty thousand dollars of that money?”

“Not of that money, but of other monies.”

“Covered in the order?” Judge Ballinger asked.

“Well,” Melrose said, and hesitated.

“Go on,” Judge Ballinger snapped.

“They were not covered in that specific order — not by the letter of the order they were, however, covered by the spirit of the order.”

“Well, before we go into that, let’s find out how incompetent Horace Shelby is,” Judge Ballinger said. “I know how busy Dr. Alma is. I know that this is his busy time of the afternoon when he has an office full of patients and I would like to have him on the stand now, have him examined and cross-examined and then permit him to return to his office.”

Judge Ballinger turned to Dr. Alma, leaving Darwin Melrose uncomfortably aware that the initiative had been taken from him.

“Did you see Horace Shelby, Doctor?” Judge Ballinger asked.

“I did not.”

“Why not?”

“He was no longer at the so called sanitarium and rest home.”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

“How did this happen?”

“Again, I don’t know. I have my own idea from certain thongs I discovered.”

“What things?”

“This so called sanitarium is nothing but a rest home. It is under the management of a man who uses the title of a doctor but is, in my opinion, completely inexperienced in psychiatric medicine.

“We found evidence that Horace Shelby had been strapped to a bed — perhaps ever since he had been placed in the institution. We found that the institution keeps no charts on patients, no hospital records. In my opinion, it is a very poor place to keep a person who is quite evidently being held against his will.

“I tried to find out whether Mr. Shelby had, in some way, made an escape by himself or whether he had been removed by people in the institution who wanted to keep me from examining him.

“In connection with my inquiries, I received a very remarkable statement from the man who manages the institution. He said that, in his opinion, Mr. Shelby had contrived to effect an unaided escape.

“I asked him if that meant that this man, who was claimed incompetent to handle his own affairs and who had to be strapped into a bed to restrain him, had sufficient intelligence and ingenuity to get hold of a knife to cut the straps, to dress, to make his escape unseen from the institution without sufficient funds to summon a taxicab or even to pay fare on a bus, and vanish so that he couldn’t be found. I pointed out that there was no other construction which could be placed upon his statement.”

“If the Court please,” Darwin Melrose interposed, his face red, “I respectfully insist that this is not proper testimony from a psychiatrist, even if he has been appointed by the Court. He is giving conclusions, not from an examination of the patient but from surmises which he made as to the actual meaning of Dr. Baxter’s statement that the patient had escaped.”

Judge Ballinger frowned, thoughtfully. “A very logical interpretation, certainly,” he said... “Does anyone know where Horace Shelby is at the present time? And I am asking this question particularly of counsel. I intend to hold counsel responsible for the actions of their clients in this matter.”

Melrose said, “I want to assure the Court that I have no idea where Horace Shelby is, and my client, Borden Finchley, and his wife, Elinor Finchley, have assured me that they have no information and Ralph Exeter, who has been visiting in the house with them, tells me that he has no information.

“I understand, however, that Daphne Shelby, the young woman who tried to establish relationship, is absent from her hotel that messages have been unclaimed and, despite the fact she knew that this hearing had been continued to this hour, she is not present. And I feel further that her counsel doesn’t know where she is.”

Judge Ballinger frowned. “Mr. Mason?” he asked.

Mason got to his feet slowly, turned as he heard the door open and said, without changing his expression by so much as the flicker of an eyelash, “Since Daphne Shelby has just walked into court, I suggest that she can speak for herself.”

Daphne came rushing forward. “Oh, Mr. Mason, I am so sorry. I got caught in a traffic jam and—”

“That’s all right,” Mason said. “Just be seated.”

Mason turned to the Court and said, “As far as I am concerned, Horace Shelby’s disappearance came as a big surprise to me. I was summoned to the sanitarium by Dr. Alma and that was the first intimation I had that Mr. Shelby was no longer there.”

Judge Ballinger said, “The Court isn’t going to try a moot case. If it is impossible for Dr. Alma to examine Horace Shelby, the Court is going to continue the case until he can examine the man.”

“But what about this manipulation of property so that fully fifty thousand dollars of the ward’s estate has been spirited out from under control of the Court by Mr. Mason’s subterfuge?”

Judge Ballinger looked at Mason, then at Melrose. There was a trace of a smile on his countenance. “Did Mr. Mason specifically violate any order of this Court?” he asked.

“No order that had been served on him — no. Your Honor.”

“Did the bank violate any order of this Court?”

“Well... I believe the bank had notice that a conservator had been appointed.”

“And the bank paid out funds which had been taken over by the conservator?”

“No, Your Honor. The bank paid out funds before the conservator had an opportunity to take them over.”

“Didn’t the order served on the bank specifically cover any and all accounts, credit, monies on deposit? And didn’t the conservator order the account of Horace Shelby to be changed to the account of the conservator?”

“Not in exactly that way,” Darwin Melrose said. “The order was that the bank pay over the entire sum that was in the account of Horace Shelby to the conservator.”

“And where did this other money come from?”

“It was other monies that came in and were whisked out of the account before the conservator knew anything about them.”

“But they were not specifically covered in the order served on the bank?”

“Not those funds, no.”

Judge Ballinger shook his head. “The better practice would have been to have anticipated such a situation,” he said. “We will take that up with the bank at a later date but certainly, as far as Mr. Mason is concerned, no order had been served on him. Mr. Mason’s position is that the man was fully competent to carry on and transact his own business and, if this man had sufficient ingenuity to escape unaided from the institution where he was strapped to a bed, he would hardly seem to be disoriented, confused, senile and incompetent.”

“We don’t know that his escape was unaided,” Darwin Melrose said.

“We certainly do not,” Judge Ballinger pointed out, “and that is the thing which concerns the Court. It opens up rather sinister possibilities. If it should appear that Shelby was spirited out of that sanitarium so that Dr. Alma couldn’t examine him, the Court is going to take very drastic steps.

“The matter will be continued until next Wednesday afternoon at four o’clock. In the meantime, court is adjourned.”

Mason beckoned to Daphne to join him and once more led the way into the witness room.

“You’ve got to keep in touch with me, Daphne,” he said sternly. “I’ve taken all sorts of chances on your behalf and I’ve been trying to get you. My office repeatedly has called, left messages at the hotel, and—”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she interrupted. “Mr. Mason, you’ll have to forgive me just this once. I became involved in a matter and— I just can’t explain now. I’d have been here in plenty of time if it hadn’t been for that horrible traffic jam. Traffic on the freeway is getting so it’s absolutely impossible!”

“I know all about that,” Mason said. “But I want you to keep in touch with my office. You have my telephone number you can pick up the telephone and call me from time to time.”

Her eyes refused to meet his. “Yes, I know,” she said.

“Look here,” Mason asked. “What have you been up to?”

Her eyes wide, innocent and naive, raised to his. “What do you mean, what have I been up to?”

“I thought you were acting a little guilty,” Mason said.

“Guilty of what?”

“I wouldn’t know. You knew that your uncle had disappeared from the sanitarium?”

She said bitterly. “That’s no surprise to me. They didn’t dare to let a physician appointed by the Court examine him.”

“That’s the way it looks, all right,” Mason said. “But sometimes the obvious deduction isn’t the only deduction or the correct one.

“Now, I want you to keep in touch with my office and I want you to keep in touch with your hotel so if I leave any messages for you, you can pick them up. Is that clear?”

“Yes. I’m very sorry, Mr. Mason.”

“You said you’d been having trouble with traffic,” Mason asked. “Were you riding with somebody?”

“No, oh no. I— Well in a way... I was using a friend’s car.”

“What friend?” Mason asked.

“Uncle Horace.”

“His car?” Mason said. “Why, Finchley took over his car at the same time he took over the bank account and all that.”

She lowered her eyes again and said, “This was one that Mr. Finchley didn’t know about.”

Mason said, “Look here, young lady, I’ve got to get back to my office. I have two or three lines out. I think you’d better come up there in about an hour and let’s find out a little more about this.”

“But what is there to find out?”

“I don’t know,” Mason said. “That’s what I want to investigate. How did you get hold of another car belonging to Horace Shelby?”

“It was one he had.”

“That they didn’t know about?”

“Yes.”

“A good car? Any good?” he asked.

“Practically new,” she said.

Mason regarded her in frowning contemplation.

There was a knock on the door.

Mason opened it.

A court attaché said, “There’s a telephone call for you, Mr. Mason. They say it’s most important and that you’re to take it right away.”

“All right,” Mason said. “Excuse me for a moment, Daphne.”

Mason followed the attaché into the courtroom,

“You can take the phone on the clerk’s desk,” the officer said.

Mason nodded, picked up the telephone, said, “Hello,” and heard Paul Drake’s voice sharp with excitement.

“Did Daphne show up in court, Perry?”

“That’s right.”

“Tell you anything about where she had been?”

“No.”

“Are you giving her a detailed examination as to where she’s been and what she’s been doing?”

“I’ve just started,” Mason said.

“Forget it,” Drake told him. “Let her go. Tell her to get in touch with you tomorrow morning. Let her go.”

Mason said, “She’s acting rather strangely, Paul, and she says there’s another automobile that Finchley doesn’t know about—”

“I’ll say there is,” Drake interrupted. “There’s a lot no one knows about. Now, I haven’t time to explain, but for heaven’s sake let her go. Get her started. I want her on her way. I’ll see you at your office shortly after you get there and explain.”

“Wait a minute,” Mason said. “I’m beginning to get the glimmer of an idea. You checked on the tip I gave you that some woman might have applied for a job and got a job at the sanitarium last night?”

“Right.”

“Is there,” Mason asked, looking over his shoulder to make certain that no one was listening, and lowering his voice, “any chance that—”

“Don’t mention it over the phone,” Drake said. “There’s all the chance in the world. Meet me in your office and don’t let Daphne know you’re suspicious.”

“Okay,” Mason said. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

The lawyer hung up the telephone and returned to the witness room.

There was no sign of Daphne.

Mason left the witness room, went to the outer office of Judge Ballinger’s chambers and said to the judge’s secretary, “Will you ask the judge if I can see him for a few moments on a matter of some importance?”

The secretary picked up the phone, relayed the message, said to Mason, “Judge Ballinger says for you to come on in.”

Mason nodded, walked past the secretarial desk, and into the judge’s private chambers.

“Judge,” he said, “I made a statement in open court which was entirely true at the time I made it, but the situation has changed somewhat.”

Judge Ballinger regarded him with not unfriendly eyes. “You understand, of course, Mr. Mason, that this is a bitterly contested matter and that I don’t want you to say anything which would embarrass you or which might tend to disqualify me from hearing the case.”

“I understand,” Mason said. “This was in connection with a statement I made in open court, that I had no ideas as to the whereabouts of Horace Shelby.”

Judge Ballinger’s eyes grew hard. “That statement was not correct?” he asked.

“That statement was entirely correct,” Mason said.

“But since you have made it, you do know where Horace Shelby is?”

“No,” Mason said, “but I think it is only fair to tell you that I have unearthed a clue which may lead me to Mr. Shelby before the hearing in this matter is resumed.”

Judge Ballinger thought that over, then said, “I think it will be all right for you to tell me what the clue is because the Court is most anxious to have Dr. Alma get in touch with Shelby at the earliest possible moment. In fact, without committing myself in any way, I think I may say that it is quite important that the contact be made as soon as possible.”

“I understand,” Mason said. “I can, if you wish, tell you the clue.”

“I think it will be all right for you to tell me that much,” Judge Ballinger said.

Mason said, “There is a possibility that Daphne Shelby knows where her uncle is.”

Judge Ballinger raised his eyebrows. Human curiosity struggled with judicial prudence, and human nature won out.

“What makes you think so?” Judge Ballinger asked.

“There is evidence,” Mason said, “that Daphne Shelby purchased a car and took immediate delivery, that she may very well have gone to the Goodwill Sanitarium at El Mirar where she was not known and secured a position as a night nurse.”

“That was last night?” Judge Ballinger asked.

“That was last night.”

“Have you asked Daphne Shelby about this?”

“I haven’t had an opportunity. I only learned it myself just a minute or two ago.”

Abruptly Judge Ballinger threw his head back and laughed.

Mason stood silently waiting.

Judge Ballinger controlled himself, said, “Mason, I can’t say anything without putting myself in a compromising position. However, if it’s any satisfaction to you, the Court wasn’t born yesterday.

“I’m glad you told me what you did because it puts my mind at ease about a matter which was causing me considerable concern. I think this conversation, however, has gone quite far enough and it is, of course, just between the two of us. I think it was your duty to tell me. I will also say this, that in the event you do have any personal contact with Horace Shelby, I want Dr. Alma to examine him at once. For reasons which I am not going to mention and which I don’t think I need to go into at this time, I think it is highly important that the examination take place at the earliest possible moment.”

Mason nodded. “I think I understand you.”

“I’m quite certain you do,” Judge Ballinger said, and then added, “and you yourself weren’t born yesterday.”