The Case of the Careless Kitten

Chapter 21

Judge Lankershim came to the bench amidst a swish of whispers from the crowded courtroom, which subsided as a bailiff pounded a gavel.

“The People of the State of California versus Della Street,” Judge Lankershim called.

Mason got to his feet. “The defendant is in court and on bail. Let the records show that she has surrendered for the purpose of trial.”

“The record will so show,” Judge Lankershim said. “She will remain on the same bail during the trial. I understand this action has been brought on for immediate trial pursuant to stipulation of counsel.”

“That is right,” Hamilton Burger said.

“I would like to hear from the prosecution as to the nature of the case.”

Burger said, “Your Honor, I will make a brief preliminary statement. It is the contention of the prosecution that while the police officers were investigating a felony, to wit, an assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder, committed by persons unknown upon one Jerry Templar, the defendant in this case willfully spirited away a certain witness, one Franklin Shore, who had information which, if communicated to the police, would have materially aided the police in the solution of the crime. Specifically, it is charged that the defendant in this case, fully aware of the full significance of the facts which this witness knew, concealed him from the police and continues to so conceal him.”

“And the defendant has pleaded not guilty?” Judge Lankershim asked.

“The defendant has pleaded not guilty, and asked for a trial by jury,” Mason said. “And to prove our good faith in the matter, we will accept, without examination, the first twelve names which are called to the jury box as jurymen to try this case.”

Judge Lankershim looked over his glasses at Perry Mason. “You are, however, insisting upon a trial by jury?”

“Exactly,” Mason said. “Trial by jury is guaranteed by the constitution to the citizens of the state. We have lost too many of our constitutional guarantees by not insisting upon them. Upon behalf of this defendant, I insist upon a jury trial more as a gesture than otherwise. I would be perfectly willing to submit the matter to Your Honor’s discretion otherwise.”

“Do you wish to accept Mr. Mason’s stipulation that the first twelve names called to the jury box may constitute a jury, Mr. District Attorney?”

Hamilton Burger, who had personally embarked upon the trial of the case, relegating his assistants to subordinate positions at the far corners of the counsel table, got to his feet.

“No, Your Honor, we will examine the jurors in the regular way.”

Mason settled back in his chair. “I have no questions to ask of any juror,” he announced with a smile. “I waive my challenges for cause. I waive my peremptory challenges. I am satisfied that any twelve American citizens who file into that jury box will give the defendant the benefit of a square deal when the evidence is in — and that’s all the defendant wants.”

“The Court will observe,” Burger said acidly, “that counsel is using the excuse of waiving his rights as a peg upon which to hang a dramatic statement intended to impress the jurors in advance with...”

“The Court understands the situation,” Judge Lankershim interrupted promptly. “The jurors will pay no attention to the extraneous comments of either counsel. Let’s get on with this case. Under the circumstances, Mr. Burger, it devolves upon you to examine the jurymen on their voir dire.”

And examine them Burger did, with the painstaking, mathematical, searching questions which a man might have expected a prosecutor to use in a murder case, while Mason tilted back in his chair, an amused smile on his face, his bearing indicating that he was paying no attention either to questions or answers. And, somehow, the more Burger examined the jurymen, the more he made it appear that he was suspicious of their probity, of their impartiality, an attitude which contrasted unfavorably with that of counsel for the defense. Twice his associates tried to warn him of this, but Burger paid no attention to their warnings. He went doggedly ahead with his questions.

When he had finished, Judge Lankershim said, “Under the law, the Court is called upon to examine the jurors for prejudice. It has never been the policy of this Court, however, to restrict the questions of counsel. Therefore, the Court has always permitted counsel to interrogate the jurors in the usual manner. But, under the circumstances of this case, the Court feels that it is incumbent upon it to see that no member of the jury is prejudiced for or against either side.”

Whereupon, the judge asked a few searching, but impartial questions, and said to Hamilton Burger, “The defendant has waived both challenges for cause and peremptory challenges. Do you have any challenges?”

Burger shook his head.

Mason turned to smile at the jury. Gradually it dawned on the courtroom that the ultimate effect of the entire procedure had been to accomplish what Mason had proposed in the first instance, namely, that the first twelve persons called should sit as jurors.

The jury smiled back at Mason.

Hamilton Burger made a brief statement to the jury, outlining simply what he expected to prove, followed that up by saying, “I will call as my first witness Helen Kendal.”

Helen Kendal, obviously conscious of the eyes of the spectators in the crowded courtroom, came forward and was sworn. She gave her name and address to the clerk, looked at Hamilton Burger expectantly for questions.

“You have occasion to remember the thirteenth of this month?”

“I do.”

“I will call your attention to the evening of that day and ask if anything unusual happened.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What?”

“In the first place, my kitten was seized with spasms, and I rushed it to a veterinary, who said it was...”

Burger held up his hand. “Never mind what the veterinary said. That’s hearsay. Just state what you know of your own knowledge.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now, at about the time the kitten became ill, did anything else unusual happen?”

“Yes. I received a telephone call — from my uncle.”

“What?”

“I received a telephone call.”

“From whom?”

“From my uncle.”

“You have two uncles?”

“Yes, sir. This call came from Uncle Franklin.”

“And by the words Uncle Franklin, you refer to Franklin B. Shore?”

“Yes, sir.”

“When had you last seen Franklin B. Shore?”

“Some ten years ago, shortly prior to his disappearance.”

“Your uncle, Franklin Shore, had disappeared mysteriously some ten years earlier?”

“Yes, sir.”

Hamilton Burger said to the Court, “I am asking leading questions on some of these points which are not disputed, but which I want to get before the jury.”

“No objection,” Mason said.

“What did your uncle say to you over the telephone?”

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

“If the Court please,” Burger announced, “I am not seeking to adduce any facts which will bind the defendant as to this conversation, but only as to show the condition which existed there that night, and as to that only to the extent that it will be considered a part of the res gestae, explaining the moves of the various parties on that night.”

“I will overrule the objection,” Judge Lankershim said, “but will later limit the purposes for which the answer may be considered by the jury.”

“What did your uncle say?”

“He asked me if I knew who was speaking. I told him that I didn’t. He then told me his name and went on to prove his identity.”

“That’s a conclusion,” Hamilton Burger said hastily. “That may go out. What did he say?”

“Well, he called my attention to certain things that only my uncle would have known about.”

“What I am after particularly,” Hamilton Burger said, “is what he told you to do.”

“He told me to go to Mr. Perry Mason, the attorney, and then to go to the Castle Gate Hotel and ask for a Mr. Henry Leech, who, he said, would take us to him. He told me that I wasn’t to take anyone else into my confidence; that, particularly, I wasn’t to let my Aunt Matilda know anything about it.”

“Your Aunt Matilda is the wife of Franklin Shore?”

“Yes.”

“And later on that evening, in company with Mr. Mason, did you make any effort to get in touch with Mr. Leech?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do?”

“We went to the Castle Gate Hotel. We were advised that Mr. Leech wasn’t there. A note was delivered telling us where we could...”

“Just a moment,” Hamilton Burger said. “I’ll produce that note and ask you if this is the note.”

“Yes.”

Burger said, “I’ll ask that it be received in evidence as People’s Exhibit A, and I will then read it to the jury.”

The document was duly stamped, and Burger read it to the jury.

“Now,” he asked Helen Kendal, “what did you do with reference to that. In other words, what was your next step after you received that document?”

“We went to the place mentioned.”

“There was a map with it?”

“Yes.”

“I will show you this map and ask if this is the one.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I ask that this be received in evidence as People’s Exhibit B.”

“No objection,” Mason said.

“So ordered,” Judge Lankershim announced.

“And you went to the place indicated on that map?” Burger asked the witness.

“Yes.”

“What did you find there?”

“It was up in the hills back of Hollywood. There was a reservoir. A car was parked near the reservoir. A man was sitting in the car, sort of slumped over the wheel. He was dead. He... he had been killed.”

“That man was a stranger to you?”

“Yes.”

“Who was with you at that time?”

“My uncle, Gerald Shore, Mr. Perry Mason and Miss Street.”

“By Miss Street you mean Miss Della Street, the defendant in this action?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what happened next? What was done immediately after that?”

“We three remained near our car while Mr. Mason went to telephone the police.”

“Then what happened?”

“The police came and asked questions and then my Uncle Gerald drove us home. After that, we went to a hospital to call on Aunt Matilda, and then Uncle Gerald drove me home again.”

“By home, you mean to the Shore residence?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then what happened?”

“They let me out at the residence. The others went to...”

“Never mind stating where they went, because you don’t know — only what they told you. But the others left, did they?”

“Yes.”

“Then what happened?”

“A friend came to call on me.”

“What was his name?”

“Jerry Templar.”

“He was a man with whom you had been quite friendly?”

“In a way, yes.”

“And who was in the house at that time?”

“Komo, the servant, was sleeping in the basement. Mrs. Parker, a cook and housekeeper, was in her room over the garage. Mr. Templar and myself were in the living room.”

“What happened?”

“We heard a peculiar sound coming from my Aunt Matilda’s bedroom, a sound as though something had been tipped over. Then we heard the chatter of her caged lovebirds. Then, after a moment, we heard a peculiar noise which sounded like my aunt walking.”

“Is there anything peculiar about her walk?”

“Yes, sir. She drags her right foot when she walks, and uses a cane. The thump of the cane, and the peculiar dragging noise of the right foot are very distinctive.”

“And this walk sounded like your aunt’s walk?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then what happened?”

“I knew that my aunt wasn’t in the house. I told that to Jerry. He immediately walked down the corridor and opened the door of the bedroom. Jerry had always been so big and strong that I guess I considered him invincible. I never realized the danger in which I was placing him. I...”

“What happened?” Burger asked.

“Someone in the room shot twice. The first bullet just missed my head. The second one... hit Jerry.”

“What did you do after that?”

“I don’t know. I dragged Jerry away from the door, and then he recovered consciousness. He was unconscious for some little time. I don’t know just how long. When he opened his eyes, I told him I must get an ambulance and a doctor. He said we could get a taxicab quicker, and I telephoned for a taxicab. We rushed him to the hospital, and an hour or two later on, Dr. Everett Rosllyn operated on him.”

“You remained at the hospital?”

“Yes, sir, until after the operation, and until after — after I’d seen he was going to be all right.”

“Cross-examine,” Burger snapped.

Mason said, “You don’t know how long Jerry Templar was unconscious?”

“No. It was all a nightmare to me.”

“You don’t know how long it was after the shot was fired before you got to the hospital?”

“No, sir. I can’t tell you the time.”

“And you don’t know exactly how long it was after we left you at the house that last time before the shooting took place?”

“Well... it might have been... it might have been an hour. It might not have been more than half an hour. It was perhaps somewhere between half an hour and an hour.”

“You can’t fix it any closer than that?”

“No.”

“You were about fourteen years of age when your uncle disappeared?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Can you fix exactly the time when the kitten was first taken sick — that is, with reference to the time of that telephone conversation with your Uncle Franklin?”

“It was immediately after I had hung up the telephone that I noticed the kitten was sick.”

“Did you notice that?”

“My attention was first called to it by my aunt.”

“By your aunt you mean Matilda Shore?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What did you do with the kitten?”

“I took it to the veterinary.”

Burger said, “Just a moment, Your Honor, one important question I forgot to ask. I would like to interrupt to get it in the record.”

“No objection,” Mason said affably.

“After dinner that night, did you go back to see the veterinary?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what was the condition of the kitten at that time?”

“The kitten seemed to be well, but weak.”

“What did you do with him?”

“I took him with me. The veterinary suggested that...”

“Never mind what the veterinary suggested.”

Mason said affably, “Oh, go ahead, let her tell it. I take it, Miss Kendal, the veterinary suggested that if some person were trying to poison the kitten around the house, that it would be better to take it away from the house, and so you took it down and left it with Thomas Lunk, the gardener, did you not?”

“Yes, sir.”

Mason said, “That’s all.” And Burger nodded.

Hamilton Burger called Lieutenant Tragg to the stand. Tragg testified in the close-clipped, efficient manner of the police officer who has been on the witness stand on numerous occasions. He testified to receiving a telephone call, to going to the hills back of Hollywood, finding the body, identified the articles which were tied up in a handkerchief near the body, and testified as to the identity of the body.

Tragg then stated positively that he had advised Mr. Mason that night, while the lawyer was at the Shore residence, that he desired the presence of Franklin B. Shore as a witness to appear before the grand jury, and that he stated to Mason the importance to the police of finding and examining Franklin Shore.

Tragg then went on to state his experiences at the Shore home later on that night when he had been summoned to investigate the shooting of Jerry Templar. He testified what he had found, calling particular attention to a writing desk on which a lock had been forced open. He identified photographs showing the condition of the bedroom when he had arrived on the scene. Burger introduced these photographs in evidence.

On cross-examination, Mason adopted a manner of good-natured affability.

“Lieutenant, referring to this handkerchief, I call your attention to a laundry mark. Have you made any effort to trace that laundry mark?”

“Well, yes.”

“And you found, did you not, that it was a mark given to Franklin Shore by a laundry in Miami, Florida, and that the laundry had been out of business for some six years?”

“That is right.”

“You’ll remember that when you first showed me the watch up in the hills back of Hollywood, I pointed out to you that, according to the indicator, the watch must have been wound at approximately four-thirty or five o’clock the day of the murder?”

“Yes.”

“Now, have you examined the fountain pen?”

“Yes.”

“And what was the condition of that fountain pen?”

Tragg said, “It was dry.”

“According to your observations at the scene of the shooting of Jerry Templar, the assailant had entered through a ground-floor window on the north side of the house. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“And, in entering the room, had knocked over a night stand or taboret which was by the side of Mrs. Shore’s bed?”

“Yes.”

“Then had picked up a cane which apparently was in the room, and had imitated the steps of Mrs. Shore?”

“I think that’s a fair deduction from the evidence. Of course, I don’t know that of my own knowledge.”

“But you did find a cane which was lying on the floor near the corner from which the shots had been fired?”

“Yes.”

“By the way, Lieutenant, you stated, I believe, that you took Thomas Lunk into custody at a downtown hotel where he was registered under the name of Thomas Trimmer?”

“Yes.”

“How did you happen to go to that hotel to make the arrest?”

Tragg smiled. “I am not going to divulge that.”

“It’s not proper cross-examination,” Hamilton Burger objected. “The witness certainly is entitled to protect the source of his information.”

Mason said, “I will withdraw that question and ask this in its place. Isn’t it a fact, Lieutenant, that you went to that hotel because you received an anonymous telephone tip from some person who told you where Lunk was, the name under which he was registered, and the number of his room?”

“Same objection,” Burger said.

Judge Lankershim deliberated the matter thoughtfully, then asked Mason, “What is the reason for asking this question, Mr. Mason?”

“It simply goes to show the entire res gestae,” he said, “As a matter of fact, Your Honor, it may be quite material. Suppose, for instance, that I had been the one who had given Lieutenant Tragg that telephone tip?”

“You don’t claim that you were?” Judge Lankershim asked.

“Not at present, Your Honor. But I think it’s only fair to the defendant that the witness should answer that one question.”

“I’ll overrule the objection,” Judge Lankershim said. “I doubt that it’s entirely pertinent, but I am going to give the defense the benefit of the widest latitude in cross-examination. The question doesn’t call upon the lieutenant to divulge in any way the source of his information. Answer the question.”

Tragg picked his words cautiously. “I received an anonymous telephone communication, giving me approximately that information.”

Mason smiled. “That’s all.”

“I call Matilda Shore as my next witness,” Burger said.

Matilda Shore, who was sitting next to the aisle, raised herself from the seat by clinging to her cane with one hand, the back of the seat in front of her with the other, and walked to the witness chair, where the clerk administered the oath. While she was walking, the jurors, as well as the spectators, had an opportunity to listen to the peculiarly distinctive sound of her steps.

When she had given her name and address, Burger lost no time in getting to the point.

“You are the wife of Franklin B. Shore?”

“I am.”

“And where is Mr. Shore now?”

“I don’t know.”

“When did you see him last?”

“Approximately ten years ago.”

“Can you give us the exact date?”

“January 23, 1932.”

“And what happened on that date?”

“He disappeared. Someone was talking with him in his study, someone who wanted money. The voices were raised for a while in angry altercation. Then they quieted down. I went to bed. I never saw my husband after that. He disappeared. I knew, however, that he wasn’t dead. I knew that some day he would show up...”

“Never mind what you felt or surmised,” Burger interrupted hastily. “I just want to establish certain things to prove a possible motivation for the entering of your house by a person who was interrupted before he could achieve the purpose for which he had come. For that purpose only, I’ll ask you if there were some checks which were cashed just before and after your husband’s disappearance?”

“Yes.”

“One of those checks was for ten thousand dollars?”

“Yes, sir.”

“To whom was it payable?”

“A man named Rodney French.”

“There were several other checks?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now, where were those checks when you saw them last?”

“They were in my bedroom in a pigeonhole in a desk which was pushed back against the wall.”

“That was a roll-top desk?”

“Yes, sir.”

“An old one?”

“Yes, sir. It had been in my husband’s study. It was his desk.”

“You mean he had used it continuously up to the time of his disappearance as his desk?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you were using it on the thirteenth of this month?”

“That’s right.”

“And these checks which I have mentioned were in there?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How many of them?”

“There were about a dozen of them in an envelope, checks which had been put through the account within the last few days prior to his disappearance, or checks which had been written immediately before his disappearance and were cashed afterwards.”

“Why were those checks segregated in that manner?”

“Because I thought they might prove to be evidence. I put them in an envelope and kept them in this drawer.”

“When did you leave your house on the night of the thirteenth?”

“I don’t know exactly what time it was. I was getting ready for bed. It was probably around ten o’clock. I followed my usual custom of drinking a bottle of stout and shortly afterwards became violently ill. Remembering that the kitten had been poisoned, I took an emetic and went at once to the hospital.”

“Where were the checks which you have mentioned when you went to the hospital?”

“In that pigeonhole in the desk.”

“How do you know?”

“I had been looking at them shortly before, and I hadn’t left the bedroom except to go to the icebox and get a bottle of stout and a glass.”

“When did you next enter your bedroom?”

“The next morning about nine o’clock when I was discharged from the hospital.”

“Did anyone accompany you?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“Lieutenant Tragg.”

“At his suggestion, did you search through your room to see if anything was missing?”

“Yes.”

“Did you find anything missing?”

“No.”

Burger produced the watch and fountain pen which had been identified as having been found near Leech’s body. Mrs. Shore stated positively they were the property of her husband, that he had had both of these objects in his possession the night he had disappeared, and that she had never seen them again until the police had shown them to her.

“Cross-examine,” Burger said.

“You couldn’t find that anything was missing from your room when you searched it after your return from the hospital?”

“No.”

Mason said, “That’s all.”

Swiftly Hamilton Burger laid the foundations for a complete case. He called the autopsy surgeon, called Dr. Rosllyn, identified the bullets which had been taken from the wound inflicted on Jerry Templar and from the body of Henry Leech. He then recalled Lieutenant Tragg to get the bullet which had embedded itself in the woodwork of the Shore home; following which he called the expert from the criminal laboratories who introduced photographs showing the distinctive scratches made by the rifling and by pits in the barrel of the gun, showing that these bullets had all been fired from the same gun.

Judge Lankershim glanced at the clock. “You will understand,” he said to Burger, “that we are not trying the murder case at this time.”

“Yes, Your Honor, but we are showing the circumstances which surrounded the commission of the alleged crime in this case. We are showing the significance of what had happened and the importance of having the police unimpeded in their efforts to solve these crimes.”

Judge Lankershim nodded, glanced curiously at Mason, who seemed to be taking but very little interest in the entire procedure.

“I will now call Thomas Lunk,” Hamilton Burger announced with something of a flourish.

Lunk came shuffling forward. He seemed reluctant to testify, and Burger had to draw his story from him a bit at a time, frequently using leading questions, occasionally cross-examining his own witness, a procedure which Judge Lankershim allowed because of the apparent hostility of the witness.

Pieced together, Lunk’s story made a convincing and dramatic climax to the case the district attorney had been building up. He told of how he had gone home from work that night, of how Helen Kendal had brought the kitten to his house where it was left for safekeeping, told of how he had listened to the radio, read a magazine, and while he was in the midst of reading this magazine, he had heard steps on the porch, knocking at the door. He had opened the door, and then drawn back in surprise as he recognized the features of his former employer.

He mentioned but briefly that they had “talked for a while” and then he had given Shore the bed in his spare bedroom. He had waited until he felt certain his visitor was asleep, then had quietly slipped out of the front door, taken a late street car, got off at a point nearest the Shore residence, and started hurriedly for the house; that the defendant had intercepted him, asked him if he wanted to see Mrs. Shore, and, on being assured that he did, had taken him in an automobile, stating that she would take him to Mrs. Shore that thereafter she had, as he reluctantly admitted, “stalled around” until Perry Mason had appeared on the scene, whereupon they had gone to a hospital, and Mason had told him Mrs. Shore was virtually in the custody of the police that thereafter Mason had taken him to the Maple Leaf Hotel, had secured a room for him under the name of Thomas Trimmer that he had gone to his room. After he had started to undress, there had been a knock at the door. Police radio officers had taken him into custody. He had no idea how they had found out where he was.

“What was the condition of Mr. Shore so far as his clothing was concerned when you left the house?”

“He was in bed, if that’s what you mean.”

“And undressed?”

“Yes.”

“And you felt that he was asleep?”

“Never mind what the witness felt,” Mason said. “What did he see? What did he hear?”

“Very well,” Burger conceded with poor grace, “I will reframe the question. Was there anything in his appearance which you saw or heard which indicated whether he was asleep or awake?”

“Well, he was snoring,” Lunk reluctantly admitted.

“And you, at that time, were fully dressed? You hadn’t been to bed?”

“No, sir.”

“And you left the house?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you try to leave quietly?”

“Well, yes, I did.”

“And you walked to the car line?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How far?”

“A block.”

“How long did you have to wait for a car?”

“There was a car coming when I got to the corner. I hopped aboard.”

“How long were you on this street car?”

“Not over ten minutes.”

“And how long from the time you left the street car until the defendant in this case accosted you and picked you up?”

“Oh, not very long.”

“How long?”

“I don’t know.”

“Was it a minute, two minutes, five minutes, or twenty minutes?”

“Oh, a minute,” Lunk said.

Hamilton Burger said, “I submit, Your Honor, that it’s unreasonable to suppose this man who was sleeping peacefully in this bed aroused, investigated to find that Mr. Lunk had left, dressed himself, and left the house within that short space of time. I think it is a reasonable inference for the jury to draw that Mr. Shore was in that bed in that house at the very time Miss Street picked up this witness.”

“That’s an argument counsel can make to the jury,” Mason said. “He has no right making it now. If he wants to argue the case now, I’ll say that...”

Judge Lankershim stopped him. “The jury will pay no attention to the arguments of counsel at the present time,” he admonished the jury. “They are directed exclusively to the Court. Proceed with your examination of the witness, Mr. Burger.”

“After the defendant in this case picked you up and took you in her automobile, Mr. Perry Mason joined you, did he not?”

“Yes.”

“And thereafter Mr. Mason took you to this hotel?”

“Yes.”

“Now was Miss Street, the defendant, with you all of that time?”

“No.”

“When did she leave you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know about what time it was?”

“No.”

“Where did she leave you?”

“I don’t remember.”

“It was in front of a hotel, was it not?”

“I wouldn’t want to say.”

“But it was at some point where she took a taxicab, was it not?”

“I think there was a taxicab there.”

“And afterwards Mr. Mason remained with you for some time, getting some flowers, sending them to Mrs. Shore in the hospital, going out to your house to inspect it, and then driving you to this hotel?”

The witness hesitated for several seconds, then gave a sullen, monosyllabic answer. “Yes.”

Burger said, “You may cross-examine, Mr. Mason,” and there was a smirk of triumph in his voice as he said it.

Mason looked at the witness. “Mr. Lunk, I want you to answer my questions frankly. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“After Miss Street left us, we went to your house, did we not?”

“Yes.”

“We arrived there about four or four-thirty in the morning?”

“I guess so, yes.”

“It was cold?”

“Yes, sir.”

“There was no fire going in the house?”

“No, sir.”

“You lit a gas heater after we arrived?”

“That’s right.”

“When you first left the house, you had left the door between the front bedroom and the bathroom closed?”

“Yes.”

“And when we arrived there, that door was open.”

“Yes.”

“And the contents of the dresser drawers had been dumped out and clothes taken from the closet?”

“That’s right.”

“Was anything missing?”

“Yes. Some money had been taken from where I’d been keeping it hid — in a pocket of my best suit.”

“That suit had been left hanging in the closet?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How much was missing?”

“Objected to,” Burger said, “as incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial. It’s not proper cross-examination. It has nothing whatever to do with the facts of this case.”

“Overruled,” the Judge said. “The defendant is entitled to show the condition of the premises and anything which would reasonably make it appear the departure of Franklin Shore might have been prior to the time the prosecution claims that departure took place.”

“Around three hundred dollars was missing,” Lunk said.

“The door to the pantry was closed?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now, when you had been cooking, you had taken flour from a can in the pantry?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And some of that flour had been spilled on the floor around the can?”

“Yes, sir.”

“When we arrived, there was a kitten in the house?”

“That’s right.”

“This was a kitten which had previously been left with you by Helen Kendal?”

“Yes.”

“And, I believe, I called your attention to the fact that the kitten had evidently run through this sprinkling of flour which surrounded the can, and then had run across the kitchen, through the door of the kitchen, and into the back bedroom?”

“That’s right.”

“There were tracks showing that this had happened?”

“Yes. It ain’t far from the pantry to the door of the back bedroom, only three or four feet, I guess.”

“And not more than four or five feet from the bedroom door to the back bed?”

“Yes.”

“And by the side of that bed I called your attention to a place where the tracks showed the kitten’s paws had been bunched together as though it had jumped up on the bed?”

“Yes.”

“The kitten was curled up in a little ball in the center of the bed in the front room when we got there? Is that right?”

“That’s right.”

“But you remember distinctly that the pantry door was closed?”

“Yes.”

“On a table in the sitting room was an ash tray, and a visiting card bearing the name George Alber, some writing on this card, and an ash tray which held the stub of a cold cigar?”

“Yes. The cigar was left by Franklin Shore. I found the card stuck in the door when I went out.”

“When you went out?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t hear any knocking at the door or ringing of the doorbell while you were there?”

“No. That’s why the card bothered me. Alber must have tried to ring the bell, and it didn’t work. Sometimes it gets out of order.”

The district attorney said to Mason, “May I withdraw this witness temporarily to put on two other witnesses who are anxious to get away? Then this witness can return to the stand.”

Mason bowed grave assent. “No objection.”

Burger called in rapid succession the taxi driver who told of taking Della Street to the neighborhood, of the length of time she was absent from his cab, and of then driving her to her apartment. Tragg, recalled to the stand, testified as to finding the kitten in Della Street’s apartment, and Helen Kendal, recalled, identified the kitten as the one which had been poisoned and which she had left with Thomas Lunk on the evening of the thirteenth.

Mason apparently paid not the slightest attention to any of these other witnesses. He did not bother with interposing any objections, nor did he use his right of cross-examination.

Then Lunk was recalled for further cross-examination.

Mason studied the witness for several seconds until the silence focused the attention of everyone in the courtroom upon the importance of what he was about to say.

“When was the last time you remember opening that can of flour in the pantry?”

“The morning of the thirteenth. I made some pancakes for breakfast.”

“And, since I called your attention to the rather large amount of flour which was sprinkled around the base of the can, you haven’t taken the lid off the flour container?”

“No, sir. I haven’t had any chance. The police took me from the hotel and have held me ever since.”

“As a material witness,” Hamilton Burger hastened to explain.

Lunk turned to him with some show of temper and said, “I don’t care why you did it, but you sure did it!”

Judge Lankershim said, “The witness will confine himself to answering questions.”

Mason looked up at Judge Lankershim. “If Your Honor will take a recess for half an hour, I don’t think it will be necessary to ask any more questions.”

“Just what is the object of such a continuance?”

Mason was smiling now. “I couldn’t help observing, Your Honor, that the moment I began this last phase of the cross-examination, Lieutenant Tragg rather hurriedly left the courtroom. I think that thirty minutes will give him ample opportunity to get out to the house, search the flour can, and return.”

“It is your contention that the cover was removed from that flour can sometime during the evening of the thirteenth, or the morning of the fourteenth by some person other than the witness Thomas Lunk?” Judge Lankershim asked.

Mason’s smile broadened. “I think, Your Honor, Lieutenant Tragg will make a very interesting discovery. Your Honor appreciates my position. I am only interested in establishing the innocence of this defendant. Therefore, I don’t care to make any statement as to what may be discovered, nor as to its evidentiary value.”

Judge Lankershim said, “Very well, the Court will take a thirty-minute recess.”

As the people shuffled out of the courtroom to congregate in the hallways, George Alber came pushing forward, a somewhat sheepish grin on his face.

“Sorry if that card mixed things up any,” he said. “As it happens, I was driving by Lunk’s place after the theater. Thought I’d stop and see if a light was on. One was, so I went up and pushed the bell. No one answered, so I left the card — thought Helen might appreciate my thinking of the kitten — and I was a bit worried.

“To tell you the truth, it never occurred to me the bell might be out of order.”

“A light was on?” Mason asked.

“Yes. I could see a light through the shades. I just didn’t knock, because I thought the bell was ringing.”

“What time was this?”

“Oh, right around midnight.”

Mason pursed his lips, said, “You might casually mention it to the district attorney.”

“I have. He says he knows the bell was out of order, so it’s unimportant.”

Mason said, “I guess it is, then.”