The Case of the Deadly Toy

Chapter Fifteen

Mason pushed open the door of Judge Kent’s chambers and entered.

Manley Marshall was standing by the window. Judge Kent was seated at his big desk and seated to the right of the desk was Horace Livermore Selkirk.

Judge Kent said, “Come in, Mr. Mason. Sit down. You too, Mr. Marshal. A matter has been called to my attention which I think merits an off-the-record discussion.”

Mason seated himself and after a moment Manley Marshall also seated himself.

Judge Kent looked at his watch. “I have telephoned the district attorney, Hamilton Burger, and asked him to attend this conference in person if he will. He should be here. He...”

The office door was pushed open and Hamilton Burger, somewhat short of breath, entered the judge’s chambers. “How do you do, Judge Kent,” he said.

“How do you do, Mr. Burger. Are you acquainted with Horace Livermore Selkirk?”

Selkirk got up and extended his hand. “Glad to meet you, Mr. Burger,” he said.

“I have never met Mr. Selkirk personally,” Burger said, beaming as he shook hands. “I have seen him at meetings and have heard him make a talk at a banquet, but have never met him personally. How do you do, Mr. Selkirk. It’s indeed a very great pleasure.”

“Sit down, gentlemen,” Judge Kent said. “Mr. Selkirk has a communication of some importance in connection with a case which is pending before this Court. I felt, under the circumstances, the communication should be made in private, and I think that you gentlemen will agree with me it is not a matter for the press.”

Burger nodded briefly to Perry Mason, seated himself, said, “Very well.”

Horace Selkirk cleared his throat. “I am, of course, the father of Mervin Selkirk, the victim of the shooting in this case. I am the grandfather of Robert Selkirk, the seven-year-old son of Mervin Selkirk. Under the circumstances, Robert is the last of the Selkirk line. Mervin was my only child and Robert is his only child.”

There was a moment of impressive silence.

“Under the circumstances,” Horace Selkirk went on, “Robert is my sole heir.

“Robert’s mother, who has been divorced and is now married to Barton Jennings, is in my opinion a shrewd, unscrupulous, scheming character. She knows that in all probability I will die before Robert attains his majority. She is not at all unaware of the fact that as Robert’s legal guardian she would be entitled to certain perquisites and certain advantages, and, moreover, would be in a position to play upon Robert’s sympathies and his natural affection for a mother so that she would eventually derive certain material advantages no matter how I tried to safeguard my estate — I can, of course, keep her from getting her fingers in most of my fortune, but Robert is impressionable and there is the bond of natural respect and affection.”

Judge Kent frowned. “Does that have any bearing on the present case, Mr. Selkirk?” he asked. “I sympathize, of course, with your position. I know that you have lost a son under very tragic circumstances. I know that you must have undergone great emotional strain. But it would seem to me that the facts you have mentioned are somewhat extraneous.”

“They are not extraneous,” Horace Selkirk said coldly. “My grandson, Robert, killed his father, Mervin Selkirk.”

“What?” Hamilton Burger all but shouted, half getting up from his chair.

Judge Kent leaned forward attentively frowning at Horace Selkirk.

“I know what I am talking about,” Horace Selkirk said, “and Perry Mason also understands the situation. And Mr. Perry Mason intends to make a last-minute grandstand to save his client by showing what actually happened. I feel that in the interests of justice Mr. Mason should not be permitted to drag my grandson into the case and thereby place an irreparable stigma upon the boy’s name.”

“You say that Robert killed his father?” Judge Kent asked.

“Robert Selkirk was the instrumentality chosen by Lorraine Jennings to get rid of my son,” Horace Selkirk said coldly. “Under a property settlement which had been made with my son at the time of the divorce, she received certain properties, and in the event of Mervin’s death she not only received additional properties in her own name but Robert would inherit certain very valuable properties and she would naturally be the guardian of his person and estate, and as such entitled to compensation.”

“I think,” Hamilton Burger said, glancing suspiciously at Perry Mason, “we had better hear a little more about what you have in mind, Mr. Selkirk. And may I caution you not to be deceived by any elaborate scheme which may have been thought up by Perry Mason in order to extricate his client from a charge of first-degree murder. We have evidence in this case that points the finger directly at Norda Allison.”

“Doubtless you do,” Horace Selkirk said, “but that evidence has been carefully fabricated and you are the one who has been deceived, not me.”

“You have some proof of your statements?” Judge Kent asked Selkirk.

“I have ample proof,” Selkirk said.

“Perhaps you had better tell us what it is.”

“I dislike to keep harping on this,” Selkirk said, “but my son’s ex-wife, Lorraine Jennings, is a very scheming, clever woman. She is, in my opinion, a fiend incarnate. She deliberately framed the seven-year-old Robert to be the innocent instrumentality of her hatred. I am not a demonstrative man, but I love my grandson very deeply.

“The child has been allowed to take an undue interest in firearms. He has been trained to watch television programs of the kind that are known as ‘pistol pictures.’ Then Lorraine permitted him to take the Colt Woodsman which has been introduced in evidence in this case and play with it, assuring him always that it was unloaded, but letting him point it and shoot it at people.”

“You’re certain of that?” Judge Kent interrupted incredulously.

“Evidence is available to that effect,” Horace Selkirk said. “Neighbors who have watched proceedings at the Jennings house have seen the child pointing the pistol at people and pulling the trigger.”

Judge Kent frowned.

“Then,” Horace Selkirk went on, “after the boy had been properly conditioned to shoot this gun, believing it was always empty and unloaded, Lorraine Jennings let him have the weapon when it actually was loaded. Then she decoyed the child’s father into going to the tent where the boy was sleeping, telling the father that he should surprise the boy. The thing happened which she hoped would happen. The boy heard the noise of the father entering the tent. He was wakened from a sound sleep. It was night. He had the gun with him, he raised it and pulled the trigger. The bullet entered my son’s chest.

“My son staggered to his automobile in front of the house, leaving a bloody trail along the grass. He got in the car and drove away, trying to find help. He knew that a doctor, whom he felt could be trusted to treat his wound and say nothing, quite frequently played poker on Friday nights at the San Sebastian Country Club. He drove up there, not realizing the seriousness of his wound. He parked the car but before he was able to leave the car he became unconscious. Death ensued sometime after he became unconscious.

“I can produce proof of what I am talking about and I have reason to believe that Mr. Mason also has that proof. I am here to prevent the exploitation of my grandson.”

“In what way?” Judge Kent asked.

“Perry Mason has been interrogating the neighbors,” Selkirk said. “He has talked with some of them personally. He has talked with others by means of the private detective agency which handles his work in cases of this sort. He knows that a shot was fired from inside the tent where Robert was sleeping. He knows that shot inflicted a serious injury upon someone, that the person left a blood trail along the grass and that Barton Jennings arose early in the morning to eliminate this blood trail with a hose.

“Mr. Mason knows that my grandson was given the .22 Woodsman to play with, that the boy knew how to work the mechanism of the gun so as to pull back the barrel in a way that would cock it; then he would point the gun and pull the trigger. Mr. Mason has made careful inquiry and has all of this data at his finger tips.

“At the proper time, probably after court convenes this afternoon, he plans to ask Barton Jennings on cross-examination if it isn’t a fact that the boy was permitted to play with this gun. He then intends to show that the boy had the gun on this fateful Friday night; that there was a trail of blood leading along the grass to the curb. Then Mr. Mason intends to ask the Court for an order bringing my grandson into court so that he can be interrogated.

“I wish to spare my grandson this frightful ordeal. It is true he is a bright little chap. It is true that he senses that something awful may have happened. He is not certain that he actually shot anyone, but he knows that he pulled the trigger of the gun and that the gun was loaded. He knows that it was pointed at some person who was about to enter his tent.

“Barton Jennings tried to convince my grandson that all this was a horrible dream, a nightmare. I don’t think he was able to convince the boy, but the boy certainly has no inkling at the present time that he actually killed his father. Nor does he have any idea that the killing of his father was part of a cold-blooded, deliberate plan hatched in the mind of the boy’s mother.

“Mr. Mason is representing Norda Allison. As an attorney it is, I presume, his duty to do everything in his power to see that she is acquitted. However, Mr. Mason is well-known for his flair for the dramatic. He is looking for an opportunity to cross-examine Barton Jennings on the stand in such a way that the facts will be brought out in the most dramatic manner possible.

“When Mason has finished cross-examining Barton Jennings, Barton Jennings will be reduced to a hopeless wreck. The case will be so dramatized that Perry Mason will once more emerge as the invincible champion of the courtroom, and my grandson will have been stigmatized for life.”

Horace Selkirk paused to survey Mason coldly.

Hamilton Burger, the district attorney, took a cigar from his pocket, clipped off the end and lit the cigar.

Judge Kent looked speculatively at Hamilton Burger’s face. Then he looked at Mason, then back to Horace Selkirk.

“You are making rather sweeping charges, Mr. Selkirk,” he said.

“I know what I’m talking about.”

“You have proof?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

Selkirk said, “I can produce my grandson, Robert, here in chambers within thirty minutes. I ask only that you, Judge Kent, take this young man into a private conference, where you — as a judge who is accustomed to handling problems with juveniles — can talk with him in a confidential manner. I suggest that you get his story. When you have that story, you will realize the truth of what I am saying.”

Judge Kent frowned. “This procedure is, of course, highly irregular,” he said. “As the judge in this case I am supposed to keep myself completely aloof from any outside influence.”

“I grant you that,” Selkirk said, “but as a citizen — a citizen who is not without some influence in the community, I may state — I feel that your primary function is to administer justice. I feel that it is going to be inhuman to allow Mr. Perry Mason to appear again in public as a master of legal legerdemain at the cost of wrecking the life of a seven-year-old boy. After all, Judge Kent, you are charged with looking after the rights of juveniles who, because of their tender age, must be, in a measure, wards of the state.”

Again Judge Kent looked at Hamilton Burger.

Hamilton Burger removed the cigar from his mouth, blew out a wisp of pale blue smoke. His expression indicated that he was savoring the aroma of the cigar.

Manley Marshall sat there perfectly still, trying to look utterly noncommittal.

Judge Kent seemed somewhat irritated at Burger’s attitude. “Do you,” he asked, “know anything about this, Mr. Burger?”

Burger studied the tip of the cigar for a moment, holding the cigar between the thick first and second fingers of his powerful right hand. Then he said thoughtfully, “I’m not prepared to say that I know nothing about it. I am prepared to state that we consider this entire procedure irregular, that we wish to try our case in the courtroom, and particularly that I don’t intend to disclose our evidence in this case in front of counsel for the defense. I simply don’t intend to give him that advantage.”

Judge Kent turned to Mason. “You have heard what Mr. Selkirk has said, Mr. Mason.”

“I have heard what he has said.”

“May I ask if there is some element of truth in it?”

“Since you ask, I can tell you that there is some element of truth in it I’d like to ask Mr. Selkirk a question.”

Mason turned to Horace Selkirk. “You are, I believe, attached to your grandson, Mr. Selkirk?”

Selkirk’s face softened for a moment, then became hard. “That boy,” he said, “is the only Selkirk who can carry on a proud name and the proud traditions of a proud family. I am proud of those traditions. I love him and I don’t intend to see his life ruined.”

“And,” Mason said, “you would like to have his sole custody and guardianship?”

“That is beside the point.”

“I don’t think so,” Mason said. “I would like to have you answer that question.”

“You have no right to sit here and cross-examine me,” Selkirk flared. “You know that I called the turn on you. You know exactly what you plan to do in connection with this case. You know the type of dramatic disclosure you intend to make when court reconvenes this afternoon. You know how you intend to cross-examine Barton Jennings. You know that you have been out getting information about the blood trail and about the gun.”

“Do you know anything about a blood trail?” Judge Kent asked Hamilton Burger abruptly.

“Frankly, Your Honor, we do,” Hamilton Burger said. “And, equally frankly, we don’t think either Perry Mason or Mr. Selkirk knows all of the facts in this case. We are quite content to try this case in the courtroom, which is where it should be tried.”

Judge Kent drummed on the desk with his fingers, then looked at Perry Mason. “Is it true that Robert Selkirk was permitted to play with a weapon, Mr. Mason?”

“I think it is,” Mason said.

“The same weapon that has been introduced in evidence in this case as the murder gun?”

“I believe so, Your Honor. But that doesn’t necessarily indicate it is the murder gun.”

“I think it is the murder weapon,” Hamilton Burger said. “I think we’ve established that point by the imprint of the firing pin.”

“I am not prepared to admit it,” Mason said.

“Have you evidence concerning a blood trail, Mr. Mason?” Judge Kent asked.

“One of the neighbors has told me about it,” Mason said.

“A blood trail, Mr. Mason?”

“That is my understanding,” Mason said.

Judge Kent glanced across to Hamilton Burger. “I think the Court is entitled to find out more about this, Mr. District Attorney.”

“Perhaps the Court is,” Hamilton Burger said, “but counsel for the defense isn’t.”

“Just what do you mean by that?”

“I mean that there is no chance on earth that Robert Selkirk killed his father. The death of Mervin Selkirk was at the hands of Norda Allison. We are prepared to prove that.”

“I take it you have a surprise witness?”

“A surprise witness, and we intend to keep this witness as a surprise witness.”

Judge Kent thought for a moment, then turned to Horace Selkirk. “You have talked with your grandson?”

“Naturally.”

“And you are sincere in your belief that your seven-year-old grandson, Robert, killed his father?”

“I feel absolutely certain of it.”

“All right,” Judge Kent said. “You get your grandson here without letting him know what it’s all about. I’m going to talk with him during the noon recess. The procedure may be irregular, but I certainly am not going to let this case get to a point where it is made to appear in court that a seven-year-old boy inadvertently killed his father until I know more about the facts in the case.

“It may be that before I finish I will ask counsel to make certain stipulations, but in the meantime I am going to talk with this boy. How long will it take to get him here?”

“Fifteen minutes,” Horace Selkirk said. “That is, if I may use your phone.”

“Use the phone,” Judge Kent snapped.

Selkirk crossed over to the phone, picked it up and asked for an outside line. Then he dialed a number.

Manley Marshall leaned over to whisper to Hamilton Burger, but Burger, holding up his left hand, gestured his assistant to silence.

The big district attorney puffed contentedly on his cigar.

Selkirk spoke into the telephone. “This is Horace Selkirk,” he said. “How about the woman and the boy whom you were shadowing. Are they in the next room? All right,” Selkirk said, “bring them up to the courthouse, to the chambers of Judge Homer F. Kent. Bring them up right away... I said bring them... All right, if they don’t want to come we’ll send an officer, but I don’t want to waste that time. I want them here in fifteen minutes. Tell them that the judge has sent for them.”

“Now, just a minute,” Judge Kent said. “I didn’t issue any such peremptory summons. I—”

“It’s all right, Judge,” Horace Selkirk said. “They’ll be here. This woman is in my employ and she is supposed to do what I tell her to. I am the one who issues instructions.”

Judge Kent looked at his watch. “Do you think they’ll be here in fifteen minutes?”

“They certainly should be.”

“That’s cutting it rather thin,” Judge Kent said. “I’m going to terminate this conference at this time. I am going to go to the lunch counter here in the building and get a quick sandwich. I will be back here in exactly twenty minutes — well, let us say twenty-five minutes. I will expect you gentlemen to meet me here, and when young Robert Selkirk comes in, I am going to suggest that I handle the interrogation of the young man. I don’t want any interruptions. I don’t want any suggestions from anyone. I am going to ask a few questions and, as you can readily understand, I don’t intend to have the young man understand the object of those questions. I want to find out what actually happened and what he knows.”

“You will understand,” Selkirk said, “that I have so conditioned his mind that he actually knows only that he fired the gun. He doesn’t know the person who ultimately received the bullet from that gun.”

“I’ll talk with him myself,” Judge Kent said. “And since we are working on a very close time schedule, I will suggest that we terminate this conference at once and that we meet here in exactly twenty-five minutes. Is that satisfactory, gentlemen?”

Burger nodded.

“Quite satisfactory,” Horace Selkirk said.

“I’ll be here,” Mason observed.