The Case of the Duplicate Daughter

Chapter Eleven

The preliminary hearing in the Case of the People of the State of California versus Carter Gilman started out in a routine manner as a conventional preliminary hearing.

However, veteran courtroom attaches noticed that the deputy district attorney, Edwardo Marcus Deering, was much more careful with his evidence and was laying a more firm foundation for an order binding the defendant over than would have been the case if the renowned Perry Mason had not been representing the defendant.

Deering, having confided to associates that this time he was going to establish such an ironclad case that not even Perry Mason could find a loophole in it, called the state police officer who had found Vera Martel’s body.

The officer described the tracks indicating a car had left the road, his subsequent inspection of the premises, his finding the body in the car wedged behind the steering wheel. He testified that the automatic gear-shift of the car was in the drive position but that, in his opinion as an expert, the car had been barely crawling when it moved to the outside of the curve and plunged down the grade.

The tracks were not those of a skidding car trying to make a curve and then lunging out of control, but between the shoulder of the pavement and the end of the road where there was a few feet of dirt, the tracks showed very plainly that the automobile had been pointed directly at the curve and had gone over, not at a tangent as would have been the case with a speeding car, but in a direct line which would have been the case only if the car had been deliberately pointed at the precipice.

Moreover, rocks which had been dislodged by the automobile as it went over the cliff indicated that the initial velocity of the car had been such as to displace the rocks only a very short distance. There was no indication of speed.

The officer introduced photographs of the car, of the body, and of the dislodged rocks.

Mason gave the testimony of the witness thoughtful attention, but when he was invited to cross-examine, smiled and said, “No questions, Your Honor.”

Judge Boris Alvord excused the witness and regarded Perry Mason with thoughtful speculation.

“May I ask if the defense intends to make any showing in this case?” he asked.

“We don’t know yet, Your Honor.”

“Do you know whether you will resist an order binding the defendant over?”

“Yes, Your Honor, we will resist it.”

“Very well,” Judge Alvord said to the prosecutor, “call your next witness.”

The next witness was an autopsy surgeon who testified to various broken bones and internal injuries.

“Can you give your opinion as to the cause of death?” Deering asked.

Judge Alvord glanced at Mason, expecting an objection. Mason sat tight and said nothing.

“In my opinion,” the autopsy surgeon said, “death was due to manual strangulation. The broken bones and internal injuries were post-mortem and were incurred, I would say, at least two hours after death.”

“Can you give an approximate time of death?” Deering asked.

“I would say that death occurred some time between seven thirty a.m. and eleven thirty a.m. of the day preceding that on which the body was discovered.”

“Cross-examine,” Deering said to Perry Mason.

“No questions,” Mason said.

The deputy coroner called to the stand identified the personal property which had been in the purse of Vera Martel. The purse had been taken from the wrecked automobile.

“With particular reference to this key container containing several keys,” Deering asked, “did you mark this key container in any way for identification?”

“I did.”

“Does that have your identifying mark on it?”

“It does.”

“Is this the key container which was taken from Vera Martel’s automobile?”

“It is.”

“Cross-examine,” Deering said to Mason.

Mason shook his head. “No questions.”

“Call Jonathan Blair,” Deering said.

Jonathan Blair qualified himself as a technical criminological expert for the sheriff’s office.

“Did you make a microscopic examination of the clothing and of the body of Vera Martel?” Deering asked.

“I did.”

“Specifically, what did you find in the way of unusual foreign bodies?”

“I found bits of sawdust adhering to the skirt, to the top of one of the stockings and in both of the shoes.”

“Can you describe this sawdust?”

“The sawdust,” Blair said, “came from various types of wood. There was satinwood, sandalwood, a rare type of mahogany, myrtlewood and fragments of mahogany which had been stained a deep red.”

“Was this a varnish or oil?” Deering asked.

“It was neither. It was a dye which had been made to impregnate the wood.”

“Did you make any attempt to trace this particular wood?”

“I did. I was given samples of mahogany which had been similarly treated by a dealer named Carlos Barbara. I compared samples of wood which he gave me with some of the particles of sawdust and was able to make a spectroscopic analysis showing that the dye used in both specimens was identical.”

“Cross-examine,” Deering said.

Mason shook his head. “No questions on cross-examination, Your Honor.”

Deering said, “Call Carlos Barbara.”

Barbara testified that he dealt in rare woods for cabinet-workers, that he had recently evolved the process by which a certain chemical dye which he had invented could be utilized to stain a certain type of mahogany. The process was, he said, secret. The wood was seasoned in a certain manner and at a certain time the dye was introduced under pressure. It was a process that no other dealer had duplicated and he had had it perfected on a commercial basis for less than three months.

Deering asked him if his books indicated persons to whom that mahogany had been sold and Barbara stated that he had not sold any of the mahogany, that he had given three people samples to use for testing. Those three people had been three of his good customers, three persons whom he knew were interested in a new type of wood.

“Was the defendant one of those persons?” Deering asked.

“That’s right. I gave Mr. Gilman a sample.”

Deering said, “I show you a piece of wood and ask you if that is one of the pieces of wood you gave Mr. Gilman.”

“That is part of it, yes. It has been sawed approximately in two pieces. That is about half of the piece I gave Mr. Gilman.”

“We ask that this be marked for identification,” Deering said.

“No objection,” Mason said. “In fact, if you will state that this piece of wood was found in Mr. Gilman’s woodworking shop I will be willing to stipulate that such is the case and it may be received in evidence.”

“I will so state,” Deering said, his manner somewhat puzzled.

“Then I will so stipulate,” Mason said.

Judge Alvord looked at Mason as though about to say something, then changed his mind and said, “Very well. The wood will be received in evidence with that stipulation. Proceed.”

“I have no further questions, Your Honor.”

“No cross-examination,” Mason said.

“I now wish to call Warren Lawton,” Deering said.

Lawton qualified himself as a technical expert with the Los Angeles Police Department.

“I will ask you if you examined sawdust which had adhered to the skirt of Vera Martel and sawdust which was found in her shoes and on the top of one stocking.”

“I was present when the sawdust was recovered by vacuum cleaner from the articles of clothing mentioned.”

“Was any of that sawdust composed of particles of this same wood containing this same dye which has been introduced in evidence as People’s Exhibit G?”

“They were.”

“Where were they found?”

“In the right shoe near the heel, near the top of the right stocking and on the skirt, both the right and the left sides.”

“Did you make any examination of an automobile registered in the name of Carter Gilman?”

“I did.”

“Did you find anything significant in the trunk of that automobile?”

“I did.”

“What was it?”

“Some of the same type of sawdust coming from this board, Exhibit G; some fibers which, in my opinion, came from the skirt worn by Vera Martel at the time of her death — or at least the skirt she had on when her body was found — and several hairs which, in my opinion, are exactly identical with hairs from the head of Vera Martel.”

“Did you find anything else in the car which you considered significant?”

“I did.”

“What was it?”

“A rather large lump of blue modeling clay.”

“Can you describe this modeling clay?”

“It is a clay about the consistency of putty. It is colored a deep blue, and it retains its plasticity; that is, it doesn’t become dry and hard as other clay but remains soft and pliable.”

“Cross-examine,” Deering said.

Mason arose to face the witness. “You found this type of sawdust in the defendant’s workshop?”

“Yes.”

“That type of sawdust would adhere to a person’s clothes?”

“Some of it would under proper circumstances, yes.”

“If Vera Martel had been in that workshop, lying on the floor, do you feel that some of the sawdust would have adhered to her clothing?”

“I feel quite certain it would have.”

“And if her body had been placed in the automobile you think some of that sawdust might have become loosened?”

“I think there is no question but what it would, yes.”

“There’s nothing about this sawdust, no peculiarity which gives it a particular affinity for the type of clothing worn by Vera Martel?”

“No, sir.”

“It would adhere to the defendant’s clothing?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then, by the same sign, if the defendant had been working in his workshop and wearing, let us say, a sports coat at the time, this sawdust would have adhered to the sleeves of the defendant’s coat?”

“It could have.”

“And, if some of this sawdust was on the sports coat of the defendant and the defendant had opened the trunk of his automobile to put something in or get something out, it is quite possible that particles of this sawdust would have dropped from the coat sleeves of the defendant?”

“That is possible.”

“Thank you,” Mason said. “No further questions.”

“Call Maurice Fellows,” Deering said, with the air of a card player who is about to trump an opponent’s ace.

Fellows, an older man with bushy eyebrows, heavy caliper lines around his mouth and a fringe of somewhat unkempt hair around his temples and the back of his head, took the stand and gave his occupation as a person who made keys.

“Are you acquainted with the defendant?” Deering asked.

“I’ve seen him.”

“When did you see him?”

“On the afternoon of the thirteenth.”

“That was last Tuesday afternoon?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you have any business transactions with him?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Generally, what did those transactions consist of?”

Fellows said, “The defendant brought me in a lump of modeling clay. In it were the impressions of five keys. He wanted keys made to fit those impressions. I told him we didn’t ordinarily do that work and it would be quite a job, that we’d have to charge extra, that I’d have to make a master pattern and...”

“And what did he say?”

“He said to go ahead, never mind the expense, to get the keys for him just as soon as possible.”

“What did you do?”

“I made the keys.”

“Now, how did you make those keys?”

“I first made a master pattern to use in making duplicates.”

“Did you retain those master patterns?”

“I did.”

“Do you have them with you?”

“I do.”

“I ask that they be introduced in evidence,” Deering said.

“No objection,” Mason said.

“Now, Mr. Fellows, I am handing you a key container which has already been introduced in evidence as having been found in the purse of Vera Martel, the decedent, and ask you as an expert key man if these patterns which you have match any of the keys found in this key container.”

“They do,” the witness said.

“All of them?”

“All of them.”

“You may cross-examine,” Deering said, with an air of sudden swift triumph.

“No questions at this time,” Mason said.

Judge Alvord glanced at the clock and said, “Well, gentlemen, it’s five minutes before the noon hour. I think we had better take an adjournment before you call any more witnesses — or do you have any more, Mr. Prosecutor?”

“I think we have a couple,” Deering said.

“Very well. The court will take an adjournment until one thirty this afternoon. The defendant is remanded to custody.”

Judge Alvord left the bench.

Mason arose, nodded to the officer, said, “Could you bring Mr. Gilman back here about twenty minutes past one, Officer? I want to have a talk with him before court convenes.”

“I’ll have him here,” the officer said.

“All right,” Mason said to Gilman, “think it over. You’re going to have to tell me the truth now.”

Mason picked up his brief case, nodded to Della Street and they were joined by Paul Drake as they left the courtroom.

“Lunch?” Drake asked.

“A light lunch,” Mason said. “Just a few groceries to keep us going.”

“That key business puts the noose right around your client’s neck,” Paul Drake said lugubriously.

Mason said nothing.

“The fact they brought that out at a preliminary examination shows they’re afraid of you, however. Ordinarily they’d have saved that for the main trial.”

“Except that by putting it in the record now,” Mason said, “they can use it later on in case this key man can’t be found.”

Drake said, “Well, this is once they have you lashed to the mast, Perry. It’s a wonder Hamilton Burger hasn’t moved in for the kill.”

“Probably because it’s too open and shut,” Mason said. “The district attorney wouldn’t come into court personally on a case that’s as open and shut as this.”

“I’ll bet you even money he’s there this afternoon to conduct the examination himself,” Paul Drake said. “He’s in need of a personal triumph to satisfy his ego.”

Mason said, “The guy doesn’t look like a murderer, and yet...”

“For my money, he did the job,” Drake said. “He did it to protect someone he loved, but he did it.”

They went to their favorite restaurant near the Hall of Justice where there was a small private dining room which a friendly proprietor kept in reserve for Perry Mason on court days.

Midway through the light lunch the waiter appeared with a telephone. “A call for Mr. Drake,” he said.

He plugged the phone in, Drake picked up the instrument, said, “Okay, this is Paul Drake... Who?... Okay, put her on.”

Drake said, “Hello,” listened for a few moments, then said, “Okay. I guess there’s nothing we can do. Just keep on the job. I’m glad we picked up the information.”

Drake pushed back the instrument, said, “I hate to bring you more bad news, Perry.”

“Can it get any worse?” Mason asked.

“The police have picked up Hartley Elliott. They’re holding him as a material witness. They’ve had him for more than six hours but have kept him under cover. They’re planning to put him on this afternoon as a surprise witness. They want to catch you flat-footed and figured that your cross-examination isn’t going to help the situation any if they take you by surprise.

“Then they’ll give Elliott every opportunity to skip out before the trial if he wants to and they’ll read the testimony of Elliott at the preliminary hearing into the record. That will make it even more deadly.

“They’ve been planning that carefully as prosecution strategy. They had Elliott spotted where he was living under an assumed name in a motel and have had him under surveillance for a couple of days. They picked him up early this morning in a surprise move and are planning to steal a march on you.

“You know what that means. Hamilton Burger himself will be in the courtroom this afternoon, ready to jerk the rug out from under you, and while they’ve got you floundering they’ll make Elliott admit that he saw Glamis running from the workshop. The theory is that Gilman, sitting at the breakfast table, also saw her running and went out to find out what it was all about, either encountered Vera Martel and strangled her or found that Glamis had done the job and is covering up for Glamis.

“Then they’ll call the grand jury in session, indict Glamis, try her jointly with Carter Gilman and have you where you can’t squirm out.”

Mason said, “Glamis insists she was in bed until she heard Muriell moving around upstairs.”

“Uh-huh,” Drake said, “that’s what she insists, but by the time your client tells you the real truth you’ll find you have a bear by the tail.”

Mason pushed back his chair from the table. “Well,” he said, “let’s go up to the scene of the massacre and watch Hamilton Burger move in for the kill.”