The Case of the Fan-Dancer's Horse

Chapter number 20

The bailiff announced that court had been called to order. Judge Donahue intoned the usual formula. “Gentlemen, is it stipulated that the jury are all present and the defendant in court?”

“So stipulated,” Mason said.

“So stipulated,” Burger announced.

Mason arose. “Your Honor, before we proceed with the trial of this case, I have a matter which I wish to call to the attention of the Court. It concerns a witness, a potential witness for the defense. We have been unable to find this witness no matter how we searched, and...”

“Give me the name of the witness,” Burger said. “Tell me what you expect to prove by him and perhaps I will stipulate to it.”

Mason said, “The name of the witness is Irene Kilby. She has, however, gone under the professional name of Cherie Chi-Chi and more lately has for some time been masquerading under the name of Lois Fenton. She has used clothes that are identical in appearance to those of Lois Fenton, she has made appearances under the name of Lois Fenton and has in every way tried to arrange her appearance so that she can be mistaken for Lois Fenton. We propose to prove that she, this witness, was in the Richmell Hotel on the night of the murder at the hour of approximately 2:20 in the morning.”

“And how do you propose to prove that?”

“By the witness herself.”

“It will be interesting to see you try,” Burger said.

Judge Donahue frowned. “I fail to see the necessity of making such a statement at this time and in front of this jury, Mr. Mason.”

“The reason I am making this statement, Your Honor, is that I have just discovered that the reason we have been unable to find this witness no matter how much we searched, is that the police have been holding her incommunicado.”

“Do you mean that the police have been concealing her?” Burger demanded indignantly.

“As far as we’re concerned, yes.”

“Your Honor, I resent that. The law specifically gives the prosecution the power to hold material witnesses and this is a material witness for the prosecution.”

“I challenge that statement,” Mason said.

Burger, red in the face, shouted, “I’ll make it again. This woman is a material witness.”

“You admit that she was kept concealed under such circumstances that I would not be able to find out where she was?” Mason asked.

“We don’t have to write you every day and tell you what we intend to do in putting on our case,” Burger said. “I say, Your Honor, that this woman is a material witness.”

“What’s she a witness to?” Mason asked.

“To certain things that she will disclose when she gets on the stand.”

“You don’t intend to put her on the stand.”

“I do.”

“Put her on now then,” Mason said.

Burger said, “I don’t have to put her on now.”

“Go ahead,” Mason challenged. “If she’s a witness to anything for you, put her on that witness stand. Let’s hear what she has to say. Then you’ll be finished with her and I can talk to her and put her on the stand as a witness for the defense.”

Judge Donahue looked questioningly at Hamilton Burger.

“I’ll put her on the witness stand when I get good and ready,” Hamilton Burger said.

“Will you promise this court that you are going to put her on the witness stand?”

“I don’t have to make any such promises.”

“There you are, Your Honor. The woman is not a witness.”

Judge Donahue said, “After all, Mr. District Attorney, while the order of proof ordinarily is in the hands of the district attorney, it certainly seems to me that if this woman is a material witness for the prosecution, and the defense desires to question her, that it would be much better to have the prosecution put her on the stand, take her testimony, and then release her so that the defense would be in a position to use her in the event they wished to do so.”

“The defense doesn’t want to use her, Your Honor. This is simply a grandstand.”

“I want to use her,” Mason insisted.

“What do you propose to prove by her? Perhaps I’ll stipulate it.”

Mason said, “I propose to prove by this witness that she was the one whom the witnesses have identified as being the defendant, the woman who was in this hotel at twenty minutes past two o’clock in the morning.”

“You can’t do it,” Burger said, “because these witnesses would know in a minute that this woman wasn’t the defendant.”

Mason said, “Bring her into court. Bring her in, dressed just as she was dressed when the woman was arrested, and by that I mean wearing clothes that were identical in cut, color, pattern and texture to those worn by the defendant.”

“All right,” Burger snapped. “You’ve asked for this. I’ll bring her into court. I’ll give you every opportunity. Your Honor, if we may have fifteen minutes I think at that time I will be able to grant counsel’s request. I will have Irene Kilby in court. I’ll let her parade up in front of the witnesses. Perhaps in the meantime, I can save time by calling another witness, Jasper Fenton. Come forward and be sworn, Jasper.”

Jasper Fenton, a droop-shouldered lad, who had an expression of bored cynicism deeply stamped upon his countenance, took the witness stand. He answered the preliminary questions in a monotone. Then as Burger began to bring him to the scene of the crime, the boy’s voice took on a slight nervousness.

“Where were you on the morning of the seventeenth of September this year?” Burger asked. “Were you in the Richmell Hotel?”

“Yes, sir.”

“At what time?”

“I believe it was exactly 2:44.”

“Where did you go?”

“I went to John Callender’s room. I mean I entered that room at approximately 2:44.”

“When did you leave?”

“Immediately.”

“Why did you leave?”

“I opened the door and saw him lying there, dead on the floor. I got out of there fast.”

“You had an appointment with him?”

“Yes, sir.”

“When did you have that appointment?”

“It wasn’t exactly an appointment. He sent for me to come and see him.”

“What time were you supposed to be there?”

“At two o’clock in the morning.”

“That was a definite appointment?”

“Yes. He said I was to be there at two on the second.”

“But you were late?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why were you late?”

“I stopped for a few drinks to bolster my courage. I didn’t want to face him.”

“Why?”

“He was trying to blackmail my sister through me.”

“And by your sister you mean Lois Fenton, the defendant here?”

“Yes, sir.”

“She is your sister?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s be frank about this,” Hamilton Burger said. “John Callender had some hold on you?”

“Yes, he did.”

“What was it?”

Fenton squirmed about on the witness chair. “I had been working for him. I had forged his name to some checks in order to cover a shortage. He had those checks. He was threatening to prosecute me.”

“Anything else?”

“When he kept hounding my sister through me, I became desperate. I took my sister’s horse and went to John Callender’s ranch. I rode up to the house and managed to get into the room where his records were kept. I had the safe opened when a night watchman came along the porch and saw my flashlight. He put the beam of his own flashlight through the window, spotted me at the safe and shouted for help. I ran out of the house, along the veranda, jumped into the saddle and started away at a gallop. The watchman shot.”

“What happened to the bullet?”

“It grazed the horse and lodged in the saddle.”

“You felt the impact of that bullet? You felt it hit?”

“Yes, sir. I felt the jar of the impact in the saddle. I knew the bullet was in the saddle.”

“Did you subsequently make an investigation to find that it was embedded in the saddle?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what did you do?”

“I became panic-stricken. I got off the horse and hit it with the quirt until it ran away. Then I hitchhiked back home.”

“Now you’re not trying to conceal anything,” Hamilton Burger said unctuously. “You’re not trying to minimize your own shortcomings. Disagreeable as it is, you’re admitting on the witness stand that you have committed forgery, that you went to John Callender’s house and tried to burglarize the safe?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And Callender knew about that?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what was he trying to do?”

“He was trying to force my sister to return by threatening to bring action against me.”

“And he wanted to discuss that with you?”

“He didn’t want to discuss anything with me, he wanted to tell me.”

“And when you found John Callender lying there in that room dead, a Japanese sword plunged through his chest, you simply thought about escaping and got out of there without notifying anyone about what you had discovered. Is that right?”

“Yes, sir. That’s only partially right.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“After I got to thinking it over. After... well, the next day... I went to the police.”

“Of your own accord? Is that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And gave the police a written statement?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And at that time,” Burger went on suavely, “you didn’t know that your sister was involved in any way? You didn’t know she was accused of the crime, did you?”

“Just a moment,” Mason said. “That question is viciously leading and suggestive. It is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial. It’s a self-serving declaration.”

“It goes to the motivation and interest of the witness, if the Court please,” Burger said.

“And as such, it’s a question that can only be asked on cross-examination, and by opposing counsel,” Mason said.

Judge Donahue said, “The question is leading, but I think I’ll overrule the objection. I think the jury are entitled to the facts of the case.”

“No, at that time I didn’t know my sister was involved,” the witness said.

“And you gave the police this written statement?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So that you’re really an unwilling witness and are giving your testimony with reluctance?”

Mason said, “He isn’t giving his testimony, if the Court please. The district attorney is giving it for him. Your Honor, I protest that the district attorney keeps feeding this stuff into the record and all the witness is supposed to do is to say ‘yes.’ ”

“These questions are viciously leading,” Judge Donahue said. “The record will show, I’m afraid, that the district attorney has been guilty of leading the witnesses many times. The objection is sustained. We will have no further leading questions.”

“Cross-examine,” Burger snapped.

Mason started to get to his feet when there was a commotion in the courtroom. A deputy sheriff caught Burger’s eye and gave a signal. Burger said, “If the Court please, the witness, Irene Kilby, is now in court, brought here at the suggestion, in fact at the demand, of Perry Mason. Now then, if Mr. Mason wishes to talk with this witness, he is at perfect liberty to do so. If, as I suspect to be the case, he only wishes to use her as a means of confusing the witnesses who have already testified, I have no objection to any test he may desire to make. Come forward, Miss Kilby, so the jury and the witnesses may see you.”

Irene Kilby came forward, walking now not like Lois Fenton, but holding her hips stiff, her head and chin up.

Judge Donahue regarded her at first with mild interest, then, suddenly puzzled, looked from her to Lois Fenton. He said, “Will the defendant please stand up. Now stand over there, the two of you together. Any objection, Mr. Mason?”

“None, Your Honor.”

Judge Donahue looked at the two women. “Well, this is indeed a strange situation. There is no great facial resemblance, but as far as figures are concerned, it is a different situation. These two women are apparently exactly identical as to height and shape and are wearing identical apparel. Do you care to make a statement, Mr. Burger?”

Hamilton Burger said, “Your Honor, I should have known that Perry Mason would make some spectacular grandstand...”

“Never mind that,” Judge Donahue interrupted. “I simply want to know what is the occasion for this very evident masquerade on the part of one of these young women. The defendant may be seated. I am going to ask the witness Irene Kilby to remain here for the moment. Just remain standing, if you will, Miss Kilby. Now, Mr. Burger.”

Hamilton Burger said, “Your Honor, I now offer to stipulate facts that Mr. Mason knows to be true, that this witness used the name of Lois Fenton, and dressed herself so that she looked like Lois Fenton for reasons that, however, are quite obvious once the situation is understood.”

“Well, I should like to know what they are.”

Burger said, “This young woman wanted to be a fan-dancer. Lois Fenton was a very successful fan-dancer. Lois Fenton married and thereby terminated her career as a fan-dancer. At the time of her marriage she had several unfulfilled contracts... May I go on?”

“I am willing to listen to anything the district attorney may have to say,” Judge Donahue said, “subject, of course, to the fact that the defendant has the right to object to this procedure. Is there any objection, Mr. Mason?”

Mason said, “I have no objection to Hamilton Burger giving testimony, if he is under oath. Then I want to cross-examine him just as I would any witness. I have no objection to his making a preliminary explanation to Your Honor, but as far as the question of fact is concerned as to what actuated this witness to do the things she did do, the witness herself is the one to give the evidence.”

“But it’s no part of the case,” Hamilton Burger said, his voice and manner showing his exasperation. “I’m simply explaining the preliminaries to His Honor at the Court’s own request.”

“If it isn’t a part of the case,” Mason asked, “why did you detain this woman as a material witness? What’s she a witness to?”

“I detained her so that you couldn’t...”

“Yes, yes, go on,” Mason said temptingly, as Burger stopped suddenly. “You were about to blurt out the real reason for her detention.”

“That will do, gentlemen,” Judge Donahue said. “The occasion requires no interchange between counsel. The Court is merely asking for information and if counsel for the defense objects to any statement being made by the district attorney in this manner, it will be necessary, of course, to put this young woman on the stand.”

“But this is attempting to prove a negative,” Hamilton Burger said. “It is only important in the event the defense claims that this masquerade fooled somebody; that is, that it had the effect of confusing the witnesses.”

“I claim it did,” Mason said.

“Go ahead and prove that it did then,” Burger challenged.

Judge Donahue said, “One thing at a time, gentlemen. Now, do I understand, Mr. Mason, that you object to this statement by Hamilton Burger?”

“Provided that it is only preliminary, I have no objection to it, but if Hamilton Burger seeks by such a statement to obviate the necessity of putting this woman on the stand, I do object to it. I will further say that I stipulate to nothing. This witness is going on the stand as far as I’m concerned.”

“Well,” Judge Donahue said, “perhaps we’d better proceed in the regular way, but this certainly is a peculiar situation which has developed, and the Court felt that it might be better to have it explained.”

Mason said, “In view of the fact that this young woman is here, I now ask the privilege of recalling Samuel Meeker for cross-examination.”

“I have no objection in the world,” Burger said, with a sarcastic bow at Perry Mason. “Go right ahead.”

“That will do, Mr. Burger,” Judge Donahue said. “Can’t we try this case without this interchange of comments between counsel? Now, where were we? Oh yes, we want Sam Meeker on the stand. Mr. Samuel Meeker, come back to the stand. No, no, you’ve already been sworn. Just sit down there in that chair. You want to cross-examine him further, Mr. Mason?”

“I do. Miss Kilby, I would like to have you walk back and forth across the courtroom directly in front of the counsel table here, where the witness can see you.”

Irene Kilby dutifully walked back and forth.

“Not that way,” Mason said. “The way you customarily walk.”

She looked at him with wide eyes. “I’m afraid I don’t know how that is, Mr. Mason.”

“With a swing of the hips, a certain voluptuous enticement. Certainly you always walked that way before...”

“Your Honor, I object to that,” Hamilton Burger said. “Counsel has asked the witness to walk. She has walked. If Perry Mason wants to swear that he has seen this witness walk with a swaying of the hips or in a voluptuous manner, he himself can take the oath and get on the witness stand, and then I will cross-examine him.”

“Counsel has asked the witness to walk in a certain particular manner,” Judge Donahue said, “but I am not satisfied that counsel has the right to do that in connection with a test of this nature. He has asked Miss Kilby to walk, and she has walked. I think that that is as far as the Court should permit an experiment of this kind to be carried on until there is some evidence showing the young woman may at some other time have walked in some other manner.”

“Very well,” Mason said. “Now, Mr. Meeker, is there any possibility that this young woman whom you see now before you, referring to Irene Kilby, is the woman who came to the Richmell Hotel at approximately 2:20 in the morning and...”

“None whatever.”

“Let me finish my question. And was stopped by you at the elevators, or near the elevators, and taken by you over to the telephones where a call was put through to the room of John Callender?”

“There is no possibility whatever.”

“You’re positive?”

“Positive.”

“You recognize a certain resemblance to the defendant?”

“There’s a resemblance as far as clothes are concerned, and a resemblance as far as figures are concerned, but this is Irene Kilby, and I’d recognize her anywhere. The defendant is the woman whom I saw in the hotel, and I’d recognize her anywhere.”

“When did you last see Irene Kilby?” Mason asked.

“Yesterday afternoon.”

“And before that?”

“I don’t know. Yesterday morning, I guess.”

“And you have seen her on several occasions immediately before the trial of this action?”

“Yes.”

“What was the reason for so seeing her?”

“Well, Sergeant Dorset wanted to be certain that she was the woman I’d seen. He kept showing her to me and asking me if there was any possibility of my being mistaken.”

“Oh I see,” Mason said. “In other words, the police used every means to see that you would be fully familiar with the features of this Irene Kilby so that in the event you were suddenly confronted with her in court you wouldn’t be confused. Is that it?”

“Objected to,” Burger snapped. “Calling for a conclusion — argumentative.”

“Sustained.”

“And before Sergeant Dorset took you to Irene Kilby he took some pains to impress upon you that this was Irene Kilby and not the Lois Fenton whom you had already identified, is that right?” Mason asked.

“Well, he told me.”

“That’s all,” Mason said.

“No questions,” Burger said.

“Proceed with the case,” Judge Donahue said to Burger.

“Jasper Fenton was on the stand. Mr. Mason was about to start his cross-examination,” Burger said.

“If the Court please,” Mason interposed, “as I understand it the district attorney is going to put this young woman on the witness stand.”

Burger said, “You’ve already covered everything that I wanted to have covered.”

“But you were holding her as a material witness,” Mason said.

“Well, what of it?”

“In the event you were keeping her out of circulation where I couldn’t find her, and where my men couldn’t interview her, you were abusing the judicial processes of this Court.”

“You’ve said that before,” Burger said.

“And I’m going to say it again,” Mason said. “I just don’t want to have any misunderstanding on that point. You either call that witness to the stand, or you can explain to the grievance committee why you were holding her where I couldn’t find her, claiming she was a material witness.”

Burger thought that over, then suddenly surrendered. “Irene Kilby take the stand,” he said angrily, his face red.

“Your true name is Irene Kilby?” Burger asked, when the witness had been sworn.

“Yes, sir.”

“Have you ever gone under any other name?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What?”

“Two names. The name of Cherie Chi-Chi, which is a stage name, and the name of Lois Fenton.”

“How did it happen that you went under the name of Lois Fenton?”

“She told me I might.”

“You mean the young woman sitting there at the right of Mr. Mason, the woman who is the defendant in the case of The People vs. Lois Fenton, told you that you could use her name?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what did she tell you? Describe that conversation.”

“She told me...”

“Just a moment,” Mason interrupted. “Was there a written agreement?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then the agreement, the writing itself, is the best evidence,” Mason said.

Burger frowned, “Where is that writing, Miss Kilby?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you know?”

“I surrendered it to John Callender and I have never seen it since.”

“When did you surrender it?”

“A few days before his death.”

“And you have searched for it and been unable to find it?”

“Yes.”

“Very well then, tell us what was in it.”

“Well, I was trying to get on as a fan-dancer, and I didn’t have many engagements. Lois Fenton had a full calendar. She didn’t want to go ahead with her fan-dancing when she got married, so I asked her if I couldn’t fill her dates, and she told me I could. I told her I’d have to use her name, and she said that would be all right.”

“Very well. Now, at any time on the morning of September seventeenth did you go to the Richmell Hotel?”

“Yes, sir. I went there shortly before two o’clock in the morning. That was the only time I ever went there.”

“You saw John Callender then?”

“I did.”

“And you talked with him?”

“Yes.”

“What about?”

“I asked him for the agreement. He said he had given it to Lois. I left the room about two o’clock. A maid saw me as I left the room. I never went back.”

“Did you see Samuel Meeker, the house detective, at that hotel and have any conversation with him?”

“No, sir.”

“Your witness,” Burger snapped.

Mason arose to conduct the cross-examination.

“In order to carry out the deception incident upon your attempt to capitalize on Lois Fenton’s good will as a fan-dancer, you copied her clothes, did you not?” he asked.

“Well, what’s wrong with that?”

“But you did, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did.”

“Exactly why did you do that?”

“Because bookings were made through her agent, a Mr. Barlow, and Mr. Barlow had photographs.”

“You mean Sidney Jackson Barlow?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you didn’t want Mr. Barlow to think there had been any substitution or any change in his clients?”

“Naturally not.”

“So you dressed just as much as you could like Lois Fenton and made yourself look just as much as you could like Lois Fenton, didn’t you?”

“What would you have done under the same circumstances?”

“I’m asking you what you did. You did do that, didn’t you?”

“Yes. It’s obvious. I am wearing these clothes now.”

“And Mr. Barlow never raised the point that perhaps you were not the real Lois Fenton?”

“Not until after you had been there, trying to make trouble.”

“Now, then,” Mason said, “directing your attention to the evening of September seventeenth, you went to the office of Sidney Jackson Barlow, the agent, did you not?”

“I did.”

“And what happened to you there?”

“Incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial. Not proper cross-examination,” Hamilton Burger said. “Your Honor, this is wandering far afield. This is something that was not touched upon in direct examination and has nothing to do with the issues in this case.”

Judge Donahue glanced down at Perry Mason. “It would seem to be highly incompetent, Counselor.”

“If the Court please,” Mason argued, “I desire to show that at that time the officers arrested her as Lois Fenton; that she was at that time told she was arrested on suspicion of the murder of John Callender.”

“But what would that have to do with it?” Judge Donahue asked. “I am impressed with the most peculiar circumstances of this case. I am going to give you every latitude in your cross-examination in view of this evident masquerade, but I don’t see exactly what competent matter could be brought out by such a question as you now ask. Assuming that a description of Lois Fenton had been broadcast and that this young woman undoubtedly answered that description, assuming further that the officers took her into custody under the mistaken impression that she was Lois Fenton, I still can’t see any relevancy.”

“Simply this,” Mason said. “I propose to show that this witness was thereupon taken to the jail, that the next day she was placed in a device known as a shadow box by which witnesses are enabled to view prisoners without the prisoners seeing them, and I propose to show, Your Honor,” Mason went on, his voice rising dramatically, “that while she was in that shadow box she was identified absolutely by the witness Sam Meeker and the witness Frank Faulkner as the woman they had seen in the Richmell Hotel at the hour of approximately twenty minutes past two on the morning of September seventeenth!”

“That’s not so,” Hamilton Burger shouted. “You can’t prove it. You can’t...”

“Give me a chance and I will,” Mason said, grimly.

“But I don’t understand,” judge Donahue said, frowning.

“I didn’t for a moment, Your Honor, but I understand now,” Mason said. “The police arrested this woman as Lois Fenton. The next day the witnesses identified her as the woman they had seen in the hotel. Then, within a few minutes after that identification had been made, the police arrested the real Lois Fenton, so Sergeant Holcomb arranged for a second identification, telling the witnesses that they were going to see the girl again under more advantageous circumstances, and the witnesses both thought they were seeing the same girl. And in order to keep these witnesses from suspecting anything, these two police officers staged a fake quarrel so that when the witnesses entered that room containing the shadow box on that second occasion they were so fully convinced in advance that the woman they then saw was the same one they had already seen, they hardly gave her identity any real thought. And then, in order to keep me from finding out what had happened, the police later put the defendant, Lois Fenton, back in the shadow box for a second time. But at that time there was no one on the other side of the screen. That was a police trap, simply for the purpose of keeping me from finding out...”

“That’s not so!” Hamilton Burger shouted.

“You’d better find out whether it’s so or not before you start throwing denials around this courtroom,” Mason said. “Interview the sergeant who had charge of the shadow box. I don’t think Lieutenant Tragg had any part in this, but you interview Sergeant Holcomb and see what he says. And incidentally, Your Honor, noticing that Sergeant Holcomb is in court, I ask that he be required to remain as a witness for the defense until I can have an opportunity to have a subpoena issued and served upon him.”

Judge Donahue banged with his gavel, but all of his attempts to restore order were ineffectual. Sergeant Holcomb got to his feet, started to say something, turned, headed for the door, then paused.

Hamilton Burger shouted, “Holcomb, come here! I want to talk with you!”

Mason settled back in his chair and smiled reassuringly at the defendant.

“But how did you ever know?” Lois Fenton whispered.

Mason said, “What makes my face red is that I didn’t know it long ago. The thing is obvious. They did put you in the shadow box on two occasions. But you didn’t hang your head and sulk the first time. When the witnesses saw you for the first time, they thought they were seeing you for the second time.”

“Will that prove that Irene Kilby was the one who was in the hotel?”

“It will go a long ways toward proving it,” Mason said. “It’ll prove that the first person the witnesses identified as being the one they saw in that hotel was Irene Kilby, and unless I am greatly mistaken that’s going to raise merry hell.”

The Judge’s gavel finally pounded the court to order.

Hamilton Burger said, “Your Honor, this is a most astounding statement that counsel has made. I cannot believe that it has any foundation in fact. Even if it has, it tends only to cast some slight doubt upon the identification, but it cannot defeat the...”

“The Court would like to know,” Judge Donahue interrupted, “whether or not this witness Irene Kilby was put in the shadow box at a time when the witness Sam Meeker and the witness Frank Faulkner were there to make an identification.”

“Of course, Your Honor, she can’t tell. She doesn’t know who was on the other side of the screen.”

“Well, the police know!” Judge Donahue all but shouted, irritably.

“Yes, Your Honor, and if I may have a recess I will endeavor to find out the true facts.”

“How long a recess do you want?”

“An hour. Will that be convenient to the Court?”

“Make it until two o’clock this afternoon,” Judge Donahue said. “We’ll recess court until two o’clock this afternoon, and by that time I want to find out exactly what happened. After all, the police records are not available to the defendant in this case and this witness Irene Kilby certainly has been kept where she was inaccessible to the defense.”

“As a material witness,” Burger said. “And she was held at her own consent, Your Honor.”

Judge Donahue said, “I have no desire to criticize anyone until I have some basis for criticism, but I want to get at the bottom of this. Is there any objection to a recess until two o’clock this afternoon, Mr. Mason?”

“There is, Your Honor.”

Judge Donahue frowned. “Obviously, Mr. Mason, the district attorney must make certain investigations to find out what happened. He needs to consult certain records. The Court wishes to know what really happened on that shadow box identification. It would certainly seem that the defendant would be equally anxious to have the facts disclosed. Therefore, it seems to the Court the request for a recess is in order.”

Mason said, “I agree with Your Honor in principle but the district attorney has able assistants to handle routine matters. I am entitled to go on with my cross-examination of this witness before she is given time to confer with her friends and think up some new story to tell. A ten-minute recess will give the district attorney ample opportunity to have his assistants get the police records and to confer with Sergeant Holcomb.”

“Very well,” Judge Donahue said, “if the defense wishes to finish the cross-examination of these witnesses, it is entitled to do so. The Court will take a ten-minute recess.”

Paul Drake, pushing his way through the milling spectators, fought to Mason’s side. “Boy, oh boy, are you dishing it out!” he exclaimed. “But they’ve picked up Arthur Sheldon, Perry, so be careful. They may spring him as a witness.”

“Where is he?” Mason asked.

“In the jail. They got him to waive extradition and brought him back. They handled it very secretly. The newspapers are being given the news now.”

Mason said, “I wish he would take the stand. We’re getting somewhere now.”

“And how!” Drake said exultantly. “Gosh, what a wallop, Perry! You’ve knocked them for a loop!”