The Case of the Grinning Gorilla

Chapter number 19

Mason, Della Street and Paul Drake sat in Mason’s private office.

Paul Drake, his eyes red from lack of sleep, but nevertheless alert with interest, said, “Good Lord, Perry, it’s a wonder that you weren’t killed.”

Mason said, “If I’d been absolutely certain, if I’d known what I know now, I’d have gone to Lieutenant Tragg and told him the whole story. I think he’d have searched the place and found the gorilla skin.”

“Of course, they must have been planning it for a long time,” Drake said.

“Sure they had. As it turns out now, Benjamin Addicks had caught both Hershey and Nathan Fallon in embezzlements — when you come right down to it, he had given these men an enormous amount of leeway. They had every opportunity in the world. Addicks was trying to cheat on his income tax by manipulating a lot of his transactions on a cash basis, and Hershey and Fallon had been taking a pretty generous cut.

“Of course, the disadvantage of trying to carry on a business the way Benjamin Addicks was doing it, is that you don’t have any really accurate books. You yourself can’t tell where your business stands. You scramble it all up so there are no written records, and you fool yourself as well as the government.”

“How much do you suppose they got away with?”

“Hershey’s confession says something over three hundred thousand dollars. That, of course, was small stuff to what they were preparing to do. Apparently they had been in touch with Herman for some time. Herman offered them a fortune if they could manipulate it so that Benjamin was put out of the way under such circumstances that Herman would inherit the fortune.

“When you look at it carefully they did a pretty smooth job. They overpowered Benjamin Addicks. They twisted the ligaments in his leg. They inflicted cuts and bruises on his face, and then they bound him and gagged him.

“That was when Herman Barnwell took over, masquerading as Benjamin Addicks. That was rather easy to do because they were very similar in build, complexion and general appearance. There was quite a remarkable brotherly resemblance.

“The idea was that they would call in some disinterested witness who didn’t know Benjamin Addicks personally. Because of the bandaged face and the fact that Hershey and Nathan Fallon would both identify Herman Barnwell as being Benjamin Addicks, they would then be in a position to go ahead with their scheme.

“Apparently they intended to bring James Etna into the picture as their disinterested witness, but it happened that I bought those diaries of Helen Cadmus, secured newspaper notoriety from it, and therefore walked right into the middle of things. They decided it would be better to use me than James Etna.

“So they built up a background that Benjamin Addicks distrusted Nathan Fallon but had complete confidence in Mortimer Hershey. They had, of course, been practicing forging Benjamin Addicks’ writing for a long time.

“Then it was all fixed that while Hershey and Fallon would prepare ironclad alibis for themselves so that they couldn’t possibly be implicated in murder, Herman Barnwell, masquerading as Benjamin, would get Josephine Kempton out to the house. On some pretext or other, he’d leave her a minute and go unlock the cages of a couple of harmless gorillas. In the meantime, liquor had been forced down Benjamin Addicks until he was sufficiently drunk so that he had passed out. Herman got into this carefully prepared gorilla-skin suit — the only bad thing about it was that the head necessarily had a natural fixity of expression which was what made Josephine Kempton think she was looking at a hypnotized gorilla.

“They lured Mrs. Kempton up into the room. She saw this huge gorilla, saw him stab the unconscious body of Benjamin Addicks. They counted on Mrs. Kempton not being able to resist the temptation of appropriating the check, which had already been carefully forged, with an endorsement that showed it was a forgery.

“Of course, the endorsement being forged, the check couldn’t be cashed. The money would return to the estate, and whoever inherited that estate would inherit the money on that check.

“The fact that I was able to show that Benjamin Addicks had been mistaken about the theft of the ring and the watch was a break for them. They decided to capitalize on that by incorporating that matter in the will which would give the whole thing an air of authenticity.

“They didn’t get all the breaks. A few things went against them. One was that while I was there Sidney Hardwick came out to see his client, and the masquerader, who was supposed to be Benjamin Addicks, said that he felt too upset to see him — to see his own attorney, mind you, although he had previously given me an audience, and I was not only a stranger, but a man whose interests were completely hostile.”

Drake said, “Then Josephine Kempton was telling the truth.”

“The truth about everything except that cashier’s check. She tried to hide that. Of course, Hershey, Fallon and Herman Barnwell knew that they had her the minute she took that check. It could either be found in her possession or she would try to cash it. As far as they were concerned they were perfectly willing for her to cash it. She could have taken the money and then Herman Barnwell, in checking into the business affairs, could have detected a forgery. The bank records would show the twenty-five thousand dollars had been paid to Josephine Kempton and there they had her.

“In other words, if the story of the gorilla murdering Benjamin Addicks went across all right, that was fine, that was the way they wanted it; but in the event anything went wrong, Josephine Kempton could be cast in the role of murderess. And in the event she wasn’t accused herself, once she had cashed that cashier’s check they had her absolutely in their power.”

“Well,” Drake said, “it was a bizarre scheme, but nevertheless when you realize the weird circumstances under which Benjamin Addicks lived, his attempts at experimentation with animal psychology, and — how do you explain that, Perry?”

“He’d killed a man in Australia,” Mason said. “We have a lot to check, but apparently Herman’s story to me was, in the main, true. Benjamin Addicks, or Barnwell, was rationalizing with his conscience. He probably felt he had been hypnotized. He may have been off the beam on that one subject.”

“How did you get the lead on all this?” Drake asked.

Mason said, “Actually, Paul, I should have smelled a rat a lot sooner than I did.”

“How come?”

Mason said, “I went out to see Benjamin Addicks. I saw a man who was introduced as Benjamin Addicks. I did not get a good look at his face. He was wearing dark glasses so I couldn’t see his eyes. He had a bandage which concealed nearly all of his face. Actually, of course, I was talking with Herman instead of Benjamin. Herman had been here for some time, leaving an accomplice in Australia to answer cablegrams from Hardwick. That was all part of the carefully laid trap. Herman was a good enough actor to change his voice, and since I had never met Benjamin, they stood very little chance of detection — not one chance in a million. But they fell down on one thing.”

“What?”

Mason said, “It was then Tuesday evening. The gorilla was supposed to have attacked Benjamin the day before. I had a glimpse of the cheek of the man with whom I was talking. That cheek was smoothly shaven. In court they introduced a photograph of Benjamin’s face. I examined the photograph rather closely and saw that the lacerations were deep and painful.

“I felt vaguely uneasy about that photograph. I knew there was something wrong, but I couldn’t tell what. It was, of course, the incongruity of the shaven cheek I had seen at the edge of the bandage.

“That the lacerations were too painful for the victim to have shaven, was shown by indisputable evidence — the fact that he hadn’t shaved. Yet the man whom I saw had a cleanly shaven cheek more than thirty-four hours after the injuries were supposed to have been sustained.

“You can’t be mistaken on that. A bandage, of course, will cover up skin, but as a person talks the bandage moves slightly, and if the skin under the bandage is unshaven, whiskers will be working out.”

“Now what happens?” Della Street asked.

“Fortunately,” Mason said, “we can prove that holographic will is a forgery. Hershey is simply dying to turn state’s evidence. The other will then becomes effective, the one that Hardwick prepared. Of course, there’s a clause in that will that Hardwick didn’t want to tell us about, a clause leaving the bulk of the fortune to Helen Cadmus. Hardwick kept insisting that Benjamin Addicks make a new will because he thought Helen Cadmus was dead. Benjamin, however, had no real intention of changing his will because he knew Helen Cadmus was very much alive, and he knew that he wanted to have her provided for in the event anything happened to him.

“So there you have a peculiar situation. A lawyer insisting that a client’s will needed to be changed because the principal beneficiary was dead, and the client, knowing that she wasn’t dead, stalling the lawyer along. After all, when Hardwick mentioned that he had been insisting that Benjamin make a new will because of certain complications which had arisen, I should have begun to guess what the situation was right then.”

“But the marriage to Helen Cadmus is actually bigamous?” Drake asked.

“It is if his first wife is still alive, but somehow I have as idea she isn’t. Hershey says that it’s been eighteen months since anyone has heard from her. Before that she used to put the bee on Addicks about once every four or five months.”

“Why did they pull this attack on you?” Drake asked.

“For the very good reason that they knew I was suspicious. They knew that Josephine Kempton had told me her story of the murder. They had an idea that I had begun to smell a rat.

“By the time court adjourned this afternoon I had begun to realize the significance of the shaven cheek that I had seen on the person whom I had interviewed. Then I began to get a glimpse of the truth. On the way out to Stonehenge I thought the thing through to a conclusion.

“I knew they would like to dispose of me. I knew that if they could kill me under such circumstances that Della Street could actually see a strange grinning gorilla, and run for the police, her story of the murderous gorilla would be believed because it would conform to Josephine Kempton’s story.

“I knew, therefore, that they would let Della Street get a glimpse of the gorilla. If she should then start to run for the police, they’d let her go. That would leave me to cope with whoever was in the house. If there had been three men I might not have taken the chance, but there were only two — Herman and Hershey. Herman, of course, looked terribly formidable in the big gorilla skin. He was actually a pushover. He couldn’t move fast carrying the weight of the gorilla skin, the awkward head, and all the padding. He could just about walk, manipulate the knife and that was all.

“So I gave them a chance. Herman set the stage, then went out to the private bar to prepare drinks. He slipped into the gorilla suit and appeared at the door long enough to let Della Street get a glimpse of him. Then he disappeared and fired several shots. Then, dressed in the gorilla skin, he appeared in the doorway with a knife.

“Under ordinary circumstances a man would have been completely paralyzed at such a formidable apparition. I should have turned to run, and there was good old Hershey to pretend that he was assisting me, falling all over things so that the gorilla would have a chance to close the distance.

“By the time Della Street arrived with the police, she would find two badly shaken men, both of whom would have sworn that they had seen a gorilla who had escaped through the grounds, and that the gorilla had killed me. They had both shot at him and they thought perhaps had wounded him — or, if they had needed to do it, Hershey could have shot me, claiming he had killed me accidentally while aiming at the gorilla.”

“You were taking chances,” Drake said.

“Some chances,” Mason admitted. “I made up my mind that if it came to a showdown I would tell them that the jig was up, that Della was in on the secret and had gone to get the police.”

Drake said, “Just the same, it took nerve.”

“Perhaps,” Mason said, “but it was the only way I could think of to get them to show their hand so I could have absolute proof.

“I think I’d better go get in touch with Helen Cadmus and let her know what the situation is — by the way, Della, you remember that I left a bill at the Chinese restaurant where we ate, and told the cashier I’d be back for the change?”

She nodded.

“I dropped in there to pick up the change and the man gave me your coin purse. It seems that you dropped it when you pulled your notebook from your purse.”

Della Street’s face suddenly colored.

“What is it?” Mason asked.

“The fortune paper that was in it.”

Mason shook his head. “Apparently you must have put that paper some place else, Della. There wasn’t any paper in it.”

“Oh,” Della said, relief in her voice.

“Well,” Mason said, “you entertain Paul Drake, Della. Get out that bottle of whisky, and we’ll have a drink on it. I’ll go out to the switchboard and put through a call to Helen Cadmus. We can at least take a load off her mind.”

Mason went out to the outer office, plugged in the telephone line, and, as he did so, took from his pocket the folded piece of rice paper from the fortune cake which had been delivered to him by the Chinese together with Della Street’s coin purse.

On the paper appeared in fine print:

Mason hesitated for a moment, then, opening his wallet, pushed the folded piece of rice paper far down into a corner. Pocketing the wallet, he put through the call to Helen Cadmus.