The Case of the Negligent Nymph

Chapter 5

JUDGE LANKERSHIM LISTENED PATIENTLY TO THE CONCLUDING arguments of a long-winded lawyer, said, “The demurrer is overruled. Ten days to answer.”

He glanced at the clock, said, “That winds up the calendar. Now we have a matter which I have continued until this time. It involves the question of bail in the case of People versus Fenner.”

Vincent Colton said, “We’re ready to discuss the matter for the prosecution, Your Honor.”

Judge Lankershim said, “Mr. Jackson, of Mr. Mason’s office, was … Oh, I see Mr. Mason is here himself. Are you ready to proceed, Mr. Mason?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Now, what seems to be the trouble?” Judge Lankershim asked. “Apparently a young woman is charged with theft. As I gathered the situation from Mr. Jackson, any attempt at escape on her part would be exceedingly unlikely. She has money in the bank, owns a yacht, and…”

“And the money in the bank could be drawn out overnight,” Colton snapped. “The yacht is an old, small boat, of very questionable value. This young woman has no previous criminal record, so far as I know, but the fact remains that she did enter this dwelling house during the nighttime, mingled with the guests at a dinner party, and stole some fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry. To permit her to go free on a nominal bail would simply enable her to put up the five or ten thousand dollars’ bail, sell the jewelry, and be forty thousand dollars to the good.”

“Nonsense,” Mason said.

“Just a minute, Mr. Mason,” Judge Lankershim interposed. “You’ll have an opportunity to state your case. Go on, Mr. Deputy District Attorney.”

“That about covers the situation,” Colton said. “Our office feels that this is a case where bail should be at least as high as the property that was taken “

“None of this property has been recovered by the police?”

“No, Your Honor.”

Judge Lankershim thought for a moment, then glanced over his glasses at Perry Mason. “Well, Mr. Mason, what’s the situation from your viewpoint? I think I have most of your views. Mr. Jackson made a rather complete presentation of the case when I was approached in chambers. Mr. Colton said he wanted time to correlate some other evidence.”

Mason said, “In the first place, I don’t think fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry was taken. I don’t think any jewelry was taken.”

“I see,” Colton said sarcastically. “Mr. Alder, a very reputable and established citizen, is going around hurling false charges at innocent persons. Is that your contention?”

“You might be surprised,” Mason said, “to know that it is. I’d just like to have Mr. Alder make a list of the articles of jewelry which he claims were taken.”

“I’ve told him to prepare such a list,” Colton said.

“And then submit it to you?”

“Yes.”

“Under oath?”

“That’s not necessary. Hell give his testimony when he gets to court.”

“Where is he now?”

“In my office, making out the list.”

Mason said, “How long do you suppose it’s going to take him to make it out?”

“Well, there were quite a few items.”

“I’d just like to know some of the items,” Mason said. “I’d like to have him definitely show where he gets his figure of fifty thousand dollars.”

“Hell show it at the proper time.”

“The proper time is right now, if he’s going to try to prevent this young woman from being admitted to a reasonable bail.”

Mason turned and addressed himself to the judge. “Your Honor, here is a young woman of position and refinement, and I think if you could see her you would appreciate immediately that there certainly must be some misunderstanding. I haven’t as yet talked with her enough to know about all the facts of the defense. I understand that the only evidence which connects her with the crime is a bath towel, which had her laundry mark on it, on the premises.

“Obviously, any person who would steal fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry could steal a bath towel. I also doubt very much if any such amount of jewelry was taken. I think that the victim made a hurried guess to the police officers and I venture to say that if Mr. Colton would get his office on the phone right now he’d find that Mr. Alder is not only having exceedingly great difficulty in preparing such a list, but that he can’t even list any jewelry which has been taken.”

“Oh, that’s absurd,” Colton said.

Mason said, “What’s the use of bothering with a lot of affidavits? We have the judge here on the bench, ready to hear the matter. If, as you say, Alder is in your office at the present time, why not have him take the elevator and come to court?”

“And if he says fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry was taken you’ll agree to a fifty-thousand-dollar bail?” Colton asked.

Mason said, “Put your man right on that witness stand. Ask him the question under oath. Give me an opportunity to ask a question or two on cross-examination to clarify the situation. If he then says fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry was taken, I’ll submit that the bail should be fifty thousand dollars. Let’s also have it agreed that if he says ten thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry was taken the bail will be ten thousand, and, if he says one thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry was taken, the bail will be one thousand dollars, and, if he says no jewelry was taken, the defendant can be released on her own recognizance.”

“If he says no jewelry whatever was taken,” Colton said grimly, “I'll not only let the defendant be released on her own recognizance, I’ll dismiss the case.”

“All right, bring him in,” Mason said.

“If I may use the phone, Your Honor.”

“Go ahead. Take the telephone in my chambers,” Judge Lankershim said.

The deputy district attorney went to die judge’s chambers. Judge Lankershim glanced somewhat quizzically over his glasses at Perry Mason. “I see you took the matter over personally, Mr. Mason.”

Mason nodded.

“Your Mr. Jackson made a very able presentation of the law,” Judge Lankershim said.

“I’m glad he did, Your Honor. I’m going to try to make an equally able presentation of the facts.”

Judge Lankershim’s eyes twinkled.

Vincent Colton returned to the courtroom and said, “Mr. Alder will be right up.”

“Did you ask him if he had that list?” Mason asked.

Colton said with dignity, “I told him to bring the list, and he could read it into evidence.”

Mason said, “I want the court reporter to report this testimony.”

“It will be reported,” the court reporter said.

“And I want a transcript.”

“I’ll take a copy,” Colton snapped.

They waited a few moments, and then the door opened and a spare, tight-lipped man in a double-breasted gray business suit walked into the courtroom with an air of quiet, competent authority.

“George S. Alder,” Colton announced. “Just come forward and be sworn, and take the stand, Mr. Alder.”

Alder, his keen gray eyes from underneath level brows glancing around the courtroom, then coming to rest somewhat curiously on Perry Mason, held up his right hand and was sworn.

“Just sit down there on the witness stand,” Colton said. “You have a list of the jewelry that was taken?”

“I have a very partial list. I find that it’s a little difficult to trust to my memory in these matters. I really would prefer to return home and take a complete inventory in order to make certain.”

“Well, can you tell the Court generally just about the value of the jewelry that was taken?”

“I said approximately fifty thousand dollars, and I see no reason to change that figure,” Alder said, glancing quickly at Perry Mason, then back at Colton.

“You’re quite certain that fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry was taken?”

“Well,” Alder said, “I, of course, am making an estimate —I haven’t as yet made a complete inventory, and then, of course, it’s a question whether you mean wholesale or retail price. But I would say that approximately fifty thousand dollars in jewelry had been taken.”

“I think that’s all,” Colton said triumphantly.

“Just a couple of questions on cross-examination,” Mason said.

“Very well. Go ahead, Mr. Mason,” Judge Lankershim said. “This seems to be a routine matter and we’re making quite a fuss about it. Let’s try and get the matter disposed of. It seems to me that fifty thousand dollars’ bail is rather high, but if that amount was taken—and, of course, that’s the stipulation which counsel entered into.”

“Quite right,” Mason said. “I’m willing to be bound by my bargain, but I do want to ask a couple of questions.”

“Go ahead,” Judge Lankershim said, glancing at the clock.

“This jewelry insured?” Mason asked casually.

“What does that have to do with it?” Colton asked.

“Simply this,” Mason said, “that if the jewelry is insured there will then be an inventory, together with values, attached to the insurance policy, and this might refresh Mr. Alder’s recollection.”

“Oh, I see. No objection.”

Alder said, “Most of my jewelry is insured, yes.”

“Don’t you carry a general all-purpose insurance policy with complete coverage on everything?”

“Come to think of it, I believe I do, but the jewelry under that policy is ten per cent of the amount of the policy, I think.”

“And what’s the amount of the policy?”

“A hundred thousand dollars.”

“All right, there’s ten thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry. Then you have another insurance policy specifically on your jewelry?”

“Yes, sir, I do.”

“In which the items are listed?”

“Well, some of them are listed.”

“All right,” Mason said, “now, tell me one item of jewelry, just one item, mind you, that’s covered in that specific insurance policy and which was taken from your house in this burglary.”

“I… I told you I’d have to make an inventory.”

“Just one item,” Mason said, holding up his index finger so that it emphasized the figure “one.” “Just one item of jewelry covered in that insurance policy.”

“I don’t think’ I can do it, offhand.”

“All right,” Mason said, “now, tell me one item of jewelry that was taken that is not covered in that insurance policy.”

“Well, for one tiling, there’s a wrist watch.”

“What make?”

“A rather expensive Swiss wrist watch.”

“How do you know it was taken?”

“I haven’t seen it—it seems to be missing.”

“All right,” Mason said. “Now that wrist watch would be covered in your other insurance policy, wouldn’t it? The ten per cent of your all-purpose coverage?”

“I believe it would, yes.”

“So,” Mason said, “you’re going to make a claim to the insurance company for this wrist watch in the event the police don’t recover it Is that right?”

“Well, I suppose so. I’m a busy man. I hadn’t thought …”

“Yes or no,” Mason said. “Are you going to make a claim to the insurance company?”

“What does that have to do with it?” Colton asked.

“Just thisl” Mason said. “In the event that that wrist watch was not taken and this man makes a claim to an insurance company, he’s going to be guilty of perjury and of obtaining money under false pretenses, and I think he knows it. So he’s not going to make any false statements in connection with a claim on an insurance policy. Now, then, Mr. Alder, you’re on oath. I want you to tell us one particular item of jewelry that was taken. Just one, any one.”

“Well, I saw this person, that is she had been discovered trying to steal things from my desk, and I… I went in there and opened the locked compartment where I keep jewels, and … well, I took a look at the jewel box and estimated that a very large amount of jewelry had been taken.”

“Where did you get this jewelry?”

“Most of it came to me from my mother, after my father died. That is, it was part of Fathers estate. It was Mother’s jewelry.”

“And some of your own?”

“Wrist watch, cuff links, a diamond pin, a ruby ring…”

“Well, then,” Mason said, “we shouldn’t have any trouble, so let’s list these things. Now, the diamond pin is gone, the ruby ring is gone, the…”

“I didn’t say they were gone.”

“They’re covered in the insurance policy?”

“I believe so, yes.”

“Well, are they gone, or aren’t they?”

“I don’t know. I tell you I didn’t make a detailed inventory. I took a look at the contents of the jewel box and estimated that about fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry had been taken.”

“Fifty thousand dollars,” Mason said, “is quite a lot of jewelry.”

“Yes, sir.”

Alder moistened his lips, glanced somewhat appealingly toward the deputy district attorney.

“How much jewelry was in that box?”

“Quite a lot”

“Insured?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How much was it insured for?”

“Fifty thousand dollars.”

“That was the value of it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then all of it must have been taken if fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry is missing.”

“Well, it wasn’t all gone. I … I tell you I didn’t take an inventory.”

“Why not?” Mason asked. “Wasn’t it good business for you to take an inventory?”

“Surely,” Judge Lankershim interrupted, “you must have made some survey in order to find out what was missing, Mr. Alder.”

“Well, I didn’t go through everything that was there. I was excited and … well, that was it, I was excited.”

“You’re not excited now, are you?” Mason asked. “No.”

“All right, tell us what was missing.”

“I haven’t the jewel box here.”

“Were you excited this morning before you went to the district attorney’s office?”

“Of course there was the shock of having someone I’d trusted burglarize my house.”

“How much of a shock?”

“Quite a shock.”

“So much so that you couldn’t concentrate on making a list of jewelry?”

“Well, I was excited, yes.”

“So, when you told the district attorney fifty thousand dollars in jewelry was taken, you were excited?”

“I don’t see what that has to do with it.”

“You were so excited that you couldn’t make an inventory of what jewelry was missing. Isn’t that right?”

“Well, you might put it that way.”

“I’m not putting it that way,” Mason said, “you are. I’m simply trying to summarize your testimony. Now, isn’t it quite possible that when you said fifty thousand dollars, you had in mind the figure of the insurance policy, and…”

“I guess perhaps that’s right, perhaps I could have.”

“Right now, at the present moment, you wouldn’t swear that even ten thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry was taken, would you?”

“Look here,” Alder said angrily, “this young woman broke into my house she was at my desk my jewel case was open. Someone opened the door and surprised her. One of the guests started to ask her what she was doing there, and the woman grabbed this bottle, and dashed for the window, and…”

Alder stopped abruptly.

“What bottle?” Mason asked.

“The bottle with the jewelry in it,” Alder said angrily.

“You keep your jewelry in a bottle?”

“I don’t know. No, of course not, but it looked to some of the witnesses who saw her jump out of the window as though she had put the jewelry in a bottle or something. She had her escape all planned, and I suppose she didn’t want to lose the jewelry in swimming. I don’t know. All I know is some of the guests said a bottle.”

“You didn’t see her?”

“Not close. I saw her running after she’d jumped through the window. I turned the dog loose. If he’d caught her, we’d have found how much of my property she had. She and that contemptible accomplice of hers.”

“No need to get worked up about it,” Mason said. “We’re simply trying to get the matter straight. As far as you yourself are concerned, you don’t know that even as much as two thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry was taken, do you?”

“Well, I think…”

“You don’t even know that one thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry was taken.”

“I don’t know anything was taken,” Alder said angrily. “I took a look at that open jewel box and it looked to me as though a great deal of stuff was missing.”

“But when you said fifty thousand dollars, you were thinking of the fact that the jewelry was insured for fifty thousand dollars. You were excited, and so you said fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry had been taken. Is that it?”

“Well, that might be an explanation.”

“You haven’t made any claim cm the insurance company?”

“No, sir.”

“And, as a matter of fact,” Mason said, pointing his finger at Alder, “you don’t intend to make any claim on the insurance company, do you?”

“I don’t see where that has anything to do with it, and I don’t think I have to sit here and be browbeaten about the matter,” Alder said.

Mason turned to Judge Lankershim. “There you are, Your Honor. I’m willing to be bound by the stipulation. If he had said fifty thousand dollars had been taken, I’d have had the Court make fifty thousand dollars’ bail. As it is, he can’t say that anything was taken. In which event, the district attorney agreed he would permit my client to be released on her own recognizance, and would dismiss the case, and…”

“Not so fast, not so fast,” Colton interposed. “It’s a far cry from browbeating and confusing this witness to . .

“I don’t like that word, browbeating,” Mason said. “This man’s a businessman. He knows his rights. I’m simply asking him to make a direct, positive, unequivocal statement to this Court. He’s afraid to do it. He’s afraid to list any one particular item of jewelry and swear that this woman stole that item of jewelry, because he knows he can’t prove it. It’s one thing to tell newspaper reporters and the police that he’s lost fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry, and it’s another thing to prove it.”

“But why on earth would a man want to claim he’d lost fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry if he hadn’t?” Judge Lankershim asked in perplexity. “We have here no question of a publicity-seeking individual who wants to see his name in the papers.”

“Because,” Mason said, “for reasons of his own, he wanted the defendant apprehended.”

“Are you aware, Mr. Mason, that that is a most serious charged

“I’m aware it’s a most serious charge,” Mason said, “and I’m so greatly aware of it that I can advise this Court and Mr. Alder that the defendant, Dorothy Fenner, is going to bring suit against him for defamation of character, and then I’m going to take his deposition and when I get him on the witness stand I’m going to defy him to produce any evidence of any single article of jewelry that was taken. Furthermore, I’m going to insist that representatives of the insurance company go to his house and make an inventory of the jewelry that’s left, and check it against the items mentioned in the insurance policy.”

Mason ceased speaking, and there was a tense, dramatic silence.

That silence was broken at length by Colton, who said, “It sounds to me as though Mr. Mason is trying to intimidate the witness.”

“Well, listen again,” Mason said, “and you’ll find that I’m simply trying to protect my client against imposition.”

“This whole business is absurd,” Alder said. “I was excited Saturday night, and I was confused yesterday morning. I didn’t realize any lawyer was going to browbeat me…”

“You’ve used that word several times,” Judge Lankershim interrupted “This Court isn’t going to let anyone browbeat you, Mr. Alder, but the Court will ask you a question. Would you be willing for a representative of the Court to go to your house with you and check the contents of your jewelry chest against the inventory’ of the jewelry used for insurance purposes?”

“When?”

“Now.”

“It wouldn’t be convenient now. I have other engagements.”

“All right then, you fix a time.”

There was an interval of silence, then Alder said, “I’ll go home and make that inventory myself. I’m a reputable citizen. There’s no need to have all this fanfare. You’d think I was the thief—I already seem to be the defendant”

Judge Lankershim pursed his lips.

Again there was a silence.

“Oh, well,” Judge Lankershim said, “I'll admit the defendant to twenty-five hundred dollars’ bail.”

Mason picked up his brief case, turned toward the door as Judge Lankershim left the bench.

“Say, what’s the idea?” Colton asked Mason, his manner curious. “Do you know anything about this burglary that I don’t know?”

“Ask Alder,” Mason said.

Colton laughed grimly. “Don’t think I’m not going to do that very thing,” he said.

Alder left the witness stand, seemingly trying to avoid both Mason and Colton.

Colton suddenly swung toward him. “Don’t leave, Mr. Alder,” he said. “I want you to go back to my office with me. I want to talk to you.”

“I have some other matters,” Alder said crisply, “some appointments.”

“I don’t think they are as important as this matter,” Colton told him. “You’d better get this straightened out while we have the chance.”

Mason said to the clerk of the court, “if you’ll make me a certified copy of the judge’s order, Mr. Clerk, I'll see about getting my client released on bail.”

Colton nodded to Alder. “This way, Mr. Alder,” he said.