The Case of the Spurious Spinster

Chapter 13

Back in the courtroom Mason, waiting for Judge Elmer to return to the bench, said suddenly, “Paul, I want to find out who Endicott Campbell’s female friends are.”

“He doesn’t have any,” Drake said.

“Don’t tell me that,” Mason told him. “Of course the guy has women friends. His wife left him two years ago and—”

“He had one for a while,” Drake said. “That was before Susan Fisher came to the office. This woman was his secretary. She was a married woman. He had quite a crush on her and apparently it was reciprocated. At least, her husband thought so. He made quite a stink about it, threatened to shoot Campbell, and got the woman out of the office.”

“They’re not seeing each other now?”

“No.”

“He doesn’t call on any women?”

“Not since we’ve been shadowing him, Perry.”

“Then he’s wise to the fact that he’s being shadowed. No telephone calls? No women corning to the house?”

“Only one woman has called at the house,” Drake said, “and that’s a friend of Elizabeth Dow, the governess.”

“The fact that she’s a friend of the governess doesn’t keep her from also being a friend of Endicott Campbell,” Mason said.

“Not this one,” Drake said. “Here, I’ll give you the dope on it.” He took a notebook from his pocket, opened it, said, “Cindy Hastings, 1536 Rentner Road. That’s the address of the Tulane Apartments. She’s in 348. A nurse. Built something like Elizabeth Dow, the governess, only a considerably older woman. Angular. English. Flat-footed. Long-legged. Flat-chested. Horse-faced...”

“That’s enough,” Mason said. “Cross her out, but it’s a nice lead. What other friends does the governess have? People about her own age?”

“Apparently none,” Drake said. “At least we’ve been unable to uncover any. I have an idea they’re probably wise to the fact that we have shadows on them. They haven’t given us any inkling that they know but they must have some idea and they’re certainly being circumspect. They—”

A policewoman brought Susan Fisher into the court. As she seated herself behind Mason’s chair she leaned over towards the lawyer and said, “You think I’ve let you down, don’t you, Mr. Mason?”

“Frankly,” Mason said, “I don’t know.”

“Well, I can tell you one thing, Mr. Mason. That testimony is a mass of lies. I never knew Ken Lowry in his lifetime. I never had him in that automobile. I have told you the exact truth at all times I—”

Judge Elmer entered from his chambers and the bailiff pounded his gavel to bring the court to order.

Hamilton Burger seated himself at the prosecution’s table, permitted a swift glance of triumph at Mason, then lowered his eyes to some papers on the desk.

Harrison Flanders said, “If the Court please, our next witness is Norma Owens.”

Norma Owens identified herself as the manager of the office of the Corning Mining, Smelting & Investment Company.

Flanders said, “I show you a stiletto letter opener marked People’s Exhibit G, and ask you if you can identify that.”

“That particular letter opener is one that was on the desk of the defendant, Susan Fisher. She used it to open letters.”

“How do you identify it?”

“By its general appearance, and a little nick at the edge of the handle. I remember when that nick was put in there. Miss Fisher was using it to pry the lid off a can of paint.”

“No further questions of this witness,” Flanders said. “You may cross-examine.”

“No cross-examination.”

“I will recall Lieutenant Tragg for another question,” Flanders said. “You have already been sworn, Lieutenant Tragg. Just take the stand.”

Mason, looking out the window, his eyes focused on distance, seemed hardly aware of what was going on.

“You have made a search of the apartment of the defendant in this case, Lieutenant?”

“I have.”

“Among other things were you looking for a receipt for renting Car Number 19 from the We Rent M Car Company?”

“I was.”

“Did you find it?”

“I did.”

“Does it bear the signature of the defendant?”

“It does.”

“Will you introduce it, please!”

Tragg produced the paper.

“I ask that it be introduced in evidence as People’s Exhibit R,” Flanders said. He turned to Mason. “Cross-examine.”

Mason apparently didn’t hear what Flanders had said. His eyes narrowed in thought, he was staring out through the window.

“You may inquire, Mr. Mason,” Judge Elmer said.

Mason gave a little start, said, “Yes, Your Honor. Thank you.”

He rose to his feet, approached Lieutenant Tragg, who turned to face him expectantly, then said abruptly, “No questions,” and returned to his chair.

“That’s all, Lieutenant,” Flanders said. “That’s our case, Your Honor.”

Hamilton Burger got to his feet. “If the Court please,” he said, “I wish only to comment on matters which have been received in evidence but the Court will notice that we have here a murder — a cold-blooded, deliberate murder. In addition to that we have the disappearance of Amelia Corning. This is a very serious matter and there is no question but what the murder and the disappearance are related.”

“Just a moment,” Mason interrupted. “Are you preparing to argue the case now?”

“Certainly,” Hamilton Burger said.

“I doubt if there’s any need for argument,” Judge Elmer announced.

“Isn’t it proper,” Mason asked, “to give the defense, a chance to put on evidence?”

Burger looked at him in surprise. “There isn’t any evidence you dare to put on, none that you can put on.”

Mason said, “If the Court please, before being called to put on any evidence on my side of the case I would like to recall Endicott Campbell for further cross-examination.”

“We object to it,” Hamilton Burger said. “This is a favorite trick of Counsel, to wait until the testimony is all in so that he is familiar with the case of the prosecution and then recall some key prosecution witness for further cross-examination.”

“I think I will permit it, however,” Judge Elmer said. “While this is a preliminary hearing for the purpose of determining whether there is reasonable cause to connect the defendant with a crime, the fact remains that it is a hearing in a court of law. The defense cannot be expected to know all of the prosecution’s case. It is the theory of the law that the defense be given every opportunity to explain the facts.”

“If the Court please, these facts are susceptible of only one explanation,” Hamilton Burger said, “and I feel that Mr. Mason’s desire to further cross-examine Mr. Campbell is simply for the purpose of gaining time and laying foundation for some possible conflict in the evidence when the case comes on for trial in the Superior Court. We have certainly established a prima facie case and are entitled to a ruling of the Court at this time. If Mr. Mason wants to call Endicott Campbell as his own witness he can do so.”

Judge Elmer shook his head. “I’m going to permit Counsel to recall Mr. Campbell for cross-examination,” he said. “Take the stand, Mr. Campbell. You have already been sworn.”

Mason said, “I just want to ask you a couple of questions, Mr. Campbell. You learned over the telephone from the defendant that your son, Carleton, had given her a shoe box containing a large number of hundred-dollar bills. You learned this Saturday night. Is that right?”

“I learned nothing of the sort,” Campbell said indignantly. “She told me that my son had done that. I didn’t learn that he had, because he hadn’t. She told me a He. I proved it was a lie. I instituted an investigation and found that my son had done nothing of the kind, that he had a shoe box containing a pair of my dress shoes. I know that my son kept some of his own toys or treasures, as he called them, in a shoe box, and I remember that I laughingly told him that we might trade. But I at no time had any shoe box containing any sum of money concealed in my house, and he at no time had any shoe box containing any large sum of money which he gave to the defendant.”

“However,” Mason said, “you were afraid to have the boy interrogated on this point so you had him spirited away out of sight where the police couldn’t interrogate him, didn’t you?”

“I did nothing of the sort!” Campbell shouted. “I certainly didn’t intend to let you hypnotize my son and brainwash a seven-year-old boy in order to—”

“Now just a moment, just a moment,” Hamilton Burger said. “There is no need for Mr. Campbell to volunteer any information, although I can appreciate his righteous indignation. However, if the Court please, this cross-examination is ill-advised, improper, calling for matters which are incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial.”

“I think it may go to the bias of the witness. I’d like to know just what happened there,” Judge Elmer said. “There’s no reason why the witness can’t answer the question. He seems to be taking care of himself all right.”

Hamilton Burger sat down.

Campbell said, “That’s all I have to say. I certainly didn’t intend to have some smart attorney trying to make my son a football in an embezzlement case. I admit that I told Elizabeth Dow, the governess, to take him where he would be undisturbed by persons who wanted to question him and to remain away until I advised her to return.”

“But how were you going to let her know when it was all right for him to return if you didn’t know where they were staying?”

“I told her to call me up from time to time.”

“I have no further questions,” Mason said.

“That concludes our case,” Hamilton Burger announced.

“I would like to recall Elizabeth Dow for further cross-examination,” Mason said.

“We object, Your Honor. Counsel is now apparently going on a fishing expedition.”

“Apparently so,” Judge Elmer ruled. “Perhaps, Mr. Mason, if you would state the line of cross-examination you wish to pursue, the Court could make a different ruling.”

“I want to find out where Endicott Campbell’s seven-year-old son was kept hidden from Saturday evening on,” Mason said.

“I don’t see why,” Judge Elmer said.

“It may make quite a difference in the case,” Mason said.

Judge Elmer shook his head. “I think not. The permission to recall Elizabeth Dow is not granted. Now do you have any defense, Mr. Mason?”

“If the Court please,” Mason said, “I am going to ask the Court to take a recess until four o’clock this afternoon. At that time I will either proceed to put on a defense or I will submit the case without a defense.”

“Why do you ask for this delay, Mr. Mason? Surely you must be aware, as a veteran trial attorney, that the evidence is so overwhelmingly against your client that there is absolutely no possible showing that the defense could make which would justify the Court making an order releasing the defendant.

“This is not a hearing where it is necessary to prove the defendant guilty beyond all reasonable doubt. It is only a hearing for the purpose of determining whether a crime has been committed and if so, if there is reasonable ground to believe that the defendant committed the crime. Those conditions certainly have abundantly been met.”

Hamilton Burger, not to be denied an opportunity to make a few remarks, was on his feet. “Furthermore, if the Court please,” he said, “I feel that two murders have been committed rather than one. I feel that this defendant should be shown no consideration. We have here a very revolting situation of a young woman who has betrayed a position of trust and confidence to loot the company which employed her. Then she had the temerity to try to cover her defalcations by ingratiating herself with the principal stockholder of the corporation which employed her. Failing in that, she resorted to murder in order to cover her tracks. We know of one murder she has committed and I think the Court will realize from the evidence that the probabilities are two murders have already been committed.”

“The defendant is in custody,” Mason said. “She isn’t going to commit any murders while she’s in jail. I feel that I am entitled to an hour and a half to work on a theory of the case which I have and which I will state to the Court may well result in clarifying certain issues which need to be clarified. I can give the Court my professional assurance that I have reason to believe that I can uncover evidence of the greatest importance in the next hour and a half.”

“Under those circumstances,” Judge Elmer said, “and being well acquainted with Counsel’s reputation, the Court is inclined to take his assurance.”

“I’m also well acquainted with Counsel’s reputation,” Burger shouted. “It’s a reputation for trickery.”

“For ingenuity,” Judge Elmer corrected. “An ingenuity coupled with integrity. There are times when his ingenuity may be exasperating to the prosecutor’s office, but as far as this Court can observe, the integrity of Counsel has never been questioned. The Court is going to grant the motion. The Court will recess until four o’clock. The defendant is remanded to custody.”

Mason beckoned to Della Street and Paul Drake, barged rapidly over to where Lt. Tragg was sitting. “Lieutenant Tragg,” he said, “may I see you for a moment on a matter of considerable urgency?”

Tragg hesitated a moment, then said, “Well, why not?”

“This way,” Mason said.

The lawyer led the way to the elevator. The four of them hurried into the cage well ahead of the vanguard of spectators.

“Run it all the way down,” Mason told the elevator operator, “right to the ground floor quick. It’s a matter of emergency.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” Tragg said. “What’s happening here?”

Mason said, “We’re going to have to do something before anyone realizes what we’re doing.”

“Now wait a minute,” Tragg protested. “I’m not on your side, Mason. I’m on the—”

“Do you or do you not want to enforce the law and protect the citizens of this community?” Mason asked.

Tragg grinned at him. “No need of making a speech. I’m for motherhood and against sin. I’ll ride along with you, Perry, but I’m warning you I’ll lower the boom on you.”

“Lower away,” Mason said.

The elevator stopped at the ground floor. Mason headed towards the door, stretching his long legs so that Paul Drake was hard put to keep up, while the short legged Lt. Tragg and Della Street were almost trotting.

The lawyer led the way to where the cars were parked.

“You’ve got a police car here, Lieutenant?” Mason asked.

Tragg nodded.

“Let’s use it,” Mason said. “You do the driving. Use the red light and a siren.”

“I can’t do that except on a major emergency,” Tragg said.

“This is a major emergency,” Mason told him. “You’re going to get evidence that will be determinative if you get there before it is destroyed.”

“You mean evidence that will clear your client?” Tragg asked dubiously.

“Evidence that will conclusively point to the murderer, whoever that murderer may be,” Mason said. “I’ll give you my word on that, Tragg. I’ve never lied to you yet.”

Tragg said, “Okay, come on. This is irregular but I’m doing it.”

They climbed into Tragg’s car. Tragg started the motor and after they reached the street, turned on the red light and siren. “Where to?” he asked.

“1536 Rentner Road,” Mason said. “The Tulane Apartments. We want Apartment 348.”

“What’s there?” Tragg asked.

“Evidence,” Mason said.

Tragg said, “Okay, I’ve stuck my neck out this far, I’m going to ride along with you, Perry. But this is going to have to be good.”

Mason said, “It will be good.”

Tragg’s siren cleared the way across intersections. The police lieutenant, having reached a decision, went all the way and barreled through red lights and boulevard stops, avoiding the congested freeway in order to make time on the streets which were not so filled with traffic.

When the police car was within half a dozen blocks of the Tulane Apartments Mason said, “Better stop the siren, Tragg. We don’t want to unduly alarm anyone.”

Tragg kicked off the siren and glided the last block and a half up to the curb.

Mason had the door open almost before the car was stopped and dashed into the apartment house. They piled into the automatic elevator. Mason pushed the button for the third floor. The cage rattled slowly upwards, Mason manifesting his impatience.

They hurried down the hallway to Apartment 348. Mason knocked on the door.

A few moments later the door opened to the limit of a safety chain. A woman’s voice said, “Who is it?”

Mason said, “Police. This is Lieutenant Tragg of Homicide. We want to come in and question you.”

“You can’t come in,” she said.

“This is police business,” Mason said.

“Now wait a minute,” Tragg protested. “I—”

“Do you have a warrant?” she asked.

“No,” Lt. Tragg said, “and furthermore I—”

Mason, backing back across the corridor, suddenly hurled himself at the door.

The hasp holding the safety chain pulled out. The screws jerked out a section of the wood as the door banged open.

Mason shot past the startled woman, ran through a sitting room and slammed open a door in a bedroom.

A woman was sitting groggily on the edge of the bed, holding on to the brass post of the foot of the bed. As Mason, followed by Lt. Tragg, entered the room, she said drowsily, “Don’t let them... Don’t let them... Don’t let them shoot any more drugs into me.”

“Who’s this?” Lt. Tragg asked.

Mason said, “This is Amelia Corning, and if you’ll look sharp you can get the woman who was in this apartment before she makes it to the elevator. If you don’t you—”

Tragg took one look at the woman on the bed, then whirled.

He was too late. The woman who had been in the apartment had sprinted down the corridor. Seeing the elevator was not in place she had taken to the stairs. Tragg started after her.

Mason sat down on the bed beside the woman and said, “Are you able to talk, Miss Corning?”

“Could I have coffee?” she asked. “Been doped...”

Della Street said, “I’ll get some coffee on. There should be some in the apartment. Come help me, Paul.”

The woman on the bed weaved around, then groped over towards Mason for support, put her head on his shoulder, and promptly dropped into a deep, drugged sleep.

Ten minutes later Lt. Tragg came back to the apartment.

He found Mason and Della Street supporting the woman, who was drinking coffee from a cup held by Paul Drake.

“Did she get away?” Mason asked.

Lt. Tragg’s mouth was grim. “She did not!”

“She beat you to the street, didn’t she?” Mason asked.

“She beat me to the street,” Tragg said, “but she didn’t beat modem police methods. I got in my car, got the dispatcher on the line and we sewed the district up. We had radio cars converging on it from every direction and I was able to describe her, the dress she was wearing, her age, height, weight, appearance...”

“You got all that,” Mason asked, “in the brief glimpse you had?”

“Sure, I got all that,” Tragg said. “What the hell do you take me for? I’m a cop but I’m not a dumb cop. That’s police training. Your woman was picked up within three minutes after she hit the street, and she’s on her way to Headquarters now, where she’ll be held for questioning. Now tell me what it’s all about and what I question her about.”

“That woman,” Mason said, “will turn out to be Cindy Hastings, a nurse. She posed as Miss Corning, wearing dark glasses and sitting in a wheelchair. She telephoned Susan Fisher and told her to put on a raincoat, slacks, a sweater, and wear a man’s hat pulled down low over her forehead, and go to a place on Mulholland Drive and get a gallon of gasoline from the service station.”

“And then Susan Fisher picked her up in the alley?” Tragg asked.

“Picked her up, nothing,” Mason said. “Cindy Hastings simply sat in the wheelchair at the alley. Elizabeth Dow, dressed exactly as they had told Susan Fisher to dress, came and picked her up. As it happened, a witness saw the pickup — and you know how fallible eyewitness testimony is, particularly when it comes to the identification of a stranger. The witness saw some woman in a raincoat with a man’s hat pulled down over her eyes and imagination and clever police suggestion did the rest.

“So then the two women went to meet Lowry. Within a short time after they picked him up they were ready to go ahead with their murder, having carefully planned the details so Susan Fisher could never convince anyone of her innocence.

“I must have missed the murder by only a few minutes.”

“Then the real Miss Corning,” Tragg said, “was the woman who...”

“The woman who came Saturday,” Mason said. “We should have known it if we’d done any great amount of thinking. That woman was very adept in the use of a wheelchair. She did everything that the real Miss Corning would have done and none of the things that the spurious Miss Corning would have done.

“The two women kidnapped her when she tried to get out to Mojave to look at the mine. They let her get as far as Mojave and then they dragged her, brought her back to Los Angeles and kept her concealed here. In the meantime, knowing that Ken Lowry was going to state that he could identify the voice of the woman who had told him to ship currency to the Corning Affiliated Enterprises, they decided they needed Lowry out of the way. And how could they do it any better than by framing the crime on Susan Fisher?”

The woman on the bed smiled drowsily. “Can’t see well,” she said, “but...” She yawned, nodded prodigiously, then straightened and said, “Have a good ear for voices... whoever you are, you’re smart.”

Mason said, “Everything is going to be all right now, Miss Corning. I’m Perry Mason, an attorney who is going to help you.”

Mason turned to Tragg and said, “They were planning to use the substitute Miss Corning and make it appear that the real Miss Corning was an impostor. But then Miss Corning’s sister and her business agent wired they were corning from South America to be with her, and that necessitated a hurried change in plans.”

The woman on the bed struggled to wakefulness. “So Sophia came, did she?... Pain in the neck... so damned afraid I’m going to meet some fortune hunter and get married.” Again the woman yawned.

“All right,” Tragg said. “Now tell me about the money and I’ll put the rest of it together by myself.”

“I can’t be sure about the money,” Mason said. “Probably Campbell had a pair of shoes in a shoe box somewhere. Also, Elizabeth Dow was keeping her money in a shoe box. Campbell told his son they could trade treasure boxes and the boy inadvertently got the box with all the money in it Elizabeth Dow had stolen from the mining deal. She didn’t know it until after she heard Campbell talking over the telephone with Susan Fisher. Then she knew Carleton had got her cache of money instead of his daddy’s treasure — a pair of shoes.”

“And what happened to the box of money?” Tragg asked.

Amelia Corning yawned, tried to say something, yawned again, smiled, said, “I’ve got it... put it where they’ll never find it... not until I get ready... more coffee?”

“That’s all there is to it,” Mason said. “Elizabeth Dow, because of what she had learned while working as a governess, saw a wonderful opportunity to feather her nest. She rang up Ken Lowry, told him she was Miss Corning calling from South America, told him to do a lot of things that any sane businessman wouldn’t have done. But Lowry, being a square-shooting miner, accustomed to the outdoors and to dealing with people whose words were as good as their bond, and knowing that there may well have been a tax angle involved, followed instructions to the letter.

“Elizabeth Dow rented a post office box under the name of Corning Affiliated Enterprises.

“Lowry was loyal enough so that he...” Mason looked at his wristwatch and said, “We’re going to have to give this woman some more coffee, Lieutenant. We’re going to have to get her to a doctor and we’re going to have to use your official car in order to get all of us to court before four o’clock.”