The Case of the Troubled Trustee

Chapter Twenty-Two

Judge Alvarado surveyed the crowded courtroom with something of a frown. "The jurors seem to be all present, and the defendant is in court," he said. "I trust that the jurors have heeded the admonition of the Court and have neither listened to radio or television nor read papers concerning the case. I know that this imposes a hardship upon jurors, but the only alternative is to have jurors locked up for the duration of the trial and that is even more of a hardship.

"The jury will remember and heed the admonition of the Court. Gentlemen, you may proceed if you are ready."

"We are ready," Hamilton Burger said.

"We are ready, Your Honor," Mason rejoined.

"Then call your next witness."

Mason said, "Mr. Paul Drake, will you take the stand, please?"

Drake held up his hand, was sworn and took his position on the witness stand.

"What is your occupation?" Mason asked.

"I am a private detective."

"Are you familiar with the Barclay Country Club in this city?"

"I am."

"Are you familiar with the particular portion of the club which is in the vicinity of the seventh tee?"

"Yes, sir."

"When were you last there?"

"Yesterday afternoon at about three to four o'clock."

"What were you doing on the golf course at that hour?"

"I was participating in a search of the territory immediately adjacent to the seventh tee."

"Were you using your eyes or did you have some mechanical assistance?"

"We had a metal detector."

"And did you, at that time, discover anything?"

"Yes, sir."

"What?"

"We discovered a thirty-two-caliber empty, brass cartridge case."

"What did you do with that?"

"You took it into your possession."

Mason approached the witness and said, "I ask you if you made any identifying mark upon that cartridge case?"

"Yes, sir, a small scratch with the point of my knife."

"I show you an empty cartridge case and ask you if that is the cartridge case."

"Yes, sir, that is the one we found."

"If the Court please, we ask this be introduced in evidence as Defendant's Exhibit Number One," Mason said.

Hamilton Burger, on his feet, smiled at the court. "I believe, if the Court please, I have the right to examine the witness on voir dire."

"You certainly do," Judge Alvarado said. "Proceed."

"You state that you are a private detective, Mr. Drake?" Hamilton Burger asked, facing the witness.

"Yes, sir."

"You do a great deal of work for Mr. Perry Mason?"

"Yes, sir."

"Does his work account for all of your income?"

"No, sir, not all of it."

"A substantial part of it?"

"Yes, sir."

"As much as ninety per cent?"

"No, I would say perhaps as much as seventy-five per Cent."

"I see," Hamilton Burger said. "Now, what are your regular rates of payment?"

"Fifty dollars a day and expenses."

"That is figured on an eight-hour day?"

"Theoretically, yes."

"That is something over six dollars an hour," Hamilton Burger said, "over ten cents a minute. Now, I take it that you are a good businessman and as such you strive to give Mr. Mason value received?"

"We try to keep our clients satisfied. Yes, sir."

"And you try to find what they want?"

"If we can do so, yes."

"You knew when you went out to the golf links that you were going to be searching for an empty cartridge case?"

"I so understood."

"And this cartridge case which you say that you found, there is nothing about it to show when it was fired?"

"No, sir."

"Nor is there anything about it to show when it was dropped on the ground."

"No, sir."

"It could have been dropped on the ground as much as a year ago?"

"I presume so."

"Or it could have been dropped to the ground within a matter of seconds before you so fortuitously found it."

Drake said, "There is nothing about the cartridge case, nor was there anything on the ground telling how long it had been on the ground."

"It could have been a matter of seconds?"

"I presume it could have been dropped at any time before we started searching."

"Or it might have been dropped during the search?" Burger asked with a sneer.

"I don't think so."

"You don't think so. Can you swear that it hadn't been?"

"I was watching."

"Were you watching every one of the people in your group all the time? Were you watching all of the assembled curiosity seekers who ceased playing golf to cluster around you?"

"It was physically impossible to watch everyone."

"So anyone in that group could have taken advantage of a time when your back was turned and tossed that empty cartridge case out into the grass?"

"I presume so, yes."

"That empty cartridge case has no commercial value?"

''No.'

"But the value of your relationship with Mr. Mason is very great. In other words, his business represents an income of many thousands of dollars a year to you, does it not?"

"It has in the past."

"And you hope it will in the future?"

"Yes, sir."

"As long as you continue to serve him diligently."

"Yes, sir."

"And manage to find the articles that he wants you to find."

"I simply work to the best of my ability," Drake said.

"That is all," Hamilton Burger said, as he walked back to the counsel table with a manner that indicated that he was deliberately and contemptuously turning his back on the witness.

Mason, observing the gesture, whispered to Della Street, "The old so-and-so is certainly a past master of courtroom strategy."

"That concludes your voir dire?" Judge Alvarado asked Burger.

"Yes, sir."

"The defense has offered this in evidence. Do you have any objection?"

"I certainly do, Your Honor. I object on the ground it is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial. It is a physical impossibility that this could have been fired from the 'murder weapon. Therefore, it has no significance standing by itself. The only possible significance could be in the place where it was found, or the time when it was found; and it has just been shown by the evidence of this witness who so fortuitously participated in finding this cartridge case, that it is impossible to vouch for the time when it was placed there."

"Nevertheless," Judge Alvarado said, "I think that, while your objection goes to the weight rather than to the admissibility of the evidence, the Court is going to allow this to be received in evidence. Counsel will have ample opportunity to argue to the jury as to what this means."

"In that case," Hamilton Burger said, "while I realize that this matter should be handled expeditiously, I would like to have a recess until tomorrow morning to try to find out more about this most fortuitous discovery."

judge Alvarado frowned, started to shake his head.

Mason said, "We have no objections; if the prosecution wants this continuance, the defendant is willing to join in the motion, and since the jurors are not being confined, it should not work too great a hardship upon them."

"Very well," Judge Alvarado said, "on that understanding I will grant the motion, rather reluctantly, however."

Judge Alvarado turned to the jurors. "The jurors will understand that the Court is empowered to keep the jurors together during the trial of a case. This sometimes works an unnecessary hardship; and, if in the judgment of the Court it is not necessary, the Court is permitted to let the jurors return to their homes. The Court will admonish you, however, that the jurors will be violating their oath if they listen to any television discussion of this case, any comment about it on radio, or read anything in the newspapers. The jurors are again admonished not to form or express any opinion in regard to the merits of the case, not to discuss it among yourselves, and not to permit any person to discuss it in your presence.

"Under those circumstances, and in view of the fact that there has been a joint request for a continuance, the Court is somewhat reluctantly taking a recess until tomorrow morning at ten o'clock."

Judge Alvarado left the bench.

Paul Drake, his expression ominous, came over to stand by Mason while he glared across at the prosecution's table.

Hamilton Burger managed to avoid meeting the detective's eyes.

"Take it easy, Paul," Mason warned.

"Someday," Drake said, "I'm going to plant a punch right in the middle of his snout."

"He's only doing his duty," Mason said.

"Well, I don't like the way he does it."

"Neither do I," Mason agreed, "but there are some things about the way I conduct a case which he doesn't like."

"If he'll only look up here," Drake said, "I'll wish him a very good evening in a tone of voice which will be as sarcastic as his voice was when he said, 'That's all.'"

Mason got up, took Drake's arm and gently turned him around. "You'll do nothing of the sort," he said. "That isn't the sort of publicity we want at this particular stage of the game."

"You think the jurors are going to refrain from reading the newspapers?" Drake asked.

Mason smiled. "Come on, Paul, let's both quit being naive."

Mason picked up his brief case and smiled at Della Street.