The Case of the Blonde Bonanza (21 page)

"There wasn't anything else that happened, except that the police came."

"And the manager of the motel?"

"And the manager of the motel."

"And, during the time you had your back turned while you were telephoning or trying to get a connection through the switchboard, any number of people could have come and gone."

"Well-Like I told you, Mr. Mason, I couldn't be in two places at the same time."

"So," Mason said, "as far as you know, Boring wasn't in Unit to at all during the time the defendant was there."

"How do you mean?"

"The decedent could have left that unit while you were telephoning Nye to tell him that you had been made, as you expressed it, and the decedent could have again entered the unit after the manager had entered the unit and then left in a hurry, and while you were telephoning Sid Nye to say Hey Rube."

"All right," Dillard said, "I kept the place under surveillance but I can't be everyplace at once. Naturally when I was at the telephone I couldn't be there at the window, and when I went to the bathroom I wasn't there."

"Oh," Mason said, "then you weren't at the window all of the time."

"No. I did a reasonable job of surveillance and that's all you can expect."

"So your notes are inaccurate in that they don't show every person who came to the unit and they don't show every person who left."

"Those notes are accurate."

"They show the persons that you saw entering and the persons you saw leaving," Mason said, "but you don't know how many other people could have gone in or gone out that you didn't see."

"I'd have seen them, all right."

"But you were in the bathroom on at least one occasion?"

"Yes."

"Perhaps two?"

"Perhaps."

"And you didn't put down the time the manager of the motel was in there?"

"No."

"Or the time she left?"

"No."

"That's all," Mason said.

"If the Court please," Leland said, "I intended to let that conclude my case but under the circumstances and in view of the highly technical point raised by counsel I will call the manager of the motel.

"Mrs. Carmen Brady, will you come forward and be sworn, please?"

Mrs. Brady was sworn, identified herself as the manager of the motel.

"On Tuesday night did you have occasion to go to Unit 10?"

"I did."

"What time was this?"

"I made a note of the time. It was exactly nine-twelve."

"And what happened?"

"The telephone rang and a woman's voice said that I had better check on the man in Unit to, that he seemed to be ill. I hung up the telephone, went to the unit and looked in and Mr. Boring was lying there on the floor. He was breathing laboriously and heavily and I dashed back and called the police."

"Cross-examine," Leland snapped at Perry Mason.

"What time did this call come in?" Mason asked.

"At twelve minutes past nine."

"You went to the unit?"

"Yes."

"How long were you in there?"

"No time at all. I opened the door and saw this man lying on the floor and turned and dashed out and notified the police."

"At once?"

"At once."

"Did you close the door behind you when you entered the motel unit?"

"I… I can't remember, Mr. Mason. I think I started to close the door and then saw the man on the floor and was startled and ran toward him and bent over him and saw he was still alive and then I dashed out of the unit and called the police."

"How do you fix the time of the call as being nine-twelve?"

"I made a note of it."

"At the suggestion of the police?"

"Yes."

"Then you marked down the time, not at the time the phone call was received but at some time afterwards?"

"Within a few minutes afterwards."

"How long afterwards?"

"Well, I called the police and told them the man was injured, and they wanted to know how I knew and I told them about having received a tip over the telephone, and the police officer suggested that I make a note of the time."

"So you made a note of the time."

"Yes."

"And what time was that?"

"It was just a little after nine-thirteen."

"Then you made a note of nine-twelve, a little after nine-thirteen?"

"Well, I thought the call had been received a minute earlier."

Mason said, "You received this call. You hung up the telephone and went at once to Unit 10?"

"Yes."

"And then went back to the motel and then picked up the telephone and called the police."

"Yes."

"How far is it from the office to the motel unit?"

"Not over seventy-five feet."

"Did the police tell you it was then nine-thirteen?"

"Not at the time, no."

"How did you fix the time?"

"By the electric clock in the office."

"And did that clock show the time as nine-thirteen?"

The witness hesitated.

"Did it?" Mason asked. "Yes or no?"

"No. The clock showed the time as nine-seventeen."

"Yet you now swear it was actually nine-thirteen?"

"Yes."

"On what basis?"

"The police records show I called at nine-thirteen. Their time is accurate to the second. Later on when I checked my clock I found it was fast."

"When did you check it?"

"The next day."

"You did that after you found there was a discrepancy between your time and that on the police records?"

"Yes."' "I think that's all," Mason said. "I have no further questions."

"I'll call Dr. Powers to the stand," Leland said.

Dr. Powers took the stand.

"Did you have occasion to perform an autopsy on a body on Wednesday morning?"

"I did."

"Had you previously seen that individual?"

"I had treated him when he arrived in an ambulance at the emergency room."

"What was his condition at that time?"

"He was dying."

"When did he die?"

"About twenty minutes after his arrival."

"Do you know the cause of death?"

"A fracture of the skull. He had been hit with some blunt instrument on the back of the head."

"He was hit with a blunt instrument, Doctor?"

"As nearly as I can tell."

"There was a fracture of the skull?"

"Yes."

"And it resulted in death?"

"Yes."

"Cross-examine," Leland said.

"There was no external hemorrhage?" Perry Mason asked.

"No."

"An internal hemorrhage?"

"Yes. Within the skull there was a massive hemorrhage."

"Injuries of this sort could have been sustained by a fall, Doctor?"

"I don't think so. The portion of the skull in question had received a very heavy blow from some heavy object."

"Such as a club?"

"Perhaps."

"A hammer?"

"I would say, more in the nature of a bar of some sort."

"Perhaps a pipe."

"Perhaps."

"Did you notice any other injuries?"

"Well, I noticed a contusion on the side of the man's face, a rather slight contusion but nevertheless a contusion."

"You mean a bruise?"

"Yes."

"Technically a traumatic ecchymosis?"

"Yes."

"Any other injuries?"

"No."

"No further questions," Mason said.

"I'll call Herbert Knox," Leland said.

Knox came forward, was sworn, identified himself as an officer, stated that he had received a radio report at nine-fifteen to go to the Restawhile Motel; that he arrived at approximately nine-eighteen, was directed to Unit to; that he there found a man who was injured, that this was the same man who had been taken to the emergency unit and turned over to Dr. Powers, the Witness who had just testified; that the man was then, in his opinion, in a dying condition and that the witness subsequently saw the body in the morgue and it was the body of the same individual he had first seen in Unit 10 at the Restawhile Motel.

"Cross-examine," Leland said.

"Did you notice the odor of whiskey in the unit?" Mason asked.

"I certainly did. Whiskey had been spilled over the clothes of the injured man. The odor was strong."

"You made an inventory of the things in the room?"

"Later on, yes."

"There was a traveling bag and some clothes?"

"Yes, a two-suiter and a traveling bag."

"Did you find any money?"

"Not in the unit, no."

"Did you at any time search the injured man for money?"

"Not until after his arrival at the hospital. I personally searched the clothes which were removed from him."

"Did you find any money?"

"A hundred and fifteen dollars and twenty-two cents in bills and coins," the officer said.

"There was no more?"

"No. He was wearing a money belt. It was empty."

"Did you search Boring's automobile?"

"Yes."

"Did you find any money?"

"No."

"As far as you know, the money which you have mentioned represented the entire cash which he had?"

"Yes."

"That's all," Mason said.

"That's our case, if the Court please," Leland said. "We ask that the defendant be bound over for trial."

"Does the defense wish to make any showing?" Judge Talent asked. "If not, it would seem that the order should be made. This is simply a preliminary hearing and it has been established that a crime has been committed and that there is at least reasonable ground to believe the defendant is connected with the commission of the crime."

Mason said, "It is now eleven-thirty. May I ask the Court for a recess until two o'clock, at which time the defense will decide whether we wish to put on any case?"

"Very well," Judge Talent said. "We'll continue the case until two P.M. Will that give you sufficient time, Mr. Mason?"

"I think so, yes," Mason said.

After court adjourned, newspaper reporters interviewed Mason and Leland briefly.

Leland, coldly aloof, said, "I am fully familiar with counsel's reputation for turning a preliminary hearing into a major courtroom controversy. It is entirely improper and, if I may say so without criticizing my brother district attorneys, I think the reason is that some of those district attorneys have become a little gun shy of Mr. Mason. They try to put too much evidence and that gives the defense an opportunity to make a grandstand showing."

The newspaper reporter turned to Mason. "Any comment?" he asked.