The Case of the Caretaker's Cat (19 page)

"Then what did you do?"

"I stayed on in Nathaniel Shuster's office for a few minutes."

"Then where did you go?"

"I refuse to answer, upon the same ground – the answer would tend to incriminate me."

"Incriminate you in what way and for what crime?"

"I refuse to answer."

Truslow said disgustedly, "I think that's all. I'm going to ask the Grand Jury to investigate this matter."

Laxter started to leave the witness stand. Nat Shuster's teeth were quite evident as he smiled triumphantly.

"Just one moment," Perry Mason said. "I believe I have the right to cross-examine this witness."

"But he hasn't testified to anything," Shuster objected.

"Sit down, Counselor Shuster," Judge Pennymaker ordered. "Counselor Mason has the right to cross-examine upon any of the testimony given by this witness."

Mason faced Sam Laxter.

"You drove to Shuster's office with Jim Brandon?"

"That's right, yes, sir."

"And you drove in the green Pontiac?"

"That's right."

"You know where Douglas Keene's apartment is?"

"Yes."

"Did you on the night of the twenty-third?"

"I can't remember I think perhaps I did."

"Hadn't you called on him there some time prior to the twenty-third?"

"I think perhaps I had been there, yes."

"After you left Shuster's office, didn't you go to Edith DeVoe's apartment?"

"I refuse to answer."

"And at that time wasn't the Chevrolet automobile customarily driven by Charles Ashton, the caretaker, parked in front of Edith DeVoe's apartment house?"

Shuster fidgeted uneasily, leaned forward as though about to burst into speech.

Laxter said in an even monotone, "I refuse to answer."

"Now, then," Mason said, "didn't you enter Edith DeVoe's apartment? Did you find her lying on the floor, unconscious? Didn't you realize that she had previously made accusations which virtually amounted to charging you with the murder of your grandfather? Didn't you thereupon rush from the apartment where she was lying, enter the Chevrolet automobile, drive it to Keene's apartment, cut your arm with a knife, razor blade, or other deep instrument, leave blood stains on Keene's garments, telephone Nathaniel Shuster, explain to him what had happened; that you were afraid that you might face a murder charge, and, in order to make the injury to your arm appear to have been accidentally sustained, didn't you deliberately drive the Chevrolet automobile into a lamp-post on the road home?"

Shuster jumped to his feet. His hands pawed the air.

"A lie, your Honor!" he shouted. "A series of lies! An attack on the character of my client."

Mason continued to stare steadily at the white face of the witness.

"If the answer to that question will incriminate you, you may say so."

The courtroom was tense with silence. Even Shuster forgot his excited expostulation in order to stare as though fascinated at the face of Samuel Laxter. Perspiration beaded Laxter's forehead. He cleared his throat twice and then mumbled, "I refuse to answer."

Mason motioned with his hand urbanely. "That," he said, "is all."

Truslow leaned forward and whispered, "For Heaven sakes, Mason, is there any chance this chap did what you intimated, or are you merely trying to prejudice the Court in favor of your client?"

Mason smiled and said, "Go on with the case, Truslow. I think we'll reach a solution directly."

"Call Frank Oafley," Truslow said.

Oafley took the witness stand, testified briefly as to his name, place of residence and relationship to the deceased Peter Laxter.

"On the night of the twenty-third instant," Truslow said, "you were engaged in digging in the yard of the Laxter residence?"

"I was."

"For what purpose?"

"Objected to," Shuster shouted.

Perry Mason smiled affably and said, "Your Honor, I represent the defendant in this case. Counselor Shuster is without any standing in court. If I don't object to a question and the Prosecution, by asking the question, requests an answer, the witness is forced to answer the question."

"That is right," Judge Pennymaker ruled. "Answer the question."

"I was searching for a large amount of money which had been missing ever since my grandfather died, and I was searching for certain other property."

"Why were you searching?"

"Because I had received a telegram."

"We're going to attempt to offer that telegram in evidence," Truslow said, looking at Perry Mason, his tone indicating plainly that he expected Mason to object and expected the Court to sustain the objection.

"No objections," Perry Mason said. "Introduce it in evidence."

Truslow took a telegram, introduced it in evidence and read it into the record:

THE KOLTSDORF DIAMONDS ARE HIDDEN IN ASHTON'S CRUTCH STOP MORE THAN HALF OF YOUR GRANDFATHERS MONEY IS BURIED JUST UNDER THE LIBRARY WINDOW WHERE THE CLIMBING ROSEBUSH STARTS UP THE TRELLIS WORK STOP THE SPOT IS MARKED BY A LITTLE STICK STUCK IN THE GROUND STOP IT ISN'T BURIED DEEP STOP NOT OVER A FEW INCHES

"We expect to prove," Truslow said, "for what it may be worth, that this telegram was telephoned in to the telegraph company; that it was telephoned from the telephone of Winifred Laxter, the fiancee of the defendant in this case."

Mason remained silent.

"You dug in that locality?" Truslow asked.

"I did."

"You were acquainted with Edith DeVoe?"

"I was."

"Was she any relation to you at the time of her death?"

The witness gulped. "She was my wife," he said.

Mason said to Truslow, "Go ahead and ask him about what Edith DeVoe told him concerning his grandfather's death."

Truslow showed some surprise, but immediately turned to the witness and inquired, "Did Edith DeVoe tell you anything concerning the death of your grandfather or certain suspicious circumstances she had observed on the evening of the fire?"

Nat Shuster jumped to his feet. "Your Honor! Your Honor! Your Honor!" he shouted. "This is objected to. This is absolutely hearsay evidence. This has no bearing…"

Judge Pennymaker banged his gavel. "Sit down, Counselor," he ordered. "You are out of order; you have no standing in this case whatever, save as you appear as the counsel of Samuel Laxter."

"But on behalf of Samuel Laxter I object to it."

"Samuel Laxter is not a party to the case. Counselor Mason is the only one who has the right to object. I have advised you of that before."

"But this is an outrage! This is convicting my client of murder without giving him a chance to defend himself. It's a great game these two lawyers are playing! They start prosecuting some other man for murder, and then they convict my client of it and I can't do anything because they don't object."

Despite himself, Judge Pennymaker smiled. "It is rather an ironical situation, Counselor," he said, "but there can be no question concerning its legality. You will sit down and refrain from interrupting the proceedings."

"But he shouldn't answer. He'll get himself into trouble. I advise him not to…"

This time there was no smile on the Judge's face.

"You'll sit down and keep quiet," he said, "or you'll be ejected from the courtroom and fined for contempt. Now, which will it be?"

Slowly, Nat Shuster sat down.

"And you'll remain seated and remain quiet," Judge Pennymaker ordered, then turned to the witness. "Answer the question," he said. "That is, unless there's an objection by Counsel for the defendant. If there is such an objection, I will sustain it as the question calls for hearsay evidence too remote to be a part of the res gestae."

"No objection in the world," Mason remarked urbanely.

Shuster half-arose from the chair, then sat back with a pathetic air of dejection.

Frank Oafley said slowly, "My wife told me that on the night of the fire she was walking past the garage. She saw Samuel Laxter sitting in an automobile, with a hose running from the exhaust to the hot air pipe which furnished heat to my grandfather's room."

"Was the motor running?" Truslow asked.

"She said the motor was running."

"Were there any indications that the motor had been running for some time?"

"Yes, there were no lights on in the garage until she switched them on, yet the hour was long after dark."

"Did she," asked Truslow, "tell you to whom else she had told this story?"

"Yes, she did."

"To whom?"

"To Perry Mason, the attorney, and to Douglas Keene, the defendant."

"That's all," Truslow said. "You may cross-examine, Counselor."

Perry Mason remarked, almost conversationally, "I believe you'd been with her until just before she discovered Samuel Laxter in the automobile on the night of the fire?"

"That's right. She and I had been walking and… making plans for the future." The witness broke off abruptly, averted his eyes. A spasm of expression crossed his face. He seemed fighting to control himself, then he looked back to confront Perry Mason and said, in a voice which was harsh with emotion, "I was afraid my grandfather wouldn't approve of the match. Our meetings were surreptitious, but we had planned to be married just as soon as we could."

"Now, was she absolutely certain that the person seated in the automobile was Samuel Laxter?" Mason inquired.

"Yes, I think she was," Oafley said, "although she did say that she didn't see his face clearly. Sam Laxter wears a rather distinctive type of hat, and she saw that very plainly."

"Did he speak to her?"

"Yes, he spoke to her, and she thought the voice was that of Sam Laxter, although, when I asked her about it, she remembered that the voice had been rather muffled because the man had been slumped over the steering wheel, apparently in an intoxicated condition."

"Do you know of any motive that Sam Laxter might have had for murdering his grandfather?"

"Why, yes, of course. There was the will."

"Do you know of any motive he might have had for murdering Charles Ashton?"

Over at the counsel table, Nat Shuster went through an elaborate pantomime of registering extreme protest, but remembering the judicial admonition, he remained seated and kept silent.

"No, I don't," Oafley said.

"Do you know where Sam Laxter was when Ashton was murdered?"

"No, I don't."

"Where were you at the time?"

"You mean at the time Ashton was murdered?"

"Yes."

"I was with Edith DeVoe."

"Getting married?" Mason inquired.

The witness showed that the subject was very painful to him.

"I think the time of the murder has been established as just after the ceremony," he said.

"I'm sorry to have opened up the wound," Perry Mason told him kindly. "I think that's all."

"That's all," Truslow said.

Shuster looked hopefully at the Court, but Judge Pennymaker avoided his gaze. "That's all," he said.

Truslow turned to give Perry Mason a fraternal wink. "Call Thelma Pixley," he said.

Thelma Pixley came forward and was sworn.

"Do you know the defendant in this case?"

"Very well."

"Did you see him on the twenty-third the night Charles Ashton was murdered?"

"I did."

"What did he do?… I will state to the Court and Counsel that this is merely for the purpose of fixing a motive for the subsequent murder of Edith DeVoe. I think the fact that the caretaker's crutch was found in the apartment of Edith DeVoe indicates…"

"No objection whatever," Perry Mason interrupted. "The witness may answer the question."

"Answer the question," Judge Pennymaker instructed.

"I saw the defendant's automobile come up the driveway. He circled the house then went back below the garage and parked the car. I expected he would ring the bell and I waited to let him in, but he had a key to the back door. I saw him go in. I wondered what he was doing, so I went to my door and listened. He walked down the stairs, and I heard him open the door of Charles Ashton's room."

"Do you know how long he stayed there?"

"I saw him leave."

"What time was it when he arrived?"

"Just before ten."

"When did he leave?"

"It was just a few minutes after eleven."

"As much as five minutes after eleven?"

"I don't think so. The clock had struck eleven just before – I don't think more than a minute or two before I saw him leaving."

"Was he carrying anything with him?"

"A cat."

"Could you see the cat clearly?"