The Case of the Terrified Typist
Page 18
“What do you mean?”
“Mae W. Jordan told all about the letters she had received from Duane Jefferson, about the contents of those letters, I moved to strike out her testimony. The motion was denied. The testimony went to the jury about the Daddy Longlegs letters, about the Prince Charming letters, about the gag photographs, about the getting acquainted, and about the dagger.”
“Now, just a moment,” Judge Hartley said. “The Court will bear with you for a moment in this matter, Mr. Mason, but the Court is going to resort to stem measures if it appears this is some dramatic presentation of a technicality which you are using to dramatize the issues.”
“I’m trying to clarify the issues,” Mason said. “What happened is very simple. Duane Jefferson, who is standing there by the mahogany swinging gate which leads to the interior of the bar, is a trusted employee of the South African Gem Importing and Exploration Company. He was sent to this country in the company of Walter Irving of the Paris office to open a branch office. They were to receive half a million dollars’ worth of diamonds in the mail.
“Walter Irving, who had been gambling heavily, was deeply involved and knew that very shortly after he had left Paris there would be an audit of the books and his defalcations would be discovered.
“This man, James Kincaid, was groomed to take the place of Duane Jefferson. After the shipment of gems was received, James Kincaid would take the gems and disappear. Walter Irving would duly report an embezzlement by Jefferson and thereafter Jefferson’s body would be discovered under such circumstances that it would appear he had committed suicide.
“The trouble was that they couldn’t let well enough alone. They knew that Munroe Baxter was smuggling diamonds into the country, and they decided to kill Baxter and get the gems. Actually, Walter Irving had been working with Baxter in connection with the smuggling and for a fee had arranged for the stones to be delivered to Baxter under such circumstances that they could be smuggled into this country.
“The spurious Duane Jefferson didn’t need to be clever about it, because he intended to have the shipment of stones in his possession and the real Duane Jefferson’s body found, long before the police could make an investigation. However, because of a tax situation, the shipment of gems was delayed, and naturally they couldn’t afford to have the spurious Jefferson disappear until the shipment had been received, so that Walter Irving could then report the defalcation to the company. Therefore, the real Duane Jefferson had to be kept alive.”
“Your Honor, Your Honor!” Hamilton Burger shouted. “This is simply another one of those wild-eyed, dramatic grandstands for which counsel is so noted. This time his client has been convicted of first-degree murder, and I intend to see to it personally that his client pays the supreme penalty.”
Mason pointed to the man standing in the aisle. “This is my client,” he said. “This is the man I was retained to represent. I intend to show that his trial took place in his absence. Come forward and be sworn, Mr. Jefferson.”
“Your Honor, I object!” Hamilton Burger shouted. “I object to any such procedure. I insist that this defendant is the only defendant before the Court.”
Judge Hartley said, “Now, just a moment. I want to get to the bottom of this thing, and I want to find out exactly what counsel’s contention is before I start making any rulings. Court will take an adjournment for fifteen minutes while we try to get at the bottom of this thing. I will ask counsel for both sides to meet me in chambers. The defendant, in the meantime, is in custody. He will remain in custody.”
Mason grinned.
The tall, gaunt man standing in the aisle turned back toward the audience. Mae Jordan moved toward him.
“Hello, Prince Charming,” she ventured somewhat dubiously. Jefferson’s eyes lit up.
“Hello, Lady Guinevere,” he said in a low voice. “I was told you’d be here.”
“Prince … Prince Charming!”
Mason said, “I’ll leave him in your custody, Miss Jordan.” Then Mason marched into the judge’s chambers.”
Chapter 22
“Well?” Judge Hartley said.
“It was quite a plot,” Mason explained. “Actually, it was hatched in Paris as soon as Walter Irving knew he was going to be sent over to assist Duane Jefferson in opening the new office. A girl named Marline Chaumont, who had been a Paris party girl for the company and who knew her way around, was in on it. James Kincaid was in on it. They would have gotten away with the whole scheme, if it hadn’t been for the fact that they were too eager. They knew that Baxter was planning to smuggle in three hundred thousand dollars’ worth of diamonds. Gilly was to have taken the fishing boat out and made the delivery. They persuaded Gilly that Baxter had changed his mind at the last minute because of Gilly’s record. He wanted these other men to take the boat out. Gilly was lying when he testified about his rental for the boat. He received twenty-five hundred dollars. That was the agreed price. Marline Chaumont has given me a sworn statement.”
“Now just a minute,” Judge Hartley said. “Are you now making this statement about the client you’re representing in court?”
“I’m not representing him in court,” Mason said. “I’m representing the real Duane Jefferson. That’s the one I was retained to represent. I would suggest, however, that the Court give this other man an opportunity to get counsel of his own, or appoint counsel to represent him. He, too, is entitled to a new trial.”
“He can’t get a new trial,” Hamilton Burger roared, “even if what you say is true. You defended him and you lost the case.”
Mason smiled coldly at Hamilton Burger. “You might have made that stick,” he said, “if it hadn’t been for the testimony of Mae Jordan about all of her correspondence with Duane Jefferson. That correspondence was with the real Duane Jefferson, not with the man you are trying for murder. You can’t convict Duane Jefferson of anything, because he wasn’t present during his trial. You can’t make the present conviction stick against the defendant now in court, because you used evidence that related to the real Duane Jefferson, not to him.
“What you should have done was to have checked your identification of the man you had under arrest. You were so damned anxious to get something on me that when you found from his fingerprints that he had a record, you let your enthusiasm run away with you.
“You let Mae Jordan testify to a lot of things that had happened between her and the real Duane Jefferson. It never occurred to you to make certain that the man she sent the knife to was the same man you were trying for murder.
“The spurious Jefferson and Irving drugged the real Jefferson shortly after they left Chicago on the train. They stole all of his papers, stole the Jordan letters, stole the knife. It will be up to you to prove that at the next trial—and I’m not going to help you. You can go get the evidence yourself. However, I have Marline Chaumont in my office and I have a sworn statement made by her, which I now hand to the Court, with a copy for the district attorney.
“Just one suggestion, though. If you ever want to tie this case up, you’d better find out who that man was who was in the boat with Kincaid, because it certainly wasn’t Irving.”
“And now may I ask the Court to relieve me of any responsibility in the matter of the defendant, James Kincaid, who is out there in the courtroom. He tricked me into appearing in court for him by artifice, fraud, and by misrepresenting his identity. My only client is Duane Jefferson.”
“I think,” Judge Hartley said, “I want to talk with this Duane Jefferson. I suppose you can establish his identity beyond any question, Mr. Mason?”
“His fingerprints were taken in connection with his military service,” Mason said.
“That should be good enough evidence,” Judge Hartley agreed, smiling. “I’d like to have a talk with him now.”
Mason got up, walked to the door of chambers, looked out at the courtroom, and turned back to smile at the judge. “I guess I’ll have to interrupt him,” Mason said. “He and the witness Mae Jor
dan are jabbering away like a house afire. There seems to be a sort of common understanding between them. I guess it’s because they’re both interested in photography.”
Judge Hartley’s smile had broadened. “Perhaps, Mr. Mason,” he suggested tentatively, “Miss Jordan is telling Mr. Jefferson where she got that key.”
About the Author
Erle Stanley Gardner (1889–1970) was the top selling American author of the twentieth century, primarily due to the enormous success of his Perry Mason Mysteries, which numbered more than eighty and inspired a half-dozen motion pictures and radio programs, as well as a long-running television series starring Raymond Burr. Having begun his career as a pulp writer, Gardner brought a hard-boiled style and sensibility to his early Mason books, but he gradually developed into a more classic detective novelist, providing clues to allow astute readers to solve his many mysteries. For over a quarter of a century, he wrote more than a million words a year under his own name as well as numerous pseudonyms, the most famous being A. A. Fair.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1956 by Erle Stanley Gardner
Cover design by Ian Koviak
ISBN: 978-1-5040-6128-5
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