The Case Of The Howling Dog pm-4

by Erle Stanley Gardner

  "A police dog named Prince?"

  "Yes."

  "The dog that was killed at the time of the murder?"

  "Yes," said Thelma Benton with sudden vehemence. "He gave his life trying to defend his master against the attack of a cowardly assassin!"

  Perry Mason nodded slowly. "And that was the dog that came with you in the automobile?"

  "Yes."

  "That dog was devoted to Paula Cartright?"

  "Yes, he was quite friendly with her at the time we left Santa Barbara, and he became very much attached to her."

  "And that dog previously had been in the household of Mr. and Mrs. Forbes?"

  "That is correct."

  "You had seen the dog there?"

  "Yes."

  "And that dog was also attached to Mrs. Forbes?"

  "Naturally."

  "The dog also became attached to you?"

  "Yes, it was an animal with an affectionate disposition."

  "Yes," said Perry Mason, "I can understand that. And the dog howled almost continuously during the night of the fifteenth of October of the present year?"

  "It did not."

  "Did you hear the dog howl?"

  "I did not."

  "Isn't it a fact, Mrs. Benton, that the dog left the house, stood near the garage addition which was under construction, and howled dismally?"

  "He did not."

  "Now," said Perry Mason, abruptly changing the subject, "you have identified the letter which Mrs. Cartright left for Mr. Forbes when she decided to rejoin her husband?"

  "Yes."

  "She had been confined to her room with influenza?"

  "Yes."

  "And was recuperating?"

  "Yes."

  "And she abruptly summoned a taxicab when Mr. Forbes was absent?"

  "When Mr. Forbes," said the witness, with icy acidity, "had been decoyed from the house by a false complaint which had been filed against him with a district attorney, by yourself and Arthur Cartright, the woman rejoined Mr. Cartright. She did it surreptitiously."

  "You mean," said Perry Mason, "that she ran away with her own husband."

  "She deserted Mr. Forbes, with whom she had been living for a year," said the witness.

  "And she left this letter behind?"

  "Yes."

  "You recognize that letter as being in the handwriting of Mrs. Cartright?"

  "I do."

  "Were you familiar with the handwriting of Mrs. Cartright before she left Santa Barbara?"

  "Yes."

  "Now," said Perry Mason, producing a piece of paper, "I show you a paper which purports to be in the handwriting of Mrs. Cartright, and ask you if that handwriting is the same as that on the letter?"

  "No," said the witness slowly, "it is not." She bit her lip for a moment, then added suddenly, "Mrs. Cartright, I think, made a conscious attempt to change her handwriting after she left Santa Barbara. She was trying to keep her real identity from being discovered by anyone with whom she might come in contact."

  "I see," said Perry Mason. "Now I show you a sheet of paper which purports to contain handwriting by Bessie Forbes, the defendant in this action. That is not the same handwriting as is contained in this letter that Mrs. Cartright left behind her, is it?"

  "Certainly not."

  "And," said Perry Mason, "may I ask that you write something on a sheet of paper, so that your handwriting may be compared?"

  The witness hesitated.

  "This is highly irregular, Your Honor," said Claude Drumm, getting to his feet.

  Perry Mason shook his head.

  "The witness," he said, "has testified as to the handwriting of Mrs. Cartright. I have the right to cross-examine her, by showing her other handwritings, and ask her opinion as to the identity of those handwritings, compared with the writing in the note."

  "I think you are right," said Judge Markham. "The objection will be overruled."

  Thelma Benton took a sheet of paper, wrote swift lines upon it.

  Perry Mason examined the writing and nodded.

  "I think we will both concede," he said, "that that is entirely different from the handwriting which appears on the letter which Mrs. Cartright left behind."

  "Naturally," said the witness in a tone of cool sarcasm.

  Judge Markham fidgeted uneasily.

  "It has approached the hour of the usual afternoon recess," he said. "I believe you stated, Counselor, that you had no objection to an interruption of the cross-examination for the usual afternoon recess?"

  "None whatever, Your Honor."

  "Very well, the Court will take a recess for ten minutes. The jury will remember the admonition of the Court, not to converse about the case or permit it to be discussed in your presence."

  The judge arose from his chair, flashed Perry Mason a curiously speculative gaze, then walked into chambers.

  Perry Mason looked at his watch and frowned.

  "Go over to the window, Frank," he said to Frank Everly, "and see if you can notice any unusual activity on the part of the newsboys at the corner."

  The clerk walked to the window of the courtroom, looked down on the street.

  Perry Mason, ignoring the concentrated gaze of the curious spectators, slumped down in his chair and bowed his head in thought. His strong, capable fingers made little drumming motions on the arm of the chair.

  Frank Everly turned from the window, came running back toward the counsel table.

  "There's a lot of excitement down there," he said. "There's been a truck distributing papers. It looks like an extra. The boys are calling them."

  Perry Mason looked at the clock and smiled.

  "Go on down and pick up a couple of the newspapers," he said.

  He turned his head and nodded to Bessie Forbes.

  "I'm sorry, Mrs. Forbes," he said, "that you've had such an ordeal, but I don't think it will be long now."

  She looked at him with puzzled eyes.

  "Frankly," she said, "the talk that I overheard this noon was that the case was going very badly against me."

  The deputy sheriff who had her in charge moved slightly forward in order to be at her side. Claude Drumm, who had been smoking a cigarette in the corridor, came stalking back into the courtroom, his importance entirely reestablished in his own mind. He strode with well-tailored efficiency, a dignified superiority toward the criminal attorney who must needs make his living from the trial of cases, rather than bask in the dignity of a monthly salary check, issued with the clock-like regularity with which government officials expend the money of taxpayers.

  Frank Everly came bursting into the courtroom with two newspapers, his eyes wide, his lips sagging open.

  "They've found the bodies!" he shouted, and rushed toward Perry Mason.

  Perry Mason picked up one of the newspapers and held it so that the startled eyes of Claude Drumm could see the headlines.

  "MILLIONAIRE'S MANSION IS MURDER FARM," screamed in glaring headlines across the entire front of the page. Lower, and in slightly smaller type, appeared the words:

  "BODIES OF CARTRIGHT AND WIFE DISCOVERED UNDER FLOOR OF FORBES' GARAGE."

  Claude Drumm sat bolt erect, stared with bulging eyes. A bailiff rushed into the courtroom carrying a newspaper, and went on a half run into the judge's chambers. A spectator entered the courtroom with an open newspaper, babbling excitedly. Within a matter of seconds, he was the center of a circle that listened with bated breath.

  Claude Drumm abruptly reached forward.

  "May I see that newspaper?" he snapped.

  "Delighted," said Perry Mason, and handed him the second newspaper.

  Thelma Benton walked swiftly over to Claude Drumm.

  "I've got to see you a moment," she said.

  Perry Mason glanced through the account in the newspaper, passed it over to Frank Everly.

  "Go ahead and read it, Frank," he said. "Looks like The Chronicle had a scoop."

  "But why didn't the officers know about it?"

 
"They probably used friendly deputies and kept it sewed up until they could get a paper on the street. If it had hit the general office at headquarters, every newspaper in the city would have been onto it."

  Perry Mason looked at the clock, then arose, stretched, yawned, and sauntered into the chambers of Judge Markham.

  The judge sat at his table reading the newspaper account, with eyes that held an expression of puzzled bewilderment.

  "I don't like to bother you, Judge," said Perry Mason, "but I notice that the time allotted for the recess is up. I am very anxious to conclude my examination of this witness prior to the evening adjournment. In fact, I think that it may well be possible that we can get the case disposed of today."

  Judge Markham looked up at Perry Mason, his eyes glinting shrewdly.

  "I am wondering," he said, "as to the purpose..." His voice trailed into silence.

  "Yes?" said Perry Mason.

  "Yes," said Judge Markham dryly.

  "Just what were you wondering, Judge?" said Perry Mason.

  Judge Markham frowned.

  "I don't know as I should discuss it," he said, "but I am wondering at the peculiar nature of the request you made that you be allowed to complete your cross-examination of the witness today."

  Perry Mason shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.

  "Either," Judge Markham said, "you are the most remarkably lucky man practicing at the bar, or else the most shrewdly adroit; I can't tell which."

  Perry Mason did not answer the question directly, but said instead, "I have always figured that a lawsuit was like an iceberg - only a fraction of it was visible to the naked eye, the balance of it is beneath the surface."

  Judge Markham got to his feet.

  "Well, Counselor," he said, "be that as it may, you are entitled to go on with the case."

  Perry Mason walked back to the courtroom. Almost immediately Judge Markham entered from his chambers. The bailiff pounded frantically for order, and pounded for several seconds before his admonitions were heeded. The courtroom was in a seething uproar of buzzing conversation, excited comments, scurrying motion.

  Order, at length, was restored. The jurors took their seats. Perry Mason slumped in his chair, apparently utterly unmoved by the startling events of the last few minutes.

  "Thelma Benton was on the stand for further cross-examination," said Judge Markham.

  Claude Drumm got to his feet.

  "Your Honor," he said, "a most startling and unexpected development has taken place. In view of the circumstances, I know that Your Honor will not require me to mention the nature of that development, at least in the presence of the jury. But I feel that as an officer of the state, as a deputy prosecutor who is familiar with the facts of this case, my presence is urgently required elsewhere, and I request an adjournment of this case until tomorrow morning."

  Judge Markham looked over his glasses at Perry Mason.

  "Any objections, Counselor?" he asked.

  "Yes," said Perry Mason, getting to his feet. "The rights of the defendant demand that the cross-examination of this witness be concluded at this session of the court. I mentioned this matter before I started the cross-examination, and that was the specific understanding which I had with counsel."

  "That is correct," said Judge Markham. "The request for a continuance will be denied."

  "But," shouted Claude Drumm, "Your Honor must understand..."

  "That will do, Counselor," said Judge Markham. "The motion for a continuance has been denied. Proceed, Mr. Mason."

  Perry Mason looked at Thelma Benton for a moment with a long, steady stare of accusation.

  She lowered her eyes and fidgeted on the witness stand. Her face was as white as the wall in back of her.

  "Now," said Perry Mason slowly, "as I understand your testimony, Paula Cartright left the residence on Milpas Drive in a taxicab on the morning of October 17th."

  "That is correct," she said.

  "You saw her leave?"

  "Yes," she said in a low voice.

  "Do I understand," said Perry Mason, raising his voice, "that you saw Paula Cartright alive on the morning of October 17th of this year?"

  The witness bit her lip, hesitated.

  "Let the records show," said Perry Mason urbanely, "that the witness hesitates."

  Claude Drumm jumped to his feet.

  "That," he said, "is manifestly unfair, and I object to the question, as argumentative; as already asked and answered; as not being proper cross-examination."

  "The objection is overruled," said Judge Markham. "The record will show that the witness hesitates appreciably in answering."

  Thelma Benton looked up. Her eyes were dark with panic.

  "I can't say that I saw her personally," she said. "I heard steps going down the stairs from her room. I saw a taxicab drawn up in front of the place, and I saw a woman getting into the taxicab, then the cab drove away. I took it for granted that the woman was Mrs. Cartright."

  "Then you didn't see her?" pressed Perry Mason.

  "No," she said in a low voice, "I didn't see her."

  "Now," said Perry Mason, "you have identified this letter as being in the handwriting of Mrs. Cartright."

  "Yes, sir."

  Perry Mason produced the photostatic copy of the telegram which had been sent from Midwick.

  "And," he said, "will you identify the photostatic copy of this telegram as also being in the handwriting of Paula Cartright?"

  The witness looked at the telegram, hesitated, bit her lip.

  "They're the same handwriting, are they not?" asked Perry Mason - "those two documents?"

  When she answered, her voice was so low as to be almost inaudible.

  "Yes," she said, "I guess they're in the same handwriting."

  "Don't you know?" said Perry Mason. "You unhesitatingly identified the letter as being in the handwriting of Paula Cartright. How about this telegram? Is that, or is that not, in the handwriting of Paula Cartright?"

  "Yes," said the witness in an almost inaudible voice, "it is Mrs. Cartright's handwriting."

  "So," said Perry Mason, "Mrs. Cartright sent this telegram from Midwick on the morning of October 17th?"

  "I guess so," said the witness in a low voice.

  Judge Markham pounded with his gavel.

  "Mrs. Benton," he said, "you've got to speak up so the jury can understand you. Speak more loudly, please."

  She raised her head, stared at the judge, and swayed slightly.

  Claude Drumm was on his feet.

  "Your Honor," he said, "it now appears that the witness is ill. I again ask for a continuance, out of justice to this witness, who has doubtless sustained a very great shock."

  Judge Markham slowly shook his head.

  "I think the cross-examination should continue," he said.

  "If," said Claude Drumm in pleading desperation, "this case can be continued until tomorrow, there is some chance it might be dismissed."

  Perry Mason whirled about and stood with his feet planted firmly on the floor, spread slightly apart; his head thrust forward, his manner belligerent; his voice raised until it seemed to echo in the rafters of the courtroom.

  "If the Court please," he thundered, "that is exactly the situation I wish to avoid. A public accusation has been made against the defendant in this case, and the defendant is entitled to an acquittal at the hands of a jury. A dismissal by the prosecution would still leave her with a blot upon her name."

  Judge Markham's voice sounded low and even-toned, compared with the vehement eloquence of Perry Mason.

  "The motion is once more denied," he said. "The case will continue."

  "Now," said Perry Mason, "will you kindly explain how Paula Cartright could write a letter and a telegram on the morning of October 17th of this year, when you know, of your own knowledge, that Paula Cartright was murdered on the evening of October 16th?"

  Claude Drumm was on his feet.

  "That," he said, "is objected to as argumentative, call
ing for a conclusion of the witness, not proper cross-examination and assuming a fact not in evidence."

  Judge Markham paused for a moment, stared at the white, drawn face of the witness.