The Case of the Singing Skirt pm-63

by Erle Stanley Gardner

  "I hate to bring bad news," Drake said, "but if the ballistics check shows that Nadine Ellis was killed by a bullet from the gun that the police took from Ellen Robb's motel room, she doesn't stand the faintest whisper of a chance."

  "And if the bullets don't check?" Mason asked.

  "They've probably got a case against her," Drake said, "but it won't be dead open-and-shut."

  "I don't see what evidence they have," Mason said, frowning.

  "Well, naturally they're not telling," Drake said. "From what I can pick up in the way of scuttle butt around Headquarters, they seem to feel they have an airtight case-and, of course, once the ballistics experts show Nadine Ellis was killed by a bullet from that gun the police took from Ellen's motel, they have a case that neither you nor any other lawyer can win. That ballistics evidence will make it a copper-riveted cinch."

  "All right, Paul," Mason said. "I've got some confidential information for you. The gun won't check. Now, start working on the case from that angle and see what your investigation shows up."

  "You mean the bullets weren't fired from that gun?"

  "They weren't fired from that gun."

  "How sure are you, Perry?"

  "Positive."

  "That's going to make a difference," Drake said. "But, look, Perry, you can't be positive. You never know when a client is lying to you and when she's telling the truth. Particularly a girl like Ellen Robb. She can be convincing as a liar. She's a past master at pulling the wool over your eyes."

  Mason said, "Nobody's pulling the wool over my eyes, Paul. The bullets won't check."

  "Well, that's something," Drake said. "There's one thing certain. If they don't check, that will hit the district attorney an awful wallop right between the eyes."

  "He's going to be hit a wallop, then."

  Drake was thoughtful. "There's only one way you could be certain, Perry."

  "How's that, Paul?"

  "That gun you gave me to take to Maurice Halstead, Perry."

  "What about it?" the lawyer asked.

  Drake was thoughtfully silent.

  "Well?" Mason prompted.

  "Look, Perry," the detective said, "if you pulled one of those gun-switching acts of yours, and if that gun I gave Halstead should prove to be the murder weapon… well, I'm bailing out, that's all. I can't go that far."

  "No one's asked you to, Paul."

  "I'd have to tell what I know."

  "When?"

  "As soon as I knew it made any difference in the case."

  "We'll let it stand that way," Mason said.

  "I'm not going to sleep tonight, Perry," Drake said.

  "Take a pill."

  "That won't help. Good Lord, Perry, do you know what you're doing?"

  "It's not what I'm doing that worries me," Mason said. "It's what I have done."

  "So what do I do now, Perry?"

  "Wait until you're certain," Mason said.

  "Maurice Halstead will also be doing some thinking as soon as he's seen the papers," Drake pointed out.

  "Let him think, Paul," Mason said.

  The phone rang.

  Della Street picked up the telephone, said, "Yes," then to Paul, "It's for you, Paul."

  "That'll be a report on what ballistics found out," Drake said. "I told my office to call me here if they got that report but not to bother me otherwise."

  Drake picked up the telephone, said, "Hello… uh-huh… They're sure? No chance of a mistake well, that's interesting… Okay, I'll be back in the office in a few minutes. 'Bye now."

  Drake hung up the telephone, cocked a quizzical eyebrow at Mason, and said, "Why were you so damned sure those bullets weren't going to match, Perry?"

  The lawyer grinned. "Call me clairvoyant or psychic, Paul."

  "Well," Drake said, "you'd better throw away your crystal ball and try tea leaves. The fatal bullets that killed Nadine Ellis were fired from the gun that Ellen Robb had in her possession when the police arrested her."

  CHAPTER TEN

  Donovan Fraser, a relatively new and somewhat eagerbeaver deputy district attorney, arose to address the Court.

  "If the Court please, we expect to show that the defendant in this case, Ellen Robb, was attempting to break up the home of the decedent, Nadine Ellis, that quite understandably friction developed between the two women, that the defendant surreptitiously and with malice aforethought entered the yacht belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Ellis, knowing that Mrs. Ellis was aboard, that she fired two shots into the body of Mrs. Ellis and then, having assured herself that her enemy was dead, she pointed the yacht out to sea, started the motors and trusted that the natural risks incident to marine navigation in a small boat of this sort would result in the loss of the boat and its grisly occupant.

  "We expect to show that a gun found in the possession of the defendant, Ellen Robb, inflicted the fatal wounds upon Nadine Ellis and we shall ask that the defendant be bound over to the Superior Court for trial."

  Judge Staunton Keyser looked down at the young man thoughtfully, said, "You don't need to make an opening argument to the Court in a preliminary hearing, Mr. Deputy District Attorney. As I understand it, this is simply a question of showing that a cime has been committed and that there is probable cause to believe the defendant committed that crime."

  "I understand, Your Honor," Fraser said, "but in view of the well-known tactics of defense counsel, who always tries to put on a case at the time of the preliminary examination, I felt that the Court should be advised of what we are trying to do."

  "You go right ahead," Judge Keyser said, "and never mind the tactics of opposing counsel. Just put on your proof. Call your first witness."

  Fraser called the captain of a Coast Guard cutter to the stand.

  "Are you familiar with a yacht called Cap's Eyes?"

  "I am."

  "Are you familiar with the documents of registration in the Coast Guard records as to ownership of that yacht?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Who owns that yacht?"

  "Helman Ellis."

  "Did you have occasion to see that yacht on Thursday, the eleventh day of this month?"

  "I did. Yes, sir."

  "Will you explain the circumstances."

  "We were notified by the Navy that the yacht was drifting helplessly with a murdered woman aboard. I called the FBI and the coroner's office. I was instructed to take Dr. Andover Calvert out to the yacht, together with a representative of the sheriff's office and an agent of the FBI. We had to wait a short time until these men arrived. Then we flew to Catalina, picked up a deep-sea patrol boat there and proceeded at high speed to where the yacht was located. At that time we made an inspection of the yacht. Do you want me to tell you what we found?"

  "In general terms, yes."

  "The fuel tank of the yacht was quite dry. The yacht was drifting in an area which is devoted to naval maneuvers and where small craft are forbidden to venture. The body of a woman was lying in the cabin. We took photographs of the body."

  "Do you have those photographs?"

  "I do."

  "We'd like to have them introduced in evidence."

  "No objection," Mason said.

  "Very well," Judge Keyser ruled, "they may go into evidence as People's Exhibit- How many are there, Counselor?"

  "Seven."

  "All right, People's Exhibits A-i, A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5, A-6 and A-7. Proceed."

  "What did you do?"

  "After completing inspection of the yacht we fastened a tow cable and brought the yacht into port."

  "Cross-examine," Fraser said.

  Mason arose and approached the witness. "How long have you been with the Coast Guard, Captain?"

  "Some twenty years."

  "You are quite familiar with the waters around Southern California?"

  "I am, yes."

  "The waters where the yacht was found?"

  "I am not familiar with those waters except in a general way. Most of our work is done a lot closer to the shore
line."

  "I understand. But you know generally the waters, and quite particularly you are familiar with the waters between the coast line and the place where the yacht was found?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "That yacht was some distance on the other side of Catalina Island?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Now, then," Mason said, "what are the chances that the yacht with no one aboard except the dead woman could have started out from Los Angeles yacht harbor or the Deep Sea Cruising Yacht Club near Long Beach with the steering mechanism locked in position so that it would have gone in a straight line and have sailed out to the place where it was found without mishap-and without attracting attention because of failure to follow regulations or display running lights-assuming, Captain, that there was no one aboard the yacht other than the body of the decedent?"

  "Ordinarily I would have said the chances would be pretty slim," the captain admitted, "but here we are confronted with an established fact. Regardless of the percentage of chances, the yacht did do that very thing."

  "Now, just a moment, Your Honor," Fraser said. "I don't see the purpose of this examination. I don't see what counsel expects to accomplish by it."

  It's legitimate cross-examination," Judge Keyser said. "Anyway, the question has been answered. Let the answer stand."

  "What was the cruising radius of the yacht? With a full tank of gasoline, how far would it have gone?"

  "We don't know the tank was full," Fraser objected.

  "This is simply cross-examination," Judge Keyser said. "He can ask anything he wants to about the yacht. The Court, frankly, is interested in this. It's rather a significant phase of the case. At least, it seems so to the Court."

  "The cruising radius would have varied depending upon wind, tide and weather conditions, but if the tanks had all been full, the cruising radius would have been… well, somewhat beyond the point where we found the yacht."

  "You're assuming, then, that the tanks were not full when the yacht was started on its journey. Is that right?"

  "Yes."

  "There was some sort of a steering mechanism on the yacht which would hold it to its course?"

  "That is right. There are several variations of mechanical devices which hold a yacht on course. Some of them are quite elaborate, working with compass directions so that a yacht can be set on a compass course and will hold that course. Some of them are simply devices to hold the yacht steady after the course has been manually selected."

  "Assuming that you were on that yacht at Long Beach, that you wanted to point it in the direction where it was located by the Navy and picked up by you, would it have been possible for you to have set that steering gear so that the yacht would have been pointed in that direction and gone on until the fuel tanks became dry?"

  "I think it could have been done, because I know it was done."

  "If the yacht had started from its regular mooring, wouldn't it have had to sail right through Catalina Island to arrive at the place where it was found?"

  "Not necessarily."

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "I think it might have been difficult, although not impossible, for the yacht to have been sailing blind through all the ocean traffic without being noticed. It could have cleared the westerly end of the island, then, after the fuel was exhausted, drifted to the portion of the ocean where it was found."

  "You think the yacht did that?"

  "I feel certain it must have."

  "Then you feel the murderer was not aboard after the yacht left its mooring?"

  "Not unless he was an exceptional swimmer."

  Judge Keyser frowned at the titter of the audience.

  "What are the chances that the yacht could have made the trip without collision, without having wind and tidal currents get it off course so that it would have run into trouble?"

  "That depends on what you mean by trouble. Once the course had been set so as to miss Catalina Island, there was very little to stop it."

  "Except the normal small-boat traffic on the water?"

  "Yes."

  "That is a considerable factor?"

  "That depends. It depends on when the yacht was started, it depends on conditions."

  "There were no running lights on the yacht?"

  "You mean that were lit?"

  "Yes."

  "No, the lights were not lit."

  "Indicating that the yacht had made its journey during daylight hours?"

  "Either that or it had violated the regulations in regard to navigation."

  "And if the yacht had been detected violating those regulations, something would have been done about it?"

  "Yes."

  "Now, this yacht was found in a restricted area?"

  "Yes."

  "It is customary for the Navy to use radar in that area for the purpose of detecting small boats which may have entered the area?"

  "I believe so, yes."

  "Therefore, if the person who started that yacht on its way had wanted the yacht to vanish, to sail on into oblivion, that person would hardly have selected that particular area?"

  "Not if the individual was familiar with the restricted areas."

  "And this was a restricted area?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "And if the person had wanted the yacht to sail on into oblivion, the fuel tanks could have been filled, and the yacht would then have gone a very considerable distance beyond the point where it was picked up, before running out of fuel?"

  "Yes, sir, depending of course on whether the murderer had to accept the condition of the fuel tanks as he found them. He or she may not have dared to attempt to refuel with the body aboard-or if the murder was committed at night, there would have been little opportunity to have replenished the fuel."

  "Thank you," Mason said. "That's all."

  Donovan Fraser said, "Call Dr. Andover Calvert."

  "I'll stipulate Dr. Calvert's qualifications, subject to the right of cross-examination," Mason said cheerfully. "Just go right ahead and ask him your technical questions."

  Fraser regarded Mason with some surprise but very quickly took advantage of the opportunity. "Very well," he said. "You'll stipulate that Dr. Calvert is an examining physician connected with the office of the coroner, an autopsy surgeon, a duly qualified physician and an expert in all fields of forensic medicine?"

  "Subject to the right of cross-examination," Mason said. "I'll stipulate to his general qualifications, subject to cross-examination."

  "Very well. Be sworn, Dr. Calvert," Fraser instructed.

  Dr. Calvert held up his right hand, was sworn, and took the witness stand.

  "You boarded the yacht, the Cap's Eyes on Thursday, the eleventh?"

  "I did."

  "That was then on the high seas?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "What did you find?"

  "The cabin door, which had been locked by a spring lock on the inside, had been forced open by some party before we arrived. I understand this was done by Navy personnel who had boarded the boat before the Coast Guard was notified."

  "Go on," Fraser said. "What did you find in the cabin?"

  "In the cabin we found the body of a woman about twenty-eight years of age. The first stages of decomposition had set in, and I estimated the woman had been dead for somewhere between twenty-four and fortyeight hours. The woman was lying on her back on the floor of the cabin. There was an open handbag near her hand, and a cocked double-action Smith and Wesson revolver was lying near her right hand. One bullet had been discharged from this revolver and then the weapon had been cocked, apparently preparatory to firing a second shot."

  "Did you find the one bullet which had been discharged?"

  "We found a bullet embedded in the woodwork of the cabin near the door. I believe that it was checked out by ballistics and shown to have been fired from the weapon which was lying there on the floor of the yacht near the hand of the woman."

  "You subsequently performed an autopsy on the body of this w
oman?"

  "I did, yes, sir."

  "And what did you find?"

  "I found that she had been killed by gunfire. Two bullets had entered the chest cavity, slightly above and to one side of the heart. The two bullet holes were less than an inch and a half apart, and the courses of the bullets were, generally speaking, parallel."

  "Had the bullets gone through the body or were they still embedded in the body?"

  "One of them had been deflected and had embedded itself in bone. The other had just penetrated far enough to go through the body. It was found in the clothing of the decedent."

  "These bullets were, in your opinion, the cause of death?"

  "Yes."

  "Cross-examine," Fraser said to Perry Mason.

  Mason arose and walked toward the witness. His manner was casual and his voice was calmly conversational. "Two bullets, Doctor?"

  "Yes."

  "Which one inflicted the fatal wound, Doctor?"

  "They both inflicted fatal wounds."

  "Which one was the cause of death?"

  "Either could have been the cause of death."

  "Pardon me, Doctor. I'm not asking you about could have, I'm asking you about which did cause death."

  "Both of them inflicted fatal wounds."

  "Would you say both bullets caused death?"

  "Yes."

  "Would you say that a person could die twice?"

  "That isn't what I mean."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean that either bullet might have caused death and either bullet could have caused death."

  "How far apart were the bullets?"

  "Around an inch and a half at the point of entrance."

  "And which one was fired first?"

  "I have no way of knowing."

  "Were the bullets instantly fatal?"

  "That depends on what you mean by instantly."

  "Well, what do you mean by it?"

  "When I say instantly I mean instantaneously."

  "Did either of these wounds inflict an instantaneously fatal wound?"

  "Both of the bullets instantaneously inflicted a mortal wound."

  "How long after the first wound before the victim died?"

  "That I don't know. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes at most."

  "You think perhaps it was as much as five minutes?"