“Yes.”
“And when you went to this restaurant on the day of the murder looking for Robert Hines, you had reason to believe he would be at this restaurant for lunch?”
“Yes.”
“Yet you made no attempt to get in touch with him until after one-thirty?”
“That’s right.”
“Rather late for lunch, isn’t it?”
“Well... I was hoping that perhaps he would be there.”
“Taking a chance on it?”
“If you want to put it that way, yes.”
“But had you gone there earlier, you would have been sure to catch him, wouldn’t you?”
“I... I suppose so.”
Mason said, “Is it a fair inference that the thing that made you so anxious to get in touch with Mr. Hines was something that happened during your own luncheon engagement. Is that right?”
“Your Honor, I object,” Gulling exclaimed. “That’s purely a conclusion.”
“Not a conclusion of the witness, but a conclusion of counsel,” Mason said smiling.
“And,” Judge Lindale remarked dryly, “one that is quite obvious to the Court. Mr. Gulling, can’t we proceed with the hearing without quite so many objections from counsel? After all, this is not a matter before a jury, and it would seem that we might dispense with some of the more technical objections.”
“I’ll withdraw the question,” Mason said. “And I have only one or two more questions to ask. Mrs. Reedley, you gave Mr. Hines some money at the time of this conversation, did you not?”
“Yes.”
“In hundred-dollar bills?”
“Hundreds and fifties.”
“How much?”
“Five hundred dollars.”
“Had you previously received some of that money from your husband?”
Gulling said sullenly, “Your Honor, I dislike to seem over-technical in the face of the Court’s admonition, but it is obvious what Mr. Mason is doing. He has trapped me into making technical objections until the court has requested—”
“I think counsel is right,” Judge Lindale said. “Mr. Mason, you will appreciate, of course, the necessity of cooperation by counsel on both sides. The Court has asked for fewer technical objections. That certainly means that counsel asking the questions should lean over backwards to keep his examination within the rules of evidence, not take advantage of the condition.”
“Your Honor, I appreciate that,” Mason said, “and because the situation may reflect somewhat on my professional integrity, may I explain the purpose of the question?”
“Very well.”
“As I understand it,” Mason said, “it is the contention of the prosecution that at the time Hines was killed he had a wallet in his possession containing some three thousand dollars in currency. I understand further that the numbers on some of those bills have been traced to the husband of this witness. It therefore becomes vitally important to ascertain whether those bills found their way into that (wallet as a consequence of this transaction with Mrs. Reedley, or whether they reached the wallet from some other source.”
Judge Lindale’s eyes showed his interest. He turned to Gulling. “Is that approximately correct, Mr. Deputy District Attorney?”
“Your Honor, I respectfully submit that this is an attempt to force the prosecution to put on its case out of order.”
“Mr. Mason has made a statement explaining the reason for a question,” Judge Lindale said. “I am asking if Mr. Mason’s statement is approximately correct.”
“The statement is approximately correct — but that certainly does not mean that the door can be opened so wide on cross-examination.”
“Well,” Judge Lindale said, “if we are going to get technical, this cross-examination may not be on any subject brought out in the direct examination; but it going to be technical, gentlemen, we’ll be technical on may go to show the bias of the witness. And if we’re both sides. The objection is overruled. Answer the question.”
“No,” Helen Reedley said. “There was not a single dollar of the money I gave Mr. Hines that I had received from my husband. I have not had any money from my husband for some six months.”
“Thank you,” Mason said. “That is all.”
“No redirect,” Gulling snapped.
“Your next witness?” Lindale asked.
“Your Honor, it becomes necessary for me to present one phase of my case slightly out of order. I wish to call one witness for just a question or two.”
“Very well.”
“Mr. Thomas Folsom,” Gulling said, “will you come forward and be sworn?”
Tom Folsom proved to be a tall, loose-jointed man. He was sworn, took the witness stand, crossed long legs, and settled back like a person to whom the witness chair is a familiar seat.
“Your name is Thomas Folsom, and you’re a private detective employed by the Interstate Investigators, and you were so employed on the third of this month and had been for some time prior to that date?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I will direct your attention to the defendant Adelle Winters, and ask if you saw her on the third of the month at approximately two-twenty in the afternoon?”
“I did.”
“Where?”
“At the Lorenzo Hotel.”
“What was she doing?”
“At that particular time?”
“At that particular time.”
“She was there with the other defendant, Eva Martell. They arrived at the hotel around a quarter past two in the afternoon. At about two-twenty, while Eva Martell was telephoning, the defendant Winters, whom I had been instructed to shadow, started to walk rather aimlessly around the hotel lobby. Then she went through a door marked ‘Baggage Room,’ and through another door that led to an alley, and finally turned down a side passageway back of the hotel dining room.”
“And what did she do there?”
“Three garbage cans were standing out there in a row. She raised the lid of the middle one, stood there briefly for a moment, apparently dropped something into it, then replaced the lid and turned back toward the main passageway.”
“This was at approximately two-twenty, and immediately afterwards?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Cross-examine,” Gulling snapped.
Mason said, “You were instructed to shadow the defendant Adelle Winters?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And had been shadowing her for some time before you saw her there at the hotel?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Both on the third and on the second?”
“Yes, sir.”
“She had gone to the Lorenzo Hotel directly from the apartment in the Siglet Manor Apartments?”
“That is correct — yes, sir.”
“Leaving the Siglet Manor shortly after two o’clock?” Mason asked.
“Yes, sir. She left the apartment at eleven minutes past two, if you want the exact time.”
“Now did you see her chop anything in the garbage can?”
“No sir. I’ve been very careful to state only what I actually saw. I was shadowing her, but I didn’t want to be noticed, so I sort of kept behind her, out of sight. While she had her back turned toward me, she picked up the lid of the garbage can; at that moment her body hid what her hands were doing. Then she apparently dropped something in. As soon as she started to turn, I ducked around a corner and got back to the lobby.”
“And she returned to the lobby?”
“That’s right.”
“Where you kept her under observation until approximately what time?”
“Well, she didn’t stay in the hotel lobby. The two women were there for a while and did some telephoning. Then they went out and did some shopping.”
“It certainly seems to me, Your Honor, that all this is far afield,” Gulling said.
“I think so too,” Judge Lindale ruled. “It may be very interesting to the defendant, and it might constitute a great temptation for a fishing expedition, but it would hardly seem proper cross-examination.”