“I think I’ll allow the question,” Judge Erwood said.
“Tuesday morning,” the witness said, “there was a great big difference. The inspector on the job came to me and told me he was satisfied there had been a substantial compliance with the specifications on the steelwork on the wall. He said he’d watched our work, that he felt it was very good and that he was satisfied we were doing a good job. He said that from now on he was going to leave me pretty much on my own to complete it.”
“That was Tuesday morning?” Mason asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you,” Mason said. “That’s all.”
“No further questions,” Drew said.
“You’re excused,” Judge Erwood told the witness.
“I’m going to call Frank Ferney,” Drew said.
Ferney came forward and was sworn. “You were in the employ of Meridith Borden in his lifetime?”
“Yes, sir.”
“In what capacity?”
“Oh, sort of a general assistant. I did whatever needed to be done.”
“You took messages for him?”
“That’s right.”
“Ran errands?”
“That’s right. I did anything and everything that was required. I helped him when he’d entertain, I kept liquor glasses full, tried to keep the guests happy. I did anything that needed to be done.”
“Directing your attention to last Monday. Do you have a day off?”
“No, sir. I don’t work that way. I’m around most of the time but when I wanted to take off, I just told him I was going.”
“And what about last Monday night?”
“I told him I wouldn’t be there Monday evening until late. I said I wanted to have an evening with my girl friend.”
“And what time did you actually leave last Monday evening?”
“Six o’clock.”
“Are you acquainted with Marianna Fremont, the housekeeper?”
“Certainly.”
“Does she do the cooking?”
“When she’s there she cooks the meals.”
“Mondays are her days off?”
“That’s right.”
“Who cooks on Mondays?”
“Well, she did the cooking when we didn’t have company. Usually he had another cook come in when we were entertaining, or sometimes a caterer brought in a meal if he was entertaining quite a few people.
“When Mr. Borden and I were there alone, I’d scramble up some eggs and cook some bacon for breakfast. We’d usually have a salad for lunch, and sometimes I’d cook up some stuff Monday night. We sort of camped out on the cook’s day off unless we were entertaining. If we were, he’d get a caterer or another cook.”
“Was any meal cooked last Monday night?”
“He told me he was going to open up some canned sauerkraut and have some weenies. I was going out for dinner.”
“What time did he usually eat on Monday evening, if you know?”
“I object, if the Court please,” Mason said. “If the testimony has any bearing, it is incumbent to show what actually happened on this particular night. I object to this specific question as being incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”
Drew said, “It is very important, if the Court please, to get this point established because, while the time of death can only be fixed as between eight-thirty and eleven-thirty from the temperature of the body, the development of the rigor mortis and post-mortem lividity, the time could be fixed much more accurately if we knew when the last meal was ingested.”
Judge Erwood turned to Ferney. “And that is something that you don’t know — except by referring to general custom?”
“That’s right, Your Honor. Monday night he had the house to himself. He could have gone out there at five minutes after six, after I left, and eaten, or he could have waited until eight-thirty and eaten, or he could have waited until after Ansley had finished with his appointment. I know when we usually ate on Monday night. That’s the only way I can fix the time.”
“I see,” Judge Erwood said thoughtfully. “I think I’ll sustain the defendant’s objection — as the evidence now stands.”
“I think that covers all our questions. You may cross-examine,” Drew said to Perry Mason.
“There is a wall surrounding the entire estate?” Mason asked.
“That’s right.”
“And electric gates?”
“That’s right. They’re controlled by electricity.”
“Is there any other means of ingress and egress except through those gates?”
“There’s a back entrance.”
“And where is that?”
“That’s in back of the garage.”
“Of what does it consist?”
“It’s a heavy, solid iron gate which is kept locked at all times.”
“You have a key to it?”
“Of course.”
“The housekeeper has a key to it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And, of course, Mr. Borden had a key to it?”
“Right.”
“Are there any other keys?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Is that gate wide enough for an automobile to enter?”
“No, sir, just wide enough for a person to go through. It’s a heavy, solid iron door. All the traffic comes in through the main gates. There’s a rubber tube imbedded in the ground under a movable apron there at the gate, and whenever a car drives in, it rings a bell in the house so that Mr. Borden knows someone’s coming in.”
“I see,” Mason said thoughtfully. “How did the gates close?”
“You could close them by pressing a button in the house, or the gates closed automatically with a timing device which was set for eleven o’clock, although that time could be changed.”
“How did the gates open?”
“They had to be opened by pressing a button in the house, or by manipulating a locked switch out on the driveway. If you used the switch in the driveway, the gates would open long enough for a car to go through, and then they’d automatically close again.”
“Was there some way of opening the gates from the outside?”
“Sure. There’s a switch with a key. You use the key to unlock the switch, press a button and the gates open long enough for a car to drive through, then they automatically close again.”
“You had keys to all those switches?”
“Sure.”
“And the housekeeper?”
“That’s right. She had keys, too.”
“There’s a telephone there at the gate?”
“That’s right.”
“And with what is that telephone connected?”
“That’s a private line that goes right through to the house where there are two telephones that ring whenever the button is pressed.”
“Where are those telephones located?”
“One of them is in Mr. Borden’s study, the other is in the place where I stay, my room.”
“And where is your room?”
“Down in the basement.”
“Why the two telephones?”
“Because when the gate bell rings, I pick up the receiver and ask who is there and all about it. Mr. Borden would be listening in on his extension. If it was someone Borden wanted to see, he’d then cut in and say, ‘This is Mr. Borden himself. I’ll open the gates for you and you can drive in.’ But if after a while I didn’t hear Borden saying anything like that, I’d just tell the guy that I was sorry, the gates were closed for the night, that Borden couldn’t be disturbed, and hang up.”
“The telephone at the gate connected then with just those two instruments?”
“That’s right.”
“Mr. Borden spent most of his time in this study?”
“Practically all of it.”
“What about the photographic studio?”
“He was up there some of the time, mostly at night.”
“Did you ever help him in there?”