“And how did you get there?” Mason asked.
The witness grinned. Hamilton Burger grinned. Sam Drew grinned.
“I drove back in an automobile,” he said.
“Alone?” Mason asked sharply.
“No, sir.”
“Who was with you?”
“A woman.”
“Who was this woman?”
“Dr. Margaret Callison.”
“And who is Dr. Callison?”
“A veterinary.”
“How did you enter the premises?”
“We drove up to the locked back gate. Dr. Callison parked her car, and I took a dog out of her car. The dog was on leash. I opened the door, took the dog to the kennel, unlocked the kennel door and put the dog inside. That was at approximately ten minutes to eleven, perhaps five minutes to eleven, by the time I got the dog in there.
“I then asked Dr. Callison if she wanted a drink, and she said she’d run in and have a drink. She wanted to see Mr. Borden and tell him something about the dog.”
“So what did you do?”
“I escorted her to the back door of the house, opened the door with my key and we went in.”
“Then what?”
“I went to Mr. Borden’s study and he wasn’t there. I assumed that... well, I guess I’m not permitted to say what I assume.”
“Go right ahead,” Mason said. “I don’t hear any objection from the prosecution and I certainly have none. I want to know exactly what happened. I’m not afraid of the facts in this case.”
“Well, I assumed that he was up in the studio doing some photographic work, perhaps some development, and I suggested to Dr. Callison that we wait a few minutes and see if he came down. I poured a couple of drinks, and about that time the burglar alarm sounded, the lights came on and the kennel doors opened automatically.
“I heard the dogs run to the wall and bark, and then I could tell by the way one of the dogs was barking and jumping that whoever had set off the burglar alarm had gone over the wall. I returned to Dr. Callison and suggested we finish our drinks in a hurry and go see what had happened and what had turned on the burglar alarm.
“Then I went out and whistled the dogs back to the kennel.
“While I was still outside, I heard the telephone ring. I hurried back and found that Dr. Callison had answered the telephone. She told me that some man had asked for Mr. Borden, and she had told him Mr. Borden didn’t want to be disturbed.”
“Then what?” Mason asked.
“Then, after a short time, the phone continued a long series of jangling rings.”
“So what happened?” Mason asked.
“I answered the telephone. I thought probably it was the police calling about the burglar alarm.”
“And what happened?” Mason asked.
“A young woman was on the other end of the telephone. I recognize her voice now as that of Miss Street. She has given a very accurate statement of the conversation which took place over the telephone. That is, I said I was Borden and told her the dogs wouldn’t hurt anyone; that I would turn off the light and put the dogs back in the kennels. Actually, I had already put the dogs back.”
Mason regarded the witness with thoughtful eyes.
Over at the prosecution table, Hamilton Burger and Sam Drew were grinning expansively at the spectacle of Mason bringing out the prosecution’s case on cross-examination. Having resorted to the time-honored trick of asking Ferney only a few devastating questions on direct examination and then terminating their questioning with no explanation, they had virtually forced Mason to crucify himself.
“Is it your custom to state over the telephone that you are Meridith Borden?” Mason asked.
“Sure,” the witness said. “At times, when Borden didn’t want to be disturbed and someone insisted on talking with him, I’d say that I was Borden and tell whoever I was talking with that I couldn’t be disturbed.”
“Did you do that often?”
“Not often, but I have done it. Usually Mr. Borden was listening on the telephone, and if he wanted to see the, person, he’d cut in on the conversation. If he didn’t, I’d say that he wasn’t there, or that he couldn’t come to the phone.”
Mason moved slowly forward.
“Will you describe Dr. Callison?” he asked.
“Why, she’s a woman veterinary who has a wonderful way with dogs.”
“How old?”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t guess at a woman’s age, but she’s relatively young.”
“Around your age?”
“I would say she was around thirty-two or three.”
“Heavy?”
“No. Very well formed.”
“Surely you weren’t entertaining her in your bedroom?” Mason asked, making his voice sound highly skeptical.
Ferney came up out of the witness chair angrily. “That’s a lie!” he shouted.
Burger was on his feet, waving his hands. “Your Honor, Your Honor, this is uncalled for, this is completely outside of the scope of legitimate cross-examination. It is a gratuitous insult to an estimable woman. It—”
Judge Erwood pounded his gavel. “Yes, Mr. Mason,” he said, “it would seem that that is certainly not called for under the circumstances.”
Mason looked at the judge with an expression of wide-eyed innocence. “Why, Your Honor,” he said, “it’s the only inference to be drawn from the evidence. The witness has stated that there was a telephone in his bedroom where he slept, which was in the basement, that there was another phone in Meridith Borden’s study, that when the phone rang the witness would answer, that Borden would listen in.”
“But not this time,” Ferney interrupted angrily. “This time I was answering the telephone from Borden’s study.”
“Oh,” Mason said. “Pardon me, I didn’t understand you. Then you took Dr. Callison into Borden’s study, did you?”
“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t have taken her down to my bedroom.”
“Well,” Mason said, “I beg the Court’s pardon. I certainly misunderstood the witness. I thought it was quite plain from what he had said that he always answered the telephone from his bedroom.”
Judge Erwood looked down at Ferney speculatively. “You certainly did give that impression in your testimony, Mr. Ferney,” he said.
“Well, I didn’t mean to give it. That is, that’s... well, that’s where I usually answered the phone from. But this time, because Dr. Callison was there, it was different.”
“Where were you talking from?” Mason asked.
“From the study.”
“Meridith Borden’s study?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s see if we can get this straight about Dr. Callison. She is a veterinary?”
“That’s right.”
“And she had been treating one of the dogs?”
“Yes.”
“And you were to call and get the dog?”
“Yes.”
“What time?”
“Around nine o’clock.”
“But you didn’t call at nine o’clock?”
“No, sir.”
“When did you call?”
“It was around ten-thirty.”
“Why didn’t you call at nine o’clock?”
“I overslept.”
“You overslept?” Mason asked, his voice showing his surprise.
“All right, if you want to know,” Frank Ferney said, “I was drunk. I went up to a party at the home of my fiancée and passed out.”
“And who is your fiancée?”
“Loretta Harper.”
Mason’s brows leveled down over his eyes. “Have you been married?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever been divorced?”
“Your Honor,” Sam Drew said, “this is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial. It is not proper cross-examination.”
“On the contrary,” Judge Erwood said, “this is a matter in which the Court is very much interested. The testimony of this witness indicates a most peculiar set of circumstances, and, since he is apparently being relied upon to refute the defense witness, the Court wants to get at the bottom of it. Just answer the question.”