“Around eleven-thirty or perhaps a little after.”
“And you then picked up your own car there?”
“Yes.”
“And returned to your room at the Borden place?”
The witness fidgeted. “No. I didn’t stay there that night.”
“That’s all,” Mason announced.
“Any further direct examination?” Judge Erwood asked Hamilton Burger.
“No, Your Honor.”
“The witness is excused,” Judge Erwood said, “but don’t leave the courtroom. The Court feels that your conduct has been reprehensible. You have endeavored to conceal facts from the Court.”
Mason said, “If the Court please, there is one further question I would like to ask, a question by way of impeachment.”
“Go ahead,” Judge Erwood said.
Mason said, “Unfortunately, Your Honor, I can’t lay a foundation by giving the exact time and the exact place or the exact persons present, but I can ask a general impeaching question. Isn’t it a fact, Mr. Ferney, that at some time after the night of Monday, the eighth of this month, you told Loretta Harper that you knew your wife had murdered Meridith Borden and that you were going to try to protect her if you could?”
“Just a moment, just a moment!” Hamilton Burger shouted, getting to his feet. “That question is improper, it’s improper cross-examination, it’s objected to.”
“What’s improper about it as cross-examination?” Judge Erwood snapped.
Hamilton Burger, caught off balance, hesitated.
Sam Drew jumped to his feet. “If the Court please, no proper foundation has been laid. A question of that sort should specify the exact time and the persons present. Moreover, the opinion of this witness is of absolutely no value.”
Judge Erwood said, “Counsel has stated that he doesn’t know the time; that he doesn’t know who was present. He has, however, asked the witness specifically if he didn’t have a certain conversation with Loretta Harper. The object of that question is not to prove the fact, but to prove the motivation of the witness, his animosity toward any of the parties, his reason for concealing testimony. I’m going to let him answer the question.”
The judge turned to Ferney. “Answer the question.”
Ferney twisted and squirmed on the chair. “Well, I... I may have said—”
“Yes or no?” Judge Erwood snapped. “Did you make such a statement?”
“Well, yes, I did. I told her that.”
“That’s all,” Mason said.
“That’s all,” Hamilton Burger said, his manner showing his extreme annoyance.
Judge Erwood said, “The witness is excused.”
Mason said, “If the Court please, I would like to have a subpoena issued for Dr. Margaret Callison, and I would ask the Court to grant the defense a continuance until such a subpoena can be served.”
“Any objection on the part of the prosecution?” Judge Erwood asked.
“Yes, Your Honor,” Sam Drew said. “In the first place, counsel has had ample opportunity to prepare his case. In the second place, the case in chief has all been submitted. The prosecution has rested its case, the defense has rested its case, the prosecution has called rebuttal witnesses, the issues are limited at this time.”
Judge Erwood looked down at Mason, said, “The Court is going to take a ten-minute recess, Mr. Mason, and, at the end of that recess, the Court will rule on your motion.”
Mason pushed his way through the crowd of spectators to catch Paul Drake’s arm. “Get a subpoena, Paul. Serve it on Dr. Callison. Get her here. Rush!”
“You don’t think he’s going to give you a continuance so you can get her here?” Drake asked.
“I don’t know,” Mason said. “I think he’s giving me an opportunity to get her here without granting the continuance. I don’t know. Judge Erwood, of course, was planning to shut me off and show me that this was only a preliminary hearing, and I couldn’t pull any of my legal pyrotechnics here. Now he’s interested, and— Get started, Paul. Get going.”
“On my way,” Drake said.
“Bring her back with you,” Mason told him, “and rush it.”
Drake nodded and pushed his way out of the courtroom.
Mason turned back to where Della Street was standing.
“Well?” she asked.
Mason said, “I’m darned if I know, Della. There’s something here that is very peculiar.”
“I think it’s plain as can be,” she said. “Frank Ferney is trying to protect his wife, or, rather, was trying to protect her, and that made Loretta Harper furious.”
Mason said, “There’s something back of all this. Della, what would you do if you were a crooked politician, if you adopted the position that you were only a public relations expert, that you wouldn’t think of acting as intermediary in the taking of bribes, that you would act only in a consulting capacity — and then you took in large sums of money which, in turn, you passed out as bribes?”
Della Street made a little grimace. “I’d probably kill myself about the second night. I don’t think I could sleep in the same bed with myself.”
“But suppose you got to the point where you were putting up with yourself and making a very good living out of what you were doing?”
“What are you getting at?” she asked.
Mason said, “Borden undoubtedly took some steps to protect himself. He knew that when Ansley called on him, Ansley felt he was passing out bribe money. Borden had to accept that money and he had to use it as bribe money. But, in order to keep his skirts clean, he had to adopt the position that he was acting legitimately as a public relations counselor.
“Under those circumstances, if I were Borden, I would keep a tape recording of every conversation which took place and be able to produce those tape recordings if I ever got in a jam.”
“Well?” she asked.
“No one has said anything about a tape recording of the Ansley conversation.”
“Would you want one?” she asked. “Would it help your client?”
“There’s one way,” Mason said, “in which it would help my client a lot.”
“What? I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“If Ansley went there to kill him,” Mason said, “he wouldn’t first employ him as a public relations counselor, and then kill him.”
“But he might have become angered after having the conversation.”
“He might have,” Mason said, grinning, “but there’s one very significant matter which I think our friends on the prosecution have over-looked... Where’s Lt. Tragg? Is he around?”
“Yes, he’s sitting in court taking in all the testimony.”
“Fine,” Mason said, grinning. “Tragg will tell the truth.”
Chapter Eleven
When Judge Erwood returned to the bench, Hamilton Burger arose to renew his objection.
“If the Court please,” he said, “if the defense had wanted to call Dr. Callison as a witness, they should have had her under subpoena.
“I think it is quite apparent to this Court that what the defense is doing is merely going on a general fishing expedition, trying to call as many witnesses as possible, trying to find out what they know about the case, trying to get them on the record so that the defense counselor will have a record from which to impeach their testimony when they get into the superior court.
“I know that Courts don’t approve of these tactics generally, and I think this Court will agree with me that there has been a tendency in the past to transform some preliminary hearings into spectacular trials which go far outside the issues that should have been determined at a preliminary examination.”
“You are continuing to resist the motion for a continuance so that Dr. Callison can be subpoenaed?” Judge Erwood asked.