“I wouldn’t know.”
“Do you know whether Mr. Teays intended to take a vacation Sunday when he was working with you on this case?”
“No. I don’t.”
“He didn’t say anything to you about it?”
“No.”
“Then suddenly he decided to take his vacation. Do you have any idea why?”
“I’ve told you all I know about that.”
“As a matter of fact,” Mason said, “didn’t Mr. Teays decide to take his vacation because he had picked up the claim check in question and because he had given it to Miss Street?”
“I don’t know.”
“But do you know that Teays did pick up the claim check and give it to Miss Street?”
“Well... I couldn’t swear that, no.”
“Why can’t you swear it?”
“I didn’t see the claim check — not closely enough to recognize it.”
Mason said with an air of dogged persistence, “Let’s get at it this way. You were shadowing Carol Burbank every minute of the time there at the Union Terminal?”
“Yes.”
“You saw her and Miss Street walk toward the taxi stand?”
“Yes.”
“You saw Miss Burbank open her purse and an oblong of pasteboard flutter out to the floor?”
“Well... Yes.”
“And you saw Mr. Teays pick that pasteboard oblong up and hand it to Miss Street?”
“She reached for it.”
“But Teays picked it up and handed it to her?”
“Yes.”
“And the only reason you now say you don’t know it was this same claim check is because you weren’t close enough to read the number on it? Is that right?”
“Well, I can’t swear it was this claim check unless I know it’s the same, can I?”
“It was a piece of pasteboard about this size?”
“Yes.”
“Approximately of this appearance?”
“Yes.”
“With perforated edges along one side?”
“Well... Yes.”
“And had a large number printed on it? You saw that much?”
“Yes.”
“How close were you to Teays when he picked it up?”
“Eight or ten feet.”
“Did Teays tell you he’d handed Miss Street that claim check?”
“Objected to as improper cross-examination, as incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial and as calling for hearsay testimony,” Linton objected vociferously. “Mr. Teays isn’t on trial. Any statement Mr. Teavs made to this witness has no bearing on the case. He can only testify to what he saw.”
Judge Newark said, “I’m going to sustain that objection. Does the prosecutor’s office have any knowledge of why Mr. Teays happened to take his vacation at this particular time?”
“I believe he had two weeks coming,” Linton said.
“Do you know when the decision was reached that he would take his vacation now?”
“No, Your Honor, I don’t,” Linton said.
“Any further questions?” Judge Newark asked Perry Mason.
“None, Your Honor.”
Judge Newark frowned at the witness, started to say something, then changed his mind and said to the prosecutors, “Very well, call your next witness. That’s all, Mr. St. Claire.”
“Dr. Colfax C. Newbern,” Linton announced.
Dr. Newbern was a tall, self-possessed individual who took the stand and stated his full name, address and occupation in a low voice to the court reporter, his manner that of calm, professional competence.
“I will stipulate the doctor’s qualification as an expert, subject to the right of cross-examination,” Mason said.
“Very well,” Linton announced. “You are, I believe, attached to the coroner’s office, Doctor?”
“That’s right.”
“I show you a photograph and ask you if you recognize that photograph?”
“I do. That is a photograph of a body upon which I performed an autopsy.”
“When did you first see this body, Doctor?”
“I was present when the police boarded the yacht and saw the body lying on the floor of the cabin.”
“When did you next see it after that?”
“Sunday morning when I performed an autopsy.”
“What was the cause of death, Doctor?”
“The man had received a blow — a very severe blow on the back of the head. There had been a fracture of the skull and a very extensive hemorrhage. I’m trying to put this in common everyday terms so the layman will understand it.”
“Quite right, Doctor. Now just tell us a little more about the cause of death, and the time of death.”
“In my opinion,” Dr. Newbern said, “unconsciousness was an immediate result of that blow. The victim never regained consciousness and, judging from the extent of the hemorrhage and the conditions I found in the brain, I would say that death occurred within five minutes.”
“In your opinion then, the victim never moved from the time that blow was struck?”
“That’s right.”
“Now when you first saw the body, Doctor, where was it with reference to the surroundings shown in this photograph which I now hand you?”
“The body was over here,” the doctor said, indicating a point on the photograph. “It was way over on the right hand side of the boat. That is, what is referred to in nautical terms as starboard side. It is the right side when you face the bow. This photograph was taken looking toward the stern of the boat. Therefore, the position where the body was found would have been in the left hand portion of this photograph.”
“I’ll show you a photograph, People’s Exhibit C, which actually shows a body and ask you if that is approximately the position and location of the body when you first saw it.”
“That is exactly the position and location of the body, yes, sir. That is the body as it was lying when I first saw it.”
“Did you make any examination of the premises when the body was discovered?”
“Not when the body was discovered,” the doctor corrected with a smile, “but when the police arrived.”
“You did make such an examination?”
“Yes.”
“What did you discover?”
Dr. Newbern said, “I discovered the body lying in approximately this position which, you will notice, is face up on the starboard side of the yacht. I noticed that under the head there was a pool of blood indicating a rather extensive hemorrhage. I also noticed that at another point in the cabin, the carpet was saturated with blood. Do you wish me to point that out?”
“Please.”
“That was in approximately here.”
Mason, getting up to walk around behind the witness so he could see the point the witness fixed on the photograph, said, “If the Court please, for the sake of the record, the doctor is now pointing to a portion of the photograph, People’s Exhibit C, which is in the upper right-hand corner and immediately in front of the door way which enters the after cabin of the yacht. That’s right, Doctor?”
“That’s right,” the doctor said.
“Thank you,” Mason announced and returned to his seat.
“You noticed there was a pool of blood here?” Linton continued.
“Yes, sir. And there were a few small bloodstains at more or less regular intervals between these two spots.”
“Did you make any examination of the threshold between the main cabin and the after cabin?”
“I did, yes, sir.”
“What did you find?”
“I found that the threshold was raised approximately three inches, as is, I believe, usual in yacht construction. I found that the threshold was covered with brass, and that there were spots of discoloration on this brass. I made scrapings of those discolorations and determined that they were human blood. I typed the blood and found that it was of the same type of blood as that of the body which was found in the position which I have indicated on the floor.”