“This is all hearsay,” Linton pointed out.
“Are you objecting to it?”
“Yes, Your Honor, I’m going to object to this as hearsay evidence, and as not proper cross-examination. This man is...”
“Sustained,” Judge Newark ruled.
“All right,” Mason said to the witness, “just confine yourself generally to what you did.”
“Well, this man made some statements to me about what he’d found, and as a result of those statements, I communicated with the police.”
“Now what did you tell the police?”
“Same objection,” Linton said.
“Overruled,” the judge snapped. “Witness is now being cross-examined as to something he said and did himself.”
“Well, I telephoned Police Headquarters and told them...”
“Never mind what you told them,” Linton said.
“On the contrary,” Mason announced, “I’m interested in what the witness told the police. I believe this is part of the res gestae, and in any event, it will show possible bias.”
“The objection is overruled.”
“Well, I told the police that I was caretaker and watchman at the yacht club, and that some crazy foreigner was claiming that he had an appointment with Milfield...”
“Your Honor,” Linton protested, “this is exactly the same matter which the Court refused to permit the witness to testify to earlier.”
“Oh, no, it isn’t,” the judge said. “At that time he was testifying as to what Palermo had told him. Now he’s testifying as to what he told the police. The defense is certainly entitled to cross-examine this witness as to what he said and did in connection with this matter — if it wants to show bias.”
“But Counsel is going to get it all in just the same,” Linton protested, “because this man is now about to relate his conversation with the police over the telephone.”
“Let him relate it then,” Judge Newark said. “The objection is overruled.”
“Go ahead,” Mason said, “answer the question.”
“Well, I told the police that this man Palermo was there in a boat; that he said he’d had an appointment on Burbank’s yacht with Fred Milfield; that when he went out there to where Milfield had told him the yacht would be, he found it heeled well over on its side, aground on a mud bar. He sculled his boat around it and shouted a couple of times...”
Linton said desperately, “I want the witness to understand that he is only to testify as to what he told the police and not what Palermo told him.”
Cameron said, “I’m telling about what I told the police Palermo told me. Isn’t that all right?”
Judge Newark smiled, “That’s all right. Go right ahead.”
“Well, I said that Palermo said he’d sculled around the yacht a couple of times and then he’d boarded it and called out to find if anyone was aboard. And when he received no answer, he slid back the hatch and went down into the cabin and found Fred Milfield lying dead.”
“Any further conversation?” Mason asked.
“That was about all.”
“Any conversation between you and the police about Palermo?”
“Well, a little. Yes. It seems the police knew who I was and wanted to know if Palermo had rented a boat from me.”
“And what did you tell them?”
The witness smiled. “I told them just what Palermo told me when I asked him where he got the boat.”
“And what was that?”
“Palermo don’t seem to believe in squandering money. He said he knew that he was going to have to row out to a yacht on the estuary; and since he already had this folding boat for use on the Skinner Hills Lake in taking out duck-shooting parties, he saw no reason to pay some city slicker fifty cents or a dollar for boat rental, so he simply loaded his folding boat into his automobile and used that to go out to the yacht.”
“I don’t see what possible bearing this has on the case,” Linton said.
Mason smiled, “It might be a fact favorable to the defense.”
“Well, I don’t see it.”
“That,” Mason announced with mock sympathy, “is the result of a legal astigmatism.”
“Come, come, gentlemen, let’s get on with the case,” Judge Newark said.
“Did you,” Mason asked, “tell the police anything that Palermo told you about the time he had left his residence in Skinner Hills in order to keep his appointment?”
“He told me something about that, but I didn’t tell the police.”
“Then the witness obviously can’t testify to it,” Linton said.
“And the witness obviously isn’t being asked about it,” Mason announced.
“Proceed,” Judge Newark said, somewhat tartly.
“You rent rowboats?” Mason asked.
“Yes, sir. That’s right.”
“Is there any other place nearby that rents rowboats?”
“No, sir. I think mine is the only place at present where boats can be rented.”
“Now then, did you rent any boats on the Friday night when the murder was committed?”
“That also is objected to as not being proper cross examination.”
“Overruled.”
“Answer the question, Mr. Cameron.”
“I rented one rowboat.”
“Only one?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What period of time are you including in your answer?”
“From four o’clock in the afternoon on until after the body was discovered.”
“To whom was this boat rented?”
Cameron smiled. “The man’s name was Smith. He put up a deposit of five dollars and rented the boat to make some studies of the nocturnal habits of sharks. At least, that’s what he said he wanted to do.”
“And what time was this boat rented?” Mason asked.
“The boat was rented at right around nine o’clock in the evening.”
“For how long was it rented?”
“He returned it at exactly twenty minutes past ten, about one hour and twenty minutes later. I remember there was some discussion about the length of time he’d been out, and I told him to call it an hour and let it go at that because I couldn’t remember whether it had been right on the dot of nine o’clock when he started out or not.”
“Wasn’t an hour rather a short time to make a study of the nocturnal habits of sharks?”
“It depends on how many habits you want to study — and how many sharks.”
There was laughter in the courtroom.
“After all,” Linton pointed out, “the witness isn’t an expert on the subject of sharks.”
Cameron coughed deprecatingly. “It happens,” he said, “I am an expert on sharks. I’ve studied them.”
Judge Newark became interested in this phase of the testimony. “You don’t know who this gentleman was?” he asked, leaning forward. “You only knew that his name was Smith?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you report this to the police?”
“Well... I don’t believe I did. I don’t believe they asked me.”
“That’s the only rowboat that was rented the night of the murder?”
“Yes.”
“From what time did you say?”
“From four o‘clock in the afternoon. I rented another boat at three o’clock, but it was back by five.”
“To whom was that rented?”
“A woman who was also a stranger.”
“A woman who was unaccompanied?”
“That’s right. She was doing some fishing, however. I rent quite a few boats for fishing.”
“And this man Smith,” the judge asked, “can you describe him?”
“Yes, sir, I can. He was a young man, rather dark, very slender, and very much of a greenhorn with a boat. I remember noticing that because it impressed me that...”