Of course there may have been some recent decisions on this point in the last two or three years since this particular volume was printed, and we’ll have to do a little research work. But I think we can safely act on the assumption that this is the law.”
The telephone rang, and Della, picking up the instrument, said, “Yes, Gertie.”
Della listened for a moment, then said, “You mean his secretary is here... Wait just a minute, Gertie.”
She turned to Mason and said, “Huntley Banner is here himself, not his secretary but the lawyer.”
Mason replaced the law book on the shelf, said, “Tell him to come in, Della.”
Della hurried to open the connecting door and Banner entered the office, his face smiling, his manner conciliatory.
“I’m certainly sorry about that scene down at the Hastings offices,” he said. “My client has always hated Simley Beason and she blew her top. Naturally, as her attorney, I had to back her play. You’ll understand that. Of course you have to make allowances for the fact that she’s been under very great strain, but even so the matter could have been handled much more diplomatically.”
“Sit down, Banner,” Mason said. “I thought your secretary was coming over.”
“I did too,” Banner said. “I told her to come over here but she got stage fright. She was afraid you’d start cross-examining her about the execution of the will and all of that and she chickened out on me. So I told her I’d come myself.
“After all, it’s only a hop, skip and a jump. Our offices are just a block and a half apart, and I wanted to show you the photostat of the will. I’ve already filed the original with a petition for probate.”
Mason extended his hand for the papers which Banner held out.
“You’ll notice,” Banner said, “it’s a very short will. He simply revokes all prior wills, states that he is of sound and disposing mind and memory, that he has no living relatives other than his wife, Minerva Shelton Hastings; that he therefore leaves all his property to her.
“Then we have a safety clause in it, for whatever it’s worth, providing that if any person should appear and claim relationship of any sort to him, whether as descendant, common-law wife or otherwise, and establish such relationship, that person is left the sum of one hundred dollars.
“Now then, you’ll notice the will is executed in the presence of witnesses and the witnesses are Elvina Mitchell and myself.
“If you’d like to ask any questions about that will, go right ahead.”
“That will was executed at the date appearing in the will?”
“That’s right. It was executed in my office. Garvin Hastings signed it in my presence and in the presence of Elvina Mitchell, the other witness. He asked us to sign as witnesses and declared in our presence that this was his last will and testament. That will is absolutely ironclad.”
“How soon after his marriage to Minerva was the will made?” Mason asked.
“I think within forty-eight hours. As I remember it, he rang me up and told me that he was getting married, that he wanted his wife to have protection.”
“What about his estate prior to that time?” Mason asked. “He must have had a will.”
“I don’t know about the terms of that will,” Banner said. “I wasn’t his attorney at that time.”
“Then you started doing his legal work at about the date he married Minerva?” Mason asked.
“I didn’t say that,” Banner said. “Now, don’t put words in my mouth, Mason. Actually I had been doing some legal work for him for a period of several months prior to the execution of this will, but shortly after this will was executed I began doing more and more of his work and he began to rely on me more and more. I think I was doing his legal work exclusively at the time this will was executed.”
“Then his marriage with Minerva went on the rocks?” Mason asked.
“Well, it depends on what you mean by that. Actually his marriage started breaking up about... oh, I’d say about the time Adelle Sterling was employed as secretary.
“Now, I’m not saying anything against your client, Mason, but I will say that it was the contention of Minerva that the marriage would have continued if it hadn’t been for Adelle. She claims that Adelle insinuated herself into Hastings’ confidence and alienated his affections.”
“So then Minerva went to Nevada to establish a residence and get a divorce?” Mason asked.
“That’s right. There’s no secret about that. Hastings told her that he thought the marriage was a failure and that he thought they should dissolve it. I believe it was at that time he told her that he had fallen in love with his secretary, that he wanted to be free to marry her, that he wanted Minerva to go to Nevada and get a divorce.”
“And Minerva agreed?” Mason asked.
“No, she didn’t,” Banner said. “She filed suit for divorce right here. She named Adelle as corespondent. She asked for separate maintenance and a big chunk of alimony. She also asked that a receiver be appointed to take charge of the property. She demanded attorney’s fees and all the rest of it.”
“What happened to that suit?” Mason asked.
“There’s no question about that suit,” Banner said. “That suit was dismissed. I checked on that personally.”
“What caused her to dismiss it?”
“Hastings went to her and persuaded her that it would be better for her to dismiss the suit and give him his freedom.”
“What did he use as a persuader?” Mason asked.
“It’s anybody’s guess,” Banner said. “Hastings didn’t tell me the amount. It was a personal conversation between Hastings and Minerva and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it because actually Minerva had an attorney of record.”
“What happened to him?”
“I suppose Minerva compensated him in some way — that is, Hastings did. Anyway, it was all taken care of very hush-hush and Minerva got a check for, I believe, some two hundred or two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and went to Nevada, established a residence, and agreed to get a divorce.
“Now of course you heard her state that she decided to fight fire with fire, that she told her husband she had secured a divorce and sent him what purported to be a copy of the decree of divorce, but that decree wasn’t certified.
“Now that of course is fraud, and whether she can capitalize on that fraud is a legal question, but there were very great pressures being brought to bear upon her and she did what she thought was best to protect her interests.
“The fact remains that legally she still remained Hastings’ wife and Hastings’ marriage to Adelle was therefore bigamous and void.”
“No property settlement was ever executed between Minerva and Hastings?” Mason asked.
“Not to my knowledge. Hastings simply went to her apartment and said, ‘Look here, Minerva, why do you want to get an attorney and fight this thing through the courts? When you get done the lawyer will get a big percentage of what you recover, and you may not get a dime. Virtually all the property is my sole and separate property and’— Well, he intimated that he’d had detectives on her trail and that there was some scandal in connection with her.”
“You don’t know what it was?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Don’t you know, or aren’t you saying?”
“Honestly, Mr. Mason, I don’t know. Hastings never confided in me on that point and of course Minerva hasn’t. It was a private conversation and I don’t know what happened. I do know generally that there was something in Minerva’s past that Hastings had found out about, something that she didn’t want to have publicized— Well, I guess it was a standoff and they made this settlement.”