“Cross-examine,” Marshall said to Perry Mason.
“With reference to this indeterminate interval,” Mason said, “it is then possible that the decedent had sustained the fatal wound at some other place and had driven the car to the place where the body was found?”
“It is possible but not probable.”
“Would you say that the interval between the time the fatal wound was sustained and death could not have been more than ten minutes?”
“It could have been as much as ten minutes.”
“Could it have been more?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Could it have been eleven minutes?”
“Well, yes. When I say ten minutes I am not referring to an interval which I time with a stop watch.”
“Well, you know how long ten minutes is, don’t you?” Mason asked.
“Yes.”
“Now you say it could have been eleven minutes.”
“It could have been.”
“Twelve?”
“Possibly.”
“Thirteen?”
“Well, yes.”
“Fourteen?”
“I can’t fix the time exactly, Mr. Mason.”
“Fifteen?”
“I’m not going to say that it couldn’t have been fifteen minutes.”
“Twenty?”
“I doubt very much if it was twenty minutes.”
“It could have been?”
“It could have been.”
“The decedent could have been driving the, car during that time?”
“During at least a part of that time. There was considerable hemorrhage and he was losing blood and losing strength.”
“Thank you,” Mason said. “That’s all.”
The doctor left the stand, and Marshall called Sgt. Holcomb to the stand.
Sgt. Holcomb testified that he was connected with the homicide squad of the police department; that he had gone to the San Sebastian Country Club, had examined the body and the car.
“Did you make any examination of the surrounding terrain?” Marshall asked.
“I did.”
“Did you find anything which you considered significant?”
“I did.”
“Please tell us what it was that you found.”
Sgt. Holcomb glanced triumphantly at Perry Mason. “Concealed in the brush, within a hundred yards of the place where the automobile was parked, and just a few yards off a service road which skirts the hill on a lower level, I found a printing press.”
“What sort of a printing press?” Marshall asked.
“A portable printing press of a very good quality which was capable of doing good work. It weighed in the vicinity of eighty-five pounds, I would say.”
“What else can you tell us about that printing press, Sergeant?”
“A name and address had been set in type in that press. The name was the name of the defendant in this case and the address was her address in San Francisco.”
“Did you find anything else significant about that printing press?”
“I did.”
“What?”
“There was the imprint of a fingerprint in the ink on the steel table over which the rollers ran when the press was operated.”
“That was a circular table?”
“It was.”
“And it revolved with each impulse of the press; that is, each time the press was used the round steel table revolved?”
“It did.”
“And there was black ink on this round steel plate?”
“There was.”
“Can you describe that ink?”
“It is a very thick, sticky ink such as is used in printing presses of that type. When the rollers move over the steel table the ink clings to the rollers; that is, a small coating of ink clings to the rollers, and then as the rollers go down over the type, the type is inked just enough to make a legible print on the paper.”
“That ink was thick enough and sticky enough to hold a fingerprint?”
“It held it very well, yes, sir.”
“And were you able to identify the fingerprint which was on that table?”
“Yes, sir, absolutely.”
“Whose print was it?”
“It was the print of the middle finger of the defendant in this case.”
“Now then, Sergeant Holcomb, you described the operation of the press. Do I understand that whenever this press was put in operation the rollers moved over this steel table?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And the table itself revolved?”
“Well, it didn’t make a complete revolution, but it moved a few degrees of arc.”
“Then, as I understand it, if the press had been actuated after that print had been made, the print would have been obliterated by the joint action of the rubber rollers, of which I believe there are two, and the rotation of the steel table?”
“That is correct.”
“Did you find anything else in your search of the premises, Sergeant Holcomb?”
“I did.”
“What?”
“I found an empty cartridge case.”
“What sort of a cartridge case?”
“A .22-caliber cartridge case.”
“Do you have that with you?”
“I do.”
Sgt. Holcomb produced an envelope from his pocket, opened it, took out a small glass bottle which contained an empty .22-caliber cartridge case.
“This you found where?”
“At a point about twenty feet, as nearly as we could tell, twenty feet and two inches from the steering wheel of the automobile in which the body of Mervin Selkirk was found.”
“What was the nature of the terrain at that point?”
“At that particular point the terrain was grassy. There was a practice putting green bordering the side of the parking space on the north. This cartridge case was in the grass. On the south side of the parking space there was native brush on the slope of the hill.”
“That’s all,” Marshall said. “You may inquire, Mr. Mason.”
Mason’s smile was affable. “How long had this cartridge case been there in the grass before you picked it up, Sergeant?”
“If it had held the murder bullet, it couldn’t have been there more than about twelve hours.”
“If it had held the murder bullet?”
“Yes.”
“Had it held that bullet?”
“I think it had.”
“Do you know it had?”
“Well we can prove it by inference.”
“Do you know it had?”
“No.”
“Do you know how long the cartridge case had been there before you picked it up?”
“No, of course not. I wasn’t there when the cartridge was fired. If I had been—”
“Could it have been there two days, Sergeant?”
“I suppose so.”
“Ten days?”
“I suppose so.”
“What was the nature of the terrain where you found the printing press?” Mason asked.
“It was on the sloping hill. The terrain there was covered with native brush.”
“Where was the printing press, with relation to the brush; in deep brush or relatively in the open?”
“In deep brush.”
“Was it sitting straight up or was it on an angle, as would have been the case if it had been thrown into the brush?”
“It was sitting straight up.”
“As though it had been carefully placed there?”
“I can’t say as to that. It was sitting straight up.”