“I think that we can definitely regard her statements to be the truth, particularly considering the manner in which they were made. But she may not be telling the whole truth. Her mind was too wearied with the drug to assume the task of explaining. Therefore she instinctively avoided anything requiring complicated thought processes. She would make the naked statement of fact and then fail to amplify.”
“Or rationalize?” Mason asked.
“Put it that way, if you want to. She was on the very borderline of consciousness. Her guard was down.”
Mason thought that over. “Is there any chance that the so-called crime she mentioned is a figment of the imagination?”
“I hardly think so.”
Mason said, “Listen carefully, Bert. I am asking you if there is any chance that the crime to which she apparently confessed is a figment of the imagination.”
“Oh,” Dr. Denair said, grinning, “I get you now. Yes, there is a chance.”
“How much of a chance?”
“Not much, but some chance.”
“Then,” Mason said, “as a doctor, if you should rush to the police with a story of murder that should subsequently turn out to be merely the result of a drug-induced hallucination, your patient would be in a position to sue you for slander, for defamation of character, for an invasion of privacy and for a betrayal of professional confidence. It would ruin you professionally. It would also have very unfortunate repercussions as far as your patient is concerned. Therefore if, as a doctor, you can tell me that there is some chance that the crime to which she confessed is merely the figment of a drugged mind, I would be forced to advise you that you should proceed cautiously, that your first duty would be to make a factual investigation.”
“Very well,” Dr. Denair said, his voice showing obvious relief, “I now tell you there is some chance, a chance which I think is slight, a chance which may in fact be mathematically infinitesimal, but nevertheless a distinct chance, that this confession was in fact the figment of a drug-stimulated imagination.”
“Then,” Mason said, “I advise you that under the circumstances you should quietly launch an investigation.”
“And,” Dr. Denair said, “since I am inept and inexperienced in such matters I hereby commission you to launch that investigation.”
Mason grinned. “Of course, Bert, we don’t have the facilities that the police would have. We have to go about these things more slowly and more conservatively. Furthermore, we can’t take chances on asking questions that would tip our hands and stir up the very troubles we are trying to avoid.”
“Exactly,” Dr. Denair said. “I leave the matter entirely to your discretion.”
“You have a nurse present at these examinations?” Mason asked.
“Yes, of course.”
“Who is the nurse who was present at this one?”
“Elsa Clifton. Do you know her? She’s the tall, slate-eyed brunette that—”
“Yes, I’ve met her.”
“I’m not sure of her. She’s an enigmatic personality.”
“Is there any chance she might tell what took place at this examination?”
“I don’t know.”
“Specifically,” Mason asked, “what medical treatment is indicated for a patient who has confessed to murder?”
“Meaning Nadine Farr?”
Mason nodded.
“Nadine Farr,” Dr. Denair said, “is suffering from a guilt complex. The fact that her crime, if you want to refer to it as such—”
“One customarily refers to murder as a crime,” Mason interposed.
“Remember,” Dr. Denair said, “we don’t know the extenuating circumstances. We don’t know all of the facts. We only know the bare statement that this young lady made. Specifically she feels that she has committed a sin, that she has escaped punishment, that this is wrong. She therefore has a desire to punish herself. She wants to make atonement. With a young woman who is emotionally disturbed and has a sensitive disposition, that feeling can be exceedingly serious. One of the first things she needs is to confess. Subconsciously she realizes that. That is quite probably why she agreed to submit to the truth serum test.
“One of the first things that I am going to do by way of treatment is to give her an opportunity to confess to me after she regains consciousness. Then I am going to bring her in to you, Perry, and she is going to confess to you.”
“To me?”
Dr. Denair nodded.
“Of course,” Mason said, “I don’t need to tell you, Bert, that we’re playing with legal dynamite.”
“I know, but I try to help my patients. That’s the basis of my creed.”
“And I try to help my clients,” Mason said. “That’s the cornerstone of a lawyer’s creed.”
They were silent for a few moments.
“Now then, as your client,” Dr. Denair said at length, “what do you advise me to do?”
“I advise you that we must investigate the facts and that we must proceed cautiously.”
“That’s fine,” Dr. Denair said. “You’ll hear from me again. I’ll bring her to your office at nine-thirty tomorrow.”
“What about this Uncle Mosher whom she mentions?” Mason asked. “Evidently you knew him.”
“I knew of him. He was some sort of a relative. He actually wasn’t her uncle, but he had her visiting with him. She was there in the house during his last illness. Mosher Higley died some three months ago. The attending physician gave the cause of death as coronary thrombosis.”
“There was no post-mortem?”
“No post-mortem. The man was buried.”
“Embalmed?”
“Certainly.”
“Now then,” Mason said, “that raises a very interesting problem. In the event the poison used was cyanide of potassium, the embalming, as you know, would completely destroy evidences of that poison. Unless there could be some independent proof that the man had been poisoned, unless the bottle containing poison could be recovered, or the young woman’s confession could be corroborated in some way, there would be no corpus delicti. There could be no conviction.”
“And if there could be no conviction,” Dr. Denair said, “it would be useless for me to communicate my information to the police?”
“I didn’t say that,” Mason said.
“Well, that’s the interpretation that I place upon what you did say.”
“Don’t do it,” Mason told him. “I am merely pointing out certain rather important facts. You want me to investigate the case. I will investigate it. If it should turn out that in all probability the poison used was cyanide, and it should further turn out that the body was embalmed, then it might well be impossible for the authorities to secure a conviction. If under those circumstances you should go to the district attorney and should tell him that an emotionally disturbed young woman, while under the influence of drugs, had made a confession to a crime of such a nature that it was virtually impossible to secure a conviction, that furthermore there was always the chance the so-called confession might have been the hallucination of a drugged mind, the district attorney would promptly usher you to the door, tell you to forget the whole business and suggest that the matter be given no publicity whatever.”
“Now that,” Dr. Denair said, “would be a most satisfactory solution — but what happens if there was some other poison used?”
Mason said, “The poison used must have been very quick-acting. The attending physician signed the body out as a coronary thrombosis. Those two factors would indicate cyanide.”
Dr. Denair nodded.
“So,” Mason said, “I will proceed with an investigation. In the meantime, in case you should be officially questioned you will state that you uncovered certain information, that you consulted an attorney, that the attorney suggested that an investigation should be made before you took hasty and irrevocable action. My own charges will be purely nominal. It will, however, be necessary for me to hire investigators. I’ll try to keep the expenses down as much as possible. Does Miss Farr have any money?”