This time the officer, knowing what was required and working frantically, was able to cut the time down to approximately seven seconds.
Judge Elliott, who had been watching the performance, said, “The Court gets it at about six seconds.”
“Between six and seven seconds,” Mason said, “to the time of the click. However, that’s good enough.”
“Your Honor,” Floyd protested, “this is absolutely meaningless. The defendant could have had the gun out of the purse, cocked and ready to shoot before pressing the buzzer so that Moray Cassel would have opened the door to find himself helpless.”
“And what happened then?” Mason asked Floyd.
“Don’t try to cross-examine me,” Floyd snapped.
Mason said with a smile, “I will address my remarks to the Court. The idea of having the defendant ring the buzzer with a gun, loaded and cocked and ready to shoot, would necessitate that the decedent be shot while he was at the door. In place of that the decedent was shot at the far end of the apartment, either while he was standing by the bed or sitting on the bed, and he was shot from some distance since there is no powder tattoo around the edges of the wound.”
“We’ll argue the case at the proper time,” Judge Elliott said. “You have made your point, Mr. Mason.”
Floyd said. “The defendant could have had the drop on him and forced him back a step at a time.”
“For what purpose?” Mason asked.
“In order to intimidate him,” Floyd said. “Who else would have had her brother’s gun and— Oh, this is absurd, too absurd to even waste time on.”
“Then why are you wasting it?” Mason asked.
“Don’t try to question me,” Floyd shouted irritably.
“I beg the Court’s pardon,” Mason said. “I was merely retorting to a retort.”
Judge Elliott smiled. “Proceed with your case, Mr. Mason. Do you have any questions of this witness on further cross-examination?”
“I have one or two more questions of this witness, if the Court please,” Mason said.
He turned to the officer. “You made a careful examination of the apartment?”
“I did. Several of us did.”
“And you noticed the wardrobe of the decedent?”
The officer smiled. “I certainly did.”
“It was rather elaborate?”
“That’s an understatement. It was very elaborate.”
“And did you notice that the clothes were tailor-made?”
“The outer garments, yes sir. The under garments were also, I think, custom-made, at least they were initialed.”
“And in that collection of outer garments would you say that all of them were tailor-made?”
“Yes, sir, all of them.”
“All of them?”
“All— Now, wait a minute. There was one overcoat in there that didn’t have a tailor’s label.”
“And did you notice that overcoat, try it for size to see whether or not it would have fit the decedent?”
“Well,” the officer said, “we didn’t try it on the decedent, if that’s what you mean.”
“How long,” Mason asked, “would it take to have this coat brought into court?”
“Oh, Your Honor,” Ralph Floyd said in the tone of voice of one whose patience has been taxed to the limit, “this is absurd, this approaches the ridiculous. I don’t know where this coat is. I suppose it’s somewhere in the coroner’s office... The Court has said that it wouldn’t encourage fishing expeditions and if this isn’t a fishing expedition I don’t know one when I see it.”
Judge Elliott started to nod his head, then frowned thoughtfully and glanced at Mason. “Do you care to make a statement, Mr. Mason?”
“I care to make a statement,” Mason said. “I would like to have that coat brought into court. I think it is a vital clue in this case. I have one more question to ask of this witness and then I am finished with my cross-examination. I will start to put on the defendant’s case. The first witness will be Stella Grimes, a private detective. Before her testimony is finished, I think that coat should be in court. I also have subpoenaed the tailor who made all of Moray Cassel’s clothes, who will testify that this overcoat was not made by him and would not have fit Moray Cassel.”
“Go ahead, finish your cross-examination of this witness,” Judge Elliott said, “and the Court will direct the prosecution to take steps to have the coat in question brought into court... If this is a fishing expedition it is certainly using most unusual bait.
“Go ahead, Mr. Mason.”
Mason said, “You were present in the laboratory when the gun which was recovered from the airplane was tested and examined?”
“Yes.”
“For fingerprints?”
“Yes.”
“Were there any fingerprints you could find?”
“Nothing that was identifiable. You must understand, Mr. Mason, that regardless of popular fiction stories, the finding of a fingerprint upon a gun — that is, an identifiable latent fingerprint — is not only the exception but it only happens once in a very great number of cases.”
“I understand,” Mason said. “Now, there are other tests to which the gun was subjected.”
“You mean the ballistic tests?”
“No, I meant tests for blood.”
The witness hesitated, then said, “Yes, there were tests for blood. There are very sensitive tests which show up blood even when the blood can’t be classified.”
“The benzidine test?” Mason asked.
“That is one.”
“Was a benzidine test performed upon this gun?”
“It was.”
“With what result?”
The witness hesitated, then chose his words carefully. “There were widespread reactions. Evidently the gun had been exposed to blood over almost its entire surface. More probably it had been exposed to a concentration of blood and then someone had attempted to wash that blood off very hastily with water or with a damp rag.”
“That concludes my cross-examination,” Mason said.
“Any redirect?” Judge Elliott asked Ralph Floyd.
“Certainly not,” Ralph Floyd said. “We consider these so-called points completely extraneous.”
“Now, you have a case to put on for the defense, Mr. Mason?”
“Yes, I will call my first witness, Miss Stella Grimes.”
Stella Grimes came forward, gave her name, age, occupation, and residence.
“When did you first see the defendant in this case?” Mason asked.
“It was at night. Mr. Drake and I were in a taxicab. We both wore dark glasses. Mr. Drake had put an ad in the paper suggesting that the person who had money to pay could make the payment to a person in a taxicab at a certain place.”
“Did you talk to the defendant at that time?”
“No, she walked past two or three times, but gave no sign of recognition, no indication that she wished to convey any message.”
“When did you next see her?”
“The following day.”
“Where?”
“At the Willatson Hotel.”
“What room?”
“Room Seven-sixty-seven.”
“And what happened while you were there?”
“I was instructed to take over as the occupant of that room.”
“And the real occupant of that room was the defendant?”
“That’s right.”
“And what was done with her?”
“You had rented another room down the hall. You took the defendant down to that room.”
“Then what happened?”
“Then there was a knock at the door and the decedent paid us a visit.”
“By the decedent, you mean Moray Cassel?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And what was the conversation?”
“It was very apparent that he was expecting a payment of money, that he expected this from a man, that when he saw that two people were in the room he became suspicious and thought perhaps a trap was being laid for him.”