Mason raised his eyebrows.
“Nothing was taken.”
“How do you know?”
“Nothing was missing.”
“How do you know?”
“I know,” Dorset said angrily, “because no one made any complaint that anything was missing.”
“The tank had been installed there by Harrington Faulkner?”
“So I understand.”
“Therefore,” Mason said, “the only person who could have made any complaint was dead.”
“I don’t consider anything was taken.”
“You made an examination of the contents of the tank before it was upset?”
“No.”
“Then, when you say you don’t consider anything was taken, you’re using a telepathic, intuitive...”
“I’m using my judgment,” Dorset all but shouted.
Judge Summerville said placidly, “Is this overturned fish tank important, gentlemen? In other words, does the prosecution or the defense intend to connect it up?”
“The prosecution doesn’t,” Medford said promptly.
“The defense hopes to,” Mason said.
“Well,” Judge Summerville ruled, “I’ll permit a very wide latitude so far as questions are concerned.”
“We are not making any objection,” Medford hastened to assure the judge. “We want to give the defendant every opportunity to establish any facts which may tend to clarify the case.”
“When you entered the bathroom of Faulkner’s house,” Mason asked, “you found some goldfish in the bathtub, Sergeant?”
“I did, yes.”
“Two goldfish?”
“Two goldfish.”
“What was done with them?”
“We took them out of the tub.”
“Then what was done with them?”
“There seemed to be no place where we could keep them, so we simply swept them out with the other goldfish.”
“By the other goldfish, you mean the ones on the floor?”
“That’s right.”
“You didn’t make any attempt to identify the two goldfish that were in the bathtub?”
“I didn’t ask them their names,” Sergeant Dorset said sarcastically.
“That will do,” Judge Summerville rebuked the witness sharply. “The witness will answer counsel’s questions.”
“No, sir. I simply made note of the fact that two live goldfish were in the bathtub and let it go at that.”
“There were goldfish on the floor?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“I’m certain I couldn’t say. I think the photograph will show the number.”
“As many as a dozen?”
“I would say somewhere around that number.”
“There was a shaving brush and a razor on the glass shelf above the wash stand?”
“Yes. I have already testified to that.”
“What else was there?”
“There were, I believe, two sixteen ounce bottles of peroxide of hydrogen. One of them was almost empty.”
“Anything else?”
“No, sir.”
“Now, what did you notice on the floor?”
“There were pieces of broken glass.”
“Did you make an examination of those pieces of broken glass to determine if they had any pattern or if they had been originally a part of some glass object?”
“I didn’t personally. I believe at a later date Lieutenant Tragg caused all of those pieces to be assembled and had them fitted together so that they formed a rather large curved goldfish bowl.”
“You say that there was a checkbook on the floor?”
“There was.”
“Near the body of the murdered man?”
“Quite near.”
“Can you describe its appearance?”
Medford said, “Your Honor, I intended to introduce this checkbook in evidence by another witness, but if counsel wants to examine this witness about it, I’ll introduce it right now.”
Medford produced the checkbook, Sergeant Dorset identified it, and it was received in evidence.
“Calling your attention,” Medford said to Judge Summerville, “to the fact that the last check stub in the book — that is the last one from which the corresponding check has been torn away along the perforated line, is a check stub bearing the same date as the day of the murder, with an amount of one thousand dollars written in the upper right-hand corner, and in the body of the stub a portion of a name has been written. The first name is completely written and the last name has been unfinished. Only the first three letters of that name appear. They are ‘G-r-i.’ ”
Judge Summerville examined the check stub with keen interest.
“Very well, this will be received in evidence.”
“Were any of the goldfish on the floor alive when you entered the room?” Mason asked Sergeant Dorset.
“No.”
Mason said, “For your information, Sergeant, I will state that I noticed motion on the part of one of the goldfish when I entered the room — and I was, I believe, in the room some ten or fifteen minutes before the police arrived. I placed that goldfish in the bathtub and apparently it resumed life.”
“That, of course, was something you had no right to do,” Sergeant Dorset said.
“You made no test to ascertain whether there was some life on the part of any of the other goldfish?”
“I didn’t apply a stethoscope to them,” Dorset said sarcastically.
“Now then, you have stated that you asked the defendant to accompany you to the home of James L. Staunton?”
“I did, yes, sir.”
“You had some conversation with Mr. Staunton there?”
“Yes.”
“And Mr. Staunton gave you a statement purporting to bear the signature of Harrington Faulkner, the deceased?”
“He did.”
Medford said, “Your Honor, I don’t want to seem technical, but after all, this is a preliminary examination. The purpose of it is to determine whether there is reasonable ground to believe the defendant murdered Harrington Faulkner. If there is, the Court should bind her over to answer. If there isn’t, the Court should dismiss her. I think that we have plenty of evidence to establish our case without carrying the inquiry far afield. These matters are entirely extraneous. They have nothing whatever to do with the murder.”
“How do you know they have nothing to do with the murder?” Mason asked.
“Well, I will put it this way,” Medford said. “They have nothing to do with our case. We can establish our case by an irrefutable chain of evidence without dragging in all of this extraneous stuff.”
Mason said, “Your Honor, I understand the law and I know the Court does, but I submit to the Court that under the circumstances of this case and in view of the very apparent mystery which surrounds the case, I should be permitted to show all of the surrounding circumstances which I contend played an important part in connection with the murder of Harrington Faulkner. I know that the Court doesn’t want to hold this young woman over for trial if she is in fact innocent, regardless of the fact that it might be possible for the prosecution to establish a technical case. I also know that the Court is anxious to see that the real murderer is apprehended in the event this young woman should actually be innocent. Therefore, I submit to your Honor that it is better at this time, in view of the peculiar circumstances of this case, to let all of the facts come into the record.”
“We don’t have to put in all of the facts,” Medford said angrily. “We only have to show enough of our hand to convince the Court that there is a reasonable cause to believe this defendant is guilty.”
“That’s just the trouble with the entire situation, your Honor,” Mason retorted. “It is the attitude of the prosecution that it’s playing some sort of a game; that it only needs to introduce a certain amount of evidence; that it can hold back the rest of its evidence as a miser hoards his gold, so that the defendant can be surprised when confronted with that evidence in the Superior Court. Now, that may be the way to secure a large number of convictions and to make a good showing for efficiency on the part of the district attorney’s office, but I submit, your Honor, that it is hardly the way to clear up a rather puzzling and baffling mystery.”