“It sounds crazy,” Della Street said promptly. “It sounds like — like a nightmare.”
“And that,” Mason said, “is probably exactly what it is.”
“What do you mean by that, Chief?”
“Look at the facts in the case,” Mason said. “Addicks has employed people around him who have been trying to use hypnotism on animals, particularly gorillas.”
“Well?”
“Mrs. Kempton has two periods of blackout. The first time she thought she had fainted. The second time she thinks someone hit her on the head.”
“Go on,” Della Street said.
Mason said, “Suppose someone put Mrs. Kempton in a hypnotic trance, and while she was in that hypnotic trance he told her this story that she was to believe when she regained consciousness.”
Della Street’s eyes widened. “Chief,” she said, “I bet that’s it! That would account for the whole thing, and...” Suddenly the eager enthusiasm left her manner, her voice trailed away into silence.
“Go ahead,” Mason said.
“But,” Della Street said dubiously, “you couldn’t get any jury to believe that hypnotism story any more than you could get them to believe the gorilla story.”
“Not with the evidence presently available,” Mason said, “but this is just the beginning of the case.”
“Could a woman be hypnotized and have a synthetic nightmare of that sort implanted on her consciousness so that it would be remembered as an actual experience when she awakened?”
“I think so,” Mason said. “I’m going to check. After all, hypnotism is a subject I know very little about. But all of that still doesn’t explain how it happened the police were so triumphantly certain of themselves when they came and arrested Mrs. Kempton. They must have uncovered something. We’ll know a lot more within the next day or two. There are a lot of angles to this case we still don’t know about.”
“Perhaps even a few curves,” Della Street said demurely.
Chapter number 12
Shortly before noon Della Street’s telephone rang. She answered it, said, “Yes... oh yes... just a moment. I’ll see.”
She turned to Perry Mason and said, “Sidney Hardwick of Hardwick, Carson and Redding.”
Mason nodded.
“Yes, Mr. Mason is here. He’ll talk with Mr. Hardwick. Put your party on, please.”
Mason picked up the telephone, said, “Hello, Mason speaking... Hello, Mr. Hardwick.”
Hardwick said, “Mr. Mason, I’m in rather a peculiar position. I’d like to have a conference with you and Mr. James Etna.”
“When?” Mason asked.
“At your earliest convenience.”
“Where?”
“At any place you want. At your office if you wish.”
“What about?”
“It’s about a matter that puzzles me, and, very frankly, Mr. Mason, it may be of some possible advantage or some possible disadvantage to your client, Josephine Kempton. I am assuming that you’re anxious to get information concerning her connection with the case, and I’m anxious to get some information from you gentlemen.”
“How soon?” Mason asked.
“Just as soon as you conveniently can arrange it.”
Mason said, “Be over here in fifteen minutes. I’ll have Etna here.”
He hung up the phone, said to Della Street, “Get James Etna on the phone, Della, and tell him that we have an important conference with Hardwick. Tell him to come right over.”
Della Street nodded.
Mason said, “I’ll be back by the time Etna gets here,” and walked down the corridor to Paul Drake’s office.
“Drake in?” Mason asked the switchboard operator.
She nodded and said, “Go right on in, Mr. Mason. He’s alone. I’ll tell him you’re coming.”
“Thanks,” Mason said, opened the gate in the low partition which walled off the small reception room, and walked down the long corridor to Drake’s office.
Drake was hanging up the phone just as Mason entered.
“Hello,” Mason said. “Anything new?”
“I’m digging away,” Drake said, “getting a lot of material but I haven’t correlated it yet. It’s a lot of miscellaneous odds and ends.”
Mason said, “Sidney Hardwick, who was Benjamin Addicks’ attorney in his lifetime, and who presumably is representing the estate, is coming over right away to see me. I can tell from the way he’s acting that there’s something on his mind, something that is bothering him to beat the devil. Any idea what it is?”
Drake shook his head. “Not yet I haven’t. Give me another two or three hours and I’ll probably find out.”
“Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll find out,” Mason said, grinning.
Drake said, “A preliminary test shows that Addicks had .32 percent of alcohol in his blood when he was killed. That was enough to put him into a deep sleep. There is evidence indicating he had previously had an even greater concentration of blood alcohol.
“I don’t need to educate you on the mathematics of alcoholism, Perry, but generally the confused state of intoxication starts with around.15 percent of alcohol in the blood. At .3 percent to .4 percent the subject is really and truly drunk, that is, stuporous, staggering drunk.
“Now Benjamin Addicks had .32 percent of alcohol in his blood. The police know exactly when Mrs. Kempton arrived at the house. They’ve been able to check with the driver of the bus. She was actually on the bus she claimed to have taken.
“It’s a cinch that Addicks at that point was too intoxicated to think clearly. Apparently he’d been drinking right up to the time that he lay down on the bed and passed out. Blood alcohol decreases at the rate of.02 to.04 percent per hour after absorption.”
“What caused him to start a drinking spree like that, Paul?”
“Damned if I know. It must have been something important.”
“Find out anything about those telephone bills?” Mason asked.
“Not yet, but I’ll have that information within an hour. I’m arranging to get copies of all the telephone bills.”
“How are you doing that, Paul?”
“I’d rather not tell you. I’m sticking my neck out a little. The point is that I’m getting them.”
“As soon as you get some information, let me know. Now tell me about this Alan Blevins. Is he a hypnotist?”
“I’ll say he is, a darn good one. Incidentally, he doubts if a gorilla can be hypnotized by ordinary methods. That is, he claimed he had induced the equivalent of a hypnotic state in a gorilla, but when he had done that there was no way to make suggestions direct to the subconscious mind. With a human being you do it by speech. With a gorilla you have no bridge from your mind to his. The animal merely sleeps. There’s hardly any way of telling whether it’s a hypnotically induced sleep or a natural sleep.”
“Blevins had been discharged?”
“Yes.”
“Some words?”
“I gathered there was no ill feeling. Nathan Fallon brought him the bad news. Addicks even refused to discuss the matter. The whole crew was fired at once.”
“So Blevins hated Addicks?”
“Could have.”
“Find out where he was last night,” Mason said.
“I already have,” Drake said. “He is a bachelor. His wife divorced him two years ago. He said he was home, that he watched television and then went to bed.”
“No corroboration?”
“Just his word, so far. Want me to check it further?”
“I sure do. Why did his wife divorce him, Paul?”
“Mental cruelty. She alleged he was always hypnotizing her, trying to use her as a subject, making her ridiculous and all of that.”
“Find out more about it,” Mason said. “Locate her, Paul. I want to talk with her.”