“Cross-examine,” the district attorney said.
Mason smiled.
“No questions.”
Burger called one of the radio officers who had seen Mason and Mrs. Kempton, as he expressed it, “fleeing down Rose Street.” Later on they were joined by Della Street. He had, he stated, advised them that they would have to go to headquarters for questioning.
“Cross-examine,” Burger said.
Mason said, “I believe I understood you to state that the defendant and I were fleeing down Rose Street.”
“Yes, sir, that’s what I said.”
“And you put us in an automobile?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How did you know we were fleeing?”
“I could tell it by your manner, the high speed at which you were walking, the way you were looking back.”
“I see,” Mason said. “Now then, shortly after you placed us in the automobile you fled to police headquarters, didn’t you?”
“I did what?”
“You fled to police headquarters.”
“I took you to police headquarters.”
“You left behind you the scene of pandemonium, the elements of danger. You left behind you the house with the gorillas running loose, the dogs barking, the sirens sounding.”
“I did that because I was under orders.”
“But you fled, didn’t you?”
“I did not.”
“You were leaving the scene of all this commotion?”
“I had to leave it to get you to police headquarters.”
“And yet, despite the fact that you weren’t fleeing, you did look back over your shoulder several times, didn’t you?”
“Well, I glanced in the rear view mirror two or three times and...”
“And did look back over your shoulder?”
“I believe I may have done so — very briefly.”
“Certainly,” Mason said. “It would necessarily have been quite briefly because you were driving a car, but you did look back over your shoulder several times.”
“Oh, perhaps I did. I’ll say I did.”
“You don’t remember?”
“I don’t remember definitely.”
“Yet you’ll state that, to quote your exact words, ‘I’ll say I did.’ ”
“That’s right. I’ll concede you the point.”
“You’re now ready to swear that you did? You’re testifying that you did?”
“Yes!” the witness shouted.
“Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger protested to Judge Mundy, “I think this has been asked and answered a dozen times.”
“I’m inclined to think so,” the judge said.
“I just wanted to get it straight,” Mason said. “I wanted Your Honor to understand the attitude of this witness. He has no recollection of having turned around and looked back over his shoulder, but he is willing to say that he did do so simply because he might have done so. He is now swearing positively that he did something of which he has no real recollection. It shows the attitude of the witness.”
“I told you I’d say that I did turn and look over my shoulder.”
“But you don’t have any recollection of having done so.”
“All right,” the officer said belligerently, “I now have a recollection of having done so.”
“When did that definite recollection come to you?”
“Just now.”
“Then when you testified under oath that you had no definite recollection of having looked back, you hadn’t thought of it?”
“That’s right.”
“So you answered that question without thinking?”
“Yes.”
“In other words, you talk faster than you think?”
“I don’t know.”
“And why did you look back if you weren’t fleeing?” Mason asked.
“Simply a matter of curiosity. When you hear a commotion like that and know that apes are running around, it’s only natural to turn back and see what’s happening as you leave the scene.”
“Then as I now understand your testimony,” Mason said, “there was nothing that would indicate that the defendant and I were fleeing from the place.”
“I’ve said there was.”
“What?”
“You were turning back and looking over your shoulder — now, wait a minute. You were doing it different from the way I was doing it.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, I could tell from the way you acted that something was wrong.”
“You could tell something was wrong as soon as you got close enough to hear the sirens, couldn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“So,” Mason said, “you want the court to understand that while it is only perfectly natural for you to look back and see what is happening when you are leaving a scene of that sort, when the defendant and I do it, it is evidence of flight.”
“There was something in your attitude.”
“What?”
“I’ve already described it.”
Mason held up his left hand, extended one forefinger. “First,” he said, “you said we were walking rapidly. Two, you said that we kept looking back over our shoulders. Now what else did we do?”
“That’s all. That’s enough.”
“All right, when you left the place,” Mason said, “you were driving rapidly, weren’t you?”
“That’s different.”
“Were you or weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And,” Mason said, “you looked back over your shoulder repeatedly, did you not?”
“Yes.”
“You know that you did?”
“Yes.”
“You now have an independent recollection of having done it?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t have that recollection when you first testified?”
“Of course I did.”
“Then,” Mason said, “you were trying to keep from admitting it.”
“I saw the trap you were laying for me. I’m not as dumb as all that.”
“Thank you,” Mason said. “I merely wanted the court to see your attitude. That’s all.”
Hamilton Burger conferred briefly with his trial deputy, a bright young lawyer named Ginsberg, who, during the past few months, had won a series of spectacular courtroom victories, and as a result had been placed in charge of the trial deputies who handled preliminary examinations.
Hamilton Burger’s presence as consultant to his trial deputy was a tribute to Mason’s skill as a dangerous antagonist.
Following the whispered conference, Ginsberg called the matron of the jail.
The matron testified that she had received the defendant, Josephine Kempton, in the female wing of the institution, that she had taken Mrs. Kempton’s clothes from her, had given her a temporary uniform, and had delivered the clothes to Philip Groton, the police toxicologist and technician.
“Now then,” Ginsberg asked, “did you make any examination of the defendant’s body?”
“I did. Yes, sir.”
“In what way?”
“She stripped to the skin and took a shower. I inspected every inch of her body.”
“What were you looking for?”
“Scratches, cuts, any bruises or marks of violence.”
“Did you find any?”
“Mr. Ginsberg, there was absolutely no place on her body where the skin had been broken.”
“May I ask the reason for this examination?” James Etna inquired.
“You just listen and you’ll find the reason for it,” Ginsberg said belligerently.
“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” Judge Mundy said, “let’s conform to the proprieties. Does Counsel wish to interpose an objection?”
“I was trying to save the time,” Etna said angrily, “but in view of the circumstances I will object on the ground that this is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”