Homan said, “Mr. Mason, I don’t know what you’re getting at, but I can tell you this. If you can show that any long-distance call went over my telephone on either Tuesday or Wednesday, you’ll be doing me a great favour, a very great favour indeed.”
“Why, may I ask?” Mason said.
Homan cleared his throat, shook his head, said, “I would prefer to tell you privately, Mr. Mason.”
“And,” Mason said with a smile, “I would prefer to have you tell me in public.”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with the present case — that is...” He hesitated.
“Yes,” Mason prompted.
“I don’t think it would have anything to do with this case.”
“But it might,” Mason said.
“Yes.”
“Perhaps then you should better let His Honor have the information, and let him be the judge of it.”
Homan compressed his lips firmly together, creased his forehead in a determined scowl, and stared at the carpet for several seconds. Then he said, “I have for some time had a suspicion that my chauffeur was putting through various long-distance calls in connection with his own business — using my phone. I would appreciate it very much if you have any information which would substantiate such a charge. I have given him notice, but — I would like to find out just the same.”
“What is your chauffeur’s name?” Mason asked.
“Tanner — Ernest A. Tanner.”
“Is he in court?”
A slight commotion manifested itself among the spectators. A man stood up. “I am here,” he drawled, “and I didn’t...”
“Sit down,” Judge Cortright snapped. “The course of the trial is not to be interrupted by spectators.”
Homan glowered at the man who was standing, a young, broad-shouldered, loosely-knit individual who seemed grimly determined, but who wilted under the stern glare of Judge Cortright’s eyes and slowly sat down.
“You do not know any L. C. Spinney?”
“No, sir. I do not. And if any long-distance calls were put through on my telephone, either on the eighteenth or the nineteenth, they are unauthorized telephone calls put through by some person who had no right to do so.”
“Don’t you audit your monthly long-distance bills?”
Homan shook his head impatiently. “I do not. I have no time to devote to trivial matters. I simply instruct my secretary to write cheques covering all current expenses. I happen to have noticed that my telephone bills for the last few months have had numbers on them that I know nothing about, that’s all. I took it for granted at first my younger brother had been calling friends. Then the other day I happened to mention it to him. Well, I suppose I can’t tell about that conversation now — but, well, if you are finished with me, I have a very important matter pending. In fact, I had to...”
Judge Cortright said, “It is approaching the hour of adjournment, gentlemen. If the examination can be completed within a few minutes, the court will remain in session. Otherwise, the examination can be resumed tomorrow.”
“Your Honor,” Homan said, “I simply can’t come tomorrow. I am here today only because I was forced to come. I have a matter pending...”
Mason interrupted to say, “I have one or two questions I would very much like to ask, Mr. Homan, tonight. About this telephone. You have said that you let both the Filipino and the chauffeur go for...”
“They have rooms there in the house. They come and go as they please. I meant that I released them from duty.”
“Where does the chauffeur sleep?”
“Over the garage.”
“And the Filipino boy?”
“In a room in the basement.”
“They come and go through the front door?”
“No, sir. The chauffeur uses stairs which front on another street — a side street. The Filipino boy uses a basement door which also fronts on a side street. My house is a corner house. It takes up several lots, but it is, nevertheless, a corner house.”
“Now, to get access to your telephone, would they have to come into the main part of the house?”
“No, sir. There are telephone instruments in their rooms, also in various other parts of the house. There is an intercommunicating system by which I can ring those telephones from my study. They can be plugged in on an outside line, or with any other station which may be calling.”
“When you are talking on a telephone, could the others listen in?”
Homan frowned and said, “I don’t think they could, Mr. Mason, but you are asking about something which is outside of my field. I know very little about the operation of the household or of the telephone. I have my house as a place to retire, a place to relax, a place to work, and a place in which to entertain. Beyond that, I care very little about it. It’s...” He smiled and said, “As you may be aware, Mr. Mason, there is a certain amount of background which is necessary in Hollywood. A producer who... well, I think you understand.”
Mason smiled and said, “I think I do.”
Judge Cortright said impatiently, “Well, I suppose there will be more cross-examination, Mr. Mason, and some redirect. Court will adjourn until ten o’clock tomorrow. You will return then, Mr. Homan.”
Homan jumped to his feet. “I can’t! I simply can’t. It would cost thousands of dollars to have my time disrupted tomorrow, I have...”
“Ten o’clock tomorrow morning,” Judge Cortright said with tight-lipped finality, and walked from the courtroom into his chambers.
The loose-jointed, broad-shouldered chauffeur pushed through the swinging gate, walked over to Homan, and stood looking at him with an air of contemptuous appraisal. “What’s the idea?” he asked. “Trying to make me the goat for a scrape you have got into?”
Homan said blusteringly, “I don’t like your attitude.”
“You are going to like it a lot less than that,” the chauffeur said. “If you want me to tell where you...”
Homan turned away, started toward the swinging gate in the mahogany rail which separated the tables reserved for attorneys and courtroom officials from the spectators. Tanner’s long right arm reached out, and his fingers clamped in Homan’s collar. “Just a minute, buddy,” he said, “jus-s-st a minute.”
Homan whirled with swift agility and said in a voice harsh with rage, “Take your filthy hands off of me.”
Hanley, attracted by the commotion, stepped forward quickly. “Here,” he said, “none of that. Get back there. What do you think you are doing?”
“Homan knows what I am doing,” Tanner said.
Hanley’s eyes narrowed. “You are Tanner?”
“Yes.”
“All right, I represent the district attorney’s office. Now there’ll be no more of this.”
Tanner’s voice still held no trace of temper. There was a certain contemptuous drawl in his words. “Listen,” he said, “This guy puts on a great front for the public. He is a swell showman. He is a big shot. I am a nobody, but that’s no sign he can do things to my reputation. He is going to take back what he has said, or I am going to show him up. He knows damn well that if I was to talk...”
Hanley snapped, “This man is a witness. I consider his testimony pertinent and significant. You perhaps don’t realize it, but what you are doing could well be construed as an attempt to intimidate a witness. You might find yourself in serious trouble.”
“Aw, nuts,” Tanner said. “I am not intimidating any witness.”
“You are trying to make him change his testimony.”
“I am trying to get the rat to tell the truth.”
Homan sputtered, “I won’t have any more of this. It’s utterly absurd. This man is a...”
Hanley said, “This is neither the time nor the place for this argument, Mr. Homan. If you will come with me, please, I want to ask you a few more questions. You, Mr. Tanner, had better get out of here — right now!”