“Who was that man, if you know?”
“Mr. Perry Mason, the lawyer, sitting right there.”
“Cross-examine,” Burger snapped.
“How did you happen to be looking at the back stairs of the Casselman apartment?” Mason asked.
“I had seen young women go in there before. This time I was determined to complain.”
“You mean you had seen this defendant go in there before?”
“I can’t swear it was her.”
“You mean prior to October seventh?”
“Yes.”
“And had seen women leave by the back door?”
“I can’t swear I’d seen more than one woman.”
“You followed this woman who left on October seventh?”
“I followed the defendant, yes.”
“Why did you follow her?”
“I wanted to see who she was.”
“That was the only reason?”
“Yes.”
“You intended to follow her only far enough to get a good look at her?”
“Yes.”
“And then you were going to turn back?”
“Yes.”
“You were still following her when she got into this automobile?”
“Yes.”
“Then by your own testimony you hadn’t got a good look at her by that time. Is that right?”
“I saw her all right.”
“But you said you were going to turn back as soon as you had a good look at her, and you hadn’t turned back at that time.”
“Well... I’d like to have had a closer look but I’m pretty certain in my own mind.”
“Pretty certain?”
“Yes.”
“And if it hadn’t been for her getting in the automobile, you’d have followed her farther?”
“Yes, I guess so.”
“That’s all,” Mason said, smiling.
“That’s our case, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said.
Judge Decker frowned.
“The defense moves that the Court instruct the jury to return a verdict of not guilty,” Mason said. “The evidence at this time shows merely an inference, a suspicion.”
Judge Decker said, “The Court does not wish to comment on the evidence other than to say that at this time the motion is denied. After the defense has put on its case, the question of proof will be in the hands of the jury. At the present time and for the purpose of this motion, the Court must accept all of the evidence in its strongest possible light as far as the prosecution is concerned. The Court makes no comment on that evidence other than to state that the motion is denied.
“The Court notices that it is approaching the hour of noon adjournment. The Court will take a recess until two o’clock, at which time the defense can put on its case.
“During that time, the jurors will remember the admonition of the Court not to converse about the case or permit anyone to converse about it in your presence, and not to form or express any opinion until the case is finally submitted to you.
“Court is adjourned.”
Mason turned to Stephanie Falkner. “Stephanie,” he said, “You’ve got to go on the stand. You’ve got to deny that you killed George Casselman.”
She shook her head. “I am not going on the witness stand.”
“You have to,” Mason said. “They’ll convict you of murder if you don’t. In view of the testimony we have managed to bring in about your father’s death, the jurors won’t bring in a death penalty, but they will find you guilty. The fact that your shoe had blood on it, the fact that there was an imprint made by a heel plate similar to yours—”
“I am sorry, Mr. Mason, I am not going on the witness stand.”
“Why?” Mason asked. “Is there something in your past you’re afraid they’ll bring out? Have you been convicted of felony?”
She shook her head. “Have you?” Mason asked.
“I am not going to make any statement to you, Mr. Mason, other than the fact that I am not going on the witness stand. They can do whatever they want, but they are not going to put me on that witness stand.”
Mason said, “Stephanie, you can’t do this. I’m going to call you to the stand as a witness.”
“If you do,” she said, “I will simply refuse to budge from my chair.”
“All right,” Mason told her, “that’s better than nothing. It will at least give me something to argue about.”
“Time for you to go now, Miss Falkner,” the bailiff said.
Chapter Nineteen
Mason, Della Street, and Paul Drake were eating a gloomy luncheon in the private dining room of a little restaurant near the courthouse.
They were half through when knuckles beat on the door in a rapid staccato, and a moment later Gertie, Perry Mason’s receptionist, was in the room, all excited.
“Mr. Mason, Mr. Mason!” she said. “Marie Barlow came to the office. My heavens! Is that woman immense! I think she’s going to have triplets at least. She shouldn’t be out. I’ve told her... I warned her...”
“Now wait a minute, Gertie,” Mason said. “Calm down. What’s this all about?”
“Marie was at Mr. Garvin’s office. She has been trying to get the files cleaned out, you know, and she looked in back of one of the file drawers of an old transfer case. Things in there are ten years old and older.”
“All right,” Mason said. “What did she find?”
Gertie lowered her voice. “Bloody towels that Mr. Garvin had left there the night of the murder.”
“What?”
“That’s right. Towels with dried, crusted blood on them. And they’re stamped with the name of the Ambrose Apartments. They had been hidden there, and Marie was afraid — well, she didn’t want anybody to know. She wanted me to find you and tell you and ask you what to do. She’s loyal to Mr. Garvin but she simply can’t sit still with anything like this on her mind and let Stephanie Falkner go to prison.
“She felt that perhaps she could wait and see how the case came out and then she could apparently find them for the first time and then you could move for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence. But that wouldn’t be right. She’s all at sea, poor kid. She...”
Mason said, “All right, Gertie. Calm yourself. Now sit down and have some coffee.”
“Heavens! I’m so terribly upset, Mr. Mason. You can see it all, now. Homer Garvin really did kill George Casselman, and Stephanie Falkner knows it. Because she loves him she won’t go on the witness stand and...”
“Hey! Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” Mason said. “That crazy, mixed up, romantic mind of yours has given me an idea.”
Della Street looked warningly at Perry Mason. “She has lots of crazy ideas. Give her a button and she’ll sew a romantic vest on it.”
Perry Mason started pacing the floor. “Hang it!” he said. “It’s corny. It’s a grandstand. But it will catch the District Attorney entirely by surprise, and it’s the only thing I can do.”
Gertie turned to Paul Drake. “And your office says for you to call right away. It’s terribly important.”
Paul Drake called for a phone to be plugged into an extension socket. Mason continued rapidly pacing the floor.
“What,” Della Street asked, “do you have in mind?”
Mason said, “I’ll call Stephanie Falkner to the stand as a defense witness. She will refuse to go. I’ll argue with her. There’ll be a scene in court. I’ll order her to take the stand. She’ll refuse to take the stand. Then I’ll rest my case. I’ll go to the jury with a whirlwind campaign that Stephanie Falkner knows the man she loved killed George Casselman, that— Wait a minute! Wait a minute, Della! I’ve got it. I’ve got it!” Mason said snapping his fingers rapidly.
“Got what?” Della Street asked.