“Yes,” Hamilton Burger said virtuously, “just state the facts.”
“Well,” Keddie said, “she told me she wanted to go to the Union Station, and I took her there.”
“Did you have any other conversation?”
“I asked her if she might be in trouble of some sort or other, if there was anything I could do to help.”
“What did she say?”
“She said she was all right.”
“Did you notice her particularly?”
“I sure did.”
“Who was that woman?”
“The defendant.”
“Point to her, please.”
The witness pointed to Sybil Harlan.
“Let the record show the witness is pointing directly at the defendant, Sybil Harlan,” Hamilton Burger said.
“So stipulated,” Mason said affably.
Judge Hoyt frowned at him.
“Then what did you do?” Burger asked.
“Well, I took her to the Union Station and drove away.”
“How much was the fare, do you remember?”
“I remember exactly. The fare was two dollars and ninety-five cents. She gave me three dollars and a half, which made a fifty-five cent tip.”
“Did you watch to see where she went?”
“She walked into the station, then turned toward the cab stand out at the back. I knew she was going to—”
“Never mind your conclusions,” Judge Hoyt said. “The Court doesn’t want to have to warn you again, Mr. Keddie.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Call me ‘Your Honor.’”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Go ahead,” Hamilton Burger said.
“Well, that was all.”
“Now, just a moment,” Hamilton Burger said. “Your taxicab, in common with all Red Line Cabs, is equipped with a taximeter which starts in operation when you pull your flag down, is that right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And that meter is coupled with the speedometer and a clockwork mechanism so the amount of the fare is registered?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And when you manipulate the flag at the termination of the trip, that causes the amount to be rung up on the meter in the nature of a register and a slip of paper comes out which you give to the customer?”
“Yes, sir. Most of them don’t take it, but the paper’s there.”
“And did that happen in this case, when you terminated the trip at the Union Station?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And what did the defendant do, if anything?”
“She took the paper and put it in her purse.”
“Now then,” Hamilton Burger said, “I’m going to show you this piece of paper and ask you if you know what it is.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What is it?”
“It’s the receipt from my cab which I gave the defendant in this case.”
“When?”
“There at the Union Station.”
“At what time?”
“Oh, I reckon it was just a minute or two after five when we got there.”
“And what does that paper show?”
“It shows that this was trip nine-eighty-four, that it was my cab, number seven-sixty-one, that the amount of the meter was two dollars and ninety-five cents.”
“That’s all,” Hamilton Burger said.
The witness got up and started to leave the stand. “Just a moment,” Mason said. “With the indulgence of the Court, I have a few questions to ask on cross-examination.”
Judge Hoyt, who had been somewhat apprehensive, settled back with an expression of relief on his face.
“You recognize this slip?” Mason asked.
“Yes.”
“And you recognize the defendant?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You first saw the defendant that afternoon at the point you indicated on the map?”
“Yes, sir.”
“So far as you know, had you ever seen her before?”
“I never saw her before in all my life, as far as I know.”
“When did you see her next?” Mason asked, quite casually.
“When I was asked to pick her out of a lineup down at police headquarters.”
“When was that?”
“Sometime on the morning of the fourth, about ten or eleven o’clock.”
“Did you pick her out?”
“I certainly did.”
“You hadn’t seen her from the time you deposited her at the Union Station until you saw her again in that lineup?”
“That’s right.”
“Isn’t there a chance you’re mistaken?”
“None whatever.”
“Isn’t there a chance that some other time on the third you may have had this young woman in your cab and that you have confused her identity in your own mind?”
“None whatever.”
“You feel certain that you would have noticed this defendant if you had seen her again prior to the time you picked her out of the lineup?”
“You mean after I saw her out there when she got in the cab that afternoon?”
“Yes.”
“Sure, I’d have known her. I knew her the next morning when I picked her out of the lineup, didn’t I?”
“Now then,” Mason said, “you keep some sort of a record of your own, do you not, in regard to your trips?”
“That’s right. I make a note of all the trips I make.”
“And you telephone in to cab headquarters, announcing when you’re making a trip. In other words, you telephoned in when you started out to the country club?”
“That’s right.”
“And when you started back, you reported that you were coming back empty?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And then when you picked up a passenger, did you report that fact?”
“That’s right, and I marked the Union Station down on my trip sheet.”
“That’s right. You marked on your trip sheet the fact that you were going to the Union Station.”
“That’s right.”
“Do you have that sheet with you?”
“I do, yes, sir.”
“Let me look at it, please.”
“Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial, not proper cross-examination and not the best evidence,” Hamilton Burger said. “That sheet is not part of the official records of the company, that sheet was never shown to the defendant. It is only the personal record of the witness. It has no proper bearing, nor were any questions asked about it on direct examination.”
“Overruled,” Judge Hoyt said.
Hamilton Burger smiled triumphantly. Now he had the record in such shape that the impartiality of the Court could not be questioned. Not only had Perry Mason not been curtailed in his cross-examination, but the Court had overruled the district attorney’s objection to one of Perry Mason’s questions.
“May I see the sheet, please?”
The witness took a folded sheet of paper from his pocket, handed it to Perry Mason, and said, “I keep this in connection with my own books. I check in with the trips at the taxicab company about once a week in order to make sure we’ve got them straight.”
“I see,” Mason said. “What time do you go to work?”
“Well, it varies, depending which shift I’m on.”
“On the third of this month what time did you go to work?”
“I went to work at four o’clock in the afternoon and got off at midnight.”
“So you’d picked up your cab around four o’clock?”
“Around there — actually, about ten minutes before four.”
“The trip to the country club was then your first trip of the afternoon?”
“No, that was the second trip. I’d picked up a man who wanted to go to the Jonathan Club. That was the first trip. Then I picked up this fare for the country club. That was a good trip.”
“How long did it take you to get out there?”
“Right around twenty minutes.”
“So then you had started that trip around four-ten in the afternoon?”