“She showed you her driver’s license?”
“Yes. That’s necessary in order to rent a car.”
“And your records show the name on that driver’s license?”
“Yes, sir. The name of Susan Fisher, the defendant in this case.”
“When did you finally get the car back again?”
“It was on the afternoon of the fifth. It was returned by the police. I was notified that the police had taken possession of the car.”
“That’s all. You may inquire,” Flanders said.
“No questions.”
“Call Myrton Abert,” Flanders said.
Myrton Abert gave his address and occupation and testified that after midnight, Sunday, at an hour around 12:30 to 1 o’clock Monday morning, he had been called by Perry Mason and Paul Drake to take fingerprints from a car; that he had noted the license number of the car and also the number 19 painted in an inconspicuous place. That he had lifted a series of fingerprints and delivered them to Perry Mason; that he had stipulated, however, that in the event the car was concerned in any crime he would make the information available to the police and that he had taken photographs of the fingerprints; that those photographs had been turned over to the police; but that prior to the time they had been turned over to the police, the police had appeared with a set of fingerprints purporting to come from Ken Lowry, the decedent, and that one of those fingerprints — that of the right middle finger — coincided with a latent print which had been lifted from the automobile on the back of the rearview mirror; that the witness was a fingerprint identification expert and had made the identification; that there could be no question that this print had been made by the middle finger of the right hand of the decedent.
“Cross-examine,” Flanders snapped.
“No questions,” Mason said.
“Call Lieutenant Tragg,” Flanders said.
Lt. Tragg took the stand, testified to receiving a phone call from Perry Mason reporting the finding of a body at the place shown in the map indicating an area on Mulholland Drive; that he had first ordered a radio car to proceed to the place at once and see that the evidence was preserved. Then he himself with a deputy coroner, a photographer, and a technical expert had gone to the place; that there they found the body of Kenneth Lowry.
Tragg introduced various photographs and identified them.
“How long had the body been there? How long since death had taken place?”
“A very short time,” Lt. Tragg said. “I will leave it to the autopsy surgeon to fix the exact time, but death had been quite recent.”
“Now then, did you, in the course of your examination, look for automobile tracks in the vicinity of the body?”
“I did.”
“What did you find?”
“I found where a car had been driven over a rather faint roadway leading into the place where the body was found. I carefully traced the tracks of that car and made a moulage showing the tracks. I was able to get good tracks of all four of the tires on the car. They had rather distinctive treads.”
“Were the tires all the same?”
“No, sir. The tires consisted of two different makes, two different types of tread. Those on the front were one make, those on the back were another make; and there was, moreover, a distinctive gouge on the tire on the right front which left a very distinct individual track.”
“Did you subsequently find an automobile equipped with tires which matched the moulage?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What automobile was it?”
“Automobile Number 19, owned by the We Rent M Car Company. I found this automobile parked in the parking lot of Mr. Mason’s office building and Mr. Mason admitted to me that the car had been placed there by him, that he had rented it the night before from the car-rental company.”
“You may inquire,” Flanders said.
Mason’s eyes narrowed. “Lieutenant, when did you find these tracks?”
“The night we discovered the body.”
“How long after you discovered the body?”
“Only a few minutes, while you, I believe, were waiting at the service station.”
“You said nothing to me about finding these tracks.”
“No, sir.”
“Why not?”
“I didn’t realize I was under any duty to report to you as to what the police found, Mr. Mason.”
“That’s a ll,” Mason said.
Flanders called Sophia Elliott to the stand. Sophia Elliott testified that she was the sister of Miss Corning, that she had traveled from South America, that she had gone to the suite of her sister at the Arthenium Hotel and that when she reached the suite she found the door open and found it occupied by Perry Mason and his secretary; that after some talk she had suggested that the door be closed and that Mr. Mason and his secretary leave and they would be notified in the event Miss Corning wanted to see them.
The man who operated the freight elevator testified to receiving twenty-five dollars for the purpose of smuggling Miss Corning out of the building.
Then came Harrison Flanders’ surprise witness.
“I will call Carlotta Ames Jackson.”
Mrs. Jackson proved to be a rather snippy, needle-nosed, nervous individual who was evidently enjoying the attention she had attracted.
“Where were you on the night of Sunday, the fourth of this month?” Flanders inquired.
“I was in the alley, back of the freight entrance of the Arthenium Hotel.”
“How did you happen to be there?”
“I work in the hotel. I am a chambermaid. I come out of the back entrance and walk down the alley every night when I get off work.”
“You were walking down there this night?”
“Yes.”
“Did you notice anything unusual?”
“Yes.”
“Describe it, please.”
“I saw a woman in a wheelchair there in the alley. There is no sidewalk in the alley and this woman had her wheelchair right against the wall. It was an unusual place for a woman in a wheelchair and I started forward to speak to her.”
“Did you speak to her?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because a car turned into the alley, drove on past me and stopped right beside this woman. The driver of the car got out, helped the woman into the car, the wheelchair was folded up and put in the car and the car drove away.”
“Did you see the driver of the car?”
“Yes.”
“Was it a man or a woman?”
“It was a woman.”
“Can you describe her?”
“She was wearing a raincoat, a sweater, slacks, and a man’s hat which was pulled down over the eyes.”
“Did you at any time see this woman’s face?”
“Yes.”
“How close were you to the woman at the time you saw her face?”
“I guess about twenty feet.”
“Had you ever seen that woman before?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Did you ever see her again?”
“Yes.”
“When did you see her again?”
“At the police station.”
“Who showed her to you?”
“There was a line-up of five women. I picked this woman out of the line-up.”
“And who was this woman, if you know?”
“The defendant, the woman sitting there, Susan Fisher.”
Susan Fisher gasped with horrified dismay.
“Did you have an opportunity to observe the make of the automobile?”
“Indeed I did.”
“Have you seen that automobile since?”
“Yes. I subsequently identified it at the We Rent M Car Company. It had a number 19 painted on it to designate it.”
“You may inquire,” Flanders said with exaggerated courtesy, to Perry Mason.