“Then, if that was Moar’s body, how do you account for the fact that Moar’s fingerprints also appear on the wheel chair in this flat — and, I take it, upon other objects in the flat?”
“Unless this witness can explain matters,” Mason said, “I think I will leave it to my learned friend, the deputy district attorney, to do the explaining. After all, it’s his case.”
Scudder said testily, “I think counsel understands that the district attorney’s office will welcome any information which will throw light upon this mysterious affair.”
Judge Romley was about to say something when the bailiff brought Evelyn Whiting into the courtroom. She was sworn by the clerk and took the witness stand, her face showing plainly that she was laboring under a nervous strain.
Mason glanced up at Judge Romley and said, “I think if Court and Counsel will bear with me in what may perhaps be a somewhat unusual form of examination, we can clear this matter up. Miss Whiting, you understand that you have taken an oath to tell the truth; that any failure to do so may subject you to a perjury prosecution?”
“Yes.”
Mason said, “You have been keeping company with a man whom you knew as Morgan Eves for some time?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know that he had a criminal record?”
She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Yes.”
“And you had previously known Carl Moar for some considerable period of time?”
“Yes.”
“He had, on at least one occasion, asked you to marry him?”
“Yes.”
“Now, Morgan Eves was arrested in Los Angeles and tried on a murder charge?”
“Yes, he was,” she said quickly, “and he was acquitted.”
“Yes,” Mason said, “and Carl Moar was on that jury, wasn’t he?”
“Why... yes, he was.”
“And when you saw that Carl Moar was on the jury, you thought that you could do the man you loved a good turn by approaching Carl Moar and asking him to do everything he could to get a verdict of acquittal?”
She hesitated.
“And,” Mason asked, “didn’t you offer Moar a bribe? Come now, Miss Whiting, the facts are all available. Your part in this matter has been rather culpable. You had better tell the truth.”
“No,” she said, “I did not.”
“Now,” Mason went on calmly, “after Moar discharged his duties on this jury and after Morgan Eves had been acquitted, Mr. Moar found himself in the possession of some twenty-five thousand dollars. He went to the Hawaiian Islands and was enjoying a vacation in Honolulu. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Moar was rather naive in some respects and had made no effort to conceal his sudden acquisition of wealth, or to account for it. He merely changed his name and proceeded to take up a new life.
“Now, Mr. Van Densie, the attorney who represented Morgan Eves, found himself under investigation on a charge of jury bribing. The district attorney launched a sweeping investigation. It became important to Mr. Van Densie, as well as Mr. Eves, to keep the grand jury from calling on Mr. Moar as a witness. Mr. Moar’s attempts to take a new identity were sufficient, so far as a mere neighborly interest was concerned, but would hardly have withstood the investigation of trained detectives. Therefore, you were selected to go to Honolulu and arrange with Mr. Moar for a more effective disappearance. In order to explain the trip you were making to your sister, you told her you were going on your honeymoon. Mr. Eves, whom you secretly married, found himself very busy at the moment, assisting Mr. Van Densie conceal matters from the investigators. He actually sailed on the ship with you, but after it had left the dock, climbed over the side on a rope ladder and returned on a speed launch. You went to Honolulu, explained that situation to Mr. Moar, and arranged with him for a complete disappearance.
“This scheme had been carefully thought out by Van Densie, Morgan Eves, and perhaps in part, by you. You knew that a Roger P. Cartman had been in an automobile accident and sustained a broken neck. You purchased a ticket in the name of Roger P. Cartman on the same steamship as that on which Mr. Moar traveled under the name of Carl Newberry. From time to time, Mr. Moar would surreptitiously visit your cabin. You would place a steel and leather harness, or brace, upon his neck so that it concealed much of his face, put on huge dark glasses which concealed his eyes, and wheel him about the deck in a wheel chair.
“On the night of the sixth you, having familiarized yourself with the custom of Aileen Fell of being on deck immediately after dinner, and feeling that this was a propitious time because of the storm, arranged to have Mr. Moar commit a supposed suicide by shooting himself and jumping overboard. You expected that the sound of revolver shots would attract Miss Fell’s attention so that she could see what apparently was the body of a man hurtling into the ocean.
“However, Miss Fell’s curiosity brought her up to the boat deck so in place of having Moar apparently a suicide, he seemed to be the victim of a murder, and his wife was accused of the murder.
“After Moar’s supposed plunge over the side, he went to your stateroom, where he became Roger P. Cartman, the invalid, and was actually carried off the steamer in a wheel chair, and taken to the flat on Stockton Boulevard.
“However, where the supposed suicide of Mr. Moar would have passed with only a small amount of notoriety, the supposed murder of Moar was an entirely different affair, and the situation became complicated when I dashed to Los Angeles and proved that Mr. Moar had not embezzled money from his former employer, the Products Refining Company. Therefore, Mr. Eves decided it would be better for you to leave the flat at Stockton Boulevard, since he felt some attempt might be made to trace Roger P. Cartman.”
“Now, he took you to a cabin up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Miss Whiting. But did you know that after he had taken you there, he returned to the flat at Stockton Boulevard; that he then told Mr. Moar he had arranged for another place of concealment, placed him aboard a yacht, took him out by the Farallons, cruised about until he found one of the life rings which had been tossed overboard from the steamer the night before, shot Mr. Moar, stripped him of his clothes, placed his body in the life ring, and left it floating on the ocean, knowing that it would be discovered within a day or two.”
Mason paused, and Evelyn Whiting, gripping the arms of the chair with her gloved hands, moistened her lips and said nothing.
“You must have realized what had happened,” Mason went on, “when you read that Moar’s body had been found. Now then. Miss Whiting, it’s one thing to resort to jury bribing to shield a man whom you love. It’s quite another thing to become involved as an accessory on a murder charge. I think it’s time for you to tell the truth.”
She half rose from the chair, dropped back into it, looked helplessly about her, then slowly nodded her head. She raised her eyes to Judge Romley and said, “It’s true. I thought Morgan was innocent when he was being tried in Los Angeles. I thought the case was a frame-up against him, so I was willing to do everything I could. Mr. Van Densie said that if Morgan should be convicted, the district attorney would be able to frame a lot of Morgan’s business associates. He said these men had made up a purse to help my husband, and would give five thousand dollars for a hung jury, or twenty-five thousand for an outright acquittal. I explained the situation to Carl. I gave him my word that Morgan was innocent, and he managed to swing the jury. I made Carl Moar think the whole case was a frame-up, because I thought it was a frame-up.”