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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Carter Leland, the district attorney of Riverside County, said to the magistrate, "If the Court please, this is a simple matter of a preliminary hearing. We propose to show that the defendant in this case had a business arrangement with the decedent, Harrison T. Boring; that she became convinced Boring had swindled her, that she was exceedingly indignant, that she went to the Restawhile Motel in order to see him and did see him; that she was the last person to see Boring alive and that when she left the room Boring was in a dying condition.
"That is all we need to show, in fact more than we need to show, in order to get an order binding the defendant over for trial."
"Put on your case," Judge Warren Talent said.
"My first witness is Montrose Foster," Leland a
Montrose Foster came forward, held up his right hand, was sworn, seated himself nervously on the witness stand.
"Your name is Montrose Foster, you reside in Riverside and have for some two years last past? You are the president of Missing Heirs and Lost Estates?"
"That is true."
"On last Tuesday, the day of the murder as charged in the complaint, did you have occasion to talk with the defendant?"
"I did."
"Where did this conversation take place?"
"At Bolero Beach."
"Did the defendant make any statement to you about her feeling toward Harrison T. Boring?"
"She did."
"What did she say?"
"She said she could kill him."
Leland turned abruptly and unexpectedly to Perry Mason. "Cross-examine," he said.
"Is that all you're going to try to bring out on direct examination?" Mason asked.
"It's enough," Leland snapped. "I don't intend to let this preliminary hearing become a three-ring circus."
Mason turned to the witness. "Did you," he asked, "say something to the defendant that was well calcuculated to cause her to make that statement?"
"Objected to," Leland said, "as calling for a conclusion of the witness. He can't testify as to what was in the defendant's mind or what was calculated to arouse certain emotions, but only to facts."
"Sustained," Judge Talent said. "I think you can reframe the question, Mr. Mason."
"I'll be glad to, Your Honor," Mason said, and turned to the witness. "Did you try to say something that would be calculated to arouse her rage toward the defendant?"
"Why, Your Honor," Leland said, "that's exactly the same question. That's a repetition of the same question calling for a conclusion of the witness and in defiance of the ruling of the Court."
"No, it isn't," Mason said. "This question now relates to, the state of mind of the witness."
"And that's completely immaterial," Leland said.
Mason gri
Leland started to say something, caught himself.
Judge Talent smiled and said, "The question has been skillfully reframed. The objection is overruled."
"I told her certain things about Boring," Foster said.
"The question, Mr. Foster, was whether you tried to arouse her anger against Boring by what you told her."
"Very well. The answer is yes."
"You deliberately tried to arouse the defendant's anger?"
"I told you, yes."
"Did you tell her that Boring had been attempting to sell her into white slavery?"
"Well-that was her idea."
"You agreed with it?"
"I didn't disagree with it."
"At no time during the conversation did you mention that Boring's purpose in his dealings with her was one of immorality?"
"Well, she brought that subject up herself."
"And you, in your conversation, encouraged her in that belief?"
"Yes."
"And told her that Boring had deceived her in order to get her to sign an agreement which was intended to enable him to sell her into white slavery?"
"I didn't tell her that. She told me that."
"You agreed with her?"
"Yes."
"And then, after that, you told her that was Boring's objective?"
"All right, I did."
Mason smiled. "Now, you knew what Boring was after, didn't you, Mr. Foster? Didn't you tell me that Boring had located some property and an estate to which the defendant could establish title?"
"That's what he was after, yes."
"And you knew what he was after?"
"Of course I did."
"Then that was his real objective?"
"Yes."
"Therefore when you told the defendant that the purpose of Boring's contract with her was to get her in his power for other reasons, you lied to her."
"I let her deceive herself."
"Answer the question," Mason said. "When you told her that, you lied to her."
"That's objected to-it's not proper cross-examination," Leland said. "It also assumes facts not in evidence."
"Objection overruled on both counts," Judge Talent said.
"All right," Foster snapped, "I lied to her."
"You did that in order to get an advantage for yourself?"
"Yes."
"You are, then, willing to lie as a part of your everyday business transactions in order to get an advantage for yourself?"
"I didn't say that," the witness said.
"I'm asking it," Mason said.
"The answer is no."
"You don't generally lie in order to get an advantage for yourself?"
"That certainly is objectionable, Your Honor," Leland said.
"I think so. The objection is sustained," Judge Talent ruled.
"But you did tell such a lie in order to get such an advantage in this case," Mason said.
"Yes," the witness snapped.
"Now, on the evening of the murder, you yourself saw Harrison T. Boring at the Restawhile Motel, did you not?"
"Yes."
"And had an interview with the decedent?"
"Yes."
"Your Honor," Leland said, "the prosecution wishes to object to any testimony as to what took place at that interview. It was not brought out on direct examination, and if counsel wants to go into it, he must make this witness his own witness."
"I think it shows motivation and bias," Mason said.
"I'm inclined to agree with you," Judge Talent said. "I think you can at least show the bias and interest of this witness, and if it appears that he himself was in contact with the decedent on the day of the murder, that may well establish an interest."
Mason turned to the witness. "Did you lie to Boring at the time you had that interview with him?"
"No."
"You didn't tell him that this defendant was going to repudiate any arrangement she might have with him, but that if Boring would let you in on the secret of what he had discovered, you would co-operate with Boring and would keep the defendant in line and you would share whatever property she was entitled to fifty-fifty- words to that effect?"
"That was generally the nature of my proposition."
"But you didn't have the defendant tied up with any agreement?"
"I felt I could secure such an agreement."
"But you told Boring you had her tied up?"
"Something of that sort."
"So you lied to Boring?"
"All right!" the witness shouted. "I lied to Boring. He lied to me and I lied to him."
"Whenever it suits your advantage, you're willing to lie?" Mason asked.
"If the Court please," Leland said, "that's the same question that has already been ruled on. I object to it."
"Sustained," Judge Talent said.
"So, on last Tuesday," Mason said, "in co
"Same objection," Leland said. "It's the same question, Your Honor."
"I don't think it is," Judge Talent said. "It is now a specific question as to two interviews with two people. However, I'm going to sustain the objection on the ground that the question has already been asked and answered. The witness had admitted lying to each of two people on the same day."