The Case of the Troubled Trustee

"I could afford to take a chance."

"I see," Burger said. "Now, with reference to the sale of the stock from the trust fund, did you sell yourself the stock from the trust fund?"

"I got my stock later and I paid the market price for it."

"But it has gone up in value?"

"Yes."

"How much has it gone up in value?"

"Quite a bit."

"What price did you credit the trust fund from the sale of that Steer Ridge stock?"

"Around ten thousand dollars."

"And what is that stock worth now?"

"Two hundred thousand."

"So you made a hundred and ninety thousand dollars' profit out of betraying the interests of the beneficiary?"

"I did nothing of the kind."

"You sold the stock from the trust fund and bought shares of that same stock yourself?"

"Yes-when I felt a proxy fight was on."

"And that stock is now worth many times what you paid for it?"

"Yes."

"And how did you justify that action as trustee, Mr. Dutton?"

"I felt the stock was highly speculative. I didn't buy it because I wanted it, but to protect the trust fund."

"And just how would you protect the trust fund by buying the stock in your own name?"

"I felt that I could give it back in the event the stock went up."

"Oh, I see," Hamilton Burger said, "you were buying the stock. If the stock went down you intended to absorb the loss. If the stock went up you intended to turn over the profit to the trust?"

"Well, something like that."

"Something like that!" Hamilton Burger repeated sarcastically. "Now, have you turned this stock back to the trust?"

"Yes."

"And it is because of turning this stock back to the trust that the trust now is worth two hundred and fifty thousand dollars?"

"That accounts for still further profits."

"Well, this certainly seems like financial jugglery to me," Hamilton Burger said. "Perhaps you can explain it a little better, because, after all, I'm not a financier. I believe you are a professional financial counselor, Mr. Dutton?"

"Yes, sir. I represent several clients."

"And with these other clients, do you surreptitiously sell the profitable stock to yourself?"

"These other clients are on a different basis."

"I see. They're on a basis where they ask, from time to time, for an accounting. By the way, how many accountings have you ever made to Miss Ellis?"

"I have made none."

"When did you tell her about selling the stock of the Steer Ridge Oil Company?"

"I didn't tell her."

"You didn't tell her?"

"No."

"I believe you said she asked you to hang on to that stock?"

"She wanted me to, yes."

"You didn't tell her that you had sold it?"

"No, sir."

"You didn't tell her that you had sold it to yourself?"

"No, sir."

"Nor that you were making a handsome profit on it?"

"No, sir, and the stock I purchased was not the trust stock."

"Now, you say you conveyed that stock back to the trust fund?"

"Yes."

"If this wasn't trust fund stock, why did you convey it back to the trust fund? Was it conscience money?"

"No, sir."

"Then, if it wasn't trust fund stock, why give it back? And if it was trust fund stock, why juggle it out of the trust and into your name?"

"I can't answer that question any better than I have."

"When did you transfer this stock to the trust fund with reference to the date of September twenty-first, about what time?"

"It was right around that time."

"Right around that time?" Hamilton Burger repeated. "How interesting! In other words, it was right around the time that this man, Rodger Palmer, started telephoning you that you transferred the stock back to the trust fund?"

"His telephone calls had nothing to do with my actions."

"Well, what else had happened at about that time?" Burger asked. "Had you, by any chance, consulted an attorney at about that time?"

The witness hesitated.

"Had you?" Hamilton Burger snapped. "Yes or no. Had you consulted an attorney at about that time?"

"Yes."

"And did you tell the attorney that you had embezzled the stock held by the trust fund?"

"I told him that I had sold certain stocks from the trust fund, stocks that I felt were going down in value."

"So you bought those same stocks?"

"The Steer Ridge shares, yes, sir."

"Are you accustomed to buying stocks that you think are going down in value?"

"I sometimes take a chance."

"You buy the stocks you think are going down in value?"

"I mean I sometimes buy speculative stocks."

"But when you buy a speculative stock, you think it is going up in value?"

"I hope so."

"So, when you bought this Steer Ridge stock you thought it was going up in value?"

"Well, I knew there was a possibility."

"Yet, as trustee, knowing that the stock was one which the beneficiary wanted you to hold; knowing that it stood a good chance of going up in value, you sold it from the trust?"

"I thought that was the best thing to do."

"The best thing for whom? For the beneficiary, or yourself?"

"For the beneficiary."

"So, later on you bought an equal amount yourself," Hamilton Burger said, musingly, "and you turned it back into the trust fund just a short time before the murder, on the advice of an attorney, and you never told the beneficiary anything about what you had done and you never made an accounting in the trust. Well, well, I'm glad I cross-examined you, Mr. Dutton, because otherwise these matters wouldn't have come out and I think the jury is interested in them. You didn't intend to tell the jurors about all this, did you?"

"I wasn't asked."

"You mean, on your direct examination, your attorney carefully avoided asking you these questions?"

"Objected to as argumentative," Perry Mason said.

"Sustained," Judge Alvarado promptly ruled.

Hamilton Burger gri

Chapter Nineteen

"Call Mr. Holbrook," Mason said.

George Holbrook-tall, gangling, his weather-beaten face and somewhat shambling gait claiming the attention of the jurors-took the oath and assumed his position on the witness stand.

"Do you have occasion to remember the evening of September twenty-first of this year?" Mason asked.

"I sure do."

"There was something that happened on that evening which made an impression upon you?"

"Yes, sir."

"What was it?"

"My wife's sister came to visit."

"What time did she arrive?"

"Eleven-ten was when she actually got there at the airport."

"Did you go to the airport to meet her?"

"We sure did."

"Now, calling your attention to that evening, did anything happen earlier in the evening which aroused your attention, anything at all that was out of the ordinary?"

"Yes, sir."

"What was it?"

"About nine o'clock, just right around a minute or two after nine, I heard the sound of a shot."

Hamilton Burger jumped to his feet. "I move to strike out the latter part of that answer as calling for a conclusion of the witness."

"Oh, I think the expression is common enough so we'll let it go," Judge Alvarado said. "You may crossexamine him on that point."

"Could you determine the direction of that sound?" Mason asked.

"It came from the golf links."

"Now, where is your home with reference to the golf links of the Barclay Country Club?"

"We're along a street that parallels the golf club."

"Are you familiar with the location of tee number seven?"

"Yes, sir."

"In order that there may be no mistake about it," Mason said, "I show you this map which has been introduced in evidence and ask you to notice the cross street nearest your house and the location of tee number seven."