The Case of the Troubled Trustee

Mason very gently folded the handkerchief back over the cartridge case and put it in his pocket.

"Well," he said, "I think we have completed the search. r guess we found everything that was here."

He waited an appreciable moment, then added, "I may say that we've found everything that we thought was here."

"Just what caused you to think that cartridge was here, Mr. Mason?" the reporter asked.

Mason gave the question careful consideration. "There were," he said at length, "two shots. One at nine o'clock, one at approximately one hour later. Two shots mean two cartridges. There was only one empty cartridge in the gun which the police contend was the murder weapon."

"But that was a revolver," the reporter said. "This cartridge case that you have was ejected from an automatic."

"Exactly," Mason said, with an enigmatic smile, and then added, "I don't think I should be giving an interview at this time. Come on, folks, let's go."

Chapter Twenty-Two

Judge Alvarado surveyed the crowded courtroom with something of a frown. "The jurors seem to be all present, and the defendant is in court," he said. "I trust that the jurors have heeded the admonition of the Court and have neither listened to radio or television nor read papers concerning the case. I know that this imposes a hardship upon jurors, but the only alternative is to have jurors locked up for the duration of the trial and that is even more of a hardship.

"The jury will remember and heed the admonition of the Court. Gentlemen, you may proceed if you are ready."

"We are ready," Hamilton Burger said.

"We are ready, Your Honor," Mason rejoined.

"Then call your next witness."

Mason said, "Mr. Paul Drake, will you take the stand, please?"

Drake held up his hand, was sworn and took his position on the witness stand.

"What is your occupation?" Mason asked.

"I am a private detective."

"Are you familiar with the Barclay Country Club in this city?"

"I am."

"Are you familiar with the particular portion of the club which is in the vicinity of the seventh tee?"

"Yes, sir."

"When were you last there?"

"Yesterday afternoon at about three to four o'clock."

"What were you doing on the golf course at that hour?"

"I was participating in a search of the territory immediately adjacent to the seventh tee."

"Were you using your eyes or did you have some mechanical assistance?"

"We had a metal detector."

"And did you, at that time, discover anything?"

"Yes, sir."

"What?"

"We discovered a thirty-two-caliber empty, brass cartridge case."

"What did you do with that?"

"You took it into your possession."

Mason approached the witness and said, "I ask you if you made any identifying mark upon that cartridge case?"

"Yes, sir, a small scratch with the point of my knife."

"I show you an empty cartridge case and ask you if that is the cartridge case."

"Yes, sir, that is the one we found."

"If the Court please, we ask this be introduced in evidence as Defendant's Exhibit Number One," Mason said.

Hamilton Burger, on his feet, smiled at the court. "I believe, if the Court please, I have the right to examine the witness on voir dire."

"You certainly do," Judge Alvarado said. "Proceed."

"You state that you are a private detective, Mr. Drake?" Hamilton Burger asked, facing the witness.

"Yes, sir."

"You do a great deal of work for Mr. Perry Mason?"

"Yes, sir."

"Does his work account for all of your income?"

"No, sir, not all of it."

"A substantial part of it?"

"Yes, sir."

"As much as ninety per cent?"

"No, I would say perhaps as much as seventy-five per Cent."

"I see," Hamilton Burger said. "Now, what are your regular rates of payment?"

"Fifty dollars a day and expenses."

"That is figured on an eight-hour day?"

"Theoretically, yes."

"That is something over six dollars an hour," Hamilton Burger said, "over ten cents a minute. Now, I take it that you are a good businessman and as such you strive to give Mr. Mason value received?"

"We try to keep our clients satisfied. Yes, sir."

"And you try to find what they want?"

"If we can do so, yes."

"You knew when you went out to the golf links that you were going to be searching for an empty cartridge case?"

"I so understood."

"And this cartridge case which you say that you found, there is nothing about it to show when it was fired?"

"No, sir."

"Nor is there anything about it to show when it was dropped on the ground."

"No, sir."

"It could have been dropped on the ground as much as a year ago?"

"I presume so."

"Or it could have been dropped to the ground within a matter of seconds before you so fortuitously found it."

Drake said, "There is nothing about the cartridge case, nor was there anything on the ground telling how long it had been on the ground."

"It could have been a matter of seconds?"

"I presume it could have been dropped at any time before we started searching."

"Or it might have been dropped during the search?" Burger asked with a sneer.

"I don't think so."

"You don't think so. Can you swear that it hadn't been?"

"I was watching."

"Were you watching every one of the people in your group all the time? Were you watching all of the assembled curiosity seekers who ceased playing golf to cluster around you?"

"It was physically impossible to watch everyone."

"So anyone in that group could have taken advantage of a time when your back was turned and tossed that empty cartridge case out into the grass?"

"I presume so, yes."

"That empty cartridge case has no commercial value?"

''No.'

"But the value of your relationship with Mr. Mason is very great. In other words, his business represents an income of many thousands of dollars a year to you, does it not?"

"It has in the past."

"And you hope it will in the future?"

"Yes, sir."

"As long as you continue to serve him diligently."

"Yes, sir."

"And manage to find the articles that he wants you to find."

"I simply work to the best of my ability," Drake said.

"That is all," Hamilton Burger said, as he walked back to the counsel table with a ma

Mason, observing the gesture, whispered to Della Street, "The old so-and-so is certainly a past master of courtroom strategy."

"That concludes your voir dire?" Judge Alvarado asked Burger.

"Yes, sir."

"The defense has offered this in evidence. Do you have any objection?"

"I certainly do, Your Honor. I object on the ground it is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial. It is a physical impossibility that this could have been fired from the 'murder weapon. Therefore, it has no significance standing by itself. The only possible significance could be in the place where it was found, or the time when it was found; and it has just been shown by the evidence of this witness who so fortuitously participated in finding this cartridge case, that it is impossible to vouch for the time when it was placed there."

"Nevertheless," Judge Alvarado said, "I think that, while your objection goes to the weight rather than to the admissibility of the evidence, the Court is going to allow this to be received in evidence. Counsel will have ample opportunity to argue to the jury as to what this means."

"In that case," Hamilton Burger said, "while I realize that this matter should be handled expeditiously, I would like to have a recess until tomorrow morning to try to find out more about this most fortuitous discovery."