“I think so,” Mason said.

  Neely’s face was flushed with pleasure.

  Estelle Nugent pushed her way through the crowd which was streaming from the courtroom and came up through the gate in the mahogany rail to grab Neely’s hand.

  “Frank, I’m so proud of you,” she said. “You were wonderful.”

  She turned to Perry Mason and Evelyn Bagby. “Oh, Miss Bagby,” she said, “I do so hope this thing works out all right. And, Mr. Mason, you’re so generous, so marvelous to let Frank have this chance to prove himself.”

  “He seems to be doing all right,” Mason said.

  Evelyn Bagby wordlessly squeezed Estelle Nugent’s hand, then turned away, blinking back tears.

  Mason patted her on the shoulder. “Take it easy, Evelyn,” he said. “It won’t be long now.”

  “You think not?”

  “That’s my present idea,” Mason said.

  A policewoman approached Evelyn Bagby. “We’ll step into the defendant’s room, if you don’t mind, Miss Bagby.”

  She followed the policewoman out of the courtroom.

  Neely turned to Mason and said, “When you come right down to it, Mr. Mason, why the devil did he take that gun with him when he went out to the car?”

  Mason chuckled. “So he could substitute guns.”

  “So he could what?”

  “So he could substitute guns,” Mason said, “thinking that he could confuse the issue. He knew at once that that was the gun he’d given Helene Chaney. He knew his gun was in the glove compartment of his car.

  “He thought he could save Helene Chaney some embarrassment and keep her out of trouble by switching guns. So under the guise of pretending to check and see if his gun was in the glove compartment, he broke open both guns, dumped the shells out of his gun, replaced them with the four loaded shells and the two empties from Helene Chaney’s gun, then reloaded Helene Chaney’s gun, put it in his pocket and brought both guns back to the house. He handed me his gun which by that time was loaded with the cartridges from Helene Chaney’s gun. When he thought I wasn’t looking he slipped the loaded gun to Helene Chaney so she would be able to produce it, if necessary.

  “He then announced to me that he had checked and that his gun was missing from the glove compartment of his automobile.”

  Neely and Estelle Nugent looked at Mason in speechless surprise.

  “You’re certain of this?” Estelle Nugent asked.

  “Of course,” Mason said, smiling. “That’s why I let him take the gun out to the car so he’d have an opportunity to make the switch.”

  “You knew he was going to?”

  Mason laughed. “He was as obvious as a sheet of plate glass. You could see right through him. He and Helene Chaney exchanged purposeful glances. All the time I was talking with him she was signaling behind my back.”

  “But, good Lord, why did you let him do it?” Neely asked. “Why didn’t you—?”

  “Oh I didn’t think it would hurt anything,” Mason said. “And if he decided to lie about it it furnished a delightful mix-up. A defendant in a criminal case very seldom has anything to lose by letting the issues become confused.”

  Neely said, “But in that case the bullets … and the—so that’s why you were talking about the breechblock signature on the empty cartridges!”

  “Stick around,” Mason said. “You’re going to see some fun.”

  Neely and Estelle Nugent looked at each other, then at Mason.

  “Well I’ll be darned,” Neely said, then, after a moment, “What’s going to be the effect of all this?”

  “It probably will give Hamilton Burger, our esteemed district attorney, a very marked increase in blood pressure,” Mason said. “He is, of course, sitting over there waiting to accuse me of having fired shots from another weapon. In a moment he’s going to find that the other weapon was in the custody of Mervyn Aldrich and Helene Chaney. Then he’s going to be in a devil of a fix.”

  “And what will be the effect of all this on the case against Evelyn Bagby?”

  “That,” Mason said, “is going to be one of the unexpected little twists that make the practice of trial law so very, very interesting.”

  Chapter 17

  It was a good twenty minutes before Judge Kippen returned to the courtroom and announced, “Mr. Redfield has telephoned me that he is on his way over and will be here within a minute or two, gentlemen. I suggest that as it is approaching the hour for the afternoon adjournment we have court convened and ready for Mr. Redfield to take the witness stand … Here is Mr. Redfield now. Come right forward, Mr. Redfield.”

  The ballistics expert, looking somewhat flustered, hurried forward and took the witness stand without any opportunity for a word with either Burger or the deputy district attorney.

  “I have been rather hurried,” he said breathlessly. “I—”

  “I can understand,” Judge Kippen said. “Now, have you completed your tests, Mr. Redfield?”

  “No, Your Honor.”

  Judge Kippen frowned. “I understood you to say that—”

  “I have completed my preliminary tests, Your Honor.”

  “Yes, yes, and what did they show?” Judge Kippen asked.

  Mason tilted back in his swivel chair, his hands clasped behind his head, his eyes fixed on the ceiling rather than on the witness. The comers of his lips were upturned in a smile.

  “I find,” Redfield said, “that Bullets Numbers One and Four were probably fired from the same weapon, and that this is not the weapon which has been marked Exhibit A for identification in this case. I find that Bullets Two and Three were probably fired from the weapon which has been marked Exhibit A for identification. I find that the empty cartridge cases which were in the cylinder of the weapon marked Exhibit A for identification definitely were not discharged by that gun but have been substituted from some other weapon.”

  “What!” Hamilton Burger exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

  Judge Kippen blinked his eyes as he tried to adjust himself to the situation. He glanced at the bewildered Hamilton Burger, then at the smiling, completely unconcerned figure of Perry Mason.

  Judge Kippen’s lips tightened. “Do I understand your findings indicate that there has been a substitution of shells and that the empty cartridge cases in this gun, which has been marked Exhibit A for identification, were actually fired or discharged while they were in some other weapon and then, after having been fired, the empty cartridge cases were substituted in the cylinder of this weapon?”

  “That is the only possible explanation I can think of, Your Honor.”

  “Then this weapon marked Exhibit A for identification is not the fatal weapon?”

  “That would seem to he the case, Your Honor.”

  “The weapon which fired Bullet Number Four, which lodged in the attic of Mrs. Eunice’s house, was the same gun which fired the fatal bullet which we have referred to as Bullet Number One?”

  “That apparently is the case, Your Honor. I haven’t made a sufficient examination as yet so I can’t be absolutely certain. My preliminary examination certainly indicates that is the case. I may state that I have a trusted assistant working on the matter at the present time and taking photographs showing the two bullets, that is, the fatal bullet, Number One, and Bullet Number Four, in a superimposed position so that microscopic marks of identification can be followed on a photograph. However, according to a visual test, they were both fired from the same gun, and that definitely is not the gun which fired Bullets Two and Three.”

  Judge Kippen said, “It is quite apparent that someone has been tampering with the evidence in this case. Mr. Mason.”

  “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “This weapon which has been marked for identification was in your possession?”

  “It was, Your Honor.”

  “Under the circumstances and since you are an interested party, the Court feels it is incumbent upon you to account for what happened during every minute of the time that weapon was in your possession.”

  “I shall be glad to do so, Your Honor,” Mason said suavely. “I will, of course, have to call upon some witnesses in an attempt to clear this matter up. I had intended to produce some of these witnesses on the defendant’s case, but in view of the situation which has developed I will respond to the Court’s request by calling these witnesses at the present time. Will Helene Chaney please take the witness stand.”

  Mervyn Aldrich jumped up. “Helene Chaney will not take the witness stand.”

  Judge Kippen’s gavel banged a peremptory summons. “Mr. Aldrich, come forward,” he said.

  Aldrich strode forward and glowered at the judge.

  “What did you say?” Judge Kippen asked.

  “I said that Helene Chaney would not take the witness stand.”

  “Mr. Aldrich, the Court observes that Miss Chaney is in the courtroom. The Court orders her to the witness stand. The Court further finds that your interpolation constitutes a flagrant contempt of this Court. The Court will not fine you under the circumstances for this one outburst because the Court understands that this case has taken a series of unexpected, dramatic, seemingly impossible turns. The Court realizes that you find yourself under something of a strain. You will, however, be seated in that chair behind the prosecutor’s table, and you will refrain from making any comments, from signaling the witness, or—Miss Chaney! Miss Chaney, do not try to leave the courtroom. Miss Chaney, come back here! Bailiff, grab that woman!”

  The bailiff seated by the door hurried out into the corridor. The courtroom became a scene of confusion as reporters hurried out into the corridor. Newspaper photographers stationed in the corridor blazed flashlights as the bailiff chased after Helene Chaney to the elevator, caught her as she was frantically jabbing at the button.

  Judge Kippen tried to restore order in the courtroom as some of the spectators hurried in scrambled confusion to try to get out in the corridor to see the action.

  “I’ll clear this courtroom if I can’t have order,” Judge Kippen shouted. “Order! Spectators will be seated and will remain seated.”

  Hamilton Burger got to his feet. “Your Honor,” he said, “this situation is one which could hardly have been anticipated unless perhaps one had engaged in other trials with distinguished counsel,” and Hamilton Burger nodded with savage ferocity in the direction of Perry Mason. “I am going to ask the Court if we can have a recess—”

  “This Court won’t take any recess until that woman comes back into court and obeys the order of the Court,” Judge Kippen announced. “This Court—” He broke off as the door opened and the bailiff escorted Helene Chaney into the courtroom.

  “Bring that woman here,” Judge Kippen ordered the bailiff.

  Helene Chaney was piloted down the aisle.

  “Close the courtroom doors,” Judge Kippen announced. “Those spectators who were so anxious to interrupt the proceedings of this court by dashing pell-mell out into the corridor can remain in the corridor as far as the Court is concerned. Close the doors and lock them.”

  Judge Kippen turned to Helene Chaney. “Now then, Miss Chaney,” he said, “the Court ordered you to take the witness stand and you fled from the courtroom.”

  She glanced uncertainly at Mervyn Aldrich, then at the judge.

  “Didn’t you hear me?” Judge Kippen asked.

  She met his eyes. “Yes,” she said in a low voice.

  “Well, that’s something,” Judge Kippen grunted. “At least you didn’t try to lie your way out of it. Now why did you try to get out of the courtroom?”

  “Because I don’t want to be a witness.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I am afraid. I don’t want the publicity. I—”

  “It isn’t a question of what you want,” Judge Kippen said, “or whether you feel that you’re going to be annoyed. The Court will protect you and see that no questions are asked which are going to embarrass you other than questions which are pertinent to the case. Now you take that witness stand, hold up your right hand and be sworn, and I want you to answer questions fully and frankly. You understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Call me Your Honor,” Judge Kippen snapped.

  “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “Go over there and hold up your right hand.”

  Helene Chaney held up her right hand, was sworn and took the witness stand.

  “Now then,” Judge Kippen said, “the Court is going to question this witness. The Court will ask counsel for both sides to refrain from interrupting the Court except with pertinent legal objections to any question which may be asked. And the Court will further state that it is not going to take kindly to technical objections. The Court wants to get to the bottom of this case.

  “Now then, Miss Chaney, you have heard Mr. Aldrich’s testimony?”

  “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “Mr. Aldrich gave you a Colt revolver, as I understand it, a Colt revolver very similar to the weapon which has been marked in this case for identification as People’s Exhibit A.”

  “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “And where is that weapon now?”

  “I … I—”

  “Where is it?” Judge Kippen thundered.

  “It is here,” she said. “I have it here.” . “What do you mean by here?”

  She indicated her handbag.

  “That weapon is loaded?”

  ‘Yes, Your Honor.”

  “Why are you carrying a loaded weapon?”

  “For personal protection.”

  “Do you have a permit to carry a loaded weapon?”

  “I—Mr. Aldrich told me—”

  “I’m not talking about what Mr. Aldrich told you. I’m asking if you have a permit to carry a loaded weapon.”

  “No, sir.”

  Judge Kippen said to the bailiff, “Mr. Bailiff, you will wait on the witness. You will take the loaded revolver from her purse. You will unload it. You will read the number of that revolver into the record so there will be no question of any mix-up while these weapons are in court. You will then properly label that gun for identification as People’s Exhibit E. While you’re doing that the Court will receive the other gun which has been marked People’s Exhibit A in evidence. Now let’s get this thing handled in an orderly manner.”

  “Will the Court note my objection to the receipt of these weapons in evidence?” Perry Mason asked.

  “The Court notes your objection and overrules it,” Judge Kippen snapped. “We’re going to have both of these guns in evidence. We’re going to have them impounded in custody where there won’t be any further tampering with the evidence.”

  Judge Kippen glowered at Perry Mason.

  Mason smiled back urbanely.

  “Now then, Mr. Clerk,” Judge Kippen said, “what’s the number of the weapon that has been marked for identification People’s Exhibit A and is now received in evidence?”

  “Number 17475-LW.”

  “And what is the number of the weapon which is now marked People’s Exhibit E and which the bailiff has just taken from the purse of the witness?”

  “Number 17474-LW.”

  “All right,” Judge Kippen said. “Now these two weapons are received in evidence. They’re in the custody of the Court. Anyone who touches those weapons without the authorization of the Court is going to be sentenced for contempt of this Court. We’ll have no further confusion of evidence. Mr. Redfield, the Court is going to turn those weapons over to you. I want a complete report from you when court convenes tomorrow morning at ten o’clock, and I wish to charge you, Mr. Redfield, that under no circumstances are you to communicate your findings prior to the time you get on the witness stand to any person whatever except to your assistants who necessarily co-operate with you in making tests, and you will warn them not to give any information to the press. I don’t care to have this case tried in the newspapers.

  “I know that the events of the afternoon are sufficiently dramatic so that the newspapers will give this case an enormous amount of spectacular publicity. I can’t help that. I can’t control that. But I certainly intend to control the publicity in regard to the further developments in this case. I don’t want you to communicate with anyone. And that means counsel for the defendant or anyone connected with him, or—yes, I also mean counsel for the prosecution.”

  “Oh, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger protested. “After all, the prosecution is charged with putting on this case and the prosecution feels that Mr. Redfield, being the People’s witness—”

  “I don’t care how you feel,” Judge Kippen said. “This is a matter which has assumed very important proportions. The Court will take judicial cognizance of the fact that it is exceedingly difficult for any public officer to withhold information from the press. The Court doesn’t care to have any information leak out of Mr. Redfield’s office until court can reconvene tomorrow morning at ten o’clock. Do you understand, Mr. Redfield?”

  “I understand,” Redfield said.

  “I take it,” Mason said, “that the Court is preparing to adjourn.”

  “It is,” Judge Kippen snapped.

  “I feel that under the circumstances I should be permitted to ask this witness one or two questions on cross-examination before adjournment.”

  “I don’t think so,” Judge Kippen said. “I think the damage has been done at the present time, and I don’t want to have the issues any further confused until we know what we’re doing here.”

  “Then,” Mason said, “I would suggest that the Court ask the witness why she deemed it necessary to carry a weapon, what the danger was that was threatening her.”

  “Why?” Judge Kippen asked.

  “Because,” Mason said, “I am satisfied that the person of whom she was afraid, and whose threats caused her to carry this gun in the first place, was none other than Stephen Merrill.”

  Hamilton Burger jumped to his feet. “Now there, Your Honor, is a typical example of what I have referred to from time to time. Counsel knows that this statement of his will be featured in the press. It is undoubtedly without foundation, but by tossing it as a choice tidbit of speculative scandal into the hopper of the newspapers—”