“That stuff happens a lot of times, all right,” Drake said. “I know that it bothers the police. They get a lot of false identifications that the public never hears about. People study a photograph of a suspect so much that the features become familiar.

  “A couple of weeks ago the police had a case where three people, who had been studying the photograph of a suspect, picked him out of a line-up and made a positive identification. Then it turned out he was in jail in San Francisco at the time the crime was committed. Just one of those cases of photographic identification.”

  Mason nodded and started to say something but stopped when the telephone rang.

  Della Street picked the receiver off the hook, turned to Drake and said, “It’s for you, Paul.”

  Drake took the telephone, said, “Hello…. Yes, this is he…. What is it? … Oh, now wait a minute. Don’t get any false ideas…. Now, is that final? You’re absolutely certain? … You’ve misunderstood him…. Here, wait a minute, who’s this? … What? … No, I haven’t anything to say other than that the girl’s mistaken. We have positive evidence of it…. No. Absolutely positive evidence…. I’m not disclosing what it is. You can call Mr. Mason if you want details.”

  Drake slammed up the phone, turned to Perry Mason, said, “That damned, double-crossing, grandstanding district attorney!”

  “What’s he done now?” Mason asked.

  “You just wait until you hear what he’s done,” Drake said indignantly.

  “I’m waiting.”

  “He’s got Minerva Hamlin up in his office. That was her on the phone. She was calling from the D.A.’s office.”

  “Okay, so what?”

  “She told me, in the manner of one reading from a prepared statement which had been carefully written out and which she was holding in front of her on the desk, that she was leaving my employ because she felt that undue pressure was being brought to bear on her to make her tell a falsehood in connection with the identification of Dixie Dayton.”

  “A beautiful grandstand,” Mason said.

  “Wait a minute. You haven’t heard the half of it yet,” Drake said. “I started to argue with her but she said, ‘That’s final, Mr. Drake. The resignation takes effect immediately, and I have accepted a position in one of the county offices at a larger salary. And here’s someone who wants to talk with you.’ … And this fellow came on the line—a newspaper reporter. He wanted some comment. You heard what I said.”

  “I heard what you said,” Della Street remarked.

  “You should have heard what I was thinking,” Drake said, then added hurriedly, “No, you shouldn’t either.”

  Mason said, “Well, there’s only one thing to do now. I’ll have to sit in on the preliminary and try every trick of cross-examination to look for a weak spot in the prosecution’s case. It’s a cinch the defendants’ case won’t stand up.”

  Chapter 17

  Hamilton Burger, the big, barrel-chested district attorney, who managed to clothe himself with an air of unctuous dignity in keeping with his concept of the office he held, arose as soon as the case had been called, and said, “I wish to make a few preliminary remarks, Your Honor.”

  “Very well,” Judge Lennox said.

  “I wish to object to Perry Mason as attorney for the defendants in this case. I believe the Court should disqualify him from appearing as such attorney.”

  “On what grounds?”

  “Mr. Mason is a witness for the prosecution. He has been subpoenaed by the People as a witness. I expect to call him and examine him as such.”

  “Mr. Mason is a witness for the prosecution?” Judge Lennox asked incredulously.

  “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “That’s rather unheard of, for an attorney for the defense—”

  “Nevertheless, Your Honor, I have carefully gone over the legal grounds,” Hamilton Burger said, “and Mr. Mason is fully competent as a witness. He is the main witness on whom I must rely to prove a very important link in the chain of evidence. I expect to call him as my witness. He is under subpoena and he is, therefore, a necessary witness in the case. I can assure the Court and Counsel that I consider him a most important witness.”

  “Have you been subpoenaed, Mr. Mason?” Judge Lennox asked.

  “Yes, Your Honor. A subpoena was served on me.”

  “And you are appearing as attorney for both defendants?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said, “I am proceeding jointly against both Morris Alburg and Dixie Dayton on a charge of first-degree murder, and I expect to be able to prove that they not only conspired to bring about the death of George Fayette, but they committed an overt act in furtherance of that conspiracy, and thereafter they did actually murder George Fayette.

  “I hold no particular brief for the decedent. His record, as the defendants will probably attempt to show, is not that of an estimable citizen, but rather is interspersed with occasional tangles with the law. There are also intervals during which we are unable to account for where he was, or what he was doing. It is quite possible that the defendants thought Fayette might be endeavoring to blackmail them in connection with another crime which, of course, Your Honor, is entirely separate and apart from this present case, except that evidence will be introduced for the purpose of showing motivation.”

  “You are, of course, aware of the fact that there can be no evidence of another crime, Mr. District Attorney. The defendants are called upon to meet one accusation and …”

  “And that rule, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger interrupted firmly and positively, “is subject to the well-recognized expection that when evidence of motive has to do with another crime, that evidence is perfectly admissible.”

  Judge Lennox said, “I have always enforced the rule rather strictly in this court. I think there is a tendency at times to relax this rule far too much. Quite often under the guise of proving motivation or a similar pattern of crimes, an attempt is made to prejudice the defendant.”

  “I understand, Your Honor, but when you hear the evidence in this case I think you will realize that it falls well within the exception, and that the prosecution is amply justified in introducing evidence of another crime, the murder of a policeman who …”

  “Another murder?” Judge Lennox interjected.

  “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “By both defendants?”

  “No, Your Honor. By the defendant Dayton. That is, she was involved in the murder of a young police officer, and it was because of an attempt to cover up her connection with that crime that this murder took place…. It may well be that the decedent, George Fayette, was blackmailing her in connection with that other murder.”

  “Well,” Judge Lennox said, “this presents an interesting situation. You object to Perry Mason appearing as attorney for the defendants?”

  “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “What do you have to say with reference to that, Mr. Mason?”

  “I say it’s none of his business,” Mason said curtly.

  Judge Lennox flushed.

  “Without meaning any disrespect to the Court,” Mason added. “I’ll handle my own business, and the district attorney can handle his.”

  “It’s unethical,” Burger said.

  “You watch your ethics, and I’ll take care of mine,” Mason snapped.

  “Come, come, gentlemen,” Judge Lennox said. “Let’s not have personalities interjected in this case. Do you think Mr. Mason is disqualified, Mr. District Attorney?”

  “I think he should disqualify himself.”

  “There is no specific statute against it?”

  “It is a matter of good taste and good ethics.”

  “We’ll discuss ethics at the proper time and the proper place,” Mason said. “As far as good taste is concerned, I now have a matter of my own to present. I submit to Your Honor that when a district attorney influences a young woman, who is one of my witnesses, to resign her position, hurl an accusation at her employer that he is trying to get her to perjure herself, and arranges to have the press present while she is so accusing her employer in a telephone conversation—that when he bribes the young woman to take such a step by seeing that she is offered a position in one of the county offices at a greater salary …”

  “I object to the use of the word ‘bribe,’ ” Hamilton Burger said.

  “Pardon me,” Mason said with elaborate sarcasm. “Perhaps I should have said that you influenced her to take such a step.”

  “I didn’t do any such thing,” Hamilton Burger said. “She did whatever she did of her own free will and accord.”

  “You’d arranged for the job in the county office before she picked up the telephone to submit her resignation,” Mason said.

  Hamilton Burger said, “Nonsense.”

  “Deny it,” Mason challenged.

  “I don’t have to.”

  “You don’t dare to.”

  Judge Lennox banged his gavel. “Now, gentlemen, I don’t know what this is all about. I haven’t read the papers in connection with this case, but obviously there is acrimonious feeling between Counsel. I want it controlled. I want Counsel to confine themselves to the trial of the case. You go ahead, Mr. District Attorney, and put on your first witness, and the Court will rule on matters as they come up.”

  “Specifically, I object to Mr. Mason appearing as attorney in the case.”

  “Is there any law that disqualifies me?” Perry Mason asked.

  “As I have previously pointed out to the Court, it’s a matter of ethics.”

  Mason said to Judge Lennox, “If the district attorney wishes to set himself up as an arbiter of good taste and good ethics, I submit that using an offer of county employment to get a young woman to quit her position and make a public accusation …”

  “We won’t go into that, Mr. Mason,” Judge Lennox said, “and as far as this Court is concerned, Mr. District Attorney, Mr. Mason is not actually disqualified. If you have subpoenaed him as a witness, and if he is called as a witness, he’ll have to take the stand. If he takes the stand he’ll be subject to the same rules of examination as any other witness. Now proceed with your case.”

  “Very well, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said. “My first witness will be the autopsy surgeon.”

  In swift, kaleidoscopic sequence of routine witnesses, Hamilton Burger laid the foundation for the murder charge: the discovery of the body of George Fayette, the nature of the bullet wound, the recovery of the bullet, the microscopic characteristics of the bullet for the sake of subsequent firearms identification.

  “I’ll now call Carlyle E. Mott.”

  Mott took the witness stand and the district attorney qualified him as an expert on firearms and ballistic evidence.

  “Mr. Mott, I call your attention to the bullet, People’s Exhibit A, which has been identified as the fatal bullet which brought about the death of George Fayette. I will ask you if you have examined that bullet.”

  “I have.”

  “Through a microscope?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You have made photographs of that bullet?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Have you been able to determine the type of weapon from which the bullet was discharged?”

  “I have.”

  “What weapon was that?”

  “The weapon which I have here in my hand. A Smith and Wesson police special, thirty-eight caliber, with a three-inch barrel.”

  “We ask that that be introduced in evidence as People’s Exhibit B,” Hamilton Burger said.

  “No objection,” Mason said.

  “Cross-examine,” Burger snapped.

  “No questions,” Mason said.

  Hamilton Burger, caught completely by surprise, blurted, “You mean you aren’t going to ask him about—” He stopped abruptly, catching himself as he realized what he was saying.

  “Call your next witness,” the judge said.

  A distinctly annoyed Hamilton Burger called as his next witness the officer who had arrested Morris Alburg as he stepped from a taxicab in front of Mason’s office.

  The officer testified to making the arrest and to finding the revolver in Morris Alburg’s possession, the revolver from which the bullet had been fired which had killed George Fayette.

  “Cross-examine,” Burger said.

  “How do you know this is the same gun?” Mason asked the officer.

  “Because I took the number of the weapon, sir.”

  “Did you make a note of that number in writing?”

  “Certainly.”

  “Where?”

  “In my notebook, a notebook I always carry with me.”

  “You know what that number is?”

  “Certainly.”

  “You can give us that number?”

  “Yes, sir. It is S64805.”

  “You’ve remembered it all this time?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Then you didn’t need to write it down, did you?”

  “I wrote it down in order to be safe.”

  “And this is the same number you’ve written down?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You may know it’s the same number that’s on the weapon, but how do you know it’s the same number you wrote in your notebook?”

  “Because I looked at the notebook just before I came to Court to make sure.”

  “Oh, then you weren’t sure?”

  “Well, I was just guarding against the possibility of any mistake.”

  “And you arrested Morris Alburg on the morning of the third?”

  “At about nine o’clock. Yes, sir.”

  “And took the gun from him at that time?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “When did you write the number in your notebook?”

  “I’ve already told you. That’s the number of the gun. I wrote it down so there’d be no mistake.”

  “When you arrested Morris Alburg?”

  “Approximately, yes.”

  “What do you mean by approximately?”

  “At almost the same time.”

  “Within five seconds of the time you made the arrest?”

  “Certainly not.”

  “How many seconds?”

  “I can’t answer that. I don’t compute time that way. That’s the number of the gun I took from the defendant, Morris Alburg.”

  “What did you do with that gun?”

  “I put it in my pocket as evidence.”

  “Then what?”

  “I gave it to the district attorney, who in turn gave it to the ballistics expert, Carlyle E. Mott.”

  “And it was at Mott’s suggestion that you wrote the numbers in the notebook?” Mason asked, his manner casually matter-of-fact.

  “That’s right.”

  “At the time the gun was given to him?”

  “No, when he returned it to the district attorney with his report. He said that it would be necessary to identify this gun at all stages of the proceedings.”

  “So then you wrote down the numbers on a gun which Mott handed you?”

  “Well, it was the same gun.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I could tell by looking at it.”

  “What distinctive markings were on this particular gun which enabled you to distinguish it from any other Smith and Wesson gun of similar caliber and design?”

  The witness was silent.

  “Don’t you know?”

  “If I could look at the gun,” he said, “I think I could tell you.”

  “Certainly,” Mason said sarcastically. “You’d pick up the gun and turn it over and over, hoping you could find some scratch or some identifying mark, but tell us now what identifying mark was on the gun.”

  The officer looked bewildered for a minute before answering, “I can’t recall.”

  The judge turned to the discomfited witness. “You took a revolver from the defendant Alburg, is that right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And you turned that over to the district attorney?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Who, in turn, turned it over to the ballistics expert?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And sometime later, when the ballistics expert returned that weapon to the district attorney, with a report that it was the weapon which had fired the fatal bullet, it was suggested by the ballistics expert that it would be necessary to have an absolute identification of this weapon in order to enable it to be introduced in evidence?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And you were then asked how you could identify this gun. Is that right?”

  “Well, generally.”

  “Is that right, or isn’t it?”

  “Mr. Mott suggested that I should write the number in my notebook.”

  “So you took out your notebook and wrote it down at that time?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And was there then some discussion about what your testimony would be?”

  “Well, not at the time. That was later.”

  “Call your next witness,” Judge Lennox said to Hamilton Burger, and his manner was distinctly frigid. “This witness is excused.”

  Burger braced himself for a new attack and said, “My next witness will be Arthur Leroy Fulda.”

  Fulda took the stand, was sworn and testified to his conversation with Morris Alburg, to his installation of the sound equipment in the Keymont Hotel, to the conversations that he heard and the recordings that were made.

  The witness identified half a dozen plastic discs, explained how they were fed into a machine in relays so that there was a continuous transcription of conversation.

  “Now then, Your Honor, I move to introduce these discs in evidence,” Hamilton Burger said.

  “I’d like to examine the witness briefly on this particular point,” Mason said.

  “Very well,” Judge Lennox said. “Go right ahead.”

  “How do you know these are the same records that were left in the hotel room?”

  “Actually, Mr. Mason, I can only testify as to the first one. As to the others, all I can say is that they look like records which I left on the machine. I have been informed that they were taken from the hotel room in which I had left my equipment.”