The Case of the Singing Skirt

'Were you present when she was discharged on Tuesday, the ninth?'

'No, sir.'

'Did you see her that same night after she had been discharged?'

'I saw her before she was discharged.'

'That isn't the question. Did you see her afterwards?'

'I… I don't remember.'

'Let's see if we can refresh your memory,' Mason said. 'The defendant went to the Surf and Sea Motel in Costa Mesa. Did you go there?'

'Yes, that's right. I did.'

'And saw her there?'

'Very briefly.'

'When did you next see her?'

'I don't remember. I think.-. I don't think I saw her after that until she had been arrested.'

'You don't remember?'

'I can't say positively, no, sir.'

'This was a girl with whom you had been infatuated and yet you can't remember whether you saw her or not?'

'Sure I saw her but it was after she had been arrested. I can't remember. I saw her so many times that it was difficult to keep them straight.'

'You remember seeing her at the Surf and Sea Motel?'

'Yes, sir.'

'That was on the night of Tuesday, the ninth of this month?'

'Yes, sir.'

'How long did you see her on that occasion?'

'About ten or fifteen minutes.'

'Where did you go after you left the defendant that night?'

'Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and not proper cross-examination,' Hamilton Burger said. 'This witness is not on trial.'

'I have a right to test his recollection,' Mason said.

'You're trying to test his recollection in regard to matters which have absolutely nothing to do with the case,' Hamilton Burger said. 'If you start following every move made by this witness over the period of time from Tuesday, the ninth, until the body of his wife was discovered, you'll have this court sitting here all night inquiring into matters which have absolutely nothing to do with the case.'

'The objection is sustained,' Judge Keyser said.

'Did your wife tell you that she had been advised by her attorney that in case two bullets were fired into a body by two persons acting independently that only the person firing the bullet which actually resulted in death was guilty of murder?' Mason asked.

'Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial, calling for hearsay, not proper cross-examination,' Hamilton Burger said.

'Sustained,' Judge Keyser snapped.

'You were at The Big Barn on the night of Tuesday, the ninth?'

'Yes.'

'All right,' Mason said, 'I'm going to put it to you directly. Didn't you at that time take possession of one of the guns in The Big Barn? Now remember, you're under oath.'

'What do you mean by 'take possession'?'

'I'm asking you,' Mason said, 'if you didn't arrange with Sadie Bradford to pick up one of the guns and turn it over to you.'

'Just a moment, Your Honor,' Hamilton Burger said. 'This is getting far afield. This is not proper crossexamination. It is-'

Judge Keyser, leaning forward looking at the witness's face, said suddenly, 'I think it is. The Court wants an answer to that question. Did you or did you not, Mr. Ellis?'

The witness shifted his position once more, moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue, said finally, 'Yes, I did.'

'And,' Mason said, 'didn't you kill your wife with that gun? Then didn't you arrange with Sadie Bradford to put that gun in the baggage of this defendant while the defendant was in the powder room? Thereafter didn't the defendant tell you that she had consulted me? Didn't you therefore on Wednesday morning examine the gun which was in the defendant's possession and find that it was not the gun that you had planted? Didn't you thereupon surreptitiously remove the gun the defendant had in her baggage on Wednesday, go down to your yacht and fire another bullet from that gun into the dead body of your wife? Then didn't you surreptitiously return that gun to the defendant's bag? Didn't you do all of this without her knowledge before bodyguards had been employed to protect the defendant, all the time assuring her of your great love and devotion and telling her that you would arrange to marry her as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made, but swearing her to complete and utter secrecy?'

'Your Honor, Your Honor,' Hamilton Burger shouted, 'this is the height of absurdity! This is the most fantastic, preposterous idea ever promulgated by counsel in an attempt to save his own skin! It is-'

'It is,' Judge Keyser interrupted in low, level tones, 'a question which certainly tends to show the bias of the witness. Under the circumstances I am going to permit it. The witness will answer the question.'

White to the lips, Helman Ellis said, 'I did not.'

There was a sudden commotion in the rear of the courtroom.

The young woman who came marching determinedly forward said, 'I see it all now. That's exactly what he did! He used me as a cat's-paw. I want to surrender and turn state's evidence.'

The bailiff started to pound for silence. One of the officers jumped up to grab the woman, but Judge Keyser restrained the officer with his hand, said, 'Silence,' to the bailiff, turned to the woman and said, 'Who are you?'

'I'm Sadie Bradford, the hat-check girl,' she said. 'I realize now exactly what he did. He used me for an accomplice.'

Judge Keyser looked at Perry Mason. The puzzled perplexity in his eyes slowly changed to grudging admiration. 'I think,' he said, 'the Court will, of its own motion, continue this matter until tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, and I suggest that the district attorney endeavor to unscramble this situation before court convenes tomorrow.'

'I insist upon calling Perry Mason as a witness tonight, and in connection with this preliminary examination,' Hamilton Burger shouted.

Judge Keyser smiled at him. 'I think, Mr. District Attorney, that on sober second thought you will be glad that you didn't call Mr. Mason. Court has adjourned.'

Judge Keyser got up and left the bench.

Mason continued to stand. His facial expression gave no indication of his inner thoughts.

Newspaper reporters, swarming through the gate in the mahogany rail, pelted him with questions. Photographers exploded flash bulbs.

'No comment,' Mason said. 'I will reserve any statement until after tomorrow morning at ten o'clock.'

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A weary Hamilton Burger arose, tried to ignore the crowded courtroom and addressed himself to Judge Keyser.

'If the Court please,' he said, 'the prosecution moves for the dismissal of the case against Ellen Robb, and in making that motion the prosecution feels it only fair to state to the Court that Helman Ellis has given a signed confession, that Helman Ellis was to some extent infatuated with Ellen Robb. He was also, however, having an affair with Sadie Bradford, the young woman who doubled as hat-check girl and as attendant in the ladies' powder room. Ellis is an opportunist, and he was no longer interested in his wife.

'It is true that George Anclitas gave Helman Ellis a gun. This gun was kept in Ellis' house. According to Helman Ellis' confession, he secured possession of one of the other guns which was kept behind the bar in The Big Barn for protection against holdups. On Tuesday evening Helman Ellis shot his wife with this gun while they were aboard his yacht, the Cap's Eyes. In order to make it appear that his wife had been defending herself against an assailant, he took the gun which George Anclitas had given him and, after he had murdered his wife, fired a shot into the woodwork near the cabin door, then cocked the gun again and left the cocked and loaded revolver by the dead body of his wife, near her right hand.

'Helman Ellis then returned to The Big Barn, saw the defendant, and also saw his friend, Sadie Bradford. He persuaded Sadie Bradford to plant the gun with which the murder had been committed in the baggage of Ellen Robb, hoping that it would remain there until it was discovered by the police. Sadie Bradford had no knowledge of the murder. Ellis persuaded her to plant the gun because he said he wanted to have Ellen Robb discharged so he could terminate an affair with her.

'Later on, through his friend Sadie Bradford, Ellis learned of the altercation which had resulted in the discharge of Ellen Robb and learned that Ellen Robb had telephoned the Surf and Sea Motel for a reservation, stating that she intended to go there for the night. Helman Ellis immediately drove to the motel, waited for Ellen to arrive, and then under the guise of his great affection for her and his desire to help her, first convinced himself that the gun had indeed been planted in Ellen's baggage and then persuaded Ellen that she must under no circumstances admit that she had seen him that evening at the motel or that there was anything between them.

'Thereafter, according to his confession which we now have reason to accept at its face value, Helman Ellis left the motel, drove directly to the yacht club, loosened the yacht from its mooring, drifted with the tide until he was able to start the motors without anyone at the yacht club knowing the boat had been cast loose. He then took the boat to Catalina Island and caught the morning plane back to the mainland.

'Knowing that Ellen Robb planned to call on Perry Mason, he made it a point to see her after she had left Mason's office. He walked with her to the place where she was to take the bus to Costa Mesa and got her to describe in detail her visit to Perry Mason's office.

'When Ellen Robb had told him that Mason had told her to keep the gun in her possession and had done nothing about it, Ellis became suspicious and got Ellen to show him the gun which she was then carrying in her purse.

'We now come to the interesting part of Helman Ellis' confession which was designed to completely baffle the investigators. The gun which George Anclitas had given to Helman Ellis was not the gun that had the scratch on the front sight. But the gun with which the murder had been committed, and which had been planted in the bag of Ellen Robb, did have that scratch on the front sight. Ellis had a shrewd suspicion that perhaps Mason in an attempt to protect his client had substituted guns, giving her an entirely different gun, and when he inspected the gun which Ellen Robb showed him, he was convinced that this was the case because that gun did not have a scratch on the front sight.

'Ellis persuaded Ellen Robb that it would be dangerous for her to carry the gun which was then in her purse, on the bus. He said that she might be apprehended for carrying a concealed weapon. He said that Mr. Mason had undoubtedly given her the right advice and that she should return the gun to the bag where she had found it, but that it would be better if she did