Damned in Paradise

“Those alienists who testified on behalf of Mrs. Judd made a hell of a good case that she had to be crazy to have dismembered those two gals, and stuffed ’em in that trunk.”

Leisure was nodding. “Williams and Orbison. But Mrs. Judd was convicted…”

“Yes,” Darrow said with a winning smile, “but I wasn’t defending her. I was impressed by their testimony; will you track them down by telephone, George?”

“Certainly, but I doubt they take charity cases….”

“Establish their availability and fee. When I confer privately with Mrs. Fortescue and Tommie, tomorrow, I’ll let them know how important bringing in alienists is to their defense. They’ll find the money, amongst their rich friends. Could you start on that right now?”

Leisure nodded and stood. “I’ll call from my own suite; Anne’s probably wondering what’s become of me.”

“Be back by four-thirty, if you can, George. We’re meeting with those local fellows for further briefing.”

Darrow was referring to Montgomery Winn and Frank Thompson, the Honolulu attorneys who had handled the case before Darrow came aboard. Winn had prepared much of the material we’d looked at on the Malolo.

With Leisure gone, Darrow said, “I think we may have offended George’s delicate legal sensibilities.”

“Tough finding out your hero has feet of clay,” I said.

“Is that what I have?”

“Up to about the knees.”

He let out a horse laugh. Then he sat forward, putting his cigarette out in an ashtray on the small table by his chair; he rested his hands on his thighs and gazed at me sleepily.

“Let’s get down to it, son,” he said. “I’m going to be making a lot of noise, with the press boys, about how it doesn’t matter whether Joe Kahahawai and his cohorts were really guilty of raping Thalia Massie or not. That it doesn’t matter a ding-dong diddly damn whether it was some other carload of Island hoodlums, or Thalia Massie’s overactive imagination, or Admiral Stirling and the entire Pacific fleet. What matters is that Tommie Massie and Mrs. Fortescue and those two sailor boys believed Kahahawai to be one of her attackers…the brute who broke that poor girl’s jaw and wouldn’t let her pray. And I will be trumpeting from Honolulu to doomsday that we are not, and will not, retry the Ala Moana case in that courtroom.”

“That’s what you’ll be saying to the press.”

“Right. And it’s a boxcar of bullshit. Oh, in a technical legal sense, it’s sound enough, but what we really need to free our clients is proof that they killed the right man. It gives them moral authority for this immoral, senseless act they perpetrated.”

“Which is where I come in.”

He narrowed his eyes, nodded slyly. “Exactly. This rape case, this so-called Ala Moana case, I want you to dig into it. Interview the witnesses, naval personnel, local officials, the goddamn man on the street if you have to.” He thrust out his arm and his finger pointed right at me; it was like having a lightning bolt almost hit you. “If you can find new evidence of the guilt of those rapists—and I believe Thalia Massie, I believe her, based upon her words and her demeanor and, if nothing else, that goddamned license plate number that she missed by only a single goddamned digit—then we can make a hero out of the sorry human unit that is Thomas Massie. And we can spring ’em all!”

I was sitting forward, loosely clasped hands draped between my open knees. “What do we do with this new evidence, should I find it?”

He winked. “Leave that to me. I’ll make sure the jury hears about it, and the papers. Of course, I will in this trial be retrying the Ala Moana case, because it speaks to the motivation and the mental condition of Tommie Massie. No prosecutor can keep that out of the record…. Now—I’m going into court tomorrow morning, and I’m going to ask for a week to prepare my case; the judge’ll give it to me, too.”

“Of course he will. You’re Clarence Darrow.”

“And that’s about all the consideration I expect my fame to get me in this case, but I’ll damn well take it. Then I expect it’ll take a good week to select a jury…I intend to make sure it does.”

“So you’ll buy me two weeks.”

He nodded. “I would expect, during the trial, you’ll be at my side, at my table. That’s where I’ll want you, and need you, not running around chasing girls down some snow white beach.”

“Is that how you figure I’ll spend my time?”

“Some of it. Of course, you’ve already landed this Bell girl. Fine-looking young woman. You bagged that filly the first night aboard ship, didn’t you?”

“Admitting that wouldn’t be gentlemanly.”

He tilted his head; his eyes had a nostalgic cast. “Does she look as good out of a bathing suit as she does in one, son?”

“Better.”

Darrow sighed with pleasure at the thought of that, then hauled his weary body to its feet; quite a process, sort of like reassembling himself. He was fishing for something in his baggy pants pocket as he motioned for me to rise, and I did, and he walked me to the door. He slipped his arm around my shoulder. With his other hand, he pressed some keys in my palm.

“There’s a car waiting for you in the hotel garage. Mrs. Fortescue’s provided it.”

“Any special car, or do I just start trying keys in ignitions?”

“A blue Durant roadster. It’ll get you in the mood of the case: it’s her own car, the one she drove to the courthouse the day they snatched Kahahawai.”