The Case of the Troubled Trustee

can't prove which shot was the fatal shot from the standpoint of time.'

'It'll create a reasonable doubt?' Drake asked.

'It'll do better than that,' Mason said. 'It'll probably result in a verdict of acquittal on the theory that Dutton is telling the truth and Palmer was dead when he got there. Dutton just walked into a trap.'

'It still would have been a lot better if he hadn't taken that gun and hidden it,' Drake said.

Mason's face lost its smile. 'Are you telling me?' he said. 'I'm going to have to do quite a bit of arguing to get around that, but I'm going to make it appear that when he saw that gun, he naturally thought the woman he loved was involved.'

'Desere Ellis?'

Mason nodded.

'Going to let him say that he's in love with her on the witness stand?' Drake asked.

Mason shook his head. 'Heavens, no, I'm not going to let him say it. I'm going to let him try to keep from saying it; and then when the district attorney takes him on cross-examination, it's all going to come out and come out reluctantly. We'll have a romantic and dramatic scene in the courtroom.'

'And, I take it,' Drake said, 'no defense attorney ever got an unjust verdict when there was a romantic and a dramatic scene in a courtroom?'

'Not one involving heartthrobs,' Mason said, 'and this is going to involve heartthrobs, orange blossoms, wedding bells and what have you.

'Come on, we're closing up the shop and I'm going to buy you folks the best dinner to be had anywhere in the city-a dinner with all the frills, including ice-cold vintage champagne.'

Chapter Eighteen

The next morning as Judge Alvarado took his place on the bench and looked over the courtroom, it was quite apparent that the prosecution was discussing strategy on a matter which they considered to be of considerable importance.

Bailey and Hamilton Burger had their heads together in a whispered conference, as soon as the bailiff had rapped his gavel and Judge Alvarado had seated himself on the bench.

'The case of People versus Kerry Dutton,' Judge Alvarado said. 'The defendant is in court; the jurors are all present. It is so stipulated, gentlemen?'

'So stipulated,' Perry Mason said.

'Yes, Your Honor,' Hamilton Burger said. 'It is so stipulated. May we have just a moment?'

Again there was a whispered conference; then Burger nodded his head somewhat reluctantly, apparently.

Immediately Bailey jumped to his feet. 'If the Court please, that concludes the evidence of the prosecution. We rest our case.'

A murmur of surprise ran through the spectators in the courtroom.

Judge Alvarado frowned. 'It would have been perhaps fairer to the defense if the decision had been announced at the close of the courtroom session yesterday.'

'We didn't know it at that time. We have just this minute reached our decision,' Bailey said.

'Very well,' Judge Alvarado said. 'I will, however, be willing to grant the defense a reasonable recess so that it may meet this somewhat unexpected development.'

'If the Court please,' Mason said, arising and smiling at the jury, 'the defense is not only willing but eager to proceed immediately.'

'Very well,' Judge Alvarado said. 'Go ahead.'

'And we do not wish to make an opening statement at this time,' Mason said. 'Our first witness is Desere Ellis.'

'Come forward to the stand, Miss Ellis,' Judge Alvarado said. 'You have already been sworn and so it is not necessary for you to take an oath once more.'

Desere Ellis came forward. This time she met the defendant's eyes with a quick flicker of a smile; then seated herself on the witness stand and turned to face Perry Mason.

'You are, of course, acquainted with the defendant and have known him for some time?' Mason asked.

'Yes.'

'Did the defendant ever give you a gun?'

'He loaned me a gun, yes.'

Mason said, 'I show you the People's Exhibit A-G, a Smith and Wesson snub-nosed, thirty-eight-caliber revolver, number K524967, and ask you whether or not you have ever seen this gun before?'

'That is the gun that he gave me.'

'Did he make any statement to you when he gave you the gun?'

'Yes. There had been some rather offensive telephone calls from a person who did not disclose his name and I was a little apprehensive.'

'Now, was there any conversation specifically about the ownership of this gun which took place when it was handed to you?'

'Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial and as a self-serving declaration,' Bailey said.

'I am simply asking for a conversation which was part of the res gestae of this particular transaction,' Mason said. 'It is a part of the transaction itself and it took place far in advance of this murder.'

'That doesn't keep it from being a self-serving declaration, nor does it make it competent or relevant to the case at bar,' Bailey said.

'I think I'll overrule the objection,' Judge Alvarado said. 'It is always my policy to give the defendant as much leeway as possible in cases of this sort. Answer the question.'

'Yes,' Desere Ellis said, 'he said that it was his gun, one he had bought some time ago but had no use for.'

'Did he show you anything about using it?'

'Yes, he took the shells out of it and taught me how to point it and pull the trigger.'

'You knew then that it was a double-action revolver?'

'I beg your pardon, I don't understand.'

'In other words, by pulling the trigger all the way back, you cock the hammer and then after the hammer has passed a certain point, it comes down on the firing pin so the shell is exploded and at that time the cylinder advances,' Mason said. 'The effect of this action is such that you can pull the trigger six times and fire six shots.'

'Yes.'

'What I am getting at,' Mason said, 'is that this gun he gave you was not an automatic; it was a revolver. In other words, the cylinder rotated.'

'Yes.'

'And what happened to this gun?' Mason asked.

'I kept it in a drawer in my bedroom, in a nightstand.'

'When did you last see it?'

'I last saw it some two or three days before the twenty-first of September.'

'Two or three days before the date of the murder?'

'Yes, sir.'

'And when did you next look for the gun after that?'

'It was, I believe, either the twenty-third or the twenty-fourth of September.'

'And how did you happen to look for it?'

'You asked me about it and I went to get it for you and then found it was gone.'

'Cross-examine,' Mason said.

Hamilton Burger, who seldom had an opportunity to cross-examine Mason's witnesses, inasmuch as Mason