The Case of the Singing Skirt

'He's going to be hit a wallop, then.'

Drake was thoughtful. 'There's only one way you could be certain, Perry.'

'How's that, Paul?'

'That gun you gave me to take to Maurice Halstead, Perry.'

'What about it?' the lawyer asked.

Drake was thoughtfully silent.

'Well?' Mason prompted.

'Look, Perry,' the detective said, 'if you pulled one of those gun-switching acts of yours, and if that gun I gave Halstead should prove to be the murder weapon… well, I'm bailing out, that's all. I can't go that far.'

'No one's asked you to, Paul.'

'I'd have to tell what I know.'

'When?'

'As soon as I knew it made any difference in the case.'

'We'll let it stand that way,' Mason said.

'I'm not going to sleep tonight, Perry,' Drake said.

'Take a pill.'

'That won't help. Good Lord, Perry, do you know what you're doing?'

'It's not what I'm doing that worries me,' Mason said. 'It's what I have done.'

'So what do I do now, Perry?'

'Wait until you're certain,' Mason said.

'Maurice Halstead will also be doing some thinking as soon as he's seen the papers,' Drake pointed out.

'Let him think, Paul,' Mason said.

The phone rang.

Della Street picked up the telephone, said, 'Yes,' then to Paul, 'It's for you, Paul.'

'That'll be a report on what ballistics found out,' Drake said. 'I told my office to call me here if they got that report but not to bother me otherwise.'

Drake picked up the telephone, said, 'Hello… uh-huh… They're sure? No chance of a mistake well, that's interesting… Okay, I'll be back in the office in a few minutes. 'Bye now.'

Drake hung up the telephone, cocked a quizzical eyebrow at Mason, and said, 'Why were you so damned sure those bullets weren't going to match, Perry?'

The lawyer grinned. 'Call me clairvoyant or psychic, Paul.'

'Well,' Drake said, 'you'd better throw away your crystal ball and try tea leaves. The fatal bullets that killed Nadine Ellis were fired from the gun that Ellen Robb had in her possession when the police arrested her.'

CHAPTER TEN

Donovan Fraser, a relatively new and somewhat eagerbeaver deputy district attorney, arose to address the Court.

'If the Court please, we expect to show that the defendant in this case, Ellen Robb, was attempting to break up the home of the decedent, Nadine Ellis, that quite understandably friction developed between the two women, that the defendant surreptitiously and with malice aforethought entered the yacht belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Ellis, knowing that Mrs. Ellis was aboard, that she fired two shots into the body of Mrs. Ellis and then, having assured herself that her enemy was dead, she pointed the yacht out to sea, started the motors and trusted that the natural risks incident to marine navigation in a small boat of this sort would result in the loss of the boat and its grisly occupant.

'We expect to show that a gun found in the possession of the defendant, Ellen Robb, inflicted the fatal wounds upon Nadine Ellis and we shall ask that the defendant be bound over to the Superior Court for trial.'

Judge Staunton Keyser looked down at the young man thoughtfully, said, 'You don't need to make an opening argument to the Court in a preliminary hearing, Mr. Deputy District Attorney. As I understand it, this is simply a question of showing that a cime has been committed and that there is probable cause to believe the defendant committed that crime.'

'I understand, Your Honor,' Fraser said, 'but in view of the well-known tactics of defense counsel, who always tries to put on a case at the time of the preliminary examination, I felt that the Court should be advised of what we are trying to do.'

'You go right ahead,' Judge Keyser said, 'and never mind the tactics of opposing counsel. Just put on your proof. Call your first witness.'

Fraser called the captain of a Coast Guard cutter to the stand.

'Are you familiar with a yacht called Cap's Eyes?'

'I am.'

'Are you familiar with the documents of registration in the Coast Guard records as to ownership of that yacht?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Who owns that yacht?'

'Helman Ellis.'

'Did you have occasion to see that yacht on Thursday, the eleventh day of this month?'

'I did. Yes, sir.'

'Will you explain the circumstances.'

'We were notified by the Navy that the yacht was drifting helplessly with a murdered woman aboard. I called the FBI and the coroner's office. I was instructed to take Dr. Andover Calvert out to the yacht, together with a representative of the sheriff's office and an agent of the FBI. We had to wait a short time until these men arrived. Then we flew to Catalina, picked up a deep-sea patrol boat there and proceeded at high speed to where the yacht was located. At that time we made an inspection of the yacht. Do you want me to tell you what we found?'

'In general terms, yes.'

'The fuel tank of the yacht was quite dry. The yacht was drifting in an area which is devoted to naval maneuvers and where small craft are forbidden to venture. The body of a woman was lying in the cabin. We took photographs of the body.'

'Do you have those photographs?'

'I do.'

'We'd like to have them introduced in evidence.'

'No objection,' Mason said.

'Very well,' Judge Keyser ruled, 'they may go into evidence as People's Exhibit- How many are there, Counselor?'

'Seven.'

'All right, People's Exhibits A-i, A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5, A-6 and A-7. Proceed.'

'What did you do?'

'After completing inspection of the yacht we fastened a tow cable and brought the yacht into port.'

'Cross-examine,' Fraser said.

Mason arose and approached the witness. 'How long have you been with the Coast Guard, Captain?'

'Some twenty years.'

'You are quite familiar with the waters around Southern California?'

'I am, yes.'

'The waters where the yacht was found?'

'I am not familiar with those waters except in a general way. Most of our work is done a lot closer to the shore line.'

'I understand. But you know generally the waters, and quite particularly you are familiar with the waters between the coast line and the place where the yacht was found?'

'Yes, sir.'

'That yacht was some distance on the other side of Catalina Island?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Now, then,' Mason said, 'what are the chances that the yacht with no one aboard except the dead woman could have started out from Los Angeles yacht harbor or the Deep Sea Cruising Yacht Club near Long Beach with the steering mechanism locked in position so that it would have gone in a straight line and have sailed out to the place where it was found without mishap-and without attracting attention because of failure to follow regulations or display running lights-assuming, Captain, that there was no one aboard the yacht other than the body of the decedent?'

'Ordinarily I would have said the chances would be pretty slim,' the captain admitted, 'but here we are confronted with an established fact. Regardless of the percentage of chances, the yacht did do that very thing.'

'Now, just a moment, Your Honor,' Fraser said. 'I don't see the purpose of this examination. I don't see what counsel expects to accomplish by it.'

It's legitimate cross-examination,' Judge Keyser said. 'Anyway, the question has been answered. Let the answer stand.'

'What was the cruising radius of the yacht? With a full tank of gasoline, how far would it have gone?'

'We don't know the tank was full,' Fraser objected.

'This is simply cross-examination,' Judge Keyser said. 'He can ask anything he wants to about the yacht. The Court, frankly, is interested in this. It's rather a significant phase of the case. At least, it seems so to the Court.'

'The cruising radius would have varied depending upon wind, tide and weather conditions, but if the tanks had all been full, the cruising radius would have been… well, somewhat beyond the point where we found the yacht.'

'You're assuming, then, that the tanks were not full when the yacht was started on its journey. Is that right?'

'Yes.'