The Case of the Singing Skirt

past the hour of adjournment, hoping that during the evening he can think of some more questions to ask Mr. Anclitas.

'I have already pointed out that it would be inconvenient for Mr. Anclitas to return to-'

Judge Keyser interrupted. 'We still have a few minutes, Mr. District Attorney. The question of the identification of this gun having been opened up, and the witness having stated that he identified it solely from the mark of a manicurist's nail file left in the front sight, I certainly think counsel is within his rights. The objection is overruled. Answer the question, Mr. Anclitas.'

'Well,' Anclitas said, 'we were talking about the different guns and I suggested they should be marked, that we had four guns and there was no way of telling one from the other unless we looked at the numbers. So I suggested we file little marks on the barrel of the guns; one mark on one gun, two on the next, three on the next and four on the other.

'Slim Marcus, my partner, thought it was a good idea, but we couldn't find a file so I said we'd go over to the barbershop and borrow a nail file from the manicurist, and he said a nail file wasn't hard enough to cut the barrel of a gun. I got in an argument about it and bet him fifty dollars.'

'So what happened?' Mason asked.

'So we took the gun, went over to the barbershop, borrowed the manicurist's file, made the mark on the front sight of the gun, and I collected fifty dollars.'

'Thereafter was your idea carried out, of marking each of the guns?'

'No. Slim was mad over losing the bet and thought that I had framed the whole deal. He accused me of having experimented in advance of making the bet.'

'Now, you state that this gun which had the mark on the front sight was the one that you gave Helman Ellis?'

'I certainly thought it was.'

'What were the circumstances?'

'Well, after we had this bet I was carrying the gun back to the bar. It was a gun we kept underneath the bar just below the cash register so that in case of a holdup we could protect ourselves.

'Helman Ellis was standing there by the bar and saw me carrying the gun and wanted to know if I had been trying to make a collection from some customer who didn't want to pay or something of the sort-he made some joke about it, and one thing led to another and he started admiring the gun and finally I gave it to him. I felt it would be good business. Helman Ellis was becoming a regular customer and-well, I make no secret of it, I wanted to cultivate him.'

'Why?' Mason asked.

'Because,' Anclitas said angrily, 'I'm running a place of business and I make my profit by having customers.'

'Then in your mind there is no question whatever but that the weapon you gave Helman Ellis was the one that had the file mark on the front sight?'

'That's right.'

'Yet you don't find this mark on the front sight here now, and therefore I take it you wish to change your statement that this was the gun you gave Helman Ellis?'

'I'm not changing anything,' Anclitas said sullenly. 'That's the gun that was found on the Ellis boat; it's the gun I gave Ellis.'

'But the distinguishing mark is no longer on the front sight.'

'It may have worn off.'

'You had no other means of identifying the gun?'

'Just by its appearance.'

'When you testified, you gave as your sole reason for identifying the gun-'

'Your Honor,' Hamilton Burger interrupted, 'this question has been asked and answered half a dozen times. The witness has given his best opinion. We now know the facts. We aren't going to gain anything by having counsel carry on an argument with this witness. I-'

A deputy who had hurried into the courtroom moved up to Hamilton Burger and tugged at his coat sleeve.

Burger turned in annoyance, saw the expression on the deputy's face, said to the judge, 'Just a moment, please, Your Honor. May I be indulged for just a few minutes? Apparently a matter of some importance has arisen.'

Burger engaged in a whispered conference with the deputy. At first Burger's face showed complete incredulity, then surprise, then as the deputy continued to whisper forcefully, a slow grin began to appear on the district attorney's face.

Abruptly he nodded to the deputy, turned to the Court.

'If the Court please,' he said, 'a matter of transcendent importance has arisen in this case. I am going to call Perry Mason to the stand as my next witness.'

'You can't do that,' Judge Keyser said, then at the expression on Hamilton Burger's face, said, 'unless, of course, there is some factual matter which can be cleared up by defense counsel. But certainly defense counsel is hardly qualified as a witness to appear against his client.'

'As it happens, Your Honor,' Hamilton Burger said, 'and in order to explain the reason for my action, it seems that one Maurice Halstead, a very competent firearms expert engaged in ballistic examinations, was given a gun by Perry Mason's representative and was asked to fire several test bullets from that gun.

'When it appeared that there was some question about the two bullets in this case having been fired from different guns, Mr. Halstead communicated with my office to state that, while he wished to protect his relations with his client, he did not wish to be put in the position of concealing evidence. He asked that Mr. Redfield, the ballistics expert who has already testified in this case, make a confidential examination of the test bullets. If they had not been fired from the murder weapon, he asked that Mr. Redfield say nothing about the matter. If, on the other hand, they had been so fired and therefore were evidence, Maurice Halstead did not care to be put in the position of suppressing evidence.'

Burger turned to Perry Mason and said significantly, 'It is unfortunate that all persons are not actuated by such high standards of professional conduct.'

Judge Keyser, plainly interested, was leaning forward. 'Go on, Mr. District Attorney. Kindly avoid personalities. Make any statement that you wish to the Court, since this is a case being tried without a jury.'

'The test bullets fired from the gun given Maurice Halstead by Perry Mason are an undoubted match with the bullet which we have referred to as bullet number two in this case, the one which previously we had been unable to identify.

'We now have a situation, Your Honor, where it appears that one fatal bullet was fired from a weapon which was in the possession of Perry Mason, that the second bullet-which may have been fired some time after death-was fired from a gun which had been in the custody of Mr. Perry Mason.

'The inference is obvious. The defendant in this case came to Perry Mason with a gun which had fired a fatal bullet into the body of Nadine Ellis. I won't at this time make any accusations, but it seems that that gun very mysteriously left the possession of the defendant and that the defendant was given a gun which could only have been given her by her counsel, Perry Mason. And it is at least an inference that she was instructed to return to the scene of the crime and fire a second bullet from that gun into the body of the victim.

'This, coming at a time when counsel had recently been investigating the law concerning two persons firing fatal shots into a body, certainly tells its own story.

'It is one thing for counsel to advise a person accused of crime and try to protect the rights of that person, but it is quite another thing for an attorney to become an accessory to murder.

'Counsel has been under suspicion before. This time by a fortunate circumstance the evidence exists which has-'

'That will do, Mr. District Attorney,' Judge Keyser interrupted. 'You will make no statements about counsel. If you have any matter to take before the Grievance Committee of the Bar Association, you may do so. If you wish to subpoena counsel to appear before the grand jury and have the grand jury investigate the question of whether counsel has become an accessory after the fact, you also have that privilege.

'In this court you are confined to discussing the relevancy of evidence. However, I will state that the statement you have made is certainly ample foundation to enable you to call Mr. Mason to the stand.

'Mr. Mason will take the stand and be sworn as a witness on behalf of the prosecution.'

'Just a moment, Your Honor,' Mason said, his face granite hard. 'Regardless of what the district attorney may wish to prove by me, the fact remains that I am representing the defendant in this case and am entitled to conduct this case in an orderly manner. The witness, George Anclitas, is being cross-examined by me. The witness was called out of order on the statement of the district attorney that it would work a great hardship on him to be forced to return tomorrow. I insist on concluding my cross-examination of the witness.'

'And I submit, if the Court please,' Hamilton Biirger said angrily, 'that this is simply an excuse to stall for time. Counsel has actually completed his cross-examination. Any questions he may ask from now on will be purely repetitious.'

'It would seem that the examination had reached a logical conclusion,' Judge Keyser said. 'The Court will state it does not intend to have this cross-examination unduly prolonged. However, counsel is certainly within his rights. The witness Anclitas was put on out of order on the representation of the district attorney that it would work a great hardship on him to have to return tomorrow. Counsel is entitled to complete his crossexamination before any other witness is called, particularly in view of the fact that this witness was put on out of order at the request of the district attorney.'

Hamilton Burger yielded the point with poor grace. 'I serve notice here and now,' he said, 'that I am going to insist this cross-examination be conducted within the strict rules of evidence and not used as an excuse to prolong this case.'

'Very well,' Judge Keyser said, 'proceed with your questions, Mr. Mason.'

'You are positive that the gun you gave Helman Ellis was the one that you had personally marked with a manicurist's nail file?' Mason asked.

'Objected to as already asked and answered and not proper cross-examination,' Hamilton Burger said.

'Sustained,' Judge Keyser snapped.

'When this gun was handed to you by the district attorney,' Mason said, 'when was the last time prior to that occasion that you had seen the weapon?'

'Objected to as already asked and answered and not proper cross-examination.'

'Overruled.'

'Answer the question,' Mason said.

'When I gave the gun to Helman Ellis.'

'You're satisfied it's the same gun?'

'Objected to as repetitious, as already asked and answered.'

'Sustained.'

'You don't know the various numbers on the four guns which you purchased?'

'Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial; not proper cross-examination, already asked and answered,' Burger said.

'The objection is sustained,' Judge Keyser ruled.

'Do you now, or did you at the time you gave the weapon to Helman Ellis, know the number of that weapon?'

'Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial; not proper cross-examination.'

'The objection is overruled.'

'No, I didn't know the number of that particular gun,' Anclitas said. 'I didn't look at it. I told you all I know. I gave him the gun. That's all I know.'

'Have you had occasion to examine the other three guns remaining in your possession?' Mason asked.

'Objected to. Not proper cross-examination,' Hamilton Burger said.