"
"So it would be virtually impossible to tell whether a person had met death from carbon monoxide poisoning, which was administered through fumes liberated from the exhaust of a motor vehicle, or by being asphyxiated and burnt in a burning house. Is that right?"
"That is approximately correct; yes sir."
"Therefore, acting on the assumption that the body would show evidences of carbon monoxide poisoning in either event, you failed to make any test for it in this post mortem examination?"
"That's right."
"Did you make any xrays of the bones?"
"No. Why?"
"I was wondering if the body showed that the right leg had recently been broken."
Dr. Jason frowned.
"What would that have to do with it?" Truslow inquired.
"I would just like to have such a test made," Mason remarked, "and, if we are going to have this evidence introduced at all, I feel that I am entitled to know whether there was evidence of carbon monoxide poisoning."
"But," Judge Pennymaker pointed out, "the witness has just stated that such evidence would be present, regardless of how the man met his death."
"Oh, no, he didn't," Mason said. "He simply testified that such evidence would be present whether death had been from burning or from carbon monoxide. I would like to have this witness instructed to ascertain immediately those two things and return to court."
"I can telephone to my office and have one of my assistants make the test immediately," the witness said.
"That will be quite agreeable," Perry Mason observed.
"That would be irregular," Judge Pennymaker pointed out.
"I know, your Honor, but the hour is getting late and I would like to have the matter completed today. After all, this isn't a case in a superior court before a jury. The function of this hearing is only to determine whether a crime has been committed and whether there is reasonable ground to suppose the defendant is guilty."
"Very well," Judge Pennymaker said; "you may do that, Dr. Jason."
Dr. Jason left the witness stand.
Della Street came pushing forward toward the rail which separated the place reserved for court officials from the balance of the courtroom. She caught Perry Mason's eye.
"Just a moment, if the Court will indulge me," Perry Mason said, and went to the rail.
Della Street whispered to him, "I've been calling the insurance company and asking for information. They've just advised me that the police in Santa Fe, New Mexico, have recovered my car. A man was driving it who claims he is Watson Clammert, but can offer no proof of his identity other than some receipts which the police think are forged, because the receipts show that he purchased and paid for the car, as Watson Clammert. But the peculiar thing is that they think he's a bank robber, as well, because in a suitcase in the car there was over a million dollars in currency."
Mason sighed with satisfaction.
"Now," he said, "we're getting somewhere."
"We'll call Winifred Laxter to the stand," Truslow said, "as our next witness."
He lowered his voice slightly and said to Judge Pennymaker, "The Court will undoubtedly bear with us that this is a hostile witness, and permit the use of leading questions."
"You may examine the witness," Judge Pennymaker said, "and rulings will be made when the necessity for leading questions becomes apparent."
"Very well. Take the stand, Miss Laxter."
Winifred Laxter walked forward, as a princess might approach the sword of a headsman.
She held up her right hand, took the oath and then walked to the witness chair and sat down.
"Your name is Winifred Laxter and you are engaged to the defendant?"
"I am."
"You were acquainted with Charles Ashton?"
"I was."
"You are familiar with the cat now in court, with a tag around its neck upon which the word 'Clinker' appears?"
Winifred Laxter bit her lip and said, "I knew the caretaker's cat."
"Is this the caretaker's cat that you have mentioned?"
Winifred Laxter looked pleadingly at Perry Mason, but Perry Mason remained silent. She took a deep breath, hesitated, seemed about to shake her head, but the cat, with a throaty "meow," jumped from the table, crossed the courtroom, leapt into her lap and curled up contentedly. Some of the spectators tittered. The Judge pounded with his gavel. The girl glanced once more at Perry Mason.
"Answer the question, Winifred," Perry Mason said, "and tell the truth."
"Yes," she said, "this is Clinker."
"Did you have Clinker in your possession on the night the night the caretaker was murdered?"
"Answer the question," Mason told her, as she looked helplessly at him.
"I'm not going to answer."
"Answer the question, Winifred," Mason repeated.
She stared steadily at him, then said slowly, "Yes, I did."
"Who gave you the cat?"
Her manner was vengeful now. "A friend of mine gave me the cat and I gave it to Perry Mason—that is, Perry Mason took it with him. He said that the police mustn't find it in my apartment."
Spectators stirred restlessly.
"Was this friend Douglas Keene?" Truslow asked.
"I refuse to answer."
"Go on and answer," Mason ordered.
Judge Pennymaker cleared his throat. In a voice which obviously contained sympathy for the young woman, he said, "Of course, gentlemen, it is only fair to advise this witness that the answer might incriminate her, in that it would make her an accessory…"
"There is no necessity," Perry Mason said. "I am representing the interest of this witness. Go ahead and answer the question, Winifred."
"Yes," she said.
"You may crossexamine," Truslow announced.
"No crossexamination," Mason said.
Truslow got to his feet. His manner was cold and purposeful.
"Your Honor," he said, "I regret being forced to do this, but it appears that the murder of Charles Ashton is inseparably connected with the murder of Edith DeVoe. The murderer must have taken the crutch from Ashton's room to the place where Edith was murdered. The murderer must have sawed up the crutch, taken out the diamonds and used a part of the crutch as a club with which to injure fatally Edith DeVoe. Therefore, the murderer of Charles Ashton must be the murderer of Edith DeVoe. It therefore becomes necessary to prove that Ashton was murdered before the cat was taken from the Laxter house and that the cat did not return to the Laxter house at any time after the murder. It is, as I see it, incumbent upon the Prosecution to account for the time of the caretaker's cat from the moment it was taken into the custody of the defendant in this action until the police recovered it. Therefore, I am going to ask that Della Street take the stand."
Della Street gasped with surprise.
"Take the stand, Della," Perry said.
Della Street stepped forward and was sworn.