I could think of no better manner than to take him into my personal custody and keep him where the murderer couldn't find him."
"Why," Truslow demanded, "did you want to establish the fact that this cat, Clinker, was taken from the house by your client?"
"Because," Mason said, "Clinker was the only cat who had access to the residence. Moreover, Clinker kept other cats chased out of the neighborhood. Therefore, if Keene was telling the truth, Ashton's body must have been brought to the house after Ashton was murdered, and the murderer, in order to make it seem that Ashton had been murdered in bed, and to direct suspicion toward Douglas Keene, must have gone out into the night in search of a cat and brought it forcibly to the house, taken it to the bed where Ashton's body lay—a bed, by the way, on which the sensitive nostrils of a cat could have detected the odor of Clinker—and forced that cat to make tracks on the counterpane.
"If that is what happened, one who is at all familiar with the nature of cats would realize that the cat would be very apt to resent such treatment and that his resentment would take the form of deep scratches on the murderer's hands. I therefore looked over the possible suspects to find someone with scratched hands. When I found that person, I found he had sought to conceal the scratches on his hands by making additional scratches under circumstances which would seem to offer an explanation for scratched hands—towit—digging around a rose bush, apparently in an attempt to discover treasure, but the digging was certainly not the type of digging one would indulge in if trying to unearth a million dollar treasure. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that the digging was for the sole purpose of furnishing him an excuse by which he could account for scratches on his hands, claiming that they had been inflicted by the rose thorns."
Truslow's eyes were opened so wide that they seemed to bulge.
"You mean Frank Oafley? Why, Frank Oafley was with Edith DeVoe at the time Ashton was murdered."
"Yes," Mason said, "I let this entire trial proceed merely because I wanted to get that admission from his own lips, because Ashton was not murdered in his bed, but was murdered in the apartment of Edith DeVoe. He must have been murdered there. It is the only explanation which satisfies all of the physical facts in the case. Remember that Ashton was a frail, wizened individual, and that a driveway went directly past the window over his bed. A strong man could have slid Ashton's body through that window with the greatest ease."
"Just a minute," Truslow objected, suddenly aware of what was happening. "You're on the witness stand as a witness, yet you're making an argument in the case."
"Called to the witness stand," Perry Mason remarked urbanely, "as a witness on behalf of the prosecution, and I am testifying in response to a question from you asking that I explain my motive in taking the cat from Winifred Laxter and concealing it where none of the parties to the action could find it until after the police had taken it into their custody for safekeeping. And to ensure the fact that the police would keep it safe, I led the police to believe that by holding the cat they could implicate my client and perhaps cause me some embarrassment as an attorney."
Judge Pennymaker smiled and said, "I think Counselor Mason is probably making rather an argumentative answer; but the Court is certainly going to hear it. Go on with your explanation, Mr. Mason."
"I felt certain," Perry Mason said, turning to the Court, "that Peter Laxter was not dead."
Judge Pennymaker shook his head, as though trying to clear his senses. "Felt certain that what?" he asked.
"That Peter Laxter was not dead. Everything pointed to the fact that Edith DeVoe and Frank Oafley had plotted against his life; that they had decided to introduce carbon monoxide gas into his bedroom. The evidence in this case shows that Charles Ashton, the caretaker, and who was a devoted servant, apparently received from Peter Laxter a large sum of money, and the famous Koltsdorf diamonds; that this property was delivered to him for safekeeping, the reason being that Peter Laxter must have known in advance that his country house was going to be destroyed by fire.
"In other words, either Peter Laxter or Charles Ashton knew that an insidious attempt at murder was going to be made by someone. Edith DeVoe told me it was made by Sam Laxter, but I am inclined to think she said that as part of a prearranged scheme by which she and Frank Oafley had conspired to murder Laxter, and then, by accusing Sam Laxter of the murder, eliminate him from sharing in the estate, leaving Frank Oafley as the sole heir.
"Peter Laxter decided to let the conspirators go ahead with the murder plot. For reasons of his own, he wanted to disappear. One of those reasons was probably that he wanted to bring Winifred Laxter to her senses by letting her see how the two men who professed to love her would behave if she apparently were disinherited. So Ashton, the caretaker, who was in Peter Laxter's complete confidence, went to the charitable ward of the hospital. He found there a man—a Watson Clammert—who was dying; who had no relatives and no property. Ashton gave this man the best medical attendance and nursing, knowing in advance that it was a hopeless case. He built up, by this means, a fictitious relationship, so that no question was raised when Ashton took the body after the man had died.
"Undoubtedly, the conspirators had been watching for just the right opportunity to perpetrate their crime, and undoubtedly Peter Laxter had shrewdly deprived them of this opportunity until he had completed his preparations, which included getting a body and reducing all of his negotiable property to cash so that his ostensible heirs could not loot his estate.
"Watson Clammert, however, had a driving license and certain papers of identification, so it was easier for Peter Laxter to assume the name of Watson Clammert than it was to adopt an entirely new name. When the stage had been set, he let the conspirators burn up his country house, after going to the elaborate trouble of introducing carbon monoxide gas into his bedroom. They then went ahead and probated his will while Peter Laxter sat on the sidelines and laughed at them.
"You understand, your Honor, I am now stating the reasons which lay behind my actions. Much of this is, of necessity, assumption, but I think the assumption is well taken.
"Everyone has acted upon the assumption that because Oafley was not present where Ashton's body was found at the time Ashton was murdered, he has a good alibi.