“I didn’t go in the houseboat,” Calhoun said.
“All right, what did happen?”
Calhoun said dejectedly, “I have held out on you people, I shouldn’t have done it, but I was trying to protect myself.”
“Go on, go on,” I said. “We haven’t got all day. What happened?”
Calhoun said, “When I was driving into Calexico headlights picked up this pickup and the houseboat the trailer, and as they did I saw a man jump out of door of the houseboat, hit the ground in a flying leap start running just as fast as he could go over toward the drainage ditch. After he got a few yards over there on angle, he got out of the range of my headlights.”
“And what did you do?”
“It was around two o’clock in the morning. I stopped my car, went over to the houseboat and called out, ‘Is everything all right?’
“There was no answer. I rapped with my knuckles the door. That was probably when I put my left hand against the side of the houseboat to brace myself. And then I thought better of it. After all, it wasn’t any of my business. I called out again, ‘Is everything all right there?’ I received no answer so I got back in my car drove on to Calexico.
“I went at once to the Maple Leaf Motel and I did have the conversation with Nanncie that this man overheard. I took Nanncie across the border to a hotel where I thought she would be safer than in that Maple Motel. And I wanted to get her out of the clutches of writer friend of hers.”
“What about the gun?”
“I did tell her that I’d take the gun back because knew it would make complications if she had a across the border in Mexico, and she told me she didn’t have it, that she’d loaned it to Hale.
“I’ll admit I became angry. I had given her that for her personal protection. Certainly not with the idea that she was going to pass it around to some down-at-the-heel writer friend.”
I turned to Newberry. “All right,” I said, “you’re going to have to use heroic measures.”
“What do you mean?”
I said, “They’re going to bind him over for trial unless you pull a fast one.”
“They’re going to bind him over for trial in any event. I’m not even going to object. I’m not going to put up a whisper of an argument except that I’m going to put up the old song and dance that there’s nothing in this case except circumstantial evidence; that they can show that the murder was committed with his gun and that there are fingerprints on the houseboat, but they can’t tell when those fingerprints were made or who was holding the gun when it was fired. The fingerprints may have been made at any time.”
“And your client is going to get bound over.”
“He’ll get bound over.”
I looked at Calhoun. “Do you like that?”
“Good God, no!” Calhoun said.
“But you can’t stop it,” Newberry said, “He’s stuck.”
“Not if you play it right,” I told him.
Newberry looked at me with sudden distaste. “Are you,” he asked, “now trying to tell me how I should handle this case?”
I looked right back at him and said, “Yes.”
“Well, don’t do it,” Newberry warned. “I don’t know just how you fit into the picture, Lam, but I think you’re in this thing up to your necktie. Are you sure that you weren’t the man Calhoun saw running out of the houseboat trailer?”
“I’m sure I wasn’t the man he saw,” I said, “and if you use your head a little bit we may be able to knock this whole thing into a cocked hat right now.”
“You’re crazy,” he told me. “It’s an axiom of criminal law that you can’t do anything on a preliminary examination, You cross-examine the witnesses, you get as much of the prosecution’s case as you can, and then you just ride along with the punch.”
“To hell with the axioms of criminal law,” I said. “I’m talking about a particular case. This case. You let Calhoun be bound over and there will be headlines over the country.”
“We can’t control the press,” Newberry said. “We have a free press in this country. They can print the news any way they want to just so they confine themselves to truth.
“Now then, a feminine angle has been introduced in this case and, believe me, that’s going to give the newspapers a field day. MILLIONAIRE DEFENDANT IN SURREPTITIOUS MIDNIGHT RENDEZVOUS...”
I said to Calhoun, “Do you want to put on a defense?”
“I want to get out of this,” he said.
“It isn’t what Calhoun wants, it’s what I want,” Newberry said. “I’m the lawyer and I don’t brook any interference from a client. I’ll tell you right now, Lam, I don’t brook any interference from some smart-aleck private detective either.”
“I’m not a smart-aleck detective,” I told him. “I’m a damn good detective.”
Calhoun looked from one to the other.
“What do you want to do, Calhoun?” I asked. “Make up your mind.”
“I guess there’s nothing I can do,” Calhoun said. “Newberry has reached a decision.”
“And who is Newberry working for?”
“Why... I guess he’s working... he’s working for me.”
“I don’t work for anybody,” Newberry said. “I’m a professional man. I’m an attorney. I permit myself to be retained in cases. I go to court and I handle those cases my way. Make no mistake about it, my way.”
Calhoun shrugged his shoulders and looked helplessly at me.
I said, “You want my judgment, Calhoun? I think we can spring you out of this. In fact, I’m pretty damn sure we can.”
“I’ll bet a thousand to one against it,” Newberry said.
“I’ll take a hundred dollars of that right now,” I told him.
He said angrily, “I don’t want to make any actual bet I was just simply giving the odds. It wouldn’t do any good to make an actual bet because I’m going to stand up and tell the Court that we consent to an order binding the defendant over.”
I looked at Calhoun and said, “Fire him!”
“What?” Calhoun asked incredulously.
“Fire him!” I said.
Newberry looked at me and said, “Why, you smart-aleck son of a...”
I turned away from him and said to Calhoun, “He’s your lawyer. You fire him and do as I say and you’ll get out of this.”
“So you’re practicing law,” Newberry said.
“I’m telling Calhoun what to do. Calhoun can be his own attorney. You do what I tell you to, Calhoun, and we’ll be home free.”
Calhoun looked dubious.
The door from chambers opened and Judge Polk came in. The bailiff rapped the Court to order. We all stood up, then were seated.
“Very well,” Judge Polk said, “we will take up the case of People versus Calhoun. Is there any defense?”
“Fire him,” I said to Calhoun. “Now!”
Calhoun reached a sudden decision. He got to his feet and said, “Your Honor, I want to be my own lawyer.”
Judge Polk was startled. Roberts whirled around looked at us as though we had all taken leave of senses.
“You want to discharge your lawyer?” Judge P asked.
Newberry grabbed up his briefcase. “There’s no need to discharge me,” he said. “I’m quitting the case.”
“Now, just a moment,” Judge Polk said. “You can’t quit the case without the consent of the Court.”
Newberry hesitated and said, “I don’t want anything of this client. I don’t want any part of him or of smart-aleck private detective.”
“Just control yourself,” Judge Polk said. “Mr. Calhoun, what seems to be the situation?”
“I want to put on a defense and I want to conduct own case,” Calhoun said.
“You want to discharge your lawyer?”