At the defense table James Haight unaccountably seized that instant to smile. It was the weariest smile imaginable. Then he sank into apathy again.
“Can you explain how James Haight’s endorsement appears on a check you borrowed from J. C. Pettigrew?”
“I gave it to Jim.”
“When?”
“That same night.”
“Where?”
“At the house of my sister Nora.”
“At the house of your sister Nora. Have you heard the testimony here to the effect that you were not present at the house of your sister Nora during the New Year’s Eve party?”
“Yes.”
“Well, were you or weren’t you?”
There was something in Bradford’s voice that was a little cruel, and Pat writhed in her seat in front of the rail, her lips saying: “I hate you!” almost aloud.
“I did stop at the house for a few minutes, but I wasn’t at the party.”
“I see. Were you invited to the party?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t go?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Judge Martin objected, and Judge Newbold sustained him. Bradford smiled.
“Did anyone see you but your brother-in-law, the defendant?”
“No. I went around to the back door of the kitchen.”
“Then did you know Jim Haight was in the kitchen?” asked Carter Bradford quickly.
Lola grew pink. ”Yes. I hung around outside in the backyard till I saw, through the kitchen window, that Jim came in. He disappeared in the butler’s pantry, and I thought there might be someone with him. But after a few minutes I decided he was alone, and knocked. Jim came out of the pantry to the kitchen door, and we talked.”
“About what, Miss Wright?”
Lola glanced at Judge Martin in a confused way. He made as if to rise, then sank back.
“I gave Jim the check.”
Ellery was leaning far forward. So that had been Lola’s mission! He had not been able to overhear, or see, what had passed between Jim and Lola at the back door of Nora’s kitchen that night.
“You gave him the check,” said Bradford courteously. ”Miss Wright, did the defendant ask you to give him money?”
“No!”
Ellery smiled grimly. Liar¯of the genus white.
“But didn’t you borrow the hundred dollars from Mr. Pettigrew for the purpose of giving it to the defendant?”
“Yes,” said Lola coolly. ”Only it was in repayment of a debt I owed Jim. I owe everybody, you see¯chronic borrower. I’d borrowed from Jim some time before, so I paid him back, that’s all.”
And Ellery recalled that night when he had trailed Jim to Lola’s apartment in Low Village, and how Jim had drunkenly demanded money and Lola had said she didn’t have any . . . Only it wasn’t true that on New Year’s Eve, Lola had repaid a “debt.” Lola had made a donation to Nora’s happiness.
“You borrowed from Pettigrew to pay Haight?” asked Carter, raising his eyebrows. {Laughter.)
“The witness has answered,” said Judge Eli.
Bradford waved. ”Miss Wright, did Haight ask you for the money you say you owed him?”
Lola said, too quickly: “No, he didn’t.”
“You just decided suddenly, on the last day of the year, that you’d better pay him back¯without any suggestion from him?”
Objection. Argument. At it again.
“Miss Wright, you have only a small income, have you not?” Objection. Argument. Heat now. Judge Newbold excused the jury. Bradford said sternly to Judge Newbold: “Your Honor, it is important to the People to show that this witness, herself in badly reduced circumstances, was nevertheless somehow induced by the defendant to get money for him, thus indicating his basic character, how desperate he was for money¯all part of the People’s case to show his gain motive for the poisoning.”
The jury was brought back. Bradford went at Lola once more, with savage persistence. Feathers flew again; but when it was over, the jury was convinced of Bradford’s point, juries being notoriously unable to forget what judges instruct them to forget.
But Judge Martin was not beaten. On cross-examination, he sailed in almost with joy.
“Miss Wright,” said the old lawyer, “you have testified in direct examination that on the night of New Year’s Eve last you called at the back door of your sister’s house. What time was that visit, do you recall?”
“Yes. I looked at my wristwatch, because I had a¯a party of my own to go to in town. It was just before midnight¯fifteen minutes before the New Year was rung in.”
“You also testified that you saw your brother-in-law go into the butler’s pantry, and after a moment or two you knocked and he came out to you, and you talked. Where exactly did that conversation take place?”
“At the back door of the kitchen.”
“What did you say to Jim?”
“I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was just finishing mixing a lot of Manhattan cocktails for the crowd. He’d about got to the maraschino cherries when I knocked, he said. Then I told him about the check¯”
“Did you see the cocktails he referred to?”
The room rustled like an agitated aviary, and Carter Bradford leaned forward, frowning. This was important¯this was the time the poisoning must have taken place. After that ripple of sound, the courtroom was very still.
“No,” said Lola. ”Jim had come from the direction of the pantry to answer the door, so I know that’s where he’d been mixing the cocktails. From where I was standing, at the back door, I couldn’t see into the pantry. So of course I couldn’t see the cocktails, either.”
“Ah! Miss Wright, had someone sneaked into the kitchen from the main hall or the dining room while you and Mr. Haight were talking at the back door, would you have been able to see that person?”
“No. The door from the dining room doesn’t open into the kitchen; it leads directly into the pantry. And while the door from the hall does open into the kitchen and is visible from the back door, I couldn’t see it, because Jim was standing in front of me, blocking my view.”
“In other words, Miss Wright, while you and Mr. Haight were talking¯Mr. Haight with his back to the rest of the kitchen, you unable to see most of the kitchen because he was blocking your view¯someone could have slipped into the kitchen through the hall door, crossed to the pantry, and retraced his steps without either of you being aware of what had happened or who it had been?”
“That’s correct, Judge.”
“Or someone could have entered the pantry through the dining room during that period, and neither you nor Mr. Haight could have seen him?”
“Of course we couldn’t have seen him. I told you that the pantry is out of sight of¯”
“How long did this conversation at the back door take?”
“Oh, five minutes, I should think.”
“That will be all, thank you,” said the Judge triumphantly.
Carter Bradford climbed to his feet for a redirect examination. The courtroom was whispering, the jury looked thoughtful, and Carter’s hair looked excited. But he was very considerate in manner and tone.
“Miss Wright, I know this is painful for you, but we must get this story of yours straight. Did anyone enter the pantry either through the kitchen or the dining room while you were conversing at the back door with Jim Haight?”
“I don’t know. I merely said someone could have, and we wouldn’t have known the difference.”
“Then you can’t really say that someone did?”
“I can’t say someone did, but by the same token I can’t say someone didn’t. As a matter of fact, it might very easily have happened.”
“But you didn’t see anyone enter the pantry, and you did see Jim Haight come out of the pantry?”