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. As a matter of fact, there is nothing which actually indicates that Ashton was murdered at the place where his body was found. I believe that he was murdered in Edith DeVoe's apartment. I believe that he went there, or was lured there by the conspirators when they found out that Ashton knew of their conspiracy. I think that they both believed Peter Laxter was dead. I think that they killed Ashton, cut up the crutch, took out the diamonds, and, knowing that they had to dispose of Ashton's body, slipped it out of the window into Oafley's waiting automobile. Then Frank Oafley drove his machine to the Laxter residence sometime after the defendant had left the premises with the cat, and slid the body through the window which was customarily left open to enable the cat to go in and out.
"The murderer knew that Clinker customarily slept on the bed. He wanted to show that everything was as it should be. So he looked around to find Clinker and found that Clinker had been taken a few minutes earlier by Douglas Keene, so he immediately realized what damaging evidence he could pile up against Keene if there were cat tracks on the bed. So he went out, found a cat and forced the cat to make tracks on the bed. In doing this his hands were scratched.
"Oafley wanted to have some logical explanation by which he could account for his scratched hands. So he arranged to have a telegram sent to him, and, in order to make that telegram appear natural, he arranged that a checkup would apparently show it had been sent by Winifred Laxter. This telegram gave Oafley an opportunity to dig in the rosebush, so that he could have a logical explanation for his scratched hands.
"Now then, your Honor, we enter upon the phase of the case which so far can only be a matter of speculation. As soon as I realized that it was contemplated a Watson Clammert might be given access to the safety deposit boxes Ashton had rented, I realized that Peter Laxter had, for the sake of convenience, taken the name of Watson Clammert, probably in order to use Clammert's driving license, rather than apply for another. I don't know what happened in Edith DeVoe's apartment shortly after eleven o'clock, but I can surmise what happened. Oafley assisted her in killing the caretaker. Then he took the caretaker's body, leaving the crutch in Edith DeVoe's apartment. They sawed up the crutch and intended to burn it up, after having removed the diamonds Sam Laxter went to his lawyer's office in the green Pontiac. He returned home in the caretaker's Chevrolet. Therefore, he must have found the Chevrolet parked at some place which he visited after leaving Shuster's office.
"He wouldn't have taken this car unless he had thought Ashton was dead, or unless he was in a hurry caused by panic.
"I feel certain that he and Shuster discussed the fact that Edith DeVoe was making charges against him. I think Shuster found out what was happening from remarks dropped by Oafley. I think Sam Laxter went to see Edith DeVoe, either with or without Nat Shuster's knowledge. Sam Laxter went to the apartment and found her dying. He left in a panic, and it is reasonable to surmise that he called his attorney, Nat Shuster. I will not speculate as to what he said to Shuster or what Shuster said to him, but the fact remains that a very shrewd attempt was made to fasten the crime on Douglas Keene. In view of the statements Edith DeVoe had been making charging Sam Laxter with murder, Sam Laxter realized at once that if it could be shown he was at Edith DeVoe's apartment at about the time the murder was committed, he would stand but little chance of being acquitted.