“Not at the moment,” Hamilton Burger said.
“Very well, Mr. Mason, you’re excused from the witness stand,” Judge Lennox said, “and may resume your position as Counsel for the defendants.”
“Subject to being recalled later after more foundation has been laid,” Hamilton Burger said.
“That is my understanding of the situation,” Judge Lennox ruled. “Go on with your case.”
“I want to call Frank Hoxie as my next witness.”
Frank Hoxie, the night clerk at the Keymont Hotel, was sworn, took the witness stand, and gave his name, address and occupation in a bored tone of voice.
“Are you acquainted with either of the defendants in this case?”
“Yes, sir.”
“With which one?”
“With both.”
“What were you doing on the second and third of the present month?”
“Working as a night clerk in the Keymont Hotel.”
“What time did you go on duty?”
“At nine o’clock in the evening.”
“What time did you go off duty?”
“At eight o’clock in the morning.”
“Now when did you first meet the defendant Morris Alburg?”
“A couple of days before...”
“Try and make it an exact date.”
“On the first of the month.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“I was at the hotel.”
“At the desk?”
“Yes, sir.”
“On duty as a night clerk?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And what conversation did you have with Mr. Alburg?”
“He came in and asked for a room. He said his sister-in-law had come to pay him an unexpected visit, and that he wanted to rent a room which she would occupy.”
“Under what name did he register?”
“Under the name of Mrs. Madison Kerby.”
“You assigned him a room?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What room?”
“Room 815.”
“That was the room in which the body of George Fayette was subsequently discovered?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you ever meet the person whom Morris Alburg said was his sister-in-law?”
“Yes, sir.”
“When did you meet her?”
“The defendant, Miss Dayton, came to the desk and said she was Mrs. Madison Kerby, and asked for the key to room 815. I gave her the key.”
“That was the defendant?”
“Dixie Dayton, one of the defendants, the one who stood up a minute ago.”
“When was that room given up?”
“You mean by the defendants?”
“Yes.”
“It was never given up. They kept the room until the date of the murder, when they were arrested.”
“Did you tell the police who had rented that room?”
“The police were after me pretty hard to find out who had rented it.”
“What did you tell them?”
“I told them I’d never seen the people before and didn’t know who they were.”
“Was that true or false?”
“It was true.”
“Perhaps,” Burger said, “you can tell us something of what happened on the evening of the second and the morning of the third.”
“It was on the morning of the third instant that Perry Mason came to the hotel.”
“At about what time in the morning?”
“Sometime around two-thirty in the morning, I think.”
“Was the defendant Dixie Dayton in the hotel at that time?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How do you know?”
“I had seen her come in and I hadn’t seen her leave.”
“When did she come in?”
“About half an hour before Mr. Mason did.”
“And the defendant Morris Alburg, was he in the hotel?”
“Yes, sir.”
“When did he come in?”
“About an hour before Mr. Mason arrived.”
“You’re certain of your identifications?”
“Very certain.”
Hamilton Burger turned to Mason and said, “Do you care to cross-examine this witness?”
“I think I do,” Mason said.
He pushed back his chair, arose, and faced the young man, whose blue, watery eyes made a valiant attempt to meet his, then shifted away, only to return, and again slither away.
Mason stood holding his eyes steadily on the witness.
Once more the witness made an attempt to meet Mason’s eyes, but, after less than a second, he averted his own eyes and shifted his position uneasily on the witness stand.
“How long have you been employed at the Keymont Hotel?”
“Three years.”
“Where did you work before that?”
“Various places.”
“Can you name them?”
“I sold goods on a commission.”
“What sort of goods?”
“Novelties.”
“Can you remember the name of the firm?”
“No. It was a fly-by-night outfit.”
“Did you ever serve in the Armed Forces?”
“No.”
“Have you ever held any other salaried position for as long as three years?”
“No.”
“You had two weeks’ vacation each year as a part of your compensation as night clerk?”
“No.”
“No vacations?”
“No vacations.”
“You worked there regularly, every night?”
“Well, there was once I was sent to Mexico City on business. It wasn’t really a vacation. It was a change.”
“What sort of business?”
“To collect a sum of money.”
“That was owed to the hotel?”
“Yes.”
“You collected the money?”
“I got a promissory note and was advised that would be satisfactory. The management wired me to that effect.”
“How long were you gone?”
“Almost a month. It was a difficult piece of work. There were a lot of angles.”
“For what was the money due?”
“I don’t know.”
“When was this?”
“About a year ago.”
“Exactly what date did you leave? Do you remember?”
“Certainly I remember. I left on a night plane on the seventeenth of — No, if you want to be technical it was on September eighteenth of last year.”
“Just how do you fix the date?”
“If you worked in the Keymont Hotel you wouldn’t have any trouble remembering when you had a free trip to Mexico City. The manager called me in and told me about this deal and said someone had to be on the ground who could handle the thing. He gave me money, told me to go up to my room, pack a suitcase and get to the airport.”
“What time was this?”
“Shortly before midnight, on the seventeenth.”
“The plane left at what time?”
“Right around one-thirty in the morning — the eighteenth.”
“A through plane?”
“No, I changed in El Paso, and if you want all the details, I sat next to a beautiful blonde who gave me the eye and then got sleepy when she found out I was leaving the plane at El Paso. From El Paso down I sat next to a woman who had been eating garlic, who had a kid that was airsick.”
The courtroom broke into laughter.
Mason didn’t even smile.
“There were some difficulties attendant upon your job in Mexico City?”
“Lots.”
“But it was a vacation?”
“It was a change.”
“Have you ever tried to leave the Keymont Hotel and secure employment with any other hotel?”
“Oh, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said. “There’s no reason why this witness should be ripped to pieces with all the details of his past life. Let Counsel confine his cross-examination to things that have been asked on direct examination.”