“You’ll pardon me,” Dr. Dixon said, “but you asked me how I knew that the man had received a blow on the head and was unconscious prior to the time the fire started. I want to answer that question.”
“Well, I don’t care about hearing it,” the district attorney said. “That’s all.”
The judge interposed. “It seems the Doctor is trying to tell us something here, and we should know what it is.”
“I withdraw my question,” the district attorney said. “I recognize a desire on the part of Dr. Dixon to show his medical erudition, and while I am perfectly willing to stipulate that he is a man of great scientific qualifications, I see no reason why we should obscure the issues in the case merely in order to enable him to make a public display of his knowledge, a knowledge which I am quite willing to concede.”
“I think,” Dr. Dixon said coldly, “you have entirely misunderstood the purpose of my testimony.”
“Well, in any event, my examination is concluded,” the district attorney said. “That’s all the cross-examination I have.”
The judge looked over at the defence. “Any re-direct?” he asked.
Staunton Irvine shook his head, but before he could say “No re-direct,” Rob Trenton interposed a question. “How do you know the man received a blow on the head prior to the fire?” he asked.
“Just a moment, just a moment,” Berkeley interrupted. “I object, Your Honor, to such an examination. The defendant is represented by counsel and be can certainly trust to the ability of his own attorney. He doesn’t need to step in here with comments, interpolations and questions. The attorney has signified there are no further questions.”
“I think the attorney should ask the questions,” the judge ruled.
“Ask that question then,” Rob Trenton said to his lawyer.
“I object to that,” Berkeley said. “The attorney has already signified there was no re-direct examination. He shook his head.”
Rob Trenton said, “Your Honor. I feel that I have some rights in this case. I...”
“Just a minute,” the judge interrupted. “The attorney may have shaken his head, but that doesn’t mean anything so far as the record is concerned. Counsel has to say something so the court reporter can hear it in order to keep the records straight. Now then, Mr. Irvine, is there any redirect examination?”
Irvine hesitated.
“Ask that question,” Trenton said.
Irvine whispered, “I think we’re just getting into a...”
“Ask that question,” Trenton reiterated.
“Very well,” Irvine said with poor grace. “How do you know the man received a blow on the head and was unconscious prior to the fire, Doctor?”
“Because,” Dr. Dixon said, “when I opened the skull, I found a blood clot inside of the skull which had been quite evidently caused by violence. Probably a blow which had been inflicted on the skull.”
“That’s all,” Irvine said. “No further re-direct.”
Dr. Beaumont whispered excitedly to the district attorney, and the district attorney, with a triumphant smile, said, “Just a moment, Doctor. I have some re-cross-examination. Now you’ve testified that you found some blood in the skull when you opened the skull of the deceased.”
“I did.”
“And do you think that is the result of a blow sustained on the head?”
“I do.”
“Don’t you know, as a matter of fact, Doctor, that in cases of burning, the heat may cause the skull to crack open and frequently does cause fractures of the skull, so that the relatively inexperienced pathologist — and I say this with no personal implications, but merely for the purpose of establishing a scientific fact — will accept the evidence of such heat fracture as an indication that direct violence had been suffered before death?”
“I’m quite aware of all of that,” Dr. Dixon said, “but I analyzed the blood in the brain for the presence of carbon monoxide and found none. I was able to gather a sample of blood from the liver and analyzed that and found a high percentage of carbon monoxide. It is, therefore, a fact which is not subject to serious question, that the blood which formed the clot in the head had been formed before the fire, because this blood had ceased to circulate when the fire started. Whereas the blood which was circulating through the heart and the respiratory system did become contaminated with carbon monoxide. I know, therefore, that the injury sufficient to cause this rather substantial blood clot was inflicted before the fire. Therefore, I am forced to the conclusion that the man was unconscious at the time the fire started and that he lived long enough after the fire started to inhale particles of soot in the smoke and to have the blood which was circulating impregnated with a high percentage of carbon monoxide, enough to cause unconsciousness and probably to bring about death before the flames actually reached the body. I also know that he had received violent blows on the body prior to the time of death. It is, therefore, my conclusion that the two bullets which were found in the body in a place which would ordinarily have caused instant death, were deliberately fired into the body after death had taken place.”
“But that couldn’t have been, Doctor,” the district attorney shouted. “Your testimony is against all the evidence. The gun was fired twice, prior to the time the fire started, and after that the gun was accounted for all the time.”
“How do you know it was accounted for all the time?” Dr. Dixon asked.
“It was locked in a desk.”
“And who had the key to that desk?”
The district attorney said, “But that’s an absurd situation, Your Honor. It assumed a weird, bizarre sequence of events for which there is no evidence.”
Merton Ostrander, on his feet, said from his place in the front row of spectators. “Your Honor, I had that key. It did not leave my possession all night. I resent any implication which is being made and demand an opportunity to vindicate myself.”
“Just a minute,” the judge observed, banging his gavel for order. “You’ve already testified, and if the Court wants any more testimony from you, it’ll call you to the witness-stand where you’ll be under oath and we’ll find out what all this is about. I don’t want any comment from the spectators.”
The judge ran his hand over his forehead, then scratched at the back of his head thoughtfully.
Staunton Irvine said, “Your Honor, I think we are all overlooking one very significant factor in the situation. There was present at that house a young woman, Linda Carroll, the niece of Linda Mae Carroll. This young woman was present throughout the entire European trip. It was on the car of this young woman that the concealed heroin was found. This young woman was at the house when the defendant arrived with this automatic weapon and this young woman has now mysteriously vanished. I have tried to serve a subpoena on her and have been unable to locate her. It is in evidence that police have searched for her, and searched in vain. I now believe that my client is entitled to...”
“Don’t you say a word against my niece,” Linda Mae snapped, getting to her feet. “She’s a good girl, she’ll show up when it’s time for her to show up. She isn’t going to have her name dragged through the mud, and what’s more she’s nervous. She...”
The judge banged his gavel furiously. “I’ve repeatedly admonished the spectators,” he said, “not to interject comments.”
“I’m not interjecting a comment,” Linda Mae said. “I’m trying to keep this Court from making a fool of itself.”