“And what was it?”
“Several granules of sugar.”
“Sugar?” Hamilton Burger asked, smiling at the jury.
“Yes, sir.”
“You mean common household sugar?”
“Yes, sir.”
“So then what did you do?”
“So then I went to the house occupied by the defendant and her husband and examined the various sugar containers.”
“And what did you find, if anything?”
“In the bottom of a sugar bowl I found a set of car keys.”
“Did you indeed?” Hamilton Burger said. “Did you mark them for identification?”
“I did.”
“I hand you a set of keys and call your attention to the mark etched in the keys and ask you if that is the set of keys that you found?”
“Yes, sir, a set of two keys.”
“Did you subsequently determine what locks those keys fit?”
“Yes, sir, I did.”
“What locks were they?”
“This one is the key to the ignition of the automobile driven by George C. Lutts on the day of his death, and this is the key to the trunk of that automobile.”
“You tried them to make certain they worked?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Cross-examine,” Hamilton Burger said.
Mason grinned. “You don’t know who put those keys in the sugar bowl, do you, Mr. Ardmore?”
“I only know that there was sugar on the gloves of the defendant.”
“Answer the question. You don’t know who put those keys in the sugar bowl?”
“No, sir.”
“And prior to the time you discovered those keys, you had been searching the house?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Other police officers had been searching the house?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The husband was living in the house?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Some witnesses had been interrogated in the house?”
“Some, yes, sir.”
“Why didn’t you look in the sugar bowl before all these other persons had an opportunity to go through the house, planting evidence wherever they wanted?”
“You can’t do everything at once, Mr. Mason.”
“Then why didn’t you shut up the house until after you had searched it?”
“Well, we... we didn’t know what we were going to find.”
“So you feel you should know what you’re going to find before you take any steps to see that evidence isn’t planted?”
“I don’t think this evidence was planted.”
“I’m not asking you what you think,” Mason said. “I’m asking you why you didn’t look in that sugar bowl before anyone had an opportunity to plant something there.”
“Because I didn’t know there was anything in the sugar bowl.”
“And,” Mason said, “you didn’t search the gloves, the wearing apparel, or even look under the fingernails of any other person in that house to see if you could find any sugar?”
“Well, no, sir.”
“This woman’s husband was there all the time. Didn’t you examine his fingers to see if you could find traces of sugar under the nails?”
“No, sir.”
“That’s all,” Mason said.
“No further questions,” Hamilton Burger said.
Hamilton Burger called Janice Condon to the stand. She testified that she had been employed as Enright Harlan’s secretary for a period of some three years, covering the time when the revolver which had been introduced in evidence had been purchased. She had been instructed by her employer to go to the gun store and pick up the gun, which had previously been ordered by Harlan, and to sign his name to the register of firearms; that she knew it was irregular and that the dealer knew it was irregular, but Harlan was a very good customer and the dealer had conveniently turned his back while she was signing Harlan’s name and had winked at the irregularity.
“Cross-examine,” Hamilton Burger said to Perry Mason.
“No questions,” Mason said casually. “We would have stipulated to the testimony of this witness. There was no necessity of calling her.”
“You could have said so earlier,” Hamilton Burger snapped.
“You didn’t ask me,” Mason retorted, smiling.
“That will do,” Judge Sedgwick said. “Proceed with your case, Mr. District Attorney.”
Hamilton Burger said, “Your Honor, I note that it is after four o’clock. I have one more witness. I may state that I have been taken entirely by surprise in this case. We started getting the jury yesterday afternoon. This morning we had the jury by ten-thirty. I had expected that it would take me at least three days to put on my case. I call to the Court’s attention that so far there have been very few questions asked on cross-examination, there have been almost no objections to evidence on the part of the defence. This has made for a very unusual situation. I find that I am running far ahead of schedule. I think it would be in order to request an adjournment at this time.”
Judge Sedgwick, obviously completely puzzled by Mason’s tactics, looked down at the lawyer.
Mason smiled and said, “Well, Your Honor, we’ve made remarkable headway, and I frankly confess that I see no reason to object to evidence which I think is pertinent and have no desire to cross-examine witnesses who are obviously telling the truth. It seems to me, therefore, that counsel can put on his last remaining witness and then the people can, in all probability, rest their case by the time we usually adjourn.”
“No, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said. “This witness will undoubtedly be subjected to a long and grueling cross-examination. He is a surprise witness and—”
“And therefore,” Mason interrupted, “the prosecution obviously would like to take advantage of a surprise attack. The defendant insists that we proceed in the ordinary course of events and that this witness be called now. We resist any motion for an adjournment at this time.”
Judge Sedgwick said, “I think the defence position is well taken, Mr. Prosecutor. You may call your witness.”
With poor grace, Hamilton Burger said, “Ezekiel Elkins.”
Ezekiel Elkins came forward and took the witness stand. He gave his name, age, occupation, and settled back with tight-lipped determination.
“You are a director of the Sylvan Glade Development Company and a stockholder in that company?”
“Yes, sir.”
“George C. Lutts, the decedent, was also a stockholder and a director?” Hamilton Burger asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Were there any unusual developments in connection with your directors’ meeting on the third of June of this year?”
“There certainly were.”
“I will state to Court and counsel,” Hamilton Burger said, “that I am going to connect up these matters.”
“No objection,” Mason said. “Go right ahead.”
“Describe what happened at the directors’ meeting,” Hamilton Burger said.
Elkins gave a brief picture of what had happened at the meeting.
“Now then, what did you do after the meeting?” Hamilton Burger asked.
“I thought that George Lutts was slipping one over and—”
“Never mind what you thought,” Burger interrupted sharply. “I am asking you what you did.”
“Well, I decided to follow George Lutts because I thought he might be in—”
“Never mind what you thought. You followed George Lutts, did you?”
“Yes.”
“Where did he go?”
“Well, he went out to lunch with Doxey, his son-in-law and secretary of the company, and then he got in his car and drove to the Acme Coiffure and Beauty Salon.”
“And then what?”
“He parked his car and waited.”
“For about how long?”
“Oh, I’d say for two or three minutes.”
“Where were you?”
“About half a block behind.”
“Then what happened?”