“Very well, recall Lieutenant Tragg,” Dexter said. Della Street returned to her seat.
“Lieutenant, on the afternoon of the fourteenth, did you have occasion to see Maxine Lindsay, the defendant in this case?”
“I did.”
“Where?”
“At Redding, California.”
“And who was with her at that time, if anyone?”
“Mr. Perry Mason.”
“You made some statement to her at that time in the presence of Mr. Perry Mason?”
“Yes, sir. I told her that I wanted to question her concerning the murder of Collin Max Durant.”
“And did she make any statement to you at that time?”
“Not at that time. Mr. Perry Mason told her not to make any statement.”
“You returned to Los Angeles?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Who returned with you?”
“Mr. Perry Mason and Maxine Lindsay, the defendant.”
“Subsequently Maxine Lindsay was interrogated without Perry Mason being present?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did she make any statement?”
“At first she refused to make any statement. Then I explained to her that we didn’t want to work any injustice but that there was evidence pointing to her, that if she would explain just what had happened we would investigate and if the evidence bore out her story she would be released. I then went on to tell her that the evidence of her flight was evidence which could be received as evidence of guilt in this state, and she told me that she wasn’t fleeing. She said that she had decided to visit her sister, a Mrs. Homer H. Stigler, who resides in Eugene, Oregon. I then asked her how long she had been on the road and learned that she had left Los Angeles at approximately nine-forty; that she was in Bakersfield a little after midnight; that she had very limited funds and that she looked around for a while getting the cheapest motel she could find.”
“You learned all this from the defendant?”
“Yes, sir.”
“She had been advised of her constitutional rights?”
“She had.”
“Then what else did she tell you?”
“That she had sent a wire to her sister asking for funds and that she had received those funds transferred by telegraph to Redding.”
“Incidentally, Lieutenant, did you talk with the sister?”
“Subsequently I talked with the sister.”
“And did the sister verify—”
“Just a minute,” Mason interposed. “The question as now being asked is leading. Furthermore it is incompetent, irrelevant and hearsay. The statement by the sister cannot in any way be binding on this defendant, and—”
“Withdraw the question,” Dexter said wearily. “I was trying to save time.”
“And I was trying to preserve the constitutional rights of the defendant,” Mason said.
“Now then, subsequently did the defendant make any other statements to you?”
“Yes, she did. I suggested to her that she had arranged with Perry Mason to meet her along the road and she denied this. I then questioned her concerning the time at which she had met Perry Mason and she advised me that she had last seen Perry Mason at about nine-thirty on the evening of the thirteenth; that she had then decided to visit her sister; that she had given Miss Street the key to her apartment. I asked her how well she knew Collin Durant, the dead man, and she said at first that she barely knew him. Later on she changed her story and admitted that she had been friendly with him at one time, and that since she had been in Los Angeles she had seen him from time to time.”
“Did you ask her anything about having a child?” Dexter asked.
“Just a moment,” Mason said, “that question is objected to as leading and suggestive. It is completely incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.
“I think it is incompetent,” Judge Madison said, “at least in its present form.”
“Well, I’ll put it this way,” Dexter said bluntly. “Did you ask her anything about having a child by the dead man, Collin Durant?”
“Not at that time, no.”
“Did you, subsequently?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“I object to this whole line of questioning as being leading and suggestive.”
“It is leading,” Judge Madison said, “but the prosecution is trying to get some particular conversation here in evidence. I’m going to overrule the objection. I think the question is now pertinent because it would go to a question of motivation.”
“What did she say?” Dexter asked.
“She denied it.”
“Denied ever having a child, or denied that Collin Durant was the father of the child?”
“Now, just a minute,” Mason said. “Before you answer that question I want to object, if the Court please, and I assign the asking of this question in this manner as misconduct. The Court has already ruled that the question of whether this defendant had had a child has nothing to do with the issues in this case unless the child was the offspring of Collin Durant. By approaching the subject in this manner and asking the question in this way, the prosecution is trying to put the defendant in a position where public sympathy will be alienated, where the newspapers will have a story, and—”
Judge Madison said. “There’s no need to go on, Mr. Mason. The Court has already ruled on this. The Court admonishes the prosecution that the question is improper. The Court has opened the door only so far as it goes to a question whether the witness was questioned about whether she had a child by Collin Durant, and her answer to that question.”
“She denied it,” Tragg said.
“Cross-examine,” Dexter snapped.
Mason said, “Now then, Lieutenant Tragg, did you ask her if she had had a child and the father of that child was Thomas Albert Dexter, the district attorney?”
Dexter jumped to his feet. “Your Honor, this is... this is rank misconduct! This is a conduct which is contemptuous on its face!”
“Why is it?” Mason asked. “You asked the lieutenant a leading question, if he had had a conversation in which he had accused the defendant of having a child by Collin Durant. Apparently there was no foundation for any such assumption, any more than there is any foundation for the assumption that you are the father of a child by the defendant. I just wanted to drive home my point. And,” Mason added with a smile, “in case the daily press should regard your quote bombshell unquote as the highlight of the case, I wanted my question to illustrate my position and be a higher highlight.”
Judge Madison smiled and said, “Proceed with some other question, Mr. Mason. I think you have made your point.”
“You ascertained that the defendant did have a sister, Mrs. Homer Hardin Stigler, living at Eugene, Oregon?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And that she had received a telegram from the defendant and had forwarded her twenty-five dollars in response to that message?”
“Yes, sir.”
“No further questions,” Mason said.
“One matter I overlooked,” Dexter said. “Did the defendant tell you how she had got in touch with Mason on the evening of the thirteenth?”
“She said she had called him from a bus depot at about seven-fifteen. That she had called the office of Paul Drake and asked for Mr. Mason and asked if they could get in touch with Mr. Mason. She said that she waited there until about eight-fifteen and that Mr. Mason called in at that time and arranged to meet her in forty-five minutes in front of the apartment building where Miss Della Street lives, and that was the reason that she met Mason and Miss Street there and gave Miss Street her key at that time.”
“You asked her other questions?”
“Yes, we asked her other questions which she refused to answer. We told her that we were making no accusations as yet, that the case was in the stage of investigation and that our questions were asked simply so she could help clear up certain matters.”